Credit: DH Illustration
A cursory survey of the socio-economic conditions of the Dalits and other marginalised groups in most states reveals that a majority of them are surviving under conditions of social marginalisation and economic powerlessness. The recent Caste Survey Report by the Bihar government highlights that the worst-off social groups, especially the Economically Backward Classes (EBCs), are surviving under precarious economic conditions, social insecurities, and a lack of basic human entitlements. However, the state has yet to engage with these issues and has not offered effective resolutions to contest the prevalent issues of poverty, social backwardness, and landlessness among the EBCs and the Dalits. The political class, particularly those in power, often sidesteps issues of economic justice for the socially deprived groups and mobilises them mostly on emotive communal rhetoric.
Following the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) recent success in the Assembly elections of three north Indian states and the appointment of Vishnu Deo Sai and Mohan Yadav as the chief ministers of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, the party has shown its willingness to promote new leadership from the subaltern groups to the top political positions, initiating a process of democratisation. However, the BJP’s mobilisation tactics to engage with the Dalits and EBCs in this case overtly appear as a cunning political strategy for ensuring electoral victories. Past instances indicate that post-election, the government rarely provides substantive policy frameworks to address the subaltern group’s claims for elevated social dignity or its concerns for increased participation in the higher arena of economic development.
The BJP’s initiatives of social engineering and its promotion of Dalit, Adivasi, and OBC leaders in key political positions must be supplemented by effective governmental policies and executive measures for the empowerment and participation of marginalised social groups in the crucial positions of public institutions. In addition, the government should ensure the visible participation of the Dalit, Adivasi, and Backward Classes in the free market economy as crucial stakeholders.
The Social Justice Test
The BJP needs to pass the social justice test, as sections of the historically disadvantaged have moved to the BJP with deep expectations for their economic welfare and elevated political participation. For example, in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the combined population of the Dalits and Adivasis is close to 40%. However, their shares in political power (like cabinet ministries, top executive positions, and other important portfolios) are negligible. Similarly, the EBCs are another neglected social group when it comes to the distribution of important political and economic assets. These groups mostly survive as labourers, small retailers, or artisans. However, even the inspirational educated classes amongst these communities lack financial assistance, good networking in the market and business enterprises, and the historic privileges necessary to start a sustainable and profitable business in the neo-liberal economy.
On the other hand, the social elites, though their number is very small, retain their control over diverse political portfolios, stay as the leading appropriators of the free market economy, and own the major business enterprises. They utilise historic privileges, caste-community networks, and effective financial support from the governments to expand their business and capitalist class. It is visible that the major benefits of the neo-liberal economy are appropriated by the educated urban social elites (for example, the majority of unicorn start-ups are owned by upper-caste youths) or that the conventional Bania elites dominate the list of top billionaires.
The Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasis working class is mostly segregated as passive assistants in low-paid jobs, distanced from the position of power and decision-making, and often survives in precarious economic conditions. A comprehensive market survey of the neo-liberal economic development shall be carried out to understand how the free-market economy has benefited the socially marginalised groups, especially the Dalit-Adivasi groups, and has helped them escape the spheres of poverty, social discrimination, and feudal economic order.
For a long time, the BJP has been seen as the party that protects the interests of the capitalist ‘Bania’ class and neglects the economic rights and aspirations of marginalised communities. The new BJP has the opportunity to correct this imbalance in economic life. By ensuring an equitable representation of the Dalits, Adivasis, and OBC groups in key spheres of public institutions, political power, and economic development, a new version of social and economic justice can be introduced by the right-wing regime.
The BJP shall respond to its new support base by ensuring that a new impressive class amongst the Dalits and EBCs will be introduced in the neo-liberal economy as new leaders, business entrepreneurs, and market influencers. Such directives will radicalise the conventional social justice policies that often address subaltern groups as the passive recipients of the state’s welfare packages. Instead, the Dalits and Adivasis shall be identified as the essential components of neo-liberal economic development and shall have an equitable share in the profits of urbanisation, industrial production, and technological development. More policy directives and affirmative action policies are required for the Dalit-Adivasi class to emerge as crucial arbitrators in economic planning and
the key beneficiaries of global economic development.
One can expect that the new arrival of the subaltern social groups on the right-wing platform will curtail the BJP’s aggressive communal rhetoric and force the state to deal with the concerns of social and economic justice more prudently. It has the possibilities to make the right-wing platform conducive to the values of social reforms, to understand the ecological perspectives of the Adivasis, and to democratise the higher strata of power with more representation of the Dalit-Bahujan groups. Such assurances and their effective implementation will possibly make the BJP a better democratic party responsible for the welfare and empowerment of India’s subaltern masses, paving a new leaf for the social justice agenda.
(The writer teaches at the Centre for Political Studies, JNU)