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| Chandrashekhar Ravan, photo by Shakeeb kpa (wiki commons) |
INTRODUCTION:
CASTE, GENDER AND PUBLIC LIFE IN KERALA
The book starts with ethnographic
reflections by Sharika Thiranagama based on results of fieldwork conducted in
Kerala. It has two physical sites- rural libraries/ reading rooms and Dalit
households. Libraries were an important site through which communist ideas were
spread. The author states how libraries never eliminated caste but merely re-organised
it. Library activists were mostly dominant castes (Nairs and Ezhavas) who
claimed to be atheists but associated only with Hindus. Libraries had books
which were anti-caste but no Dalit members. These library activists added that
caste and Hinduism are private affairs and must remain so. They also shared
their dismay with inter-caste and inter-faith marriages, mainly against women
opting for them. This brings us to the second field site- Dalit localities.
Land redistribution has caused upward mobility of Ezhavas. Ezhavas became
landlords and neighbours with Dalit labourers. The author states how
untouchability was practiced by Ezhava women against Dalit women which increased
with Hinduisation. Hindu supremacy, untouchability and patriarchy, all three
get their safe haven in private domain and the ramifications are felt in
public. The essay ends by stating that now Hindutva parties simply present
those evils as public virtues.
INCIVILITY OF CASTE AMONG CHRISTIANS
Rowena Robinson’s essay introduces us to
the ideas of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who said, “We must make our political
democracy a social democracy as well”. In the hope of bettering their
socio-economic conditions, many Untouchables and middle- ranking castes
converted into Christianity, which, like Islam and Sikhism, values social
equality. Robinson finds out that casteism ails Christians of rural Tamil Nadu.
“In the places where the domination of Vanniyars is more, Paraiyar communities
still cannot enter the churches”, she writes. Even the position of priests
(catechists) is mostly held by Vellalars. Thus, we see that among the Tamil
Christians, dominant sections of the middle-ranking castes practice
untouchability. Robinson tells us that the exclusionary methods practiced by
state machinery get normalised. She elaborates that Dalit Christians (like
Dalit Muslims) do not get Scheduled Caste status. This, in turn, denies them
any kind of affirmative action policies like representation in legislatures,
reservation in government jobs, scholarships in state-run educational
institutes, and protection under SC/ST Atrocities Act, 1989. Civility, as the
essay states, is about trust, equality and fraternity; it is anchored in
religion (Buddhism) and morality, which is beyond the purview of law.
IMAGINATIONS OF DIGNITY IN BIHAR
Indrajit Roy’s essay on the politics in
Bihar is about middle-ranking castes (Yadavs) and their form of mobilisation
(Rashtriya Janata Dal party). Roy observes how ‘low’ caste Hindus in rural
Bihar always talked about social justice, equality and dignity while talking
about RJD’s ascendance to power. RJD was critical of the domination of high
caste Hindu men in Congress and Jan Sangh. Failure of proper implementation of
affirmative action programs, and land reforms was due to this domination. Roy
terms Lalu Prasad’s rule as ‘substantive
deepening of democracy’. He highlights some of the most crucial aspects of
RJD’s work, “[Lalu] Yadav provided institutional support to popular struggles
for equality in the state. Specific policy interventions included the
elimination of tree and toddy tax, regularization of slums and allowing milk
suppliers to establish cowsheds freely in towns and cities. State holidays were
declared to mark the birth anniversary[y] of [Saint] Ravi Das.” One must note,
this is happening at a time when in 1991, high caste Hindu men of the Savarn
Liberation Front gang raped and killed ten Dalit women. Roy
proposes that negotiations and conflicts within a symbolic framework are not
only inevitable but also desirable for the proper functioning of democracy.
COSMOPOLITANISM SANS CIVILITY
Suryakant Waghmore, from his fieldwork with
two caste associations located in Mumbai, helps us understand the present form of cosmopolitanism in
India. He coins the neologism ‘Hindu cosmopolitanism’ and argues that Hinduness within cosmopolitanism is
a unique feature of contemporary Indian society. This chapter is based on the
study of Deshastha Brahmin and Nair caste associations. Wealth, elite
education, and cultural capital symbolise these two castes. Yet there was
anxiety and a sense of loss among the members of both the associations. While
Brahmins cast aspersions against Marathas, Nairs were irritated by the rise of
Ezhavas. Maintenance of rigid social hierarchies came at a cost- it produced
anxieties in elderly men and it subjugated unmarried women. Detailed interviews
with the senior male members of the two caste associations show how, despite
living a consumerist lifestyle, one is left to maintain caste purity against
other dominant castes. What we see is that while non-Hindus are discredited at
the outset of the Hindu cosmopolitanism, it also entails the maintenance of patriarchal
endogamous casteist norms among Hindus. The workings of high caste Hindu
associations tell us that elite Hindus have all elements of an urban
cosmopolitanism, except civility.
FEMINIST DEBATES
Meena Gopal’s essay engages with the
debates within women’s movement. Her focus is on ‘the case of the ban on the
dance bars in Mumbai and the state of Maharashtra in 2005’. While savarn
feminists opposed this ban because it would hamper the only source of income
for poor bar dancers, Dalit feminists supported it as it would help poor women
to come out of the stigmatised occupation of a bar dancer. The debate was alive
for more than a decade, as Gopal notes. Through this debate, a point was noted
that women’s movement needed many more conversations around the theme of gender
justice from various social positions. During such conversations, it came out
that Savarn feminists remained silent after Khairlanji massacre where a family
of Buddhists were killed by Hindus (Kunbis/ dominant OBCs). What also came out was
the lack of trust between savarn women and Dalit women, and a need to
overcome differences for larger solidarity of women across the lines of castes
and religion.
NOMINAL
CIVILITY IN RURAL INDIA
In the prevalent discourse about rural
India, conflict is given supremacy over peace. James Manor urges his readers to
focus on negotiations, accommodations and dialogue among various castes which
bring about rural peace. This is in line with the lessening of caste conflicts
over past two to three decades. Manor asks why conflicts are resolved, how
dialogue happens, who are the major stakeholders and what ramifications do such
accommodations have on the future. Manor proposes that slowly Dalits are being
extended some civility from high caste Hindus. Manor, however, cautions us that
this cannot be overemphasised because violence is now shifting from local to
regional level as protests against SC/ ST PoA Act, 1989 is mostly backed by
political parties both regional and national. He adds that this is merely a
change of mind, not heart. High caste Hindus are well aware of the pitfalls
of engaging in conflicts as Dalits are increasingly protesting through both
state and non-state actors. Extension of civility towards Dalits by high caste
Hindus is about strategy, not about empathy.
DELHI: AN UNCIVIL CITY
Amita Baviskar’s essay talks about how neo-liberalism
is engulfing Delhi. It is a city where efficiency trumps over equity, where
cars and cows screech past one another, where women are asked to return home
before sunset, where Muslims and Sikhs are looked at with suspicion and where
heat-island effect makes it a furnace during summer. She tells us about the
nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and business class for taking over
public land for private purposes. She proposes her own idea of Delhi. A Delhi
where commons and commoners matter; a Delhi which provides ‘basic amenities
like housing, clean water and sanitation, health and education’; a Delhi which
is dotted with small commercial hubs catering to all basic necessities; where
‘urban commons—land, water, air, green areas—are shared’, where strangers are
assumed to be kind, not cold and where dissent remains the hallmark of
democracy. Her Delhi has to be like Begumpura– a city of civility.
CONCLUSION
Overall, the book is an attempt to tell us that
democracy has to be looked beyond its institutional and procedural aspects;
that liberal democracy might have illiberal values, and what is assumed to be a
peaceful society may have normalised violence. It hints that today’s fascist
regime in India has roots in the social order which has held for centuries. It
finds postcolonial understanding of India not only superfluous but also
misleading. Elections, media, institutions, (lack of) development, economic (in)equality,
citizenship, minority rights, political (in)equality, etc. are the key
categories to understand democracy across the world. Waghmore and Gorringe have
introduced another category–
civility– in the
discourse surrounding democracy. Anthropologists of democracy,
political sociologists, social theorists, postcolonial historians, feminists
and Ambedkarites will find the book handy.
Review by Zeeshan Husain. Zeeshan has done his M.Phil from CSSSC, Kolkata. He is interested in the society and polity of Uttar Pradesh.
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