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No fight for a new world Kumar Ketkar Posted online: Friday, December 15, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST Neither Anthony Burgess, the novelist who wrote A Clockwork Orange nor Stanley Kubrick who adapted it for the film with the same title, would have been able to script what happened at Khairlanji. The bizarre rape and cold-blooded murder and the mutilation of bodies that followed in that remote village in Vidarbhas Bhandara district has underlined the deep caste prejudice that dominates Maharashtra politics. Ironically, the state has often been described as progressive, thanks to social reform movements which shaped the Marathi psyche for over a century. However, what is not recognised is the fact that it is the political class which wants to perpetuate the prejudice even as the people Dalits and Marathas, Brahmins and OBCs have begun to transcend caste. Since ideology has become passe and governance has lost direction, the only identity that leaders and activists possess now is caste. For instance, it has not been reported by the media that in the riots and arson that enveloped Mumbai and Maharashtra a fortnight ago, there was no spontaneous support from these communities to the hyper-energetic local youths and goons, who only want to establish their hold in the area and if possible secure a ticket from a political party. Most dalits or Marathas or OBCs have joined urban civil society and want to move away from their caste identity, except when seeking a job or admission in a college. The spread of education and rapid urbanisation in the state have contributed to the process of erasing caste in social life. Indeed, Brahmins were never a vote bank, as they constitute just about four per cent. Though there does exist a chauvinistic Brahmin class, it is on the fringe. A very large number of social reform movements, trade unions and peasant movements were led by Brahmins. The institutional network created out of mass movements led by Mahatma Phule, Shahu Maharaj and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, has given rise to a Dalit, OBC and Maratha elite. They have greatly secularised social practices, even in mofussil Maharashtra. So theoretically speaking, Marathi society should have been truly progressive, particularly after the linguistic state of Maharashtra was carved out in 1960. The entire leadership of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement had a Gandhian, Nehruvian, socialist or communist legacy. That legacy began to wear out in the last 15 years or so as caste began to resurface. Looking back, two concomitant processes helped to recast the caste system. The first was the Mandalisation of politics since 1990 and the second was the upfront political consolidation of the Marathas. Even stalwarts like Sharad Pawar and R.R. Patil, who have been brought up personally and politically on the secular ideology, cannot escape the allegation of playing the Maratha card. The Marathas, though divided within, have formed a sort of Maratha fortress. In the Maharashtra Congress, this Maratha fortress kept out most of the OBCs and appropriated a section of the dalit community. The co-option was achieved by means of a political alliance with various factions of the Republican leadership. The dalit masses, by and large, followed their leaders till about three decades ago. It was in the early seventies that young dalits revolted against the established Republican leadership. A movement of Dalit Panthers was launched by the newly educated youth primarily belonging to the Mahar caste. Among them, some became neo-Buddhists along with Dr Ambedkar and some retained their Mahar caste. That contradiction continues to divide the community even today. Within the next two decades, till almost 1990, the year of Mandalisation, the rebellious Dalit Panthers called the political shots. By then they had got entrenched in political power, mainly by playing second fiddle to the Maratha Congress leadership. In the last 15 years, a third generation of dalit youth has come on the scene. He has no leadership, no ideology, no organisation, no programme. In the new economy, he has got further marginalised, despite being educated. A new educated lumpenised class has emerged in all the communities Marathas being no exception. As a result there is a growing divide between the established political class of all parties on the one hand and the newly ambitious activists/leaders on the other. It is in this gap that mayhem and murder take place which make headlines and the electronic media replays the gore through its 24-hour channels, giving out the impression of a caste civil war. Unfortunately the totally disconnected political leadership and bureaucracy draw their social data base from this misinformed or ill-informed media. For the past few years Maharashtra has witnessed sporadic riots in many parts. They bear a caste character but are essentially manifestations of a lumpen frustration. Not only the dalits and Marathas, but also the OBCs and now even the Brahmins have begun to form caste based fronts. The OBCs have found an eloquent and fighting leader in Chhagan Bhujbal. The Marathas have formed the Sambhaji Brigade and Chhava; the sidelined dalits and Muslims have created the Dalit-Muslim Front. And feeling threatened by the spectre of reservations, the Brahmins too have created their own platform. In the intitial years the Shiv Sena was the refuge of all lumpens across all castes. Now with the Sena disintegrating and the Congress closing the doors of its Maratha fortress, the lumpens have become loose cannons. Khairlanji was indeed horrifying and the desecration of the Ambedkar statue an act of insult. But they were not the only causes which sparked riots in the state. Todays restive dalit and OBC youth do not want to create a brave new world based on equality and justice. They are banging on the doors of the fortress that has kept them out in the cold for too long. The writer is editor, Loksatta

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15/12/2006 09:30