XXXI Abstracts Part 1 page 1-189

0203005 PUNIYANI, RAM (1102/5, MHADA, Powai, Mumbai 400076). SECULARIZATION PROCESS, CASTE AND
GENDER EQUALITY IN INDIA.
The rigid hierarchies of caste and gender mark feudal social structure. The process of secularization in Europe was
accompanied by land reforms, freedom from serfdom, and women coming to social space. The subordinate place of serfs
and women was the hallmark of the system, and this was birth based. The process of democratic revolutions in different
forms opened up the space for the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, which give the scope to struggle for political
and social rights. Serfs and women, both struggled in equal measures to see that the yoke of feudal landlords is overthrown
along with the powers of clergy who were legitimizing the place of landlord-kings by giving the divine sanctions to their
powers.
The process of renaissance opens up the whole social space, suppressed by landlord-clergy combine. The serfs
and women, along with the bourgeoisie, struggled to get the formal equality. While the formal equality did come in, the
struggles for substantive equality are midway, and still have a long way to go. As a matter of fact the formal equality is also
being pushed back by the ascendant religious right wing
In India the process of secularization and the movements of caste and gender transformation had the additional
obstacle in the form of colonial rule, which was the protector of feudal relations. While the colonial powers did give
importance to various social reforms, they were insular to the abolition of landlordism as such and so the social base for the
secularization process remained weak. Right till the day, the process of formal equality is there but in a muted form.
With the introduction of modern industries, transportation, communication and education, the movement of the dalits
and women started picking up though a bit slowly. Mid eighteenth century was the period when the social inkling of the
processes was becoming obvious. It is around this time that Jotiba Phule articulated the movement for social equality by
initiating the common drinking tanks and encouraging the dalits to come in for modern education and to take up the jobs in
the factories. The same process got its culmination in the movement reflected by Narayan Meghaji Lokhande in the arena of
work place. This movement of workers did put forward all round demands of workers from wages to the norms of holidays.
The workers movement was later to become more systematic with Dr. Ambedkars’ Independent Labour Party and the
Communist parties organizing the struggle of workers.
Transformation of women’s social situation had slightly different dynamics in India. Initially it was few efforts like that
of Savitraibai Phule to start the school for girls and the efforts of likes of Anadi Gopal and Pandita Ramabai, who led by
example and paved the way for more systematic women’s movement much later. But its reflections were there in the
freedom movement, in which many a women participated and also expressed the longing of women for equality.
There was no linearity in these movements due to the colonial power structure, which prevented fuller
transformation. The yoke of feudal social relations was not easy to overthrow, as in the semisecularized society the
baggage of cultural relations is a big obstacles to begin with. Here the speed is much too slow initially and does pick up by
and by. Here the movement also looks upside down. It looks as if the leaders are starting and the social groups are
complying because of the wishes of the pioneers. The real case is that the pioneers are expressions of the churnings and
initial injustices being perceived by the social groups.
While women joined the freedom movement in large numbers, dalits led by Dr. Ambedkar made their intentions
clear with their participation in the Mahad Chavdar talab (water tank), to get access to drinking water, a symbol of their
trying to get social equality and right on social resources. Similarly, this section’s support to the burning of Manusmiriti was
their longing to get rid of the hierarchical structure of the society.
The phenomenonal rise of Hidnutva during last two and a half decade is an attempt to roll back this social
transformation accompanying freedom movement and following the independence of the country. Now the struggle of caste
and gender transformation is being pushed back by externalizing the ‘problem’ by projecting it as the clash between the
interests of two religious groups. The assertions of Hindutva appear to be against Muslims and Christians, but primarily they
are meant to reverse the process of secularization, even though half way house in India, into the throes of pre-modern
subjugations. The nascent and fragmented movement for secular values will remain incomplete without engagement with
the deeper issues of struggle for caste and gender equality.