A state divided against itself

Election 2004, and the run up to it, brought out a dangerous hate agenda against Brahmins in Maharashtra. The attack on the Bhandarkar Insti...

Election 2004, and the run up to it, brought out a dangerous hate agenda against Brahmins in Maharashtra. The attack on the Bhandarkar Institute was possibly one manifestation of that. NCP leaders like Sharad Pawar and his trusted aide, R.R. Patil, spewed venom on the Joshis and Kulkarnis and “four per cent” people (read Brahmins), and organisations like Maratha Mahasangh and Sambhaji Brigade openly gave a call for a ‘Brahmin vs Bahujan’ war.

What’s behind the Maratha anger? Unfortunately, it flows from a one-sided perception of history. Some Brahmins did oppose Shivaji, but many other prominent ones stood by him, like Dadoji Konddeo

and Swami Ramdas. Shivaji’s famous Ashtapradhan Mandal (ministry) had Brahmin members, too. Local Brahmins refused to crown him, but Gagabhat, whose roots were in Maharashtra, came specially from Kashi to do so..In modern times, Babasaheb Purandare and many other Brahmin writers have spent entire lifetimes singing paeans to Shivaji. For most Brahmins — and even for the “Manuwadi” RSS — Shivaji is the greatest role model.

The perceived hegemony of Brahmins in arts, culture and sports, is another reason behind anti-Brahminism. But then don’t Marathas enjoy political hegemony? In any case, superiority in arts and culture cannot be achieved by numerical strength. Only the talented get a chance to rub shoulders with the established. V. Shantaram didn’t have to hate Brahmins to become one of India’s all-time great film directors. He actually worked with Brahmins like Keshaorao Datey and Shreeram Lagoo. Poetess Shanta Shelke is respected like her Brahmin counterparts. In modern Marathi theatre and films, many talented non-Brahmins have earned a place for themselves. In contrast, can a deserving Brahmin become a minister or chief minister in the state? Manohar Joshi and Nitin Gadkari were exceptions, but for this the thanks should go largely to Bal Thackeray, who doesn’t treat Brahmins as untouchables.

The leadership of the Marathas, represented mainly by the NCP and organisations like the Maratha Mahasangh, are perpetrating political Brahminism in Maharashtra. Forget Brahmins, they even grudge granting meagre political space to the Dalits out of inescapable political compulsions. Even today, in “progressive” Maharashtra — whose revered saints belonged to many castes — Dalits are disliked in the “zero-Brahmin” countryside. How can the non-Maratha Bahujans have an affinity for the NCP, a party toeing the line of the Maratha Mahasangh and Sambhaji Brigade, that have the patently exclusivist aim to establish a “Maratha religion” by 2006? But while Dalits cannot be wished away, the “four per cent” Brahmins can. Negating the contribution of Brahmins to Maharashtra’s progress and suppressing them with physical might amounts to brutal majoritarianism.