The birthday and party poopers

It is heartening to read so many columns proffering advice to the Dalit movement after Mayawati’s birthday bash. But it is disturbing t...

It is heartening to read so many columns proffering advice to the Dalit movement after Mayawati’s birthday bash. But it is disturbing that most columnists condemned it without grasping the latent function of the programme. They raised many questions. Why should Mayawati indulge in this show of opulence when Uttar Pradesh’s human development index is one of the lowest?

Moreover, they argued, these celebrations represent statusquoism and retard the development of an alternative culture. They blamed Dalit politics for being obsessed with power and being devoid of an emancipatory agenda.

What a pity. The critics could see Mayawati’s diamonds but they missed the simplicity of shawl and open sleeves of Kanshi Ram. They could not read the message writ large in the very nomenclature — Swabhiman Diwas.

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Why didn’t they capture the enthusiasm on the faces of the poverty-stricken Dalits who participated? Why did the images of teenaged girls with veils around their necks like Mayawati go unnoticed?

I am sure none of the columnists visited the site of the celebrations, neither at Lucknow nor in Delhi. Otherwise they would have written some insightful things about the programme as well. About the play ‘Parivartan ka Maseeha’ (Messiah of Transformation), for instance, which highlighted the ‘alternative hegemony’ with which Dalits are being equipped. The identities and symbols projected in the play — King Pururava, Buddha, Kabir, Nayanna Guruswamy, Phule, Periyar, Sahuji, Ambedkar — ably constructed a parallel value system for the Dalits. It was a state-sponsored programme not only for Mayawati but also for the whole Dalit community.

Opulence versus simplicity — the same moral issue had erupted when Ambedkar wore his suit and was criticised for it while dhoti-clad Gandhi was hailed. But Dalits argued that Gandhi, son of a deewan of the empire and Vaishya by caste, had to wear a dhoti to get accepted by the masses.

On the other hand, Ambedkar had to project an image that Dalits could follow. Gandhi took Dalits to temples while Ambedkar exhorted them to politics. Today, Dalits have understood that their salvation lies in politics. They have learnt the tricks of the trade where opulence and self-projection play a dominant role.

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To evaluate the BSP’s performance, one must locate it in the context in which it exists. BSP has ruled for 18 months, that too as a minority party. Against a political and bureaucratic system which is 53 years old, and a social set-up with a history of 2000 years, it is just a fragment.

Yet, Mayawati has not compromised with the values of her party. Had she done so, the BJP would have not withdrawn support from her (in 1995) or she would have not withdrawn support from the BJP (in 1997). Her decision to revamp a status-quoist bureaucracy would not have been criticised. She would not have been condemned when she punished mafia don Raja Bhaiya, whose name spelt terror. She would have been hailed for saving Mathura’s mosque and for distributing pattas of land. The emancipatory agenda of Dalit assertion is moving from the ideational to the economic and political realm.