m c raj, REDS, Tumkur, India

1
Preamble
A large section of the indigenous people of India is proud to identify itself as
‘Dalit’ today rejecting the many attempts to ascribe identities to it by the dominant
caste groups. The dominant caste groups in India had ascribed many identities to
the Dalits in order to subjugate them and later to make the society at large as
well as the Dalits internalize these dominantly churned out identities. When the
ascribed identities became commonly accepted some of them became assumed
identities. They were branded as Rakshasas and Asuras because the Dalit kings
and queen refused to acknowledge the gods of the Aryans and refused to
perform sacrifices according to their rites. They were ascribed the Chandala
identity because the Dalits reused to tread the faith-line of the Aryans. Later
when Caste system was evolved and established as a social system of
organizing the society on the principles of graded inequality the Dalit people were
ascribed the identities of Shudras, ati-Shudras, Panchamas and untouchables. In
our own times Narsi Mehta and M K Gandhi ascribed the Harijan identity to the
Dalit people.

We may not go into an analysis of the possible hidden agenda behind each of
these ascriptions. However, we must note that these identities are external to the
Dalit people. They are not natural identities. These are not innate arising out of
certain characteristics or certain events from within the person or the community.
Therefore, these identities never stand the test of time. Since the raison d’etre of
these identities remains with the ascriber and not with the Dalits themselves
these can be called false identities.

For no fault of theirs the Dalit people were subjugated in the course of history in
their own land as is the case with most indigenous people across the globe. The
subjugation of the Dalit people is the consequence of many carefully designed
and executed projects of Brahminization kept alive and kicking today. All the
projects were aimed at the denial of basic and fundamental human rights to the
Dalit people so as to ‘break their backbone’ of a dignified and human existence.

2
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar opted for this particular dimension of Dalit history that
assumes an identity that will be bereft of the ignominies and indignities of the
ascribed identities. ‘Dal’ is a Hebrew linguistic root that means exploitation and
oppression. In its multiplicity of usage Dal is more oppression based on color
than all types of oppression. Caste system is called a color system and the
Vedas ascribed different color identity to different caste. We understand that
Ambedkar did not want any of the ascribed identity for the Dalit people as it
would mean an internalization of subjugation. He wanted an identity that will be
nearer to historical truth and will not further consolidate the inferiority complex
that was consequential to the Brahminic ascription. The Dalit identity just
described what happed to the Dalit people in history and is not value loaded
unless it is interpreted with a particular load of value and ideology. In the growth
of Ambedkarism after Ambedkar such value loading has taken place extensively.
However, it must be noted that Ambedkar is not the one who evolved the Dalit
identity. It was Jyothiba Phule who chose this broken identity for the Dalit people
and later it was nationally popularized by the Dalit Panther Movement.

The question of Dalit identity as a permanent identity is our present concern as it

has assumed serious proportions in the post-Ambedkar scenario. The book
‘Dalitology’ by M C Raj, has already stated clearly that one of the biggest
challenges before the Dalit people will be to give up their Dalit identity when Dalit
liberation ultimately arrives. Contemporary Dalit resurgence has manifested
many creative trends of ‘beyond Ambedkar’ instead of blindly carrying forward
the chariot of liberation into eternity without ever touching it. The beauty of
serious and concerted efforts at Dalit liberation is its creative multiplicity, though
some are adamant on duplicity. As long as duplicity does not become and remain
a dogma there will be much scope for liberation. The creative multiplicity of Dalit
resurgence has given an unprecedented visibility to Dalit liberation struggles.

However, in the euphoria of small successes and big visibility a central question
remains for all. The question has to be posed in such a way that dealing with it
will become the nucleus of Dalit liberation philosophy. What were the Dalit people
before becoming historically broken by Brahminism? The simple answer is that
we were unbroken. If the Dalit identity came to us as a consequence of our
historically becoming broken it means we had an earlier identity as an unbroken
people. Dalit liberation will go many steps forward if the innate unbrokenness of
the now Dalit people is pulled out of the crumbled citadels of Dalit ‘Indian
History’. In fact, a vast majority of contemporary world is becoming ‘broken’
because of racism, globalization and Brahminization. If the world has to rescue
itself from becoming completely submerged in the brokenness that has now
become the historical identity of about 240 million Dalit people, it has to look at
the unbrokenness of the Dalit people as an alternative. The unbrokenness has to
be pulled back into our times and made the foundation of governance of future
nations.

3
Will the ‘ancient’ unbrokenness be able to be the foundation of governance of
modern nation state? When we look at the core characteristics of the unbroken
people we realize that their governing value premises transcend the limitations of
time and the contours of the State.

We are speaking of an unbroken civilization that provides unlimited space to all

people. Generally there is an assumption that all cultural practices of today in
India are Brahminic. We must note that most of the cultural practices of today
originally belonged to the Dalit people. Brahminism took these practices into its
realm, emptied them of their original liberative meaning, stuffed them with their
own dominant interpretations for establishing a dominant social order and re-
circulated them in the society for public consumption. Such an effort is being
made even today by the Hindutva forces in India and globalization forces in the
world at large. Ushering in an unbroken world will mean the rediscovery of
original meanings and interpretations in a genuine and assiduous effort to realize
an egalitarian society. When we speak of returning to the unbroken quality of
existence we are not taking a retrograde step into the past. This is a
revolutionary step into the future, as an egalitarian society with unlimited space
for all people is futuristic.

REDS Thesis
REDS Strategy
Restoration of the
unbrokenness of the
We evolve a Dalit assertion
Dalit people is
that we are neither Hindus,
paramount to ushering
nor Christians, nor Muslims,
in an alternative
nor Buddhists. We Dalits are
governance for nations
Dalits. We have our own
of the world. This
history and culture. We have
alternative governance
our own religion, the Dalit
will deal a fatal blow to
Religion. Let us not convert
Capitalism and
to any other religion in
Brahminism. There is a
search of dignity and
need to take a step
equality. Let us find our
forward from the Dalit
dignity and pride in the Dalit
(broken) identity. In
religion.
order to move towards
an unbroken identity we
need to restore or rich
history and culture.

4
Resistance as Dalit Politics
The history of the Dalit people is narrated through the myths of ancient times.
Without elaborating much I give here below a list of the significant protests of
Dalit ancestors to the time of Babasaheb Ambedkar.

1. One of the noblest kings in human history, the great Ravana preferred to
give his life protesting against the land-grabbing project of Brahminism. He
protested against the denial of Land Rights and the right to dignity to his
sister by the Aryans who looked down upon women in general and Dalit
women in particular as objects that can be used at will and be thrown out
when not needed.

2. Shambuka protested against the enslaving norms of Brahminism to deny

education rights to the Dalits. He performed Tapas and was killed by
Rama for doing just that.

3. Emperor Trishanku protested against the denial of cultural rights by

attempting to go to heaven with his human body.

4. Eklavya protested against the denial of the right to choose one’s

profession by hiding his caste and became a warrior.

5. Soorpanakai protested against the denial of equality and dignity to women

by Rama and Lakshmana.

6. The many kings and queens of the indigenous Dalits1 protested and gave
their life for preserving ecology, environment, animal life and for protecting
their land from the degrading rituals of the non-Indians.

7. Kadaraiah protested against the denial of the right to freedom to choose

by hiding his caste and marrying a Brahmin girl, Maramma. He paid for it
with his life.

1
. 14000 of them according to Ramayana

5
 8. Aralaiah protested against the denial of the right to human dignity by
joining hands with Basavanna.

9. Shri Narayana Guru protested against the denial of religious freedom by

starting a new religion for the Dalits.2

10. Mangooram protested against the denial of life and dignity by starting the
Adi Dharm.

11. Ayyankali protested against the denial of land rights to the Dalits and
education rights to Dalit women.

12. Muthukuttiswamy protested against the denial of dignity and religious

freedom by starting the Ayya Vazhi to liberate a section of Dalits from
‘unseeability’.

13. Jyothibha Phule and Savitribha Phule together protested the denial of
education rights as well as the establishment of cultural nationalism by the
Maharashtrian Brahminic forces.

14. Babasaheb Ambedkar protested against the denial of all ESC3 rights as
well as civil and political rights by vehemently taking up the question of
political nationalism at a larger level and for the political rights of the Dalit
people.

In fact M.S. Gore characterizes the ideology of Babasaheb Ambedkar as an

ideology of protest. Unfortunately the protest element of Dalit ideology tends to
be confined to Babashab Ambedkar. It must be recognized in the larger interest
of Dalit political empowerment that there are innumerable other stars in ancient
and modern history who have woven a multifaceted Dalit path of liberation.

Contemporary endeavors at Dalit empowerment have been centered on a social

psyche of protest rather than on a rational and hard-hitting strategy of political
empowerment of Dalit communities. The attempts at political empowerment are
concentrated on carrying on a legacy rather than on creating new avenues
through those legacies. Despite a long history of protest political empowerment
of Dalit communities still remains a pipedream. There are pockets of political
empowerment but that is no reason for complacency.

2
. For the Ezhavas of Kerala who liberated themselves from untouchability through this religious path
3
. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

6
 In this era of globalization much of our protest is losing its venom
because of the subtle strategies of dominant powers to transform the
very tool of political empowerment, namely, resistance into a tool of
cooption thus making it an arena of disempowerment.

Let me explain. Today protest is part of the dominant design in many parts of the
world. State sponsored resistance is an age-old practice so that the rulers are in
control of resistance too. In our times we witness such legitimizing mechanisms,
though not any more through Institutions of religions but through agents of the
State, conveniently called non-government agencies. Many resistant movements
in the Third World countries are financially sponsored by such agencies. They
sponsor the movements as long as resistance is ‘containable’ and remains within
‘tolerable limits’. The moment they perceive resistance breaking the boundaries
they have set, they sabotage the movements by stopping financial support as
well as by setting up networking partners against the movements. They
systematically isolate the leaders of these movements and provide financial
support to breakaway groups. They know that when resistance moves beyond
their tolerance limits it has the potential to become a revolution. They promote
NGO activists in the Third World precisely because they do not want any
revolution to take place. Therefore, all those with revolutionary potentials are
sought after and will be gradually neutralized by encouraging a language of
unlimited resistance any by nipping revolutionary action in the bud. Most of the
agents are provided funds in their countries by their governments. The ‘resistant’
agents are carefully chosen so that the revolutionary forces will have to think
twice to dare to expose them. Women intellectuals, Tribal leaders, Dalit leaders
etc. have a natural defense around them as exposing them or attacking them will
draw flaks from the general society.
REDS Strategies: Develop organic
intellectualism in the communities
so that conscientious leaders will
not become a creamy layer and
leave the community to fend for
itself.

Develop and spread out community

leadership. Each Dalit village
should have at least 10 visible and
capable leaders so that no one
leader holds the community for
ransom.

Conduct long-term residential

training known as HPD-D as well
as short-term and one day training
for leaders and village people.

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 Result
11 batches of HPD-D training have been conducted till now. As a consequence
about 500 volunteers are spread out in the District to accompany the people in their
struggles. Besides these volunteers a host of village elders have been trained short-
terms to position themselves in leadership locations and get into electoral politics.

More than three hundred elderly people have taken up leadership positions in
villages through short-term training.

200 hundred of our leaders have won in the last village panchayat elections.

In more than 100 Dalit Panchayats more than one thousand village people have
been assigned local leadership responsibilities. Half of them are women leaders.

A group of eight full time leaders are at the helm of affairs in the movement.

50 specially trained Dalit women have taken up second line leadership position in
the Movement.

REDS Theory of Political Empowerment

Classical political theory points to a bipolarity of power. One is Power as

Dominance. The other is Power as Resistance. Through the many years of
experience and reflection in Tumkur District we have developed a Tri-polarity of
power. The third pole is Power as Participation.

Pole 1 - Power as Dominance

8
The emergence of the Nation-State in Capitalistic Economic Order has
consistently brought to the fore the discourse surrounding people’s power.
Capitalism has been wrought with inscrutable shenanigans and communicative
incompetence. More than four centuries of uninterrupted discourse on people’s
power has consistently brought concentrated power into the hands of a few and
has increasingly disempowered a vast majority of the people of the world. Even
the bipolar power of the Western and Eastern blocks has now become a myth
of the past glory and an unpopular power tower has emerged with the United
States of America emerging as the stallion of power and the policeman of the
world. The United States of America commands from a position of unequal
strength. It often uses blackmailing techniques to achieve what it wants to. Even
the United Nations is brought to its knees by the shenanigan of America. The
parties with whom it bargains are often cowed down by the knowledge that it has
in its array the technology of Star Wars. Settlements through such bargaining are
manifestations of power and not of justice. The emergence of the Nation State is
the manifestation of a synchronization of a totalitarian power in the hands of an
oligarchy in the name of democracy. The discourse of democracy is the
official mechanism within the Nation State to offset all resistance to the
exercise of a totalitarian power by the Nation State. The Nation State is also
the legitimization of the position of some groups in a societal relationship to carry
out its own scheme of things and their authority to carry out their designs despite
resistance from other social groups and legal hurdles. This is not actually power.
It is dominant power.

The post-colonial India that fabricated its freedom struggle on the discourse of
power has followed the same chicaneries within India. In fact, the two big epics
of India, which still streamline and consolidate the thinking of the post-modern
ruling class of India, are representation of an unending struggle for dominant
power. India, which has opted to follow the Western model of development, has
also set a model of peripheralization of vast majority of people from the cycle of
power. If it has been generally accepted as the fate of the people of India to be
ruled by the `twice born’ at the national level it is the landlord in the village who
represents such divine power. In the village Panchayat, for example, the Dalits
cannot even sit. They have to stand and `accept’ the judgment of the ‘Dhani’ the
Master, the landlord. Are we not speaking of archaic forms of the exercise of
power? Yes, we are speaking of archaic forms of the exercise of power but it is
happening today. That makes the difference. What angers the sensitive and the
sensible common Indian is that it has not stopped with archaic forms but has
developed into barbaric forms? Just look at what happened in Melavalli village of
Tamilnadu. One Dalit becomes the president of Panchayat. He and seven other
Dalits are butchered in broad daylight. The reason? A Dalit dared to win an
election and become the President of the Panchayat. The Killers? Dominant
caste Vanniyars today, Thevars yesterday. Hoisting one Dalit to the post of the
President of India washes all the accumulated guilt of the Caste oligarchy.

9
The question of power to the people, Decentralization of power, Democracy etc.,
need to be carefully and scientifically analyzed to arrive at a weighed intervention
in the Indian Society today and gain political leverage in the given political
environment. This is of paramount importance if one has to make an intervention
on behalf of and along with the disempowered people. Just one flaw in an
objective understanding can propel someone into the camp of the owners of
dominant power. The tragedy is that those who shift camps are blissfully
unaware of the shift that has taken place within them & the entire time
croak about poor & marginalized. Their language is around the
disempowered people while their arms are around dominant powers, often
inextricable.

Power as Dominance in India

The State in India, whatever might be the different systems and structures it
assumed through centuries, was and always is a dominant vehicle of power.
There is no evidence of the State in India being a dominant and oppressive
power structure before the arrival of the Aryans. Ever since Brahminism
established its firm grip over the Indian society it went about setting a normative
standard and unleashed sets of normative prescriptions for the objugation of the
Dalit people. While dishing out the power to rule to the Kshatriyas it retained in its
hold the power to govern, by nonchalantly usurping a spiritual hegemony.
Governance is the distribution of values, both material and spiritual. Brahminism
began to distribute the material resources of this part of the earth to itself and to
its cronies while simultaneously depriving a vast majority of the people of their
land and other natural resources. It also distributed spiritual values by
establishing Caste System as an imperative form of social organization. Since
then no ruler, no king has been able to change this Brahminic order of the
society, including the British who had the brutal power with them to transform the
governance systems in this country more equitably. Let us leave alone the
equitable distribution of material resources, even education has been
sanctimoniously denied to the indigenous Dalits. It was in denying education and
knowledge to the Dalits that Brahminism was able to retain its hold over the
distribution of wealth according to its whims and fancies. This is a monumental
evidence of the State in India being in essence a Brahminic State. Many scholars
in India are suffering from communicative incompetence. They have a specific
agenda before they make their thesis. Their theme is to create an impression in
the common reader that the State in India is not Brahminic. They only produce
those types of data and evidences which will more or less show the neutral
character of the Indian State.

Most of us, especially the Dalits, live under the illusion that after the departure of
the British from the Indian soil colonialism was wiped out from the face of this
part of the earth. The common people are battered with the paradigm that we are

10
Indians, are one people with one culture and national integration is our prime
concern and duty. The reality is that India has simply passed from one form
of colonialism to another form, more oppressive in many ways than the
British colonialism. The class oligarchy in India is also simultaneously a caste
oligarchy, which the British were not. They simply left the issue of caste to be
dealt with by the Indians themselves. First of all they did not want to antagonize
the Indian capitalists by taking any step towards social equality. Secondly, they
were not gaining in any way by taking up some of the issues of the Indian society
that were deeply rooted in religion. It was advantageous for them to turn a blind
eye to certain issues. However, it must be said to their credit that they opened up
the doors of the education system to the Dalits thus reversing millennia old
injustice to the indigenous people. The battle for India’s independence was
essentially between the dominant economic gulag of Britain and the
dominant class-caste combine of India.

We are all proud that the looting of India was arrested through the struggles of
the Brahmin-Baniya combine for which thousands of ordinary poor Indians laid
down their lives. The Combine raised the tempo of animosity against the British
down the social order but stealthily joined hands with the same British for
business enterprises and establishment of economic empires. But is not the
looting of India now being continued by the new economic gulag that has
emerged in India? The economic patricians in India are simultaneously the
dominant caste forces who have developed enough caste discourses,
paradigms, strategies and programs for the perpetuation of their wholesome
hegemony over the people of this land. It is not that this particular class of people
is a creamy layer within the Indian society. But they have joined hands with the
same colonizers whom they fought. With the same philosophy of liberalization,
privatization etc. they have built corporations after corporations and have
expropriated the wealth of the nation all to themselves. The finance capital and
the speculative capital that they have amassed within the country are being
pumped into the banks in other countries. This capital forms a major part of the
loan that the IMF and the World Bank are lending out to India and the onus of
repaying the loan falls on the common taxpayer of this country. It is a well-
orchestrated nexus of the hooligans within India and outside. The misery of our
people has increased manifold.

Therefore, it is evident that the State is not a neutral mechanism of governance.

It has to survive by taking sides. By the very fact of its dependence on certain
forces for capturing power the owners of the State need to follow the ‘dictat’ of
their supporters. Such support may be coming from economic forces, communal
forces, caste forces or other dominant ethnic groups. Therefore, the State will be
obliged to enact laws and establish systems that will, in the ultimate analysis,
serve the interest of those groups or group with whose ‘mercy’ it comes to power.
Its roles then vary from allocation, distribution of resources to repression and
containment of unrest. In the context of Globalization, for example, the State in
the developing countries will be compelled to enact such laws that will protect the

11
interests of the Global investors. The ruling elite of the country may be in a
confrontationist position yet may be forced to bend to a collaborationist level.
Enactment of repressive laws to contain all forms of protest against foreign
dominant forces is ineluctable in such a situation. But repression is not the only
means of safeguarding the interest of the dominant elite in a State. It also creates
its own systems, which will justify many of its endeavors among the common
people. The State then either creates a ‘legitimating ideology’ or makes use of an
existing one by conveniently twisting it and popularizes a political formula to gain
mass support for its projects. Such ideologies and formulae usually give a false
impression to the people of their participation yet in reality will be far removed
from it. The common people will not be in a position to identify any such hidden
agenda except through a scientific analysis. The cover that the State weaves
around its projects is full of such fine thread that it will normally look verry
attractive to the unsuspecting masses. Only when they are caught in it will they
realize the impossibility of extricating themselves from it.

In the Globalization context one may point out to such big talks of a ‘New World
Order’, ‘Decentralization of Power’, ‘Democracy’, ‘Participation’ etc. as the
legitimizing ideology and Panchayat Raj as the legitimizing formula. Therefore,
we may conclude that the ‘Project of Panchayat Raj’ is a pet agenda of the State
that has bowed its head and sold its freedom to the dominant elite of the world
order.

In the internal organization of a multi cultural society with its conflicting interest
groups, governance by the State may also pose a threat to the dominant elite of
particular interest groups or ethnic communities. The governance of rural India is
an example to be looked at. The dominant caste elite in the rural communities
appropriated for themselves the right to rule their villages through their own
normative order. The legislation of the State is generally overridden by this
normative order as such an order had more acceptances among the rural people
than the law. In fact, the existence of many such laws of the State are unknown
to the people and where they know it the rural elite unleash repression on the
people to such an extent of creating an impression that the State legal system is
ineffective in their context. The conventional rural Panchayats in India where the
dominant caste people sit in judgment over the Dalits without giving them any
right to prove their innocence may substantiate this point. The State with its
legislation and its implementing bodies like the police and bureaucracy provides
a lot of room for redressals. This is mainly because of the British legal system,
which India has inherited and because of Babasaheb Ambedkar who is the
architect of the Indian Constitution. Not that we have any high regard for a British
legacy but the Indian normative order did not and would not have allowed much
space for the Dalits, Tribals and women. This is borne out by the fact that despite
the Constitution atrocities and oppression to continuing in the daily lives of the
Dalits and women. For the marginalized people in India, the State, however
repressive it may be offers one of the biggest hopes of liberation from the
traditional oppressions of the dominant caste forces.

12
Pole 2 - Power as Resistance

As against the extremely fundamentalist Project of Gandhi and Congress came

the endeavors of stalwarts like Mahatma Jothibha Phule4, Babasaheb Ambedkar
and E.V.R.Periyar. Their effort was to construct a political nationalism for India.
They outright rejected the Gandhian Project of graded inequality based on
Varnashrama, the cultural nationalism. Their project visualized a society in India,
which would be constructed on the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
(Babasaheb Ambedkar rushes to add that he derived these three principles, not
from French Revolution but from Buddhism). They actively resisted the
construction of a Nation on dominant cultural values, on caste lines. Equal rights
for all people and equal status for all people was what they wanted. Caste
system should be resisted and eradicated by the power of people at the bottom.
By proposing a three-pronged strategy of Educate, Agitate and Organize
Babasaheb Ambedkar advocated power as resistance. The poor and the Dalits
must not allow caste system to continue and must resist all forms of inequality in
the Indian Society. They should establish their power by resisting all forms of
dominance.

(Sufficient explanation has been given earlier on Dalit resistance)

Pole 3 - Power as Participation

It is in the specific context of the Dalits and local governance that the concept of
power as participation needs to be looked into. Against the bipolarity of power
as dominance and power as resistance we need to now move into a
tripolarity of power as participation. This needs to be distinguished from any
blind following and co-option. A section of society that blindly follows a leader or
is co-opted by the system may look like participating but will not have any power
as decision-makers. Power as participation takes people deep into
Governance. Here we take Michael Th. Greven’s definition of Governance as a
process of the allocation of values in a given society. Allocation of values implies
the allocation of material resources and normative standards. By implication
this would mean that participation in Governance is the power to make
decisions at the community/societal level and the power to determine the
functioning of systems. The road to the power of determination and decision-
making should be paved with the power of influencing the decision-making.
History is full of overwhelming evidence that such a power as participation has
not remained with the poor and the marginalized. There have been instances of
the assertion of people’s power as participation. It presupposes a transformation

4
He was the one who was first given the name Mahatma.

13
of the naïve consciousness of the people into a critical consciousness and
congruent capacity building for affecting the mechanisms of Governance.

The forces of Globalization especially the economic bodies have usurped the
powers of allocation by blurring the political borders of the nation-state. The
cultural nationalism of the caste leaders of India has sought to establish
power as dominance. According to it the business of governance belongs to a
certain caste groups. The determining factor is birth in a particular dominant
caste. The political nationalism focused on power as resistance in the sense that
the marginalized caste groups and the Dalits must fight for equal rights. But we
believe that the poor and the marginalized should go a step further and
establish their space in Governance, through conscientious political
participation. In the present context of Globalization where the powers of the
nation state are depleting through a dominant strategy the poor have to latch on
to the same nation state for a certain amount of maneuvering space on their
behalf. It is a paradox. However, till there is another form of governance the
marginalized people have to capture and expand the political space within the
nation state context. Therefore, the type of participation that is being
visualized is an aggressive maneuvering towards capturing political power
by the marginalized people. This is not possible for any one community in
India. It is possible only by a strategic combination of many communities, a
combination that may be realized only through an identity formation,
strengthening of small community identities and through such realized strengths
to forge a larger identity such as the Bahujan identity.

Such an identity formation should not attempt at forging an identity that will
submerge other specific identities of communities as that will lead only to the
establishment of dominant paradigms in the marginalized communities. In the
long run one form of exploitation will be replaced by another form. That is not
worth all the struggles and fights that the marginalized people and their leaders
are putting up. The primary need in this political path to power is the
strengthening of small group identities of different communities. The
Madhiga people must unite and realize their strength as one community. The
Mala people should unite and find their strength. So also should the other
communities realize their community strength. From this position of strength
should they come together as Dalits. The Dalit identity cannot expect people to
lose their respective strengths as Madhigas, Mala, Chamar, Mahar, Pallar,
Parayar, and Arundatiyar etc.

Political endeavors till now have had a heavy focus on what should be happening
outside of a community, in the larger context, to capture political power.
Emancipation and liberation have meant action ‘out there’. The general
assumption under this paradigm of participation has been that there is a
community in existence. While the reality of a community cannot be put into
serious question the relative strengths of each community calls for deep
introspection and critical analysis. What identity do the members of a

14
particular community have assumed? What type of a leadership pattern is
there within the community? Does a community practice direct democracy
or a representative democracy? What mechanisms are there within a
community towards an elite formation? What checks and balances are
there within a community to prevent the formation of a creamy layer that
will strive to alienate itself from the community and join hands with the
oppressive mainstream forces? What are the normative standards of a
community? Have these normative standards come from within the
community or have been derived from the Brahminic forces or from other
dominant forces such as religion, ideologies, Isms etc. What are the
internal organizational mechanisms of the community that binds it
together? A series of such and other questions need to be raised.

Without diminishing the value of externally aggressive participation in the

mechanisms of the nation state, one should also emphasize the need for an
internal organization of the marginalized communities for the realization of their
community strength, which will in the long run enhance the strength of the
political struggle for emancipation, liberation and greater participation in
governance. As long as some Dalit communities assume the Brahminic culture
and religion as their own the respective strengths of these communities will be
weakened. As long as some communities among the Dalits are as
fundamentalist as the Brahminic forces the cause of Dalit Liberation will be
gradually lost. Therefore, reviving and strengthening of the religious-cultural
identities of communities and identifying a collectivity in that are of paramount
importance. If participation in the processes of governance has to be meaningful
and equal it cannot be at the submergence of some communities as it happened
in the Dravidian politics of Tamilnadu. The role model that will be set by this
‘submerging emergence’ will be that of the dominant classes and that of
Brahminism. The Dalit emergence should in fact defeat any such role models
and strive for a new role model that will be based on alternative value paradigms.
These new value paradigms will be taken from the religious-cultural context of
the marginalized people.

While Mahatma Jotiba Phule was the first one in the history of India to open
schools for the untouchables, Periyar fought tooth and nail against the Brahminic
forces of India in the name of the Dravidian Movement that he started.
Babasaheb Ambedkar went many m,any steps ahead with his explicit idea of a
political nationalism. All the three of them fought Brahminism in their own specific
way. Jotiba Phule refused to have any truck with the Congress party branding it
as a Brahminic party. Periyar spearheaded his self-respect movement with five
famous ‘no’s. No God, No religion, No Brahmin, No Gandhi, and No Congress.
Babasaheb Ambedkar sought the emancipation of the Dalit people first through
political path but ultimately through the path of religion.

Cultural nationalism in India would mean the firm establishment of Caste

system as an instrument of societal organization. Not only that, it would

15
also lead to the Brahminic Order being recognized as the normative order
of the Indian society. The legal system then would be designed based on this
Order. This was untenable in the Indian context for many reasons.

1. India is not one nation as one can see in many other nations. India is a
continent of nations. Each State of India has a different language, different
culture. The indigenous people do not belong to the Hindu religion. The
Tribal people who are more than 80 million have their own religion. The
Dalits who are more than 180 million are not Hindus. There are 130 million
Muslims. There are many other minority communities in large number.
Moreover, Brahminism whose other name is Hinduism is in its essence
DOMINANT. This cannot be said of other religions, though in practice they
may be the same or even worse than Brahminism. But Brahminism
believes in the graded inequality of people and extols oppression,
exploitation and ill treatment of others. Practicing inequality in general and
untouchability is a way of gaining a superior birth in the next life. In fact
according to it if one touches the Dalits or teaches them the Vedas
(Scriptures) one will be re-born as an inferior being.

2. Babasaheb B.R.Ambedkar and Periyar saw this shenanigan of the

Cultural nationalists clearly and the consequences for the Dalits of this
country. We may also mention the names of Mangoo Ram, Swami
Atchutanand and Birsa Munda as other untouchable and tribal leaders
who fought for political nationalism. More than the religious minorities it is
the Dalits who would suffer most. Without much support from anywhere
outside India the Dalits would have to continue to provide free and cheap
labor. Therefore, they decided to fight tooth and nail against the
establishment of Cultural Nationalism in India by proposing that India’s
nation building should be based political nationalism. Such nationalism
would ensure equal political right for the different communities living in
India respecting fully their freedom. A Constitution that would ensure the
equal rights of all people was made. It was written by no other than
Ambedkar himself. This Constitution has been guiding the destiny of India
till today. Now with the assuming of political power by the Hindutva forces
attempts are being made to review this Constitution to once again bring
cultural nationalism through the backdoor. Dr. B R Ambedkar not only led
a political movement for the nation as a whole but also laid the
foundations for the emancipation of the Dalits. Being an untouchable,
Babasaheb Ambedkar wrote in many volumes the philosophy of Dalit
liberation. Rejecting Hindu identity for the untouchables and resisting the
attempts of M K Gandhi to Hinduize the Dalits.

Babasaheb Ambedkar predicted this long ago. “The third thing we must do is not
to be content with mere political democracy. We must make our political
democracy a social democracy as well. Political Democracy cannot last unless
there lies at the base of it social democracy… We must begin by acknowledging

16
the fact that there is complete absence of two things in Indian society. One of
these is equality. On the social plane, we have in India a society of graded
inequality, which means elevation of some and degradation of others. On the
economic plane, we have a society in which there are some who have immense
wealth as against many who live in abject poverty… On the 26 th January 1950 we
are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and
in social and economic life we will have inequality… We must remove this
contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from
inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly
has so laboriously built up”5 When we have a nation through our struggles,
where there is minimal inequality, exploitation and oppression, where there
is no dogma that believes in inequality and untouchability not only as a
way of life but also as a virtue we shall be bold enough to announce the
conversion of Hindustan into Janasthan, a Nation that is governed by the
guiding principles of the elders of the Dalit people.

REDS Strategy

Take the people a step ahead of the protest psyche. They must be convinced
that there is no point in going on protesting and taking pride in protest as an
achievement of a goal. Protest must be only a strategic means to achieve
greater participation in the Instruments and mechanisms of governance of
India. We must fix our sight on capturing, expanding and consolidating a Dalit
space in national governance. We must take up protest only in as much as it
is an effective means. Glorifying our protest and labeling us as a protesting
people should not blind our vision of providing a value based governance to
this country of ours.

Political empowerment is not a compartment of Dalit life. No one can honestly

say, “ I am not for politics”. Politics is an integral dimension of Dalit culture.
Therefore, Capturing, expanding and consolidating Dalit space in governance
will imply a holistic engagement in the larger society. It implies and overall
checkmating of Brahminism and its shenanigans as well as a proactive
creation of the ‘virtuous cycle’. REDS’ strategy for political empowerment of
Dalits the Dalit Panchayat which is simultaneously social and economic.

Details of the realization of these strategies are given in Part IV.

5
. As quoted by Professor D.N.Sandanshiv in Siddharth College of Law Magazine, 1980.

17
 Dalit Political Empowerment – REDS as a Catalyst
REDS looks at Dalit political empowerment from two major dimensions. Contrary
to all previous endeavor, however, serious, sincere and committed they might
have been, REDS believes firmly in the need for a strong and systematic internal
community governance if not to precede, at least to go hand in hand with
participation in national governance. This is the first dimension. The second
dimension is that as a strong community that is capable of governing itself Dalit
community must aim at capturing and expanding as much space as possible in
national governance to the extent that one day the governance of India will
become Dalit governance. Then this country will be known as Janasthan.

Internal Governance
What is the cumulative consequence of the submergence of the Dalit history and
culture under the Brahminic culture? Over many centuries and millennia the Dalit
communities have lost the strong normative order and forms of internal
governance. Brahminism worked like a slow poison threatening the Dalits here,
co-opting them there, cheating them treacherously here and so on. A dilution of
their strong principles of internal governance handed over orally generation after
generation has been possible because of the overriding influence of Brahminism.
The same consequences are the results of the conversion of the Dalit people into
Christianity and Islam. These three cultures have taken pride in having hoisted
the symbols of their pride standing on the debris of the Dalit culture. Not having
had a written normative order for internal governance of their society the Dalit
culture has been trampled upon with impunity.

For the Dalit communities religions and religious systems have remained
constant nemesis. Our daily living is continuously being conditioned by the
prescriptions of behavior by the dominant caste groups. More than 7,00,000
villages of India are governed by the caste prescriptions of the dominant castes.
Almost in all the villages there is a Dalit area that is till today called the ‘Dalit
Colony’. The very structure of each village in India is a testimony to an
inhuman level of colonization. What prevails in the village day in and day
out is the direct and blatant code of behavior determined by the caste
village. The village is called united and peaceful if all the people in village abide
by a common code of conduct. This is one of the fundamental requirements in

18
any society. Therefore, to anyone who does not go deep into the peculiarities of
Indian villages this paradigm does sound quite innocent. However, for the
conscientious Dalit there is one inevitable question. Where is the common code
of conduct when it has been exclusively determined by the dominant caste
religious precepts and practices? Peace on whose terms and on what
conditions?

There will be peace in the village generally if the Dalit people do not at all
question the rationale of the village code of conduct. There will be peace and
harmony in the village if the Dalit people quietly take the glasses kept separately
for them in the village tea shops, sip their cup of tea, wash the glasses and keep
them back in their ‘reserved’ place. If the Dalit people question the rationale of
separate glasses and demand tea to be served like anybody else it will be
deemed to be a disruption of harmony in the village. There will be peace and
harmony in the village if the Dalit people remove the carcasses as a caste duty
i.e. as a virtuous job that will take them one step away from untouchability, in the
next birth of course. If the Dalits say it is your animal that is dead and
therefore, you can remove it or at least join hands with us or pay us for the
job that we do, or in the way we remove carcasses from your streets you
should also come forward to remove carcasses from our streets, it will be a
terrible affront to the dominant castes and a serious violation of the peace
of the village.

There will be peace and harmony in the village if the Dalit people sweep the
streets and clean the gutter as prescribed by the dominant castes. If the Dalits
say that after all it is our village. It will add to the luster of the village peace
if you also join us in cleaning the village, it is a sure way to insulting the
caste lords and will lead to clashes and beating up of the Dalits. Such
clashes and atrocity on the Dalits by the dominant caste groups are only
for preservation of peace and harmony!!! and for ‘teaching a lesson’ to the
Dalits. There will be peace and harmony in the village if the Dalit people take
their musical instruments to announce deaths of dominant caste people and beat
their drums during their funeral processions. If they go to different villages to
inform the relatives of the dead bracing hot sun or heavy rain at no cost at all
there will be sure peace in the village. If ever the Dalits demand wages for
these services then the village peace will be disrupted, of course by the
violence of the dominant castes. There will be peace and harmony in the
village if the Dalit people unquestioningly dig the graves of the dominant caste
dead. If the Dalits say for the sake of peace and harmony let us all join
hands to dig the grave of one of the elders of the village or pay us a certain
amount of money for this hard work or you must also dig graves when one
of our elders dies, then it is a sure case of the worst violation of village
peace and subsequently of the human rights of the Dalit people.

There will be peace and harmony in the village only if the Dalit people prepare
firewood for marriages in the caste families, only if the Dalits carry lamps in the

19
village processions, only if the Dalits came last with their flowers to gods and
goddesses, only if the Dalits remove the leaves and plates in which the caste
people eat, only if the Dalits willingly accept the leftovers, only if the Dalits are
ready to accept the residual development schemes of the government etc. The
litany can go and on.

Suffice it to say that the peace and harmony prevailing in the Indian
villages today is the fruit of the slavery of the Dalit people as well as their
forced acceptance of it. It is the compulsive consequence of the meek
surrender of the innocent Dalit to bow his head (The Dalit woman generally
is not a part of this compromising formula of Dalit men) to the village ‘Dani’
the Lord. Where does so much authority come from? Where does this code of
conduct come from? Are they from the Constitution of India? No. In fact, the
village governance is an antithesis of the political nationalism proposed in
the Constitution of India. The norms and codes of conduct widely prevalent in
the post colonial India smack of an ancient form of colonialism which is infused
with new life and inflated with renewed vigor by the post modernist educated and
informed Indian. Such a knowledge, audacity, arrogance and authority come
from religion and the different seats of religious power. Religious books and other
Institutions of religion provide the stamp of authority for such archaic forms of
village governance. The forces that have a bounden duty to govern the nation
state under a rule of law prefers to look the other way when it comes to a
question of violations of the human rights of the Dalit people. The dominant caste
man is not at all afraid of his gods and goddesses, as he very well knows that
these are his mere creations of his ancestors. What he is afraid of is the Dalit
approaching the rule of law for justice, both distributive and retributive. This is
because even the most radically conscious Indian has a residue at the core of his
being, however reluctant he/she may be to acknowledge it, that the Dalit is
destined to be outside the periphery of human existence by a divine ordinance.
Even the so-called atheists and communist leaders shudder to take up the
responsibility of Dalit liberation simply because most of them live by their
Brahmin identity.

In the Dalit world there is a simultaneously synchronizing effect. Whatever may

be the intensity of repulsion a Dalit experiences in his raw nerves against such
inhuman forms of governance he has till now generally been abiding by the ‘rules
and regulations’ of the village as formulated by the caste masters. The primary
reason for this abiding subservience is an internalized fear. Throughout his/her
life the Dalit lives in fear of the totally unexpected outcome of his/her otherwise
normal behavior. The hidden presence of the caste lord hangs over his/her head
like the sword of Damocles. The personality of the caste lord is a shadow that
follows the Dalit wherever he/she goes. In any remote area, physically far
removed from the ‘Dhani’ the Dalit’s decisions are conditioned by what the he
may say or do to him/her as a consequence of his/her decision. The Dalit does
not know which of his/her conduct and decision would draw the wrath of the
‘Dhani’ and at what time. If there is no compliance with the normative from the

20
‘village’ there could be a severe beating up, maiming, and hospitalization etc. not
only of him/her but also possibly of his/her family members. It is the community
that is generally punished for the ‘supposed’ crime of an individual Dalit. Another
reason for compliance is the fear that the caste lord would demand the
immediate repayment, with interest, of the loan that the Dalit borrowed in times of
distress. While lending the money the ‘Dhani’ knew only too well that such ‘loss’
of money would stand him in good stead. The most compelling reason however
is the overall dependence of the entire Dalit community on one or other of the
caste lords for subsistence. When the Dalit wakes up from sleep every
morning the day becomes one of compulsive servility.

The binding that the village code of conduct has on the Dalit is not because of
any enlightened consciousness that the village rules are evolved for the good of
humanity. The ordinary Dalit knows only too well that the caste rules are explicitly
meant to subjugate him/her, his/her family and his/her community for the selfish
ends of the caste forces. Simultaneously we also witness a ‘Reverse
Bond’ in the Dalit community. There are unwritten codes of conduct within
the Dalit community. These codes have been handed down from generation to
generation by its observance. These are not consequent to any holy book or any
religious authority but because of the emotional bond that exists within the Dalit
community. Though there are no seats of power there are families and elders
belonging to certain families who are conventionally vested with an informal
authority go guide the behavior of the community. On certain occasions when
there are guidelines given out by such elders some Dalits make a public show of
their dissent, which they would never dare to do vis-à-vis the dominant caste
dictates. This is because of the bond they have within the community among one
another. They are so confident of the tolerance of one another that they have no
hesitation to violate any internal guidance. Since this is not the type of bonding
that will take a community forward and leads to regression we call it a ‘Reverse
Bond’. The refusal to abide by a community code is born of a bond and not
because of the absence of it. It is easy to violate internal norms, as there is
no fear of punishment and as there is no visible seat of power to which one
has to be accountable. The dominant caste groups make use of this psyche of
the Dalits to their best advantage. The fear of the dominant castes is also
accompanied by a fear of punishment by the gods. This fear has been instilled
into the Dalit psyche systematically by the caste forces.

Therefore, we have come to a crucial question. Is it the village code of conduct?

Is it the Constitution? Or is it something else that is going to liberate the Dalit
communities? An honest and dispassionate reply to this question actually takes
us to the need for Dalit Religion. Let me explain. The cumulative consequence
of the objugation of the Dalit people for many centuries is the denial of the
right to codify their principles of internal governance. This was effectively
achieved by the dominant castes by banning education to the Dalits. A
constitutional alternative will become irrelevant in this context as the Constitution
itself has become a vacant site. The Dalits may clamor for the rule of law but

21
unless the entire nation upholds the rule of law the Dalit space in
governance will be restricted and violated at will as it is happening. When
the caste society has the audacity to bye-pass the Constitution
of India and make religious laws as the ‘de facto’ governing
mechanism of the country, the Dalit communities can only think
of a revolution as our liberation path. Revolution is not the outcome of a
romantic aspiration. It will be the consequence of carefully planned strategies. It
will require a common identity and a collective will to succeed. The collective will
cannot come about unless a group of people evolves a community sense with
their own normative. People do not accept and abide by community norms
unless the community itself emerges out of a history and culture. The Dalit
people have a history and culture. Dalit religion is a humble attempt to discover in
a rational way the history, culture and civilization of the Dalit people. Hence the
Dalit assertion “We are neither Hindus, nor Christians, nor Muslims, nor
Buddhists. We Dalits are Dalits. Dalit Religion is our Religion”. (Expand here on
external Politics and governance.)

REDS’ Thesis REDS’ Strategies

The cumulative impact of dominance over Dalit Economic – Land

communities through history is the loss of formally for Dalits
structured Internal Normative Order(INO), a privilege
that all other communities enjoy. Lack of an INO has Political
lead to the weakening of the internal strength of the a. Internal – Dalit
Dalit communities and has wreaked havoc with Dalit Panchayat
identity. If Dalits have to effectively participate in
national governance their internal community b. External–
strength has to be restored. If internal strength of Convergence of
Dalit communities has to be restored the INO of the Dalit votes on Land
Dalit communities must be revived and
consolidated. Political bargaining, capturing and Social – Battle
expanding of Dalit space in governance, can sustain against
themselves only on the strengths that Dalit untouchability and
communities acquire by governing themselves as a atrocity
community of people. Developing an INO may look
like an introversion. True, however, this introversion Cultural – Dalit
will produce the type of uncontainable energy in the Religion
Dalit communities that it will have to break out
naturally into an extroversion. Such a breaking out Overriding –
will lead to a take over of national governance by the International
Dalit people. Only then can we truly say that India Advocacy and
has become free once again. Lobbying

22
 Strategies of REDS

The Strategies of REDS are placed in three timeframes.

The first timeframe is the first decade from 1984 to 1993. This is the decade of
the NGO REDS. During this period REDS was the front-line leader for the Dalit
people taking up their cause in a pioneering fashion as well as educating and
organizing the people for struggles.

The second timeframe is the second decade starting from 1994 to 2003. This is
the decade of the Dalit Jagruthi Samithi, which is the Dalit movement supported
by REDS. In this decade the NGO REDS systematically was asked to give up its
leadership position and assume a support service role to the Movement. In this
decade DJS became a strong front-line leader of the Dalit people.

The third timeframe has just started. This is the third decade where Dalit
Religion, Dalit Panchayat and Booshakthi Kendra are emerging as focal points of
Dalit liberation. In this decade DJS is giving way to Dalit Panchayats for internal
community governance with a primary focus on the restoration of the primacy of
the Dalit woman.

The three timeframes also have had their Strategic Focus and Strategic
Locations from which have emerged the many struggles and programmes for
the political empowerment of the people. Strategic Focuses flow from Dalit
liberation philosophy and the space they provide for creativity is much wider.
They are like springboards from which many strategic Locations emerge.

Strategic Locations are similar in nature to the focuses with less mixture of
philosophical moorings. However, they are much reduced in their scope in
comparison to strategic focuses. They give impetus to the emergence of
programmes, action, reflection and struggles.

23
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Timeframe Strategic Focuses Strategic Locations
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

Decade of REDS Political Bargaining Power Educate, Agitate, Organize

NGO Sangha Model Community Short-term training
Organization
Effective leadership
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Decade of DJS Power as Participation Long-term training
Movement Organic Intellectualism Electoral battles
Internationalization Struggles against
Alternative leadership Untouchability and atrocity
Advocacy & Lobbying International Networking
Land Struggles
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Decade of DPs Internal Governance Dalit Panchayats
Cultural Resurgence Dalit Religion
Community Convergence of Dalit Booshakthi Kendra
Votes – One Vote Dalitology
Dalit Governance of India 5 acres of land to each
Dalit family
Booshakthi Vedike
Booshakthi Forum
International
Booshakthi Women’s
Forum
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

Strategic Offshoots
 “Jai Bheem’ greeting as a Dalit form of greetings to instill a sense of pride
among the Dalits as well as to create a sense of belonging to a community
of people. Today the Dalits in many villages and towns greet one another,
dominant castes people and government officials with Jai Bheem.

 Transform the identity of an ‘untouchable’ people into one of a ‘don’t

touchable’ people. The common saying in the District among the dominant

24
 castes is “hey, do not poke in their affairs. The have DJS and Booshakthi
Kendra”.

 Transform identity of a receiving people into one of giving people. We

have a rich history and culture, a worldview and way of life that the world
can receive as an alternative to dominant ways, oppression and
exploitation.

 Stop converting to other religions. We are neither Hindus, nor Christians,

nor Muslims, nor Buddhists. We Dalits are Dalits. We have our History and
Culture. We have our religion. Our Religion is the Dalit Religion.

 Emergence of women leadership as a strike force and a governing force.

Almost all successful struggles in Tumkur District have been led by Dalit
women.

 Dalit cultural symbols have been evolved to give visibility to the Cultural
resurgence.

Landmark Empowerment Events

(Social, Cultural, Economic and Advocacy events are excluded)

 1993 – 110 members of the REDS Sanghas contested the Mandal

Panchayat elections. 58 of them won. 18 of the winning candidates were
women. There was euphoria all around. However, in the subsequent
elections to the post of Presidents they could not contest in the name of
REDS as political parties could field their candidates.

 1994 – The Dalit Jagruti Samithi was formally inaugurated by Prof. B

Krishnappa, the Founder of DSS. There was a gathering of 5000 Dalits in
the District.

 1999 – Assessment by political parties put the ‘votes on hand’ strength of

DJS to 35000 in the District. Politiciansl came out in the open to seek the
support of REDS-DJS. Hard negotiations took place.

 January 2000 – The Declaration of this Millennium as Ambedkar Yuga

generated a raging political controversy in the District to some extent in
the State. Political parties, RSS, Brahmin Mahasabha and other Caste
Groups tried their level best to sabotage the event. It was one of the
bitterest controversies in the history of the District. The battle of wits was
won by REDS-DJS. The Declaration was a roaring success with 42000

25
 Dalits mobilized by ordinary illiterate and semi-literate Dalit leaders. A few
thousand others came on their own from different parts of the country.
Prakash Ambedkar was the hero of the day. Four senior Ministers of the
Karnataka Government attended the function. It was a terrible slap on the
face of politicians and Caste forces. It was the first and the only time when
so many thousands gathered together in the history of the District.

 March 2000 – The Kampalapally Issue once again brought the Dalit
people together. Though it was a Caste atrocity in Kolar for DJS it was a
political mobilization of its people. Each taluk organized Road Blockade in
the entire District simultaneously.

 Elections 2000 – DJS fielded its candidates in the Panchayat Elections.

200 of them won. DJS evolved a strategy of supporting Dalit candidates in
the Taluk and Zilla Panchayat elections apart from three winning
candidates at the Taluk Panchayat level.

 March 2001 – One of the biggest mobilizations of women by DJS took

place in Pavagada, a volatile taluk of the District. 3000 women took part in
the procession. It was a political show of strength.

 February 2002 – 6000 Dalit people assembled in Bangalore to release

Dalitology. It was a cultural-political assertion of the people in the Capital.
More than 1000 of them were from outside Tumkur District.

 April 2003 – The Great March to establish the Booshakthi Kendra was
once again a cultural-political assertion of the Dalit people. Jyothi and Raj
walked 25 kms in scorching sun without any stop. 6000 people assembled
to welcome and announce the arrival of the Dalit Peeta.

 November 2003 – The Chief Minister of Karnataka was on a public

relations tour with the people of Karnataka. DJS_Booshakthi Kendra
decided to stop the CM at the Booshakthi Kendra and present a
Memorandum for five acres of land. This was not allowed by the
organizers. However, the Minister for Highjer education invited Jyothi and
Raj for a discussion and made sure for himself that we were not staging a
protest. After we clarified that we were not staging any protest a stop at
the Booshakthi Kendra was included in the schedule of the CM. Abot a
thousand people gathered in one day’s notice.

 December 2003 – In the Festival of Dalit Ancestors, Six Dalit Swamijis

assembled in the Boosahkthi Kendra with 3000 people. It was a
combination of cultural-economic-political assertion. It was announced that
in the forthcoming elections to the State Assembly only that party which,
incorporated in its official Manifesto, the promise of giving five acres of

26
 land to each Dalit family, would get the Dalit votes in the District.
Convergence of Dalit votes into one vote became an urgent appeal.

 Bhoomi Jatha 2004 – Centered on the demand for five acres of land to
each Dalit family Jyothi and Raj went on a village tour appealing to people
to bring theirl votes into one vote and realize its worth by casting this ONE
VOTE to a party that promised to give 5 acres of land to each Dalit family
in its Manifesto.

 Elections 2004 – The Booshakthi Vedike was formed to pressurize the

political parties to include the clause of 5 acres of land in their official
Manifesto. 13 Districts are represented. Five Dalit Swamijis have also
joined the Vedike. The Vedike is known as a Network of Dalit Movements
and Dalit Peetas. Perhaps for the first time in the history of Dalit liberation
this idea emerged and has been realized. A smaller committee was
formed to meet national and State level leaders of all political parties.

 Elections 2005 – In the elections to the Panchayats in Karnataka, The

DJS fielded 452 candidates. 261 of them won the elections. Out of the 261
winning persons from DJS 118 were from the other castes with whom
Dalits made an alliance and made them win. In the bargain they were able
to make the rest of their candidates win.

 The Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh invited REDS-DJS to identify all

their party candidates and field them in Tumkur District on behalf of their
party.

 The Janatha Dal (S) made it a point to stop at the Booshakthi Kendra in
their party march to Tumkur. This was to show to the Dalit people that they
were in good terms with Booshakthi Kendra.

 The Congress organized a public meeting in the Booshakthi Kendra to

honor Babasaheb Ambedkar. Once again the motive was the same as the
Janatha Dal.

 The Janatha Dal (S) had included promise of a hectare of land in their
draft Manifesto. The leaders met them once again and insisted that it
should be five acres of land and nothing less. They agree and it was there
in the final official Manifesto. The Booshakthi Kendra immediately gave a
call to all the Dalit people in Tumkur District and in parts of Karnataka to
support Janatha Dal (S).

Cumulative Impact

27
The cumulative impact of the Cultural Resurgence-cum-Political Mobilization of
the Dalit people in Tumkur District has been manifold and multifaceted.

 4500 acres of land have been recovered for the Dalit people till now in the
District alone.

 Untouchability practices have been reduced to a mere 20% in area of

operation.

 Atrocity was nil in the last three years. Major atrocities have completely
stopped. The common talk in the District is not to touch the Dalits as they
have REDS – DJS and Booshakthi Kendra.

 Political parties vie with each other to garner the support of Booshakthi
Kendra.

 The strategy for convergence of Dalit votes into one was applied in the
last General Elections to the Legislative Assembly and to the Parliament.
The result was unprecedented. Out of the 13 seats in the District Janatha
Dal (S) won 8. Though we cannot claim the entire credit for this change in
the District our strategies were effective. This was the first time that such a
call was given to the people and the rate of success is a sure lesson for
the future in a positive direction.

 Free Caste labor has stopped in most village. People are proud to be
Dalits and in order to safeguard their dignity they now work for wages and
are sacrifice the little benefit that may come from Caste labor.

 Dalits are celebrating their own festivals and have started giving up the
festivals of other religions. Photos of Hindu gods and goddesses are
giving way to the photos of Booshakthi and of the ancestors of the Dalit
community.

Conclusion
The Vision and strategies of REDS are holistic Dalit liberation. While sustaining
the Dalit community with its own identity, culture and history it will also bring
Land, political power and social equality within the next 200 years. Tumkur has
just set a model in the offing. We do hope this model will spread.

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I place before you a few Frames that list out the thesis that have led to effective
strategies while at the same time have emerged as a consequence of strategic
action. It is cyclic. There is no linear sequence of one being after the other.

Frame I
REDS’ Overall Strategies

I Economic
Land for Dalits. 4500 acres of land have been recovered for our people. The
struggle for 5 acres of land to each Dalit family is gaining momentum. Already
the Janatha Dal(S) officially included this clause in their Manifesto of the last
general elections.

Political
a. Internal – Dalit Panchayat. Already 100 DJS sanghas have been converted into
Dalit Panchayats. A target of 900 Dalit Panchayats has been set for the next
three years. 50 specially trained women are already in leadership positions apart
from the 500 DP women leaders. A Booshakthi Mandali has been formed to
spread the message of Dalit INO. Each DP appoints a Booshakthi Sevaki/Sevaka
to educate the community.

b. External–Convergence of Dalit votes on Land. During the last general elections

8 out of 13 legislators in Tumkur District won from Janatha Dal(S). DJS gave a
call to the Dalit people to vote only for Jantha Dal(S). Some candidates won
mainly with the support of DJS. 42000 Dalits were mobilized to declare this
Millennium as Ambedkar Yuga. Prakash Ambedkar and Four ministers of the
Karnataka Government were present against terrible odds. 200 DJS leaders were
elected to the village panchayats in the last elections. The CM of Karnataka had
to make a stop at the Booshakthi Kendra because of political compulsions.

Social
Battle against untouchability and atrocity. During the reporting period of 2003-
2004 atrocity was nil. Untouchability practices have been reduced by 80% in the
District. Booshakthi Vedike and Booshakthi Forum for Women have been
initiated.

Cultural
Booshakthi Kendra, which is a Dalit Peeta has been formally inaugurated. Color
symbols have become strong all over the District. Dalit community symbol has
been developed. Five Dalit Festivals have become popular. Dalit marriages,
Dalit naming ceremonies, Dalit Puberty functions, Dalit Death ceremonies are
beginning to gain ground. Dalitology, the Book of the Dalit People has been29
popularized. This has been augmented by Cosmosity and DALITHINK.
Frame II

Strategic Offshoots

 “Jai Bheem’ greeting as a Dalit form of greetings to instill a sense of

pride among the Dalits as well as to create a sense of belonging to a
community of people. Today the Dalits in many villages and towns
greet one another, dominant castes people and government officials
with Jai Bheem.
 Transform the identity of an ‘untouchable’ people into one of a ‘don’t
touchable’ people. The common saying in the District among the
dominant castes is “hey, do not poke in their affairs. The have DJS
and Booshakthi Kendra”.
 Transform identity of a receiving people into one of giving people. We
have a rich history and culture, a worldview and way of life that the
world can receive as an alternative to dominant ways, oppression and
exploitation.
 Stop converting to other religions. We are neither Hindus, nor
Christians, nor Muslims, nor Buddhists. We Dalits are Dalits. We have
our History and Culture. We have our religion. Our Religion is the
Dalit Religion.
 Emergence of women leadership as a strike force. Dalit women have
led almost all successful struggles in Tumkur District.
 Dalit cultural symbols have been evolved to give visibility to the
Cultural resurgence.
 Checkmating of Hindutva through Dalit Religion is taking place. Many
people as the Scriptures of the Dalit people have accepted Dalitology.
Booshakthi Kendra is recognized as the Dalit Peeta. Dalit resurgence
has become an all round checkmating of Hindutva. This has to spread
to the entire nation. Dalitism can be the most effective vehicle for the
establishment of political nationalism in this country of the Dalit
people. 30
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Frame III

REDS Thesis
Restoration of the unbrokenness of the Dalit people is
paramount to ushering in an alternative governance for nations
of the world. This alternative governance will deal a fatal blow to
Capitalism and Brahminism. There is a need to take a step
forward from the Dalit (broken) identity. In order to move towards
an unbroken identity we need to restore oUr rich history and
culture.

REDS Strategy
We evolve a Dalit assertion that we are neither Hindus, nor
Christians, nor Muslims, nor Buddhists. We Dalits are Dalits. We
have our own history and culture. We have our own religion, the
Dalit Religion. Let us not convert to any other religion in search
of dignity and equality. Let us find our dignity and pride in the
Dalit religion.

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Frame IV

REDS Thesis: Protest is truly an identity of the Dalit people. However, there is a
need to move beyond the social psyche of resistance as an achievement in
itself. Dalit history is full of resistance. However, we have not removed
untouchability and denial of rights to the Dalit people.

Capitalist and Brahminic forces are constantly on the prowl to identify and co-
opt Dalit resistance so that Dalit struggles of human rights and dignity does not
become a revolution. Brahminic forces are on high alert so that Dalits may
never grab the opportunity to become rulers of this country of theirs.

REDS Strategy: Develop an organic intellectualism in the Dalit community

through long- term training and community education. 500 young men and
women volunteers have been already trained and spread out into the District.

Let leadership be widespread in the community with at least 10 leaders in each

village. Five of tem must compulsorily be women leaders. There are already one
thousand such leaders. 500 of them are women.

Keep away from the mechanisms of resistance of the dominant elite who prowl
around dishing out revolutionary jargons. Beware of slogans that come from
Northern NGOs. Constantly educate people through small booklets, pamphlets,
wall posters and wall writing. Every major event is preceded by the publication
of a booklet by the Ambedkar Resource Center of REDS. Every year there are
at least 10 types of pamphlets and wall posters.

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Frame V

REDS Thesis

The cumulative impact of dominance over Dalit communities through history is

the loss of formally structured Internal Normative Order, a privilege that all other
communities enjoy. Lack of an INO has lead to the weakening of the internal
strength of the Dalit communities and has wreaked havoc with Dalit identity. If
Dalits have to effectively participate in national governance their internal
community strength has to be restored. If internal strength of Dalit communities
has to be restored the INO of the Dalit communities must be revived and
consolidated. Political bargaining, capturing and expanding of Dalit space in
governance, transformation of Hindustan into Janasthana can sustain
themselves only on the strengths that Dalit communities acquire by governing
themselves as a community of people. Developing an INO may look like an
introversion. True, however, this introversion will produce the type of
uncontainable energy in the Dalit communities that it will have to break out
naturally into an extroversion. Such a breaking out will lead to a take over of
national governance
Frame IV by the Dalit people. Only then can we truly say that India
has become free once again.

REDS Strategy:

In order to consolidate Internal Governance of Dalit communities Dalitology has

been written and is being acknowledged as the Scriptures of the Dalit people.
This contains the nucleus of an INO of the Dalit communities. A Bookless
people have now become a people of the Book.

DJS is giving up its ‘tag’ and is now organizing Dalit Panchayats. Already 100
DJS sanghas have been converted into Dalit Panchayats. DPs are the ultimate
decision making bodies for the Dalit communities.

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Frame VI

REDS Thesis

Political Theory has focused on the bipolarity of Power as

Dominance and Power as Resistance. As against this background
REDS has developed a tripolarity. The third pole in REDS’ political
theory is POWER AS PARTICIPATION. This participation should
propel the Dalit people in the center of National Governance. It
implies not only the physical presence of the Dalit people in the
Instruments and Mechanisms of national governance but also the
governance of the country according to the worldviews and value
premises of the Dalit people. This means that the Dalit
communities must capture, expand and consolidate their space in
the governing mechanisms of this country. By their sheer number,
when this happens, the Dalit people will assume the responsibility
for the governance of this country. Then this country will be known
not as Hindustan but as Janasathan.

REDS Strategy

Convergence of Dalit votes through Cultural resurgence, Land

struggles and Battles against untouchability and atrocity.

Handing over responsibility for internal and external governance in

the hands of the Dalit woman.

Widespread participation in electoral contests through the Dalit

Panchayats and not through mainstream political parties.

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The Latest Strategies

1. More than 550 Dalit Panchayats have been formed and a Dalit Panchayat
Parliament has been established to look into the internal governance of
the community as well as to enhance the community’s participation in the
Instruments and Mechanisms of national governance in India.

2. A State level Networking has been strengthened in 13 Districts of

Karnataka with also integrated plans to develop the same at the national
level.

3. Close association with top level bureaucracy has been set up. A critical
cooperation is rendered to them when they request it. Booshakthi Kendra
is conducting a sensitization programme in all the Districts of Karnataka
for all the bureaucrats of the government in collaboration with the Social
Welfare Ministry.

4. A two years Diploma Course in Dalit studies has been started in the
Booshakthi Kendra for Dalits from all the States of South India. This
course is open to all participants from national and international arena.

5. REDS has also initiated a major campaign at the national level for
electoral reforms in India. This campaign will be formally announced with
the release of our next book on Dalit Politics. But contacts are being
established with national and international organizations to make this
campaign a truly effective one. The campaign will be to reform the Indian
electoral system to the Proportionate Electoral System from its
Majoritarian Electoral System. A research has already been done and the
book on Dalit Politics is being written.

6. It must be noted that the campaign for 5 acres of land to each Dalit family
started originally from Tumkur and has now become a national movement
without REDS being the leader. Others are taking it up on their own. The
Dalit color symbols of blue and black also started from Tumkur and has
now become national. Dalit Panchayat Movement is also being taken up
by many other states and organizations.

7. There have been some bystanders in India who have opted to stand at the
sideways of Dalit liberation and be cynical about the strategies of REDS
and Booshakthi Kendra. They have constantly generated a refrain that
REDS is doing everything on its own. REDS has not wasted its time to
keep on explaining all of its strategies to all such bystanders. REDS has
opened its doors to all the co-travelers in the path of Dalit liberation who
wanted to come and have serious dialogue on all the controversial issues
that are proposed in the books written by Jyothi and Raj. All new efforts

36
have to evoke critical reflection. That is the success of new initiatives that
people have started thinking about them. REDS has never refused to join
hands with any Body in the path of Dalit liberation. All the same REDS and
Booshakthi Kendra do not want to be constantly threatening the social
space of other Dalit brothers and sisters. If anybody wants to reject us
they are most welcome to do. That will never deter us from doing what we
have set out to do as long as we are convinced of the legitimacy of what
we are doing.

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