Political Empowerment
...ntries, different princely states and different people for the first time were coming forward as a modern Nation state. It was a challenge to come up with a document, which could ensure the representation of different interests. It had to ensure that starting from colonial legacy we should be able to lay the foundation of a state which was not only acceptable to different sections of people but also was democratic down to the core. It had to ensure laying down of the principles of welfarism.Its emphasis was on the democratic principles and it took into consideration the plural and diverse nature of Indian society. Its first major achievement was to introduce the universal adult franchise, the basis of democratic norms. In most of the fundamentalist countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc. not only that the democratic institutions were conveniently done away with, the downtrodden sections were marginalised from the mainstream of society. The Mullahs and other vested interests rule the roost in the name of religion. They derive legitimacy from the selected parts of scriptures and impose other practices suitable for the interests of elite by keeping the weaker sections out of the political processes. This kind of marginalisation of the poor is to the extreme and, much worse than that in the present democratic societies. The proposal of Fundamentalist organisations to restrict the franchise to the educated and Sadhus and Mahants is fairly close to these fundamentalist tendencies. Before we come to the present moves to curb the democratic spirit of our constitution we should register that even Hitler went in for major constitutional changes before he could impose the Fascist rule and cause havoc in Germany and Europe. Also many amendments were brought into the constitution in the seventies and they laid the ground for the imposition of emergency in 1975. But even those changes were much mild compared to what is being asserted by different communal and fundamentalist groups, the conglomerate called the Sangh Parivar. As the current proposals have the potential of undoing the very foundations of our democracy carefully nurtured by the founding fathers of our constitution. The hyper activities of the Indian government have always exposed its upper caste bias in politics. Instead of examining if there are caste discriminations which are much worse than racial discrimination, the ruling caste and class have embarked on the mission of throttling any move to raise the issue of political atrocities against Dalits in the UN Conference. The Indian government by trying to hide the reality has exposed its 'original sin'. It has once again proved the social fact that whether in the villages, or at the state level or at the national and international level it has the might and the power to throttle the political aspirations of the Dalits to secure their rights. Above all it has made apparent its resolve to uphold its dominance and supremacy over the Dalits and the downtrodden of India. Even a cursory glance at the legal provisions ensured by the Constitution and the constitutional amendments unravels the fact that atrocities are heaped upon the Dalits, Tribals and women in India. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 is clear indication of the phenomenon of heinous crimes perpetrated on the Dalits and the Tribals. The Annual Report of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission,a statutory body of the Indian Government also amplifies the fact that atrocities are committed on the Dalits all over India. Hence, caste system has not been annihilated for which Dr. Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar worked in his life time. But the iron grip of caste and its concurrent caste discrimination is an everyday phenomenon. While the ruling caste and ruling class are engaged in political hara-kiri of the nation state and the civil society, conscious and committed citizens of this country and society are engaged in ensuring the fact that the caste and descent-based discrimination is brought to central focus not only in the national forums but at the international plane too. Social activists, political leaders and representatives of the voluntary agencies are engaged in doing some good work. They have been consistently trying to raise the dreadful and horrible nature of caste discrimination at the international bodies. They have also been trying to build Dalit organizations at the local level to wage war against caste atrocities and casteism itself. The formation of Dalit sangharsh samitis or the Dalit struggle forums are the outcome of these long standing efforts. There are self-styled prophets who advocate the line of thought that the social activists and the NGOs instead of raising the issue of caste discrimination at the World Conference Against Racism, should demand that the UN bodies recognise caste as a form of discrimination. The Dalit activists and organizations and the other social activists and NGOs are well aware of the power equations at the UN bodies and conferences. They are also conscious of the fact that the Indian Government will deploy all the power and the resources at its disposal to deny any discussion on the cast-based polity issue. These individuals and organizations are aware of the fact that the Indian Government will engage in arm-twisting exercise if any NGO attempts to bring up the issue at the World Conference. But this has not deterred the proponents of the ideology from pursuing the cause. These people have been trying to unite the Dalits under one broad forum to wage a political struggle at all levels. Here Dr. Ambedkar's vision provides scope for a broad-based struggle for Dalit political rights. He had declared,"If you wish that you should be the master of political power you have to organise yourselves for this. Then only you will be able to engage yourselves in the struggle for human rights in the political arena that will emerge in the future". The present political crisis is not something temporary or new, but an inevitable outcome of the growth and development of the capitalist system in India and the rule of the big bourgeoisie. This system is unable to satisfy the urgent and basic needs of the vast majority of members of the polity. Nor is it able to smoothly accommodate the strivings for a share of power on the part of various bourgeois groups that have emerged as a result of the process of capitalist development. This leads to constant turmoil for which the bourgeoisie has no answer except to treat it as a 'law and order' problem and unleash state terrorism, communal and other forms of violence and anarchy to suppress it, which in turn further fuels the crisis. Elections and the change of governments have made no difference to this basic pattern of Indian political life. Instead, the ruling class uses parliamentary democracy and the change of governments, with or without elections, as a kind of safety-valve, as a means to divert the attention of the people from the root causes of the crisis and at the same time to find a more stable arrangement by which they can continue with their same oppressive and unjust rule. There is great pressure on the working class and people to accept this state of affairs. The people m...