ThePrint asks:
Why is renewed Dalit assertion making upper castes anxious?
“Jis kaum ka itihas nahi hota wo shaasak nahi ban pata” (The community that doesn’t know its history can never be a ruler).
Dalits believe that their history has either been erased or kept in the dark, so that this community is not able derive inspiration from its past. For a very long period of time, Bahujan intellectuals, thinkers and writers have been writing on these aspects of history. Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar, Kanshi Ram, Mayawati etc have all laid emphasis on highlighting Dalit history.
Festivals and celebrations of historic occasions are also an important way to assert historical identities. Dalits celebrate these days with enthusiasm, whether it is Ambedkar Jayanti (14 April), Mahaparinirvan Diwas (6 December), Constitution Day (26 November), Manusmriti Dahan Diwas (25 December), birth and death anniversaries of Phoolan Devi etc.
Several of these have direct ideological conflict with upper caste groups, like Bhima Koregaon, where Dalits are celebrating victory over Brahmins. The very essence of this day hurt the casteist supremacy of that particular ideology.
Earlier, these events were very local in nature, and didn’t have any wide implications. That is why they didn’t face any resistance from upper caste groups. But economic empowerment and the digital revolution have strengthened Dalits to celebrate and propagate these festivals and occasions on a large scale.
This has changed the balance of history, which was very much in favour of upper castes. Now, a new history is taking birth. Remember that Dalits were celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle, where lakhs of Dalits gather every year to seek inspiration from the historical event. But which mainstream media, or upper caste writer or historians even knew about it?
Whether it is Rohith Vemula, Una, or Saharanpur, upper caste mainstream media has been taken aback by the proactive resistance of Dalits. What is true for the upper caste media is also true for upper caste people. They never even thought that these people exist in their social atmosphere. But a continuous social agitation by this community has certainly shaken their world now.
Devashish Jarariya is a political analyst and social media activist of the Bahujan Samaj Party.