DALIT ASSERTION IN NORTH INDIA A View from Below

122 Integral Liberation Vol. 8, No. 2 June 2004 

DALIT ASSERTION IN NORTH INDIA 

A View from Below 

Prakash Louis 

Dalit Assertion 

Dalit 1 assertion, liberation and emancipation are themes that 

have come to the centre-stage of the current sociological 

discourse. 2 With the emergence of Dalit assertion, the social scientists 

are forced to take note of caste discrimination. The human rights 

activists are also directed to look at the specificity of Dalit rights 

while engaging themselves in rights issues in general. In common 

parlance, to assert is to declare positively, lay claim to, insist upon 

and affirm. In the same vein, assertion is defined as ‘the act of claiming 

one’s rights’ or ‘a positive statement about oneself or one’s intent’. 3 

Thus, assertion could be defined as a positive declaration about 

oneself, one’s past, present and future. While spelling out one’s 

resolve to determine one’s course of action, this assertion also informs 

the others of this resolve. It is here that Dalit assertion confronts 

resistance and repression from the dominant castes and classes and 

their agent, the state. Yet, it is this cumulative effort to build an identity 

of their own which provides the space and scope for a long drawnout 

struggle for emancipation. 

Exclusion, discrimination and marginalisation which emerge out 

of the caste system in general and untouchability in particular have 

been the historical and societal lot of the Dalits. It is also a fact that 

socio-religious reforms, participation in electoral politics, poverty 

alleviation programmes and special welfare schemes and even 

affirmative action did not have the expected impact on the evil 

practices of the caste system and untouchability. While exploitation 

and oppression of the Dalits have become the order of the day, 

Dr. Prakash Louis is the Executive Director of the Indian Social Institute, 10 

Institutional Area, Lodi Road, New Delhi 110 003; Tel.: (011) 24625015, 

24622370; Email: prakash@unv.ernet.in, prakashlouis@hotmail.com; 

Website: www.isidelhi.org 

one should also take note of the anger and the assertion that is 

becoming a fact of Dalit society today. A clear case of this Dalit 

anger and assertion was witnessed in Mumbai on July 11 th , 1997. 4 

The vandalisation of the statue of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar in Ramabai 

Ambedkar Nagar sparked off violent protests and revolts by the Dalits. 

This led to police firing in which about 11 people were killed. 

Interestingly, this is not the first instance of desecration of a statue 

of Dr. Ambedkar in Maharashtra. It is estimated that in the last 5 

years about 508 such incidents have been reported. 5 But the social 

fact which needs to be noted is that these incidents led to revolt, and 

this time the nature of the agitation was more violent and widespread. 

This incident immediately provoked reactions, not only in 

Maharashtra but also in Gujarat where the Bharatiya Dalit Panthers 

gave a call for a bandh. Over the years, many reforms and revolts 

have given a specific identity to the Dalits and have established their 

assertion on the Indian scene. 

Some specific socio-political, economic and cultural factors 

provide the space and scope for Dalit assertion. Eleanor Zelliot, in 

her perceptive analysis of Dr. Ambedkar’s central relevance to Dalit 

assertion, explains that Dr. Ambedkar’s position among Dalits can 

be equated with that of a guru, one who leads his disciples to develop 

their own identity and wisdom. Dr. Ambedkar’s stance against all 

that he saw as evil, as harmful to the lowly and hence to the country, 

is a source of mobilisation. Further, Dr. Ambedkar stands tall as a 

symbol of achievement. Eleanor goes on to explain that Dr. 

Ambedkar’s legend can be seen in contrasting his image to that of 

Gandhi. Dalits have been extraordinarily hostile to Gandhi, who is 

seen by many non-Dalits as the political leader more responsible for 

bringing the concern about the problems of untouchables to the 

consciousness of India. The reason is that Gandhi’s ‘Harijan’ is an 

object of pity; compassion also, but mainly pity. Ambedkar’s Dalit is 

a man or woman filled with pride and self-respect. Social movements 

thrive on pride. The multi-faceted Dr. Ambedkar stands for both 

qualities: pride and self-respect. 6 

The demand by the Ad-Dhramis or the Dalits or the erstwhile 

untouchable castes for representation in the Management Committee 

of the Baba Nihal Singh Smadh-Gurudwara in Talhan village in

Dalit Assertion in North India 123 124 Integral Liberation Vol. 8, No. 2 June 2004 

Punjab highlights the many paths the Dalits have trodden to attain 

their social consciousness, better caste consciousness and the 

concurrent move to establish their rightful place and role in Indian 

society and polity. The incidents which unfolded in Talhan from 

January to June 2003 reveal the nature of caste relations in Punjab. 

They also provide us with a good idea of the growing aspirations of 

the Dalits. The demand by the Dalits for representation in the 

Management Committee is not just a demand for an equal share in 

the cake but it is an indication of Dalit assertion for equality and 

equal rights. It questions the age-old assumption that the landowning 

dominant castes of Jats have the right to the exclusive control over 

the economy and socio-cultural resources of the village. It has also 

highlighted their resolve to determine their course of action in dayto-day 

life as well as in crisis situations. Hence, change in the caste 

system is in the offing in rural Punjab. 

The Dalit assertion in Talhan like in many parts of the country 

has moreover exposed the political parties and the limited scope of 

their electoral politics for not only Dalit emancipation but for 

restructuring the Indian social order. Identity formation of the Dalits 

has been going on unabated and the recent Dalit assertions in various 

parts of India have once again provided scope and space for the 

discourse on restructuring the Indian social order. The social 

scientists, political activists and human rights activists are called 

upon to pay serious attention to the emerging Dalit assertion for 

emancipation. 7 

Dalit Identity Formation 

Identity formation is a universal and historical process, 8 which 

is based on the experience about oneself and the experience in relation 

to others. This experience does not take place in a vacuum but in the 

existing socio-economic, political and cultural milieu. It can thus be 

stated that identity formation is an interactional process. 

Based on an empirical study, Dr. Fernando Franco argues that to 

deal with the issue of a group’s identity is to be engaged in the 

analysis of a group’s process of becoming. There are two 

interrelated components in this process of identity formation. The 

first one is the ideological-symbolic component. This refers to the 

system of beliefs and practices which flow from the understanding 

of the position of oneself and one’s own group vis-à-vis others. This 

set of beliefs and its various cultural expressions provide the group 

with a shared meaning and understanding about who they are and 

what their role is in a given social context. The second is the materialproductive 

component, which refers to the material, ecological and 

economic conditions shaping and determining the primary livelihood 

activities of the group and its productive relations with others. In 

other words, it includes the factors which determine the economic 

life of the group and consequently the relationships its members enter 

into with each other and with other groups in the course of earning 

their livelihood. 9 

The emerging Dalit identity, especially after Independence, 

is multi-faceted. Significantly, the term ‘Dalit’ itself is indicative of 

the revolutionary progression made within the Dalit community visà-vis 

the non-Dalits. To begin with, one should realise the power of 

the concept ‘Dalit’ which denotes the assertion of the erstwhile 

‘untouchables’ that they are the outcastes, achuts, that is, the 

untouchables, the excluded segment of the Indian population. In 

extension it is also asserting, “we are a broken people”, “we are people 

crushed by oppression and exploitation”. While this sense of 

affirmation is only the starting-point, the sense of negation is the 

culminating factor. This can be framed as a collective monologue of 

resistance: “Yes, we were the broken people, we were crushed, but 

now we will not allow ourselves to be broken or crushed by you. We 

will not allow you – the dominant castes – to break us or crush us 

any more.” 

Revising the earlier positions upheld by social scientists, some 

of the recent works have become tired of highlighting the salient 

features of the emerging Dalit identity. However, the identity of the 

Dalits was truly formed in relation to the dominant castes. But this 

does not mean all inquiries stop there. The dominant castes were and 

continue to be the feudal landlords, headmen of the village 

panchayats, moneylenders and the ‘representatives of the state 

apparatus’. The Dalits on the other hand were and still are the landless 

agricultural labourers, the illiterate bonded labourers and outcastes, 

and the ‘beneficiaries’ or those at the receiving end of the welfare 

schemes of the state. In this heinously unequal and undemocratic 

socio-political milieu where the dominant castes constantly and


continuously enforced subjugation, domination and dehumanisation, 

the Dalits developed a sense of being second-grade citizens. 

Though the Dalits were victimised by the process of bondage 

and servitude, they continued to protest and resist every form of 

oppression. Especially with the enactment of constitutional rights 

and privileges, the Dalits began to demand equality of rights for all. 

This has further enhanced the political consciousness of the Dalits. 

The social ostracism, economic deprivation, political marginalisation 

and cultural subjugation the Dalits suffered have augmented and 

expanded their resolve to counter all forms of discrimination. It is 

this eruption of Dalit determination which has shaken the 

‘untouchable and unalterable’ caste edifice. It is not argued here 

that the Dalits have attained total liberation or that they are very near 

to achieving emancipation. But it is an undeniable truth that the Dalits 

have made great strides in terms of forging a long drawn-out struggle 

against the caste system and caste discrimination. 

The discourse analysis that ensued opened up an array of options 

for the social scientists to interpret the emerging Dalit identity. But 

for the Dalits, it has become clear like daylight that the Dalits as 

individuals and as a collectivity have become politically conscious 

and that their social awareness is on the ascent. One can also discern 

a confident behaviour pattern among the Dalits. But this assertion 

had to encounter the repressive measures of the dominant castes as 

well as the state, which often functions as their agent. The findings 

of many research studies about the response of the Dalits to repression 

have pointed to two interconnected realities. In some cases, the Dalits 

and their organisations submitted to the repressive operations of the 

dominant castes and the state. In many other cases, the attempt to 

stifle the organisational and mobilisational efforts of the Dalits was 

countered by much broader and long drawn-out struggles. 

Upholding the dignity of their women is one arena where the 

Dalits have shown formidable determination and power. 

Compared to Dalit men, Dalit women suffer from the triple 

discrimination of caste, class and gender. Hence, initiating change in 

their social condition was a concurrent aspect of Dalit assertion and 

Dalit movements. But this is once again only a partial script of the 

emerging Dalit identity. Over the years, the Dalit women themselves 

have constructed an identity about their lives and struggles. This 

identity deals with their multiple roles and problems as individuals, 

in the family, at workplaces, in the religious sphere and in the Dalit 

and wider society. There is every indication that Dalit women are 

taking many strides to liberate themselves from innumerable clutches. 

But the central and crucial aspect of this liberation is that they are 

envisioning their emancipation within the context of both their 

concrete deprivations and possibilities. 

It is moreover significant to note that at the local, regional and 

national levels, the economic condition of the Dalits has not improved 

despite scores of developmental schemes. Almost all the Dalits lack 

access to or ownership over resources, and control over their labour, 

employment, wages, etc. This enforces upon them the necessity to 

depend upon the dominant castes, who in turn exploit them. It is this 

economic dependence which inhibits every resolve of the Dalits to 

fight against the dominant castes. 

At this juncture it is expedient to underscore the social fact that a 

perceptive comprehension of the consequences of untouchability and 

atrocities has become part of the Dalit discourse. This is due to the 

socio-political mobilisation of the Dalits. But it would be foolhardy 

to claim that this awareness has been evenly spread throughout the 

Dalit community, or that every Dalit perceives his or her oppression 

and has empowered oneself to resist these onslaughts. But what is 

argued here is that this is the general trend among the Dalits. If this 

trend continues, it will not be too long before the Dalits engage in an 

extended struggle for the total restructuring of the Indian social order. 

Finally, it needs to be stated here that the identity formation among 

the Dalits followed various alternative processes in different states 

and within a state. This is due to the nature of the social milieu, the 

counteracting forces, the level of Dalit mobilisation and organisation, 

the social mobility that has been possible in the given historical 

context, the centrality of Dr. Ambedkar and the strategy followed. In 

the given productive relations, the ideological and material-productive 

components have contributed to the emergence of Dalit identity. Only 

time will reveal which direction identity formation will take in the 

future. But it is a fact that anti-caste movements and Dalit struggles 

have come to stay. It is they who will alter the very structure of 

Indian society.


Bahujan Samaj Party and Dalit Assertion 

The emergence, expansion and consolidation of the Bahujan 

Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh from the late 1970s offer a 

forceful case of Dalit assertion in north India. The breaking of the 

alliance between the BSP and the BJP has raised many questions. 

But a careful reader of political formation would also recollect the 

criticism levied on the BSP for forming an alliance with the BJP, a 

dominant caste party in UP. Significantly, this type of alliance between 

the BSP and the BJP has been witnessed three times till now. The 

long-term impact of these alliances will unfold in the years to come. 

But for now there are indications that the BSP has grown from strength 

to strength. It is this factor which has forced some of the BJP leaders 

to snap ties with the BSP. Let us examine the consequences of the 

BSP emergence for Dalit assertion. 

In her comprehensive study of Dalit assertion in Uttar Pradesh, 

Sudha Pai argues that Dalit assertion has been a constant, though 

not always visible, feature of UP society since the late colonial period. 

According to her, the state has experienced three major attempts by 

the Dalits to improve their social status and increase their share in 

political power. The first was in the late colonial period when the 

Chamar-Jatavs (a numerically powerful and socially mobile Dalit 

sub-caste in UP) of Agra, Aligarh, Meerut and a few other districts 

renounced the Gandhian ideals under the influence of Ambedkar. 

Earlier they had made an attempt to rise in the caste hierarchy through 

sanskritisation. With the newly formed party, the Scheduled Caste 

Federation of India, they fought elections but lost since their ideology, 

strategy and mobilisation were not any different from the Congress 

Party. With the formation of the Ambedkarite Republication Party of 

India (RPI) in 1956, a new phase of Dalit assertion emerged in UP, 

but this was absorbed by the Congress in the late 1960s. The 

emergence of the BSP in the mid-1980s constitutes the third phase in 

this ongoing process of Dalit assertion in the state. 10 

Systematic studies about the emergence of the BSP are yet to be 

done by social scientists. But even a cursory glance at the powerful 

expansion of the BSP suggests that the Dalit assertion has come to 

stay in the political arena of UP. In 1987 in UP, Punjab and Madhya 

Pradesh, the BSP became a force. The BSP was founded on 14 th April 

1984. But before its formation, Kanshi Ram founded the BAMCEF 

(Backward [SC, ST, OBC] and Minority Communities Employees 

Federation) in 1978. Though its major constituency was the elite of 

the bahujan samaj, the BAMCEF made rapid headway in a short 

time. The slogan of the time was, “Brahmin, Bania aur thakur chor, 

baki sab DS 4” (Dalit-Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti), that is, the 

Brahmins, Banias and Thakurs are thieves and the rest are the 

exploited lot. 11 

Tracing the evolution of the BSP and its ‘Alternative Social 

Order’, Sudha Pai states that the first stage witnessed strident critiques 

of the traditional Hindu social order and the contemporary socioeconomic 

and political system, created by manuvadi leaders after 

Independence as hierarchical and discriminatory… This critique was 

required to awaken the Dalit-Bahujans and make them aware of their 

lowly position in Indian society before an alternative theory could be 

propounded… During the second stage in the late 1980s and early 

1990s, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati, based on the idea of social justice, 

attempted to build, in collaboration with the backwards, an alternative 

socio-political structure – the bahujan samaj – which would give the 

Dalit-Bahujans their rightful socio-economic and political position 

in Indian society… The third stage experienced the translation of 

this ideology into practice during the brief periods when the Party 

was in power, in 1996 and 1997. 12 

It is pertinent to discuss here what has been the consequences 

of the rise of the BSP as a Dalit political party. Christophe Jaffrelot 

outlines the following achievements of the BSP in UP: “With 

Mayawati as Chief Minister, India’s largest state for the first time 

was governed by a member of the Scheduled Castes, one who 

forcefully advocated the cause of the bahujan samaj. For most Dalits 

she became a source of pride. Mayawati’s accession to Uttar 

Pradesh’s top post thus played a major part in the consolidation of 

the BSP’s vote-bank.” Jaffrelot goes on to recount the impact on the 

Dalits: “Such a consolidation also resulted from the special treatment 

Mayawati granted to the lower castes, of which the Dalits were the 

first beneficiaries. Mayawati started with a series of name changes; 

new districts were carved out and renamed after Dalit leaders; dozens 

of Ambedkar statues were put up. More importantly, Mulayam Singh 

Yadav’s Ambedkar Village Scheme, which consisted in allotting


special funds for socio-economic development under the IRDP for 

two years for villages with 50% of SC population, was revised in 

order to include those with more than 30%. Under this scheme, roads, 

handpumps, houses, etc. were built in the bustees of Dalits.” 13 

According to Sudha Pai, Dalit assertion in western UP, 

particularly in Meerut district, has taken two forms in recent years: 

first, voting and supporting the BSP, and second, new forms of sociopolitical 

activities at the grassroots. Through a plethora of activities 

such as education, reading Dalit literature, installing statues of 

Ambedkar, celebrating his birthday, forming Dalit associations to 

protect their interests and collective protest against atrocities, the 

Dalits have made an attempt to improve their living standards, 

compete with the upper castes in all walks of life, and register 

their protest against domination by them. 14 

Dr. Vivek Kumar argues: “The BSP has initiated structural 

changes in the most populous, and caste-wise, the most fragmented 

state of the country. We can then ask, what rights and obligations did 

the Dalits and the so-called upper castes have before the BSP came 

on the Dalit liberation horizon in UP? Obviously the so-called upper 

castes were cumulatively dominant in the socio-economic and political 

realms. Their hegemonic dominance rendered the Dalits cumulatively 

without a voice of dissent. But gradually after 1984, with the formation 

of the BSP, the established social structure has started changing in 

UP. Today no ‘upper caste’ can take the Dalits for granted. They 

retaliate in whatever manner they can.” For instance, they used arms 

against the Thakurs in Mau district and in the village Gopal Khera of 

Mohanlal Ganj in Lucknow. The Mayawati-led government moreover 

conducted a silent land reform process which benefited several lakhs 

of Dalits. 15 

In a similar vein, Jens Lerche maintains that the partial 

occupational delinking since the 1960s has transformed the social 

relations between the dominant caste Thakurs and the Dalits. 

The Dalits here no longer accept the harsh ‘master and patron’ rule 

by the Thakurs. Instead, they began to develop an interest group 

approach, and since 1972 they have gone on strike regularly for higher 

wages in agriculture. Moreover, they have stopped participating in 

Thakur ceremonies which served to emphasise their inferiority. Since 

the emergence of the BSP on the political scene, they have also 

managed to use their increased political clout to halt most routine 

beatings, rapes, and the occasional murder of Dalits by Thakurs. 16 

In the final analysis, it needs to be emphasised that the Dalit 

assertion has come to stay. The demand of the Dalits is not limited 

to the annihilation of the caste system and the evil practice of 

untouchability. It goes further and calls for restructuring the Indian 

social order and creating a society where all the downtrodden masses 

will have an equal share in resources, power structure, social dignity 

and religious traditions. One has to wait and see if the political 

establishment of the dominant castes takes this assertion seriously or 

not. Whatever may be the response of the ruling castes and classes, 

the Dalit assertion has shown that a long drawn-out struggle alone 

can provide the space and scope for the Dalits to continue to fight 

for building an egalitarian, democratic and plural society. 

NOTES 

1. The term Dalit is and has been defined both exclusively and 

inclusively. In the exclusive definition, Dalits refer only to the Scheduled 

Castes or erstwhile untouchables. On the other hand, the inclusive 

definition includes the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes under 

the category of Dalits. Thus, the 160 mn Scheduled Castes and 80 mn 

Scheduled Tribes are clubbed together and called Dalits. In extension, 

this group of people is at times also made to include all the exploited 

masses within its fold. In this article, the term Dalit has been used only 

in the exclusive sense. The term Dalit was popularised by the Dalit 

Panthers of Maharashtra in the late 1970s. 

2. Prakash Louis, The Political Sociology of Dalit Assertion, Gyan 

Publishing House, New Delhi, 2003. 

3. Chambers English Dictionary, New Edition, Allied Publishers, New 

Delhi, 1991. 

4. J.V. Deshpande, “Behind Dalit Anger”, Economic and Political Weekly, 

August 16-23 1997, pp. 2090-91. 

5. A.K. Jha, “Dalit Ascendancy”, The Times of India, 26 July 1997, p. 8. 

6. Eleanor Zelliot, “The Meaning of Ambedkar”, in G. Shah (ed.), Dalit 

Identity and Politics, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2001, pp. 135-137. 

7. Prakash Louis and Surinder S. Jodhka, “Caste Conflict and Dalit Identity

Dalit Assertion in North India 131 

in Rural Punjab: Significance of Talhan”, Social Action, October- 

December 2003. 

8. Identity formation is a universal phenomenon cutting across all social 

categories. For example, the Jats who today claim upper caste status 

and have become economically and politically mobile had to invest in 

enforcing a different identity in the past. Rattan Singh thus pleaded with 

the Jat community in the Jat Sudhar in 1925: “Fame is greater than 

beauty; he who does not respect himself or his country, he is not a man, 

he is like an animal and his life a living corpse. He who sacrifices his 

life for the betterment of his community, he alone is immortal. Nobody 

attains fame through property” (quoted in Nonica Datta, Forming an 

Identity, A Social History of the Jats, Oxford University Press, New 

Delhi, 1999, p. 167). 

9. Fernando Franco (ed.), Pain and Awakening: The Dynamics of Dalit 

Identity in Bihar, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, Indian Social Institute, 

New Delhi, 2002, p. 16. 

10. Sudha Pai, Dalit Assertion and the Unfinished Democratic Revolution: 

The Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh, Sage Publications, New 

Delhi, 2002, p. 5. 

11. Christophe Jaffrelot, India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Low 

Castes in North Indian Politics, Permanent Black, Delhi, 2003, pp. 388- 

409. 

12. Sudha Pai, op. cit., pp. 114-115. 

13. Christophe Jaffrelot, op. cit., pp. 414-415. 

14. Sudha Pai, “New Social and Political Movements of Dalits: A Study of 

Meerut District”, Contributions to Indian Sociology, June, no 2, 34, p. 

190. 

15. Vivek Kumar, “Uttar Pradesh: Politics of Change”, Economic and 

Political Weekly, 2003, 38 (37), September 13, p. 3870. 

16. Jens Lerche, “Hamlet, Village and Region: Caste and Class Differences 

Between Low-Caste Mobilisations in East and West UP”, in R. Jeffery 

& J. Lerche, Social and Political Change in Uttar Pradesh: European 

Perspective, Manohar, New Delhi, 2003, p. 189.

DALIT ASSERTION IN NORTH INDIA A View from Below

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?