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RIGHTS-INDIA: Prosperity Sharpens Caste Animosities
By Alka Arya
GOHANA, Sep 19 (IPS) - The acrid smell of assorted burnt matter still hangs heavy over the Dalit (broken people) quarter of this town, three weeks after it was torched by upper caste men who cared little that New Delhi, the capital of a country that aspires to world leadership, lies barely 90 kms away.
In one of the burnt-out houses sits Jewanti, alone and still traumatised by the devastating attack on her neighbourhood by men from the upper caste Jat community, seeking revenge for the murder of one of their kind, allegedly by a Dalit .
''What was our fault? I am so scared of being a Dalit. We have nothing left here and we are not safe anywhere,'' Jewanti sobbed, indicating the blackened walls of her two-storey, with everything combustible in it reduced to ashes and valuables missing.
About the only recognisable object in Jewanti's home is a badly- singed motorcycle that belonged to her son who, like most of the 1,500 inhabitants of Balmiki Basti (Dalit quarter), is yet to return for fear of renewed violence.
If no one died in the ferocious Aug. 31 attack, it was because the residents of the 150-house Balmiki Basti were encouraged by police to flee the day before-a pathetic acknowledgement of the fact that it is Jats (who are mostly farmers and landowners) who call the shots in northern Haryana state in which Gohana falls.
''Anyone can see that the police knew of the attack and that, despite having a 200-strong force in the area, preferred to stand back and watch the looting and arson,'' said Subhash Gatade who led a 15-member fact-finding mission from the 'Committee to Oppose Atrocities on Dalits' to Gohana last week.
''The police were supposed to protect us from the Jats, but instead spread the word that we were to move out and most of us went to the homes of relative in other parts of the town or as far away as Delhi to save our lives,'' said Ravi Kumar, one of the few Dalits who has had the courage to return to the site.
Geeta, an employee with the Gohana Municipality, was still asleep when the Jats, armed with lathis (bamboo staffs) and cans of petrol and kerosene descended on the Balmiki Basti on the morning of Aug. 31.
''My husband and I managed to get together some clothes and essentials and rush our two young children, through a side lane, out of the Balmiki Basti,'' Geeta said.
Pista Devi, employed at the Gohana municipality as a sweeper, said she had sent her son's family away the day before the attack, after hearing word of an impending Jat attack, and was saved only because the flames did not reach a first floor room in which she had hidden herself.
''We could hear the blasts of cooking gas cylinders exploding and when we peered out everything was dark from rising smoke , even by noon,'' she recalled.
Asked why the Dalit homes were not protected, the state assembly legislator from Gohana, Dharampal Malik told IPS: ''The district administration did not realise the gravity of the situation''.
But, the fact is that soon after the murder of a Jat youth, Baljeet Siwach, on Aug. 27, allegedly by a Dalit, tension began to build up in Gohana, forcing authorities to deploy the Haryana state police in strength around the town.
''The police stood by and watched our houses being burned down because we are Dalits and not socially acceptable, while the Jats are very powerful in Haryana,'' said Inder, a Dalit labourer.
Until about three years ago, Inder and his wife Sunita were involved in manual scavenging (official euphemism for handling human waste) which Dalits are supposed to do, according to caste rules framed 3,000 years ago.
Hindu scriptures separate people into the four hereditary castes of Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaisyas (traders) and Sudras (labourers). Dalits fall outside the four-fold caste system and are regarded as 'untouchable' in a system sociologists say is more pernicious than apartheid ever was in South Africa.
The plight of the Dalits, who number 160 million in India's billion plus population, has been attracting international attention in recent years and well-known human rights organisations, starting with Amnesty International, have recorded their continuing misery.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, more than 100,000 atrocities, including murder and rape, are committed each year against Dalits, although this happens mostly in the conservative rural areas rather than urban settings like Gohana.
The Indian government is sensitive to international criticism on the subject and in September 2001 moved to block caste from the agenda of the U.N. Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa, rather than openly discuss it, as demanded by leading Dalit organisations.
''More than half-a-century after India gained independence and freedom for all Indians, most Dalits not only continue to live deprived lives, but any modest prosperity that has come their way is begrudged by upper caste groups,'' said Nandu Ram, professor of sociology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in the national capital.
According to Inder, who now whitewashes walls for a living, in Haryana, the Jats do not want to see Dalits empowered and there has been simmering anger against the increasing prosperity of Dalits, as they take advantage of affirmative action to get themselves educated and secure white collar jobs.
It is not uncommon to see Dalits, who have government jobs and seats in parliament and state legislatures reserved for them as part of affirmative action written into the constitution, holding down jobs in banks and other public institutions and living normal lives.
At the Balmiki Basti, the houses were modest, but most were equipped with modern conveniences like television sets, refrigerators and cars and the inhabitants forward-looking with children in schools and money in bank accounts.
Rampal, a member of the Gohana Municipal Board, said it was the newfound prosperity of the Dalits that attracted the ire of the feudal-minded Jats. ''They want us to remain forever subservient and regard us as thieves-everytime something goes wrong, they set the police on us and we get a hiding''.
Shalendar, a 22-year-old man, sees a larger game in the attack. ''They (Jats) are trying to capture the Balmiki Basti because the value of the land on which it stands in the heart of the town has gone up and become prime property''.
According to Shalendar, the name Balmiki suggests subservience and vulnerability although it was meant to have higher connotations because Balmiki was a Dalit poet who lived in ancient times and is credited with writing one of Hinduisms great epics, the 'Ramayana', which tells the life and times of the warrior deity Rama.
Balmiki Bastis exist in many northern Indian towns and cities and although they may differ in the level of affluence of its inhabitants, they are synonymous with ghettos for socially-underprivileged people.
''If this place had been called Rajput Basti, then the Jats would have thought twice before attacking us and trying to take possession of it,'' said Shailender. Rajputs (warriors) are higher up in the caste hierarchy than Jats.
An earlier attempt to get the Dalits to move out of the area, extending over two acres, failed after a court of law upheld the rights of the Dalits over the land.
''Ever since they lost the court battle, the Jats have been trying to get us to vacate the land and now by burning down our houses they are sending us a signal that we are not going to be safe here,'' said Kara, who is studying for a masters degree in computer application.
As a nation-wide outcry grew over the incident, Haryana state chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, himself a Jat leader, announced 3,000 US dollars as interim relief against each house that had been burned down and ordered the public works department (PWD) to rebuild the houses.
High adminstrative and police officials have been suspended or transferred out of Gohana as it became apparent that they had blatantly sided with the rampaging Jats.
But the troubles faced by the Dalits go much deeper than burned down homes, government compensations and punishment for biased officials.
''My daughter is studying in a public school and doing well in science. Her classmates borrow her notebooks but will not share her lunch because she is a Dalit. This is painful for her and for me too,'' said Geeta, a homemaker.
''My brother Rakesh was a veterinary doctor with the Haryana government. Wherever he went, people were friendly and would invite him to their homes-that is until they come to know that he is a Dalit. Finally, he emigrated with his family to Toronto and is now doing well there and is happy,'' said Jayram a schoolteacher.
(END/2005)
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