THE RISE OF MIDDLE CASTE& DALIT VIOLENCE

“Hindu society as such does not exist. It is only a collection of castes. Each caste is conscious of its existence. Its survival is the be all and end all of its existence”

                                                                                                                                   _BR AMBEDKAR

Just few days back our conscious was shocked when 2 teenage dalit girls were raped , killed and hanged on the tree in Badaun by members of dominant Yadav caste.This incident was similar in a way to Belchi massacre of dalits in 1977 because both of these incidents happened after the general elections ,in both cases  Dalits were at the receiving end, both received wide media coverage ,however one thing which stands out clearly in both the cases was that the perpetuar in both the incidents were OBC communities Or the so called middle caste .Yadav in Badaun rape and Kurmi in Belchi massacre.

Who are these middle caste,why they are antagonistic to the dalits and why in recent years most of the violence against Dalits is perpetuated by these middle-caste only. We will try to find answers to all these questions in this article.

As we all know that According to hindu Texts like dharmashastra ,Manusmriti,Hindu social order is divided into 4 varnas Brahmins,Kshatriya,Vaishya,Shudra and finally the untouchables who are outside the pale of the varna order…While we all know that which caste come under Brahmins and Vaishya ,however still confusion persist about which caste come under Kshatriya and Shudra..

There are many caste like Ahir,,Lodh,gujjar,Jat,Kurmis in North India and Vokkaliga,Kamma,Maratha ,Vanniyars and Kapu in south India who claim to be Kshatriya origin even though presently there occupation is mostly Agricultural or herding..Though technically there present occupational activity generally assigns them Shudra status as Agriculture was generally practiced by Shudras in Ancient India ,however they claim that they were the original Kshatriyas and during course of time due to economic circumstances or because of distress they shifted from Martial traditions to Agriculture.

The question which comes to everybody,s mind is  why after living there life as Peasants and accepting the assigned lower social status in brahmanical order  for centuries suddenly these so called middle-caste started claiming there erstwhile Kshatriya origin.

The answer lies in the Land-reform and changes in agrarian relations in last 100 years. During Land-reform in 1950,s and 60,s the land was transferred from the Land-lords and Rich peasants to there permanent tenant. After land-ceiling act was passed ,most of the land which were in excess to the limit under the ceiling was transferred from the higher castes i.e Brahmin,thakurs and bhumihars to the Permanent tenants i.e mostly Backward castes(yadav,jats,gujjars,Kurmis) etc. However hardly any land was transferred to the dalits since they worked as Agricultural labours  in the fields of higher castes  and did not had any formal paper agreement with there masters like the permanent tenants.

Thus when these OBC community acquired  these new land the dalits working in those got new masters. Thus the position of dalits remained the same even after land-reforms,they remained land-less like before, it is the middle-castes and upper OBC caste which got its economic empowerment from Land-reform.

Rise in the economic status of the OBC communities developed a urge in them to also achieve social empowerment. But how will they achieve this since they were given the low status in Brahmanical social order. There is a term given by  India,s greatest sociologist  MN Srinivas called “SANSKRITIZATION” to explain the steps taken by Backward castes to acquire high social status. Sanskritization is a particular form of social change found in India,it denotes a process by which castes placed lower in caste hierarchy seek upward mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the upper and dominant castes. What are these upper caste practices,they include adopting vegetarianism ,wearing sacred thread or janeyu, adopting purdah ,patronizing Brahmins by giving them generous donations. Becoming torch bearer of the Hindu self respect movement i.e (in Ram-mandir movement most of the first line leaders were OBC,s ).Practices also included claim of Kshatriya origin and utmost contempt of Dalits to prove there high origins. Sanskritization and Land-reforms answers our second question that why middle castes become antagonistic to the dalits in last few decades.

Since the OBC communities acquired high economic power and prosperity after land-reforms and they wanted to acquire high social status they started behaving like how there previous masters (foreward castes) used to behave with the dalits. Thus from 70,s onwards most of the violence and atrocities committed against dalits are done by these economically and socially Empowered OBC communities.

Thus belchi massacre in 1970,s was repeated many times in 2000,s.The most famous being the Khairlanji massacre in 2006.In khairlanji a small village in Bhandara district 4 dalits family were murdered  by members of OBC Kunbi community.The women of the family surekha and priyanka were paraded naked in public before getting murdered.

In last few years this violence is repeated in many areas across India like Mirchpur in Haryana,Dharmapuri in Tamil nadu ,and most recent being badaun rape and murder in UP. Everywhere the story is the same, the party to the crime were Jats,Vanniyar and Yadav all being middle caste.

Lets now come to third and Final question why in recent times the violence against dalits have increased.The answer lies in increasing awareness among the dalits in recent times about the rights given to them by the constitution of India and also about statutory laws like SC/ST act 1988 and other acts. Since the dalits are becoming increasingly aware about there rights they have become more assertive in exercising those rights and thus antagonizing rural elites which in most villages of India are the middle-castes(as most of the foreward caste rural elites have migrated to the cities) and thus facing the ire of these castes. The second reason is political empowerment of dalits especially in Uttar Pradesh where the dalit women leader  Mayawati has become chief-minister 4 times. This political power in the hands of most oppressed section of the society cannot be easily digested by these new rural elites and thus whenever they get opportunity they try to prove the point that dalits are still inferior to them and to instill fear and panic among them rape and murder is perhaps the most easiest medium.

The rape and murder of 2 dalit teenage girls in Badaun is nothing but the revenge of dominant Yadav community against them for the limited assertion of there rights during the previous Mayawati rule.