Will caste fault lines ever blur in India?

The old drama of untouchability is being re-enacted at Garagaparru in West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. The greatness and message of Babasaheb Ambedkar as the Chief Architecture of our sacred Constitution has been forgotten with the result that Dalits in Garagaparru faced social boycott for the simple reason that they want to commemorate the hallowed memory of a great savant in their village by erecting a statue as a symbol of pride and patriotism.

The Dalits of Garagaparru village have been insulted and humiliated even in this 21st century. Dr Ambedkar’s apt observation seems to be axiomatic in the present context: “Mahatmas have come and gone but the plight of untouchables continues to be same.” Just at a time when the BJP leaders including the PM are planning to start National Museum and Library in the name of Ambedkar at Delhi, the simple erection of that illustrious leader’s statue at Garagaparru seems to rouse the ire and wrath of upper castes.

Wordsworth’s terse line, “Man’s inhumanity to man,” epitomises the present predicament of Dalits at Garagaparru. Ambedkar’s agonising anxiety summed up in the following lines may sound to be premonitory: “On 26th January, 1950, India will be an independent country. What would happen to her independence? Will she maintain or will she lose it again? This is the first thought that comes to my mind. It is not that India was never an independent country. The point is that she once lost the independence she had.

Will she lose it a second time? It is this thought which makes me most anxious for the future. What perturbs me greatly is the fact that not only India has once before lost her independence, but she lost it by treachery of some of her own people. Will history repeat itself? It is this thought which fills me with anxiety. This anxiety is deepened by the realisation of the fact that in addition to our old enemies in the form of castes and creeds, we are going to have many political parties with diverse and opposing political creeds.

Will Indians place the country above their creed or above their country? I do not know, but this much is certain that if the parties place creed above country, our independence will be put in jeopardy a second time and probably be lost forever. This eventuality we all must resolutely guard against. We must be determined to defend our independence with the last drop of our blood!” True, all must strive to preserve our hard-earned freedom by abandoning discrimination, disparity and segregation otherwise India will suffer ignominy and slavery again.

By Gollapalli Venkataratnam