How the Left takes care of its wards – even in Dalit-Bahujan spaces
A recent press conference in Delhi on Sep. 16 for the release of the Bhim Army chief, Chandrashekhar Azad and his colleagues, after their arrest during the Rosh March (रोष मार्च) on Aug 21 to protest the demolition of the Ravidas temple in Tughlaqabad, New Delhi, featured a very interesting panel. It fielded, among others, Aishe Ghosh, JNUSU President, and Sucheta De, National President, AISA (All India Students Association). There were, also, as per reports, two members of the Bhim Army CWC – the least one could have expected!
An earlier version of the information about the event had listed on the panel the presence of just one Bhim Army member along with the Left-aligned students mentioned above – and other prominent and familiar Left-aligned personalities in the capital. Possibly, someone realized that that seemed too lopsided, especially for an event on a Dalit organization like the Bhim Army and an issue connected with the Ravidas temple, so a few last-minute corrections seem to have been made.
However, almost immediately one can note the presence of SFI-member Aishe Ghosh and AISA president, Suchita De. SFI happens to be the student wing of CPI(M) and AISA that of CPI(ML)-Liberation. Mercifully
So, the panel had two Left elected student-members as opposed to one from an avowedly Dalit-Bahujan outfit (BAPSA-Fraternity). But what is even more surprising is the fact that on the day of the press conference, Sep 16, the JNU students had officially been elected for just 3 days – assuming the official results declaration date of Sep 13!
Should one assume that in 3 days, the JNU students, especially the Left Panel’s presidential candidate (and victor) Aishe Ghosh, was suddenly the most appropriate – and inevitable – choice for a panel that brought together aspects of Dalit politics, faith and mobilization? Granted that the particular panel had also a narrower scope, that of the release of the Bhim Army members, and so might be construed as professing an agenda of human rights and the targeting of dissenters, yet for all intents and purposes, it would be hard to delink the issue from core Dalit rights and Dalit self-respect concerns.
So, how does one justify the presence of two Left-aligned student affiliates of Left parties, with one of them being quite green behind her ears, unless recent experience of marching, arm-waving and play-acting in front of various JNU-dhabas counts for real movement experience, especially in Dalit Bahujan spaces? Isn’t this making a mockery of the gravity of the Dalit-Bahujan cause?
One would not want to take away any victory against the right-wing forces that threaten to overturn and overwhelm all basic rights and also wish to co-opt and subjugate the marginalized Dalit-Bahujan people even more. Hence, it is important to have as many voices against such truly fascist forces that seem to march on almost unopposed. To that extent, the current defeat of ABVP in the JNU elections might have significance (though ABVP swept elections in Delhi University). Also, the current JNU president, Aishe Ghosh, has expressed some admirable sentiments which inspire and drive her, that of the role of the CPM-backed trade union CITU and its struggle against the Damodar Valley Corporation in Durgapur (WB). This piece, then, does not purport to be an ad-hominem targeting of any person in particular.
But one can surely argue that if someone lacks any demonstrated experience in people’s movement then that person probably does not qualify to be on a Press Council panel to address what is centrally an issue of Dalit-Bahujan rights. And why must the person be from JNU? Is there no other student from the very many other universities in and around Delhi whose heart beats for the Dalit-Bahujan cause? A BAPSA leader from JNU recently made a case against the Left Front’s attempt to foist their ideology which has historically been opposed to Dalits-Bahujans, calling them “Marxists without Marx.” So, how does one explain the presence of two Left-backed student outfit members in a space where it might have made sense to have more Dalit-Bahujan representatives?
Of course, it makes sense only as a site and occasion of a future Left leader being groomed and propped for future glory; wherever Left forces have some leverage because of the perception of their own putative participation in various struggles, they try to field as many of their own candidates as possible, even in Dalit-Bahujan spaces.
This serves at least two purposes: one, it immediately seeks to announce the Left’s solidarity with Dalit-Bahujan causes, something they have been hauled over the coals over more recently (though Dr. Ambedkar had brought it up in his writings long ago), and, second, it enables them to insinuate their own voice – and particular ideology – into the conversation and space into which they are desperate to make inroads. It might worth bearing mention that today the Bhim Army seems to be the most attractive of Dalit-Bahujan outfits to latch onto, at least in savarna eyes given the attention it has received, what with the more wary and older organizations often keeping their distance from the Left.
This article does not try to get into the contentious area of the relationship and engagements between the Left and Dalit-Bahujan forces – there is a lot of capable writing on that – and it does not mean to suggest that all Dalit-Bahujans are entirely inimical towards left forces (the author is well aware of various trajectories of the Left and Dalit struggles, especially in places like Telengana).
Yet, there is something to be said about promoting, in what seemed to be painfully obvious manner, rather unsuitable candidates based only on their affilaitions with certain Left organizations. What bearing do (recent) JNU student office-bearers’ views have on issues that have to do with deep histories of oppression and marginalization of Dalit-Bahujan people? Not one other Ambedkarite, Dalit-Bahujan movement participant could be found in all of Delhi? Who composed the bulk of the protestors during the Rosh-Yatra? Hundreds of thousands of Ravidasi Dalit-Bahujans who travelled mostly from all over north India – often making overnight journeys in trains, unreserved. Who comprises the Bhim Army’s cadre? Who was affected during the violence in Saharanpur? And who is still carrying on the struggle for the rebuilding of the Ravidas Temple? The answer is – the Ravidasis and their other Dalit-Bahujan allies. So, how come when it comes to a press conference on an issue related to the Ravidas agitation and release of Bhim Army members, the Left almost takes centre-stage? Did they feel no one would notice…? It is not as though such brazenness, lopsidedness and carelessness has not been noticed before. Very recently, Kuffir Nalgundwar, one of the founders of the Ambedkarite site, Roundtable India, flagged a flyer for a human rights meeting in Delhi his facebook account, with the comment: “can you spot any OBC, Dalit among these personalities? and this is a ‘civil’ society group.. savarna India doesn’t understand even the first premise of democracy: representation… sad that Bahujans still think of the Indian empire as a democracy…”
It is especially egregious when these kinds of usurpations and appropriations happen in the presence and/or knowledge of those who claim to be struggling for all humans rights, and those who never fail to announce their commitment to the Dalit-Bahujan cause. But, almost every action of theirs is a testament to the fact that they are simply not committed enough to the cause to make fundamental changes in their thinking and functioning. The Dalit-Bahujan cause is instrumental to them; the emancipation they envisage does not sincerely have space for Dalit-Bahujan aspirations on equal footing with their other “revolutionary” agendas.
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Ananda Maitreya is a Delhi-based writer and a student of social movements. He has been involved in various struggles of the marginalized people, including Dalit and Adivasi movements and the Palestinian struggle.
Image credit – inuth
But read the views of Dr Ambedkar on commies and therefore your entire views has to be relooked