Vijay Pratap

COMPILATION OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY VIJAY PRATAP COMPILATION OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY VIJAY PRATAP ENGLISH Printed on 13 December 2017 1 Printed on 13 December 2017 COMPILATION OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY VIJAY PRATAP CONTENT LIST ARTICLES Page No. 1. Elections in India and their Impact on Weaker Sections 1-7 2 Danger of the Emergence of Inferiority Complex Pessimism 8-10 too 3 Changing Contours of Dalit Politics 11-14 4 Bahujan Wants Active Participation 15-17 5 Independent Dalit role not feasible in Bihar 18-20 6 The Context of the State Assembly Elections: Some Reflections 21-25 7 Lest We Lose the War 26-29 8 Excerpts from a letter to a friend on the future of Vasudhaiva 30-34 Kutumbakam 9 A Forum of Dialogues on Global Responsibility Towards 35-39 Democracy 10 The ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ Initiative 40-42 11 A Brief Note on “India - Central Asia Dialogue” 43-45 12 Notes on Voluntarism 46-48 13 Samvaad: A Personal of Journey of Discovering Dialogue as a 49-53 New Tool for Intervention 14 Victim, Perpetrator and Innocent Spectator: Introspecting 54-56 about Terrorism 15 Politics of Right to Information 57-60 2 Printed on 13 December 2017 COMPILATION OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY VIJAY PRATAP 16 A Dialogue on Democracy 61-67 17 Poverty in India – An Overview 68-78 18 States and Democracy in South Asia 79-80 19 Ten Dialogues on "Policy Interventions for Consolidation of 81-82 Democracy" 20 Conversations on Democracy - Anil Bhattarai and Vijay 83-86 Pratap 21 Corruption and Communalism: Anti-Democratic Elements of 87-92 Indian Politics- Vijay Pratap 22 Towards North-South Solidarity : Some Challenges for 93-95 Building North-South Solidarity - Vijay Pratap 23 The Urgency of Dialogues on Democracy - Anil Bhattarai and 96-97 Vijay Pratap 24 Minorities and Democracy 98-99 25 Some Reflections on Funding and Voluntarism- Vijay Pratap; 100-103 Assisted by G. Narendranath 26 From Democracy to Swaraaj - Vijay pratap & Ritu Priya 104-113 27 Our Social Milieu and Politics of Transformation-I 113-115 Conversation On Community, Individual And Democracy (Aug. 2010) * * * * 3 Printed on 13 December 2017 COMPILATION OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY VIJAY PRATAP 1. ELECTIONS IN INDIA AND THEIR IMPACT ON WEAKER SECTIONS ~ Vijay Pratap In this article, the author looks at the issue of the empowerment of the weaker sections through the electoral and other political processes. He gives concrete examples and figures to support his argument. Though the major portion of the article focusses on the electoral process and its complexities, he ends by observing that non-electoral process are as, or probably more, important for the actual empowerment of these people. Elections have been an important vehicle for the empowerment of Indian people. Our national leadership, especially those who worked under Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, understood the importance of adult franchise for social transformation. It is no surprise that the national consensus to adopt universal adult franchise was so easily reached that the first election held after independence in 1947, was one in which all adults - irrespective of gender, caste, race and creed distinctions could participate. Even in several European countries, commoners, especially women, had to wage long struggles before they got universal voting rights. Mahatma Gandhi had serious reservations about the Westminster model of democracy. But when India got independence, probably this was the best course available to us. Mahatma Gandhi had his eye fixed on the well being of the ‘last’ person. Anything he did or suggested had in-built mechanisms of ensuring space for this — socially most disadvantaged — person. Gandhi had once suggested that only those who earn their bread through physical labour should be given the right to vote. By implication it would have meant that those elites of the middle classes who desired to vote or to contest elections would have worked with the commoners to earn their bread. The operationalisation of this suggestion would have meant that the poor would continue to have a key role in the affairs of the nation. This would have been akin to the Marxist notion of ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ without the evil dimension of dictatorship. Marxists rejected this democracy as diversionary tactics by the ruling class. Till recently, for Marxists, especially where Marxist revolutions had taken place, open and genuine adult franchise was unacceptable. They feared that through open elections ruling classes would insidiously acquire control over the system in such a way that the revolution would become redundant. Paradoxically enough, in Communist states, revolution became redundant because of lack of democracy. Interestingly enough, in Communist countries the means to overthrow the ruling coterie generally either preceded or followed adult franchise. The reverse dimensions of this paradox can also be observed in India. The oppressed people, who did not have a central role in the political system of India, have come to acquire considerable space in Indian politics. In the Indian context, marginal groups (except tribals and members of other minorities) can be better identified through their community identity. This community identity is known as the caste system. The entire population was classified into three broad sections—the upper, the middle castes and the ‘casteless’ or untouchables’. Each of these 4 Printed on 13 December 2017 COMPILATION OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY VIJAY PRATAP groups is further divided into sub-castes. The upper castes overwhelmingly function as system managers. Various artisanal groups are classified as a fourth category—the ‘sudras’. But another fifteen percent of our population, known as ‘dalits’ is separately listed in our constitution, so they are called ‘scheduled castes’. In traditional society the ‘dalits’ have suffered many levels of exploitation and oppression. Their condition has been of immense concern to social reformers since the late 19th century. It was Mahatma Gandhi who most effectively drew the nation’s attention to their oppression. He declared that this model of treating them sub-humanly was against the spirit of all religions including Hinduism. If any scripture sanctioned these evils forms of discrimination. He was keen to renounce those scriptures. Gandhi made abolition of untouchability and empowerment of these ‘Untouchables,’ one of most important issues of his politics. What now, in this age of democracy, appears to be quite natural for a humanistic philosopher was not so easy or natural at that time. On 23-24 March, 1918 the first convention of ex-untouchable castes was held in Bombay. Important nationalist leaders from the Indian National Congress participated. The position of privilege was so deeply embedded that many prominent people like Bal Gangadhar Tilak refused to sign a resolution against ‘Untouchability’. Gandhi’s agenda was to make Hindus sensitive to the plight of ex-untouchables and to fight the evil of untouchability. In 1931, Gandhi founded the Untouchability Eradication Federation. The depth of internationalisation of one’s place in the caste-system can be estimated from the fact that many of the obnoxious practices of discrimination still continue in the rural areas of the country. Even today, in many areas, the entry of ‘untouchables’ in temples is not permitted. They have separate graveyards and cremation grounds. Segregation can be so total that in road- side restaurants they are served tea in separately kept cups or in throw-away earthen pots. This kind of segregation led to a demand among the lowest caste group that they should have separate electorates. Among these castes the other powerful trend has been the desire to integrate with the rest of society. Gandhi facilitated this process of integration through ‘revolutionising’ the consciousness of the upper castes. In 1935, there was an agreement between these two currents represented by an ex-untouchable leader Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, that there will not be separate electorates for dalits, but seats will be reserved for them in provincial and national legislatures — a process of affirmative action. Since that time, there are roughly 15% reservations for dalit castes and 8.5% reservations for tribal people. However, the number of scheduled caste MPs (Member of Parliament) is no indicator that dalit power has increased. In fact, in a mixed electorate, it can give a very misleading impression. For example, in the 1996 elections, the predominantly upper caste Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged more scheduled caste seats than most of the other political parties. Now, does this mean that the BJP has a large support base among dalits? On the contrary, it represents the interests of upper castes. Dalits have voted BJP 13% below the average vote percentage of the party. Then, why this paradox? In a mixed electorate, where elections take place on caste/community lines, the upper castes rally behind ‘their’ party, i.e., the BJP. In most constituencies the upper castes are in a minority, but when they rally around a particular 5 Printed on 13 December 2017 COMPILATION OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY VIJAY PRATAP scheduled caste/dalit candidate, then the chances of a ‘co-optable’ lower caste candidate winning the elections becomes stronger. A look at the 1996 voting behaviour of scheduled castes according to a survey done by a prestigious research institute, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, shows that despite a small percentage of support among the scheduled castes, the BJP is able to find co-optable ‘leaders’ from among these castes. The BJP leader, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, just before resigning from Prime Ministership in June 1996 because of an inability to demonstrate a simple majority in Parliament, tried to mislead the House regarding the support of dalit castes to his party. He thought everyone will forget that in a reserved constituency it is only a scheduled caste person who can become an electoral candidate.

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