Never-never coalition
Dalit-Brahmin alliance is an impossibility at present
By Kancha Ilaiah
Some Dalit writers have been arguing that the enmity between Dalits and Sudras/Other Backward Castes (OBCs) is more bitter than that between Dalits and Brahmins. Hence, they argue, a social coalition among Dalits and Brahmins is possible, particularly in the rural setting, where Brahmins have moved away from landed property.
Moreover, a section of Dalits live within Buddhist and Christian religious cultures. Hence, a Dalit-Brahmin coalition is possible if friendly relations between Brahminic Hinduism and Buddhist/Christian religions begin to operate.
In the case of Sudras/OBCs, the allegiance to Hinduism is still primitive. There is hardly any critical assessment of how Brahminism has darkened their identity. The Scheduled Caste (SC) intelligentsia had assessed this and chose an alternative path by carving out a definite identity for themselves. Ambedkar initiated that process in a big way.
The Dalit intellectuals who are talking about Dalit-Brahmin coalition do not theorise social relations based on historical experience. They do not discuss the spiritual realm at all. All their arguments flow from the basic concern about the economic development of Dalits. Nobody can dismiss these concerns, but economic issues form only part of the problems considered by Ambedkar. The uncritical and crude economic pursuits of Sudras/OBCs should not mislead the historical vision of Ambedkarites. This will have serious consequences in the process of socio-political change in India.
If we carefully examine the spiritual and cultural divide between the whole of Sudras/OBCs and the Dwija society, we can see that the common cultural ground between Sudras and Dalits is more visible than the common cultural ground between Dalits and Brahmins.
There is a basic difference between development of a section of society and transformation of the whole society. When Ambedkar targeted Brahminism and Hinduism, he had the transformation of Dalits and the rest of society in his scheme. He did not see the OBCs (at that time Sudras) as oppressors. He saw their caste consciousness as an imposed consciousness, not as one constructed by their historical self. Now we can see the productive cultural ethic between Dalits and OBCs as a common bonding. Such a bonding does not exist between Dalits and Brahmins. Brahmins as a caste operate completely within the sphere of non-productive elite economy. Their intellectuality is only a derived intellectuality, whereas the Dalit intellectuality is rooted in the processes of production.
Dalits have three great prophetic images-Buddha, Jesus and Ambedkar-to confront the Hindu divine images. As the spread of these images within the Dalit-Adivasi society increases, Brahmins would have no way but to recognise the socio-spiritual strength of Dalits. The OBCs neither owned these images nor did they construct their alternative images to improve their transformative abilities. That is the reason why the OBCs as a social category will not be able to challenge the Brahminic social order.
The reason is that there is philosophical poverty among the OBCs in particular and the Sudras in general. In Uttar Pradesh, BSP leader Kanshi Ram propagated the great alliance of Mahatma Phule, Ambedkar and Periyar. But the OBCs did not respond to this, because, at the religious level, they were hanging on to Hindu Brahminism even though their status in that religion is only as the 'feet born'. Though Dalits were forced to be untouchables and were poorer than the OBCs, in the recent past, their philosophical basis and identity have staged a come back.
The OBCs are in the primitive level. When a community is primitive in terms of its consciousness, it does not pose any threat to the oppressors, rather it remains a threat to its own self. This is the predicament of Sudras/OBCs. But what is the responsibility of the more conscious ideological forces that have come from the most oppressed in society? They must lead even the less conscious among the other oppressed, but not join hands with the oppressors and declare that the less conscious oppressed are more dangerous than the historical oppressors themselves. That leads to the end of Dalit ideology itself.
(Ilaiah is a Dalit intellectual and academic)
Courtesy/Deccan Herald
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