Casteism and ugly prejudice are alive and well

Just in case you had any doubts, you can stop wondering.

Casteism and ugly prejudice against those regarded as being low down in the caste pyramid are alive and well.

 

The prejudices are flourishing at the very top of the Indian state. This was made clear when a lawyer threw a shoe in open court at the Chief Justice of India.

 

   If you were intrigued about the subtext, this is how it went. Ever since BR Gavai became Chief Justice of India there have been dark mutterings about how wrong it seems to have a Dalit occupying the highest judicial post. In fact KG Balakrishnan who occupied the post in 2007 was also a Dalit but he served as Chief Justice at a time when the poisons of communalism and casteism had not begun to dominate public discourse.

 

   Justice Gavai has ascended to the post when social media have hijacked the national dialogue and identity politics have been celebrated by upper castes. Justice Gavai’s appointment was not a conscious decision by a government determined to break down the barriers of caste prejudice. He was appointed on the basis of the seniority principle and Hindutva hardliners were not thrilled that the highest judicial office in the country was held by a man who is not only a Dalit but whose family abandoned Hinduism for Buddhism.

 

   At first the anger was muted but quite discernible as Hindutva hardliners waited for the Chief Justice to put a foot wrong. That happened when he dismissed one of the many cases that are routinely filed to advance hardline Hindu demands. He told the petitioners that if they wanted the sort of redressal that the Supreme Court could not provide then perhaps they should appeal to the deity their case was about.

 

   This was exactly the sort of remark the Hindutva lobby was looking for. Suddenly social media was flooded with claims about how anti Hindu the CJI was, how he had insulted a Hindu god in open court. He was, after all, a Buddhist convert.

 

   The attacks on the judge went further. On discussion programs Hindutva activists actually managed to recommend violence against the judge while phrasing their remarks carefully enough to stop just short of actual incitement. Nathuram Godse was dragged into the conversation (in a good way, of course, he is hero to much of this crowd) and the idea that Hindu interests were being harmed by the Chief Justice was widely circulated on social media.

 

   How much of this had to do with Justice Gavai’s caste?

 

   While relatively few people brought it up in so many words his status as a Dalit was reflected in the language and terminology. For instance the term ‘sanatan dharma ‘was deployed. Though the phrase has many perfectly acceptable contexts it has now become a code word for a Brahminical high-caste version of Hinduism. In the South the DMK which was partly founded on anti-Brahmin feeling uses Sanatan Dharma to attack Brahminical Hinduism. In the North it denotes an orthodox kind of Hinduism in which, of course, Dalits have no real role.

 

   So, when the Chief Justice’s critics complain that he doesn’t understand Sanatan Hinduism or has no place in it, all they really mean is that Justice Gavai is a Dalit.

 

   It was only a matter of time before the relentless campaign against the Chief Justice went a step further. And sure enough a 71 year old lawyer threw a shoe at the judge in Court. To the Chief Justice’s credit, the attack did not ruffle his composure and he went on as though nothing had happened.

 

"If this is how people who humiliate a high ranking Dalit are treated then what hope is there for the average Dalit for whom centuries of humiliation and suffering seem to never end?"

   But the attacker left no one in any doubt about his motives.

 

   The Chief Justice was anti Sanatani he declared.

 

   Later he told the press that he was instructed by divine powers to act. He had no regrets at all about the attack. Nor apparently did much of the media which treated the shoe-thrower as an action hero and offered largely respectful coverage.

 

   But what about the people who had created the hysteria about the Chief Justice and his attitudes to Hindus? The ones who had approvingly discussed violence against Justice Gavai?

 

   Well, at first, it seemed as though action would be taken. Yogi Adityanath’s UP police picked up a hate-filled commentator from Noida and there was speculation that he would be detained.

 

   But of course nothing happened. The hate-spewing YouTuber seems to have been given a cup of tea at the police station before being sent home.

 

   After he was home he posted that he was safe and sound, adding triumphantly: “The entire system is with me. It is our system. Our system of ideas…The government is ours. The system is ours too…Jai Shri Ram.”

 

   So much for justice being done.

 

   I don’t think the incident offers any hope for Dalits. If this is how people who humiliate a high ranking Dalit (“The government is ours; the system is ours too”) are treated then what hope is there for the average Dalit for whom centuries of humiliation and suffering seem to never end?

 

   But it’s even more complicated. The Prime Minister waited several hours before posting about the assault but when he did it was a condemnation and a message of solidarity with the Chief Justice.

 

   I have no doubt it was sincerely meant but it was also politically expedient. Mr Modi has made much of his own background and his status as a backward caste. He has regularly reached out to Dalits and tried to shed the BJP’s image as a party of Brahmins and Banias. There is an election coming up in Bihar and he cannot afford to antagonise Dalits.

 

   But equally he cannot fully disown the hardliners who propound their own definitions of Sanatan Dharma, hate Muslims and Dalits, venerate Godse and cheer on the sort of attacks the Chief Justice was subjected to. They are his original Hindutva base. Which is why when they say things like “The entire system is working with me. It is our system,” he must look the other way.

 

   So far at least the tightrope walk between the extremists and the Prime Minister’s own wider appeal has worked because the extremists have focused only on Muslims. But what happens when they shift from communalism to casteism?

 

   In the months ahead, that will be the big question. Can the haters be reined in? Because if they are not then the damage they will do will not be confined to lower castes. They will also damage the Prime Minister’s own electoral prospects.