Rajesh Komath
Pravesh Shukla, the BJP loyalist from Sidhi in Madhya Pradesh, grabbed many a headline by his act of urinating on the head and face of an Adivasi sitting on the roadside. He symbolises the face of Hindutva that has continued to enjoy and exercise the privilege granted to him by birth, the Brahmin who has a deep-seated sense of superiority. And that explains this unabashed display of savarna power and right over a ‘subhuman’ who he identified on the wayside. The upper caste social psyche considers the inferior body as the substance of dirt that is produced from his body. It means Dalit, Adivasi’s body is equal to the dirt and filthy substance that his body produces.
What justice can one expect from a religion that has assigned different parts of the human form as the origin of each caste–the head for the Brahmin, the limbs to the Kshatriya, the abdomen to the Vaisya, and the feet to the Shudra? The Dalit-Adivasi emerged from the sole of the feet. They belong lower in the hierarchy to the animals. Perhaps, thus, justifying their having to be at the receiving end of the utmost deplorable treatment from the higher social groups. These were lives born out of Manu’s madness. Though not born from the head they are not mindless, nor powerless though not emerging from the limbs.
The obsession with caste that manifests in Manu’s thoughts is embedded in all religions within India. It is perpetuated in all walks of life. As one goes higher in the echelons of caste, it lends reverence, and as one descends this ladder discrimination and ignominy are integral elements. And the template of such a social structure is marked by intense hatred and cruelty.
A ‘Pravesh Shukla’ is the product of the conditioning and mindset which privileges him to use the body of the Adivasi as his domain to assert and establish the power equation between his self and the ‘Other’ human being at the receiving end.
The advantage of caste grants that innate ability to delude him into the insidious thinking that the hatred he nurtures in himself is correct and a rightful legacy of his birth. For us as onlookers, it is a criminal act. That is what Ambedkar identified caste as a criminal mind.
Seeing a vulnerable human being and slotting him as a thief from the detestable lower level of the caste grid is a consciousness built into what is at the core of the essence of Sanatan Dharma, which means that which remains unchanged, and eternal. For the Sanatani the subaltern who is lower in caste and colour is his subordinate. This, however, is not the problem of just one man but it is a canker afflicting Indian society. Many are the idealists who came forward to cure the system of metastasising growth. They failed or turned back. Drawing on the Constitutional guarantees and resorting to create a social revolution to change this mindset also has made no difference to this malaise. Deeply entrenched and with far-reaching striking power Manu’s ideas reign supreme.
While driving through the streets of North India, I have helplessly witnessed people driving four-wheelers walking up to the rickshaw puller, who would have abandoned his home in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh to come to the city to make a living, and giving a slap across the unsuspecting poor man’s face. His fault was that he did not make way for the vehicle of the entitled man. It is the might of the upper classes and the messaging over generations that has percolated to the Dalits and the Adivasis that make the rickshawallah remain sans any expression or reaction. This feature strikes any thinking person when watching the video, the powerless poor man who feels the urine on his face just cannot get himself to even shift from the spot because it is his lot to receive any ignominy. Shuklas like this celebrate the birth of a girl child in the Dalit-Adivasi hovel because it is one more site to satiate their lust—a fact that is constantly reinforced is the advantage of being born into a higher caste grants them such perquisites. In the given circumstances, how else can such individuals behave?
In India and the world over the largest number of people serving prison are dark-skinned humans. In the United States when policemen use water cannons on crowds the force of the water jet is stronger if the crowd is not white! In India being from the under-privileged population is a crime. An individual who belongs to the lowest strata of the social grouping in a population is vulnerable and fits the eligibility criteria when it comes to discriminatory, demeaning behavior being inflicted on him. The condition of women is pathetic. What is the attitude and approach that we can expect from the likes of Shukla when it comes to women and children?
Discrimination comes easily to us. We create parameters like ownership of land, colour, and wealth to segregate fellow beings. That is exactly what the concept of ‘taste of discrimination’ implies. Violence and aggression are justified behaviour. Over and above this, factors that enable the perpetration of discriminatory action are sought to be located in caste, and the colour of the skin becomes the signifier.
“I do not have a homeland.” “I was born a Hindu. But, never will die as Hindu”, Dr Ambedkar’s words are a pointer to the fact that Hinduism is a religion that is not amenable to change. And therefore, a ‘Pravesh Shukla’ does not regret his act because this BJP loyalist has only acted in a manner that privileges him above the Adivasi sitting by the roadside. He has not committed a heinous crime against the unsuspecting victim because his higher caste status birth grants him this license to behave in this deplorable manner. It is imperative to teach upper castes like him that they are oppressors and stop oppression. Our rule of law failed to do so. Amid the hue and cry of this incident, the Madhya Pradesh Chief minister washed the feet of the victim. One urinates on the head and another washed feet. Justice prevails outside of this body discourse. But Manu’s madness persists in our practices.
The author teaches social theory at the School of Social Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala