Week 12 Nayonika Sen

Gandhi and the Dalit Question: A comparison with Marx and Ambedkar

This piece was a short read. Summarily, it made a distinction in the Marxist, Ambedkarite, and Gandhian methods of dealing with the caste problem. The author takes a critical approach to the Marxist and Ambedkarite traditions and proposes that the Gandhian school will perhaps provide a more holistic approach. 

The Marxist school reduced the caste problem to that of agrarian labour reforms and ownership of means without actually addressing the problems of graded inequality, untouchability, brahmanical patriarchy, or other social elements of caste. Their focus was centred around 'Land' It seemed incomplete. Ambedkar's conceptualisation of the genesis of caste lay in a single fundamental statement: The Hindu social order was the root of all evil; i.e., a question of value. It was an inherently violent structure and the only way to tackle it was to assert a Dalit identity and overhaul the entire structure from root. To annihilate caste is to annihilate hinduism as practiced in society. 

Gandhi however, believed that the single greatest sin of caste Hindus was untouchability. And that the actualisation of self could only come with the equality of castes and not the annihilation of caste. Untouchability had to disappear from the minds and hearts of the caste Hindus. And this was, to the author, a more harmonious way of dealing with the caste question. 

He takes the illustration of the militant radical group that was able to eradicate material and physical manifestations of untouchability in terms of entry to public places, services of barbers, shopkeepers etc., but when asked about whether the people around them still gave them 'respect' they said no, they only feared them. On the other hand, a gesture of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti going into the village offering water from their own hands was more powerful and symbolic gesture and more of a statement than any militant efforts.

I have my reservations against the Gandhian model of addressing the caste question. Although idealistic, it's also apologistic and demands yet another compromise from the community whose whole life has been at the margin. My disagreement stems from the same contention Ambedkar raised with the Gandhian school. Gandhi was a proponent of Varna Shrama Dharma, he derived his values from the shastras, his understanding was that caste through varnas was not in any way disrespectful and that they can co-exist in a complementary dependent manner. To Gandhi then, harmony somehow took primacy over equality. That 'respecting' caste jobs created peace among the 'Harijans' and the caste Hindus. Amnedkar countered that by saying that he sought harmony through service but those who provided the service were never included within the society. What it felt like, was an additional 'duty' of Dalits to PROVE that they belong in the caste order, that they must CONVINCE Caste Hindus of their rightful place IN the caste order. But Gandhi didn't challenge the caste order itself, he only aimed to make small compromises to maintain a very superficial degree of 'peace'. The deep link between respect and materiality is not unknown. to overhaul caste structurally would also necessicate a restructuring of labour relations and in effect capital relations. 

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