If Muslims speak up, they are deemed terrorists. Dalits, too, are open targets. If anyone fights for them, they are Communists or Naxalites
Jignesh Mevani is abused, insulted, demeaned on a regular basis because he dares to speak out, speak against years of discrimination. File pic
Just about every single fault line and fissure in Indian society is now exposed and open, raw wounds that showcase our prejudices as well as the pain and anger they cause. And it is all being justified in some demonic explanation of reclaiming a bogus history, laced with religious bigotry and exclusivist nationalism. Muslims being lynched for transporting cows or for marrying someone or wearing a skull cap or for travelling in a train or for just being Muslim - this is now commonplace across India. If Muslims speak up, they are accused of being terrorists. If anyone speaks up for them, then they are accused of being Communists or Naxalites - some of the worst insults in the limited right-wing lexicon.
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Dalits are also open targets. Policemen make them lick their boots. Mobs thrash them for transporting cattle. A government-employed scientist files a police case against her cook for being a lower-caste person who presented herself as upper caste. There is injustice from the justice system, with different rules for higher-caste accused and more stringent rules for Dalit accused.
No one is ashamed, in fact perpetrators are proud and, dare one say it, shameless. The last time these brazen badges of prejudice were worn by India's upper castes was during the Mandal agitation. Of course, the word "reservation" is still that proverbial red rag to bull-headed upper castes. Immediately, a spew of toxic vomit pours out - how Dalits have ruined India's development because of the quota system and how "merit", which, by this argument, only upper castes can lay claim to, has been sacrificed to political appeasement.
Narendra Modi may claim that he is inspired by Dr BR Ambedkar, and he may whine that he was insulted because he belongs to a lower caste. But that is all a wonderful smokescreen. Look at the reaction of the government, the BJP, and its many fans and sycophants to the pronouncements of newly elected Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani. He is abused, insulted, demeaned on a regular basis because he dares to speak out, speak against years of discrimination and because he dares to stand up for himself and against injustice.
It is hardly surprising that a craven Delhi police has found as many reasons as it can to hinder January 9's Yuva Hunkar rally, or the Roar of the Youth, if you will. The youth taking part in this protest represent those very segments of Indian society whom the conservative upper castes would rather were unheard, unseen, forgotten - as they have been for generations.
Instead, with more courage than Opposition politicians or the media or civil society, these young people are taking on the discrimination and lies of both the government and the communities that support it. The main issues are right-wing violence against them, particularly against Muslims and Dalits and the lack of jobs and economic development in India today.
The Modi government came to power with the bombastic slogans of "Achhe Din" (Good Days) and "Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas" (Development for Everyone, Together). Both are nothing short of jokes today, as much as political slogans mean nothing.
But nowhere was the disillusionment with Modi's promises clearer than in Gujarat, where the BJP may have won the Assembly polls, but it lost its shield of infallibility. And it was Mevani, along with Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakur, who led that charge.
Too much of upper-caste India remains as it always has been - prejudiced and obsessed with its own superiority. The Constitution may have made caste-based discrimination illegal in 1950, but many have now conveniently turned the Constitution on its head by claiming that if you complain of caste discrimination, you are being casteist. There is no limit to the depravity of upper-caste arrogance it seems. Was it not former chief of Army staff and government minister VK Singh who said, after the murder of two Dalit children, that the government cannot respond every time someone throws a stone at a dog?
And was it not the Prime Minister of India who said that yes, he felt bad when Muslims died in riots in his home state under his watch, much like anyone would feel bad when a car one is sitting in runs over a puppy? If this is how people in power see Indian citizens, then this uprising has been too long coming.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist. You can follow her on Twitter @ranjona. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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