(The Political Line newsletter is India’s political landscape explained every week by Varghese K. George, senior editor at The Hindu . You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox every Friday.)
How relevant is caste and is there discrimination based on caste in India? Pause a moment and try answering these questions. There are many people who think that caste is, or should be, irrelevant in understanding and governing India. Caste-based reservation is a particularly provocative topic, as there are many who think that people are getting undue opportunities because of this policy. There is strong articulation of this sentiment on social media, where people make derogatory comments about those who are empowered through caste-based reservation, in education and employment.
Caste is also very relevant when one stands accused of a crime of a political nature, it turns out. In three recent instances, caste was used as a defence for or by the accused. Some of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case of the 2002 Gujarat riots are “Brahmins” with good ‘sanskaar‘ or values and it is possible they may have been targeted due to their past family activities, a BJP MLA, who was a part of the State government panel that recommended remission to all the 11 men found guilty, has said.
Some convicts in Bilkis Bano case are ‘Brahmins with good sanskaar’, says Gujarat BJP MLA
The Tyagi community in western UP has mobilised behind Shrikant Tyagi, who is accused of assaulting and abusing a fellow female resident of a posh Noida society. The Yogi government in the State had taken strict measures against the BJP politician, after a video that purportedly showed him assaulting the woman went viral. Now, a gathering of Tyagis think the action against him was disproportionate to the offence and wants “justice” for him!
Tyagis seek justice for Shrikant, his family
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia addressing the media in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
The most curious case of caste as defence came from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is accused of corruption in opening liquor shops in the national capital. The CBI has opened a case against him and several others. He or the AAP has not said anything about the allegations; however, Mr. Sisodia’s main counter was that said he was a Rajput, and a descendant of Maharana Pratap, no less! This from someone who made political career by claiming to be an Aam Aadmi – common man. “My reply to BJP — I am a descendant of Maharana Pratap and a Rajput,” Mr. Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.
Excise policy case | BJP offered to close all cases if I joined the party, claims Sisoidia
Does such prejudice seep into the administration of justice in India? In the Bilkis Bano case, the opinion on Brahmins was given by an MLA who was part a committee that decided on the release of the accused.
A less charitable view of Brahmins cost a BJP leader in Madhya Pradesh his positions in the party. The BJP’s Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader Pritam Singh Lodhi reportedly said that Brahmins exploited poor people – in far more provocative words. Once the video of his speech became controversial, he offered to apologise to the community and even put his head at their feet. But the BJP expelled him, and Mr. Lodhi, whose community is numerically significant, is now mobilising them against the party.
BJP faces a tricky balancing act in Madhya Pradesh
In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, the BJP invoked the memory of party leader Kalyan Singh, who belonged to the OBC Lodh caste, this week.
Adityanath unveils statue of Kalyan Singh as BJP pushes for OBC connect
One way to reduce friction between castes is to promote inter-marriages, according to Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale. “Inter-caste marriages need to be promoted on a higher scale to bring equality in the society,” he said.
Promote inter-caste marriages to ensure equality: Athawale
I will treat the defence of Jharkhand’s Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is facing charges of allotting a mining lease to himself, in a different category. “I am the son of a tribal and fear is not there in a tribal’s DNA. I will be fighting till the last drop of blood in my body,” he said, even as he faced the prospect of disqualification as an MLA.
Will fight till last drop of blood: Hemant Soren
Tribal communities have been looped into the modern industrial economy in which transactions are done in money on unequal terms. World over, tribespeople have been forced out of their lands and access to common natural resources even as mining, dams and industries expanded. They protested, but were mostly helpless against the march of the industrial economy. Political formations that took shape among them sought a more equitable share in the modern economy and nation. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha that Mr. Soren now heads was one such which sought a separate State for the tribal communities. They realised their dream in 2000. Their linkages with the modern economy and power structure made them vulnerable to modern laws that they had little knowledge to deal with. In other words, cash economy and the modern legal system make tribal people unequal participants in the order. A tribesperson who has been living off the forest for generations might one fine day find his routine, or part of it, criminalised. It is this fundamental mismatch that puts Mr. Soren in the difficult position that he is in. The nexus between money and politics is managed through many layers of plausible deniability. That is something politicians from disadvantaged social groups and relatively recent entrants into higher levels of power may not be adept in. They might end up doing brazen acts. Mr. Soren is accused of allotting a mine to himself. In Mr. Sisodia’s words, Rajputs don’t such things.
