Brishti Snan: Monsoon and Rain Bathing
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed dreams: Chapter Nine
Palash Biswas
http://www.troubled
Taatai, my four year friend next door often opens the doors of my
Memories lost in the Ivory Towers of Past.
It was a clear day.
Sun in the mid sky.
No clouds around.
No wind at all.
Kolkata Humidity envelop with full quotient of Pollution was
suffocating enough. I had the full dose of Morning News updates
Print as well as Electronic. suddenly the Kid called me across the
fence.
Tatai asked, ` Have you taken your bath Jethu?'
He was opening the daylong sequence of conversations.
I simply answered,` Not as yet, dear! I am going to have it! What
about you?'
`I had the Brishti Snan,' he replied with maximum glee.
I could not understand the meaning as it was not raining. Though
weather forecast sounds like continuous knocking of Monsoon days in
this part of the World.
`Brishti Snan? What is it, Tatai?'
Ha! Ha! Ha! He was laughing! Then he added, `You know nothing!'
Mallicka, her mother was in the Kitchen. She interfered at this
point and saved the day for me.
It was Bangla Bandh second day. Against the latest Hike in Petrol
rates! First, the ruling Left Front closed all avenues of daily
routine. Now it is the turn for the opposition. Tatai is enjoying
Summer vacations. Today, his dad Mithu was at home. So, his grand
father Dadai was also stranded.
Tatai had taken his bath under Showers in the Bathroom!
The Father and the son has blocked humidity with this domestic style.
My Visual camera zoomed violently and I landed in the Monsoon days
of my Childhood immediately! I used to be rather busy all the season
as it was the most proper time to plant Rice paddies in our fields.
We used to have the Brishti Snan under the open sky in our green
fields flooded with water or mud.
Even during my college days, we all young students in Nainital
despised the use of Umbrella. We always enjoyed Monsoon. With
Monsoon Football season started. Then Basketball,Hockey and Cricket
tournaments.
We never faced any political Bandh in those days of early sixties.
Nehru, Shashtri, Dr Radhakrishnan and a number of Political leaders
were our Icons. We never knew any Brand. Markets never interfered in
our daily routine.Well, we lacked communication as even today, all
over the Himalayas connectivity happens to be the greatest headache.
Yes, we had no avenue of information in those days. Hence, we put
everything on stake just in the quest for knowledge!
Green revolution was also far away.
Pant Nagar University was established just seven KM away. But we
had to cross dense forest.
In those days we used Desi seeds of rice Paddies. TILAK was a
popular variety. It was small in size but was full of scent. Hansraj
was the most popular species. It looked like Dehradoon Rice. Just
like Basmati. The plants were very lengthy. Wind would create
disaster in Hansraj fields.
My father would claim, `You haven`t seen the real length of Rice
Paddies at all!'
In Narail, our family used to harvest in the Bill, the lakes. They
would use the longest variety of Rice paddies. It could be six to
eight meters in height. They used Boats to reap the harvest. Nearest
bazar was ITNA.
Kumordanga was famous for the potters, the Palas. They used to
create anything with clay.
My father often boasted for his swiftness in water harvesting.
I was basically entrusted for surveillance in our fields to protect
the harvests, seeds and plants from insects, birds and even wild
animals. I did most of my readings in our fields.
We used to have Brishti Snan trough out Monsoon round the clock. As
it was time for rice paddies and irrigation as well. Most of Indian
peasant used to depend upon rain Water for farming. All rivers were
free to flow in streams and Big dams were the stories all about
Bhakhra Nangal and Rihand. We had not seen any big dam in our
childhood.
Today morning I received a phone call from the Burning Ghat in
Basantipur. My younger brother Padm Loachan was on the line. He
reminded me that 12th June happens to be the death anniversary of my
father, the refugee and peasant leader from Uttarakhand Terai. The
Rural Population gathered there to pay homage to their leader. All
my Villagers were there. everyone wanted to talk to me. It happens
to be my Joint Family for full five decades of my life. Kartic Kaka,
the popular most Jatra artist in Terai talked to me and informed
that all of them were leaving for Dineshpur where the main ceremony
is arranged before the Statue of pulin Babu.
Well, it is not raining anyway. but i have a strong feel of Brishti
Snan. This divided bleeding Geopolitics is united by Monsoon. It is
an overall omnipresent effect from south Asia to South East Asia.
I have the feel of rain bathing as it enables to touch and feel the
warmth of all Asian Black Untouchable Peasant communities who are
United rock solid in destiny.
Monsoon clouds always breaks the discipline of Political borders!
My father exists no more. I have to bear his legacy of lifelong
struggle. I have to bear the displaced, persecuted identity
lifelong.
My Communities are not liberated as yet. different political systems
in different geopolitics not only enslaved them, but the Ultimate
Kill is working with Globalisation spring!
Monsoon always helps the Roots. We, the uprooted people are deprived
of our roots. We are deprived of our history and geography. Our
mother tongue and racial, caste and community identities. We are the
tools of Power Politics and victimised by the ruling Hegemony.
Even today, in an environment of bamboo blooming like Globalisation,
Monsoon happens to be the lifeline for us, the global working class
fighting against apartheid, caste system and imperialism. We are
burnt in Wars and Civil wars. We are massacred in Metroes and SEZ.
We suffer from gas tragedy. We are targeted by Biological, Chemical
and Nuclear weapons.
Monsoon unites us.
Thus, it is very opportune to go back in History, the subaltern
legacy of our militant ancestors.
The memories of my father are never detached from our people
scattered worldwide.
These memories are real Rain Bathing , a perfect Brishti Snan for me!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: A monsoon is a seasonal
prevailing wind which lasts for several months. The term was first
used in English in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and neighboring
countries to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Indian
Ocean and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy rainfall to
the region.[1] In hydrology, monsoon rainfall is considered to be
that which occurs in any region that receives the majority of its
rain during a particular season. This allows other regions of world
such as within North America, South America. Sub-Saharan Africa,
Australia and East Asia to qualify as monsoon regions.[2] In terms
of total precipitation and total area covered, the monsoons
affecting the Indian subcontinent dwarf the North American monsoon.
The South Asian monsoon affects larger number of people due to the
high density of population in this part of the world.
Monsoons are caused by the larger amplitude of the seasonal cycle of
land temperature compared to that of nearby oceans. This
differential warming happens because heat in the ocean is mixed
vertically through a "mixed layer" that may be fifty meters deep,
through the action of wind and buoyancy-generated turbulence,
whereas the land surface conducts heat slowly, with the seasonal
signal penetrating perhaps a meter or so. Additionally, the specific
heat of liquid water is significantly higher than that of most
materials that make up land. Together, these factors mean that the
heat capacity of the layer participating in the seasonal cycle is
much larger over the oceans than over land, with the consequence
that land warms faster and reaches a higher temperature than the
ocean.[10] The hot air over the land tends to rise, creating an area
of low pressure. This creates a steady wind blowing toward the land,
bringing the moist near-surface air over the oceans with it. Similar
rainfall is caused by the moist ocean air being lifted upwards by
mountains, surface heating, convergence at the surface, divergence
aloft, or from storm-produced outflows at the surface. However the
lifting occurs, the air cools due expansion in lower pressure, which
in turn produces condensation.
In winter, the land cools off quickly, but the ocean keeps the heat
longer. The hot air over the ocean rises, creating a low pressure
area and a breeze from land to ocean while a large area of drying
high pressure is formed over the land, increased by wintertime
cooling.[10] Monsoons are similar to sea and land breezes, a term
usually referring to the localized, diurnal (daily) cycle of
circulation near coastlines everywhere, but they are much larger in
scale, stronger and seasonal.[11]
The Arabian Sea Branch of the SW Monsoon first hits the Western
Ghats of the coastal state of Kerala, India and hence Kerala is the
first state in India to receive rain from the South-West Monsoon.
This branch of the monsoon moves northwards along the Western Ghats
giving rain to the coastal areas west of the Western Ghats. It is to
be noted that the eastern parts of the Western Ghats do not receive
much rain from this monsoon as the wind does not cross the Western
Ghats.
View of south-west monsoon rain in Kerala.
The Bay of Bengal Branch of SW Monsoon flows over the Bay of Bengal
heading towards North-Eastern India and Bengal, picking up more
moisture from the Bay of Bengal. Its hits the Eastern Himalaya and
provides a huge amount of rain to the regions of North-East India,
Bangladesh and West Bengal. Mawsynram, situated on the southern
slopes of the Eastern Himalaya in Shillong, India is one of the
wettest places on Earth. After striking the Eastern Himalaya it
turns towards the West, travels over the Indo-Gangetic Plain, at a
rate of roughly 1-2 weeks per state[citation needed], pouring rain
all along its way.
The monsoon accounts for 80 percent of the rainfall in the country
[citation needed]. Indian agriculture (which accounts for 25 percent
of the GDP and employs 70 percent of the population) is heavily
dependent on the rains, especially crops like cotton, rice, oilseeds
and coarse grains. A delay of a few days in the arrival of the
monsoon can, and does, badly affect the economy, as evidenced in the
numerous droughts in India in the 90s.
The monsoon is widely welcomed and appreciated by city-dwellers as
well, for it provides relief from the climax of summer in June.
However, because of the lack of adequate infrastructure in place,
most major cities are often adversely affected as well. The roads,
already shoddy, take a battering each year; houses and streets at
the bottom of slopes and beside rivers are waterlogged, slums are
flooded, and the sewers and the rare hurricane drain start to back
up and pour out toxic filth rather than drain it away. This
translates into various minor casualties most of the time; lack of
city infrastructure coupled with changing climate patterns also
causes severe damage to and loss of property and life. Bangladesh
and some regions of India like in Assam and places of West Bengal
experiences heavy flood, which claims huge number of lives and huge
loss of property and causes severe damage to economy, as evidenced
in the Mumbai floods of 2005. Also in the recent past, areas in
India that used to receive scanty rainfall throughout the year, like
the Thar Desert, have surprisingly ended up receiving floods due to
the prolonged monsoon season.
June 1 is regarded as the date of onset of the monsoon in India,
which is the average date on which the monsoon strikes Kerala over
the years for which scientific data is available with the Indian
Meteoreological Department.
Sarat Chandra, a Bengali novelist of the first half of the 20th
century, has described the landscape of his southern Bengal Region
and has interacted through his characters a deep psychological
response appropriate to the region and time. His work forms an
excellent resource base to reconstruct the region of his time and
establish phenomenological relationship through the feelings
expressed by the characters of his novels. Sarat Chandra's Home
Region is a stream-filled area with people's activity directed to
agriculture, though Calcutta was already established as a center of
westernization and modernization. Feudal exploitation, Zamindars'
tyrrany, degenerative caste-division, child marriage, prohibition of
widow's right to remarry, decaying extended family and losing person-
to-person relationship of the traditional Bengal were some of the
characteristics of the regional cultural geography. The cities,
particularly Calcutta, had started to show signs of modernization:
industries, equal rights to women, widow re-marriage and elitist
ideas. Bramho Samaj was pioneering the social modernization. In
summation, the Home Region, being a transitional stage of decaying
feudalism and incipient industrialization, was engaged in a struggle
between the old and the new, decadent traditional and modern, rural
and urban, caste rigidity and liberal social customs, religious
fanaticism and rationalism. Sarat Chandra's work, particularly,
provides an inroad to understand the cultural aspects of his Home
Region.
That day, I was amongst a Faridpur Family from Orakandi. The Old man
of the family refreshed my knowledge once again as he presented the
landscape as well as Human scape. He was a trader. Sabita, my
wife`s ancestral village was in Orakandi itself. The old man
belonged to Arokandi nearby. He ferried on the waters of Madhumati.
The Old man has a three story building near Barrackpur RLY station.
Talpukur. His son is an engineer and is working in United states of
America. His elder daughter lives in Mumbai. Her hHusband Mr Tikadar
happens to be my friend. Both the families crossed the border after
partition and settled in Bangao subdivision, originally a part of
greater Jassore, now in West Bengal. My friend introduced me to his
in laws. The house has a Harichand Guruchand temple in the uppermost
floor. They have organised a Harisabha in the Posh area.
I have heard so many myths about Narial. There happened a village
named Lakhi Pasha, meaning the bangles of the Goddess Laxmi, Hindu
Goddess of Wealth. The myth is all about taming the goddess in a
Namoshudra House. She remained there with Her bangles.
And there was a Padm Bill, the lake of Lotus. It is famous for the
riots between the most militant East Bengal Peasant caste, the
Namoshudras and the Muslims for a Hindu Muslim Love story. The Love
story is well depicted in the poetry of Jasimuddin, in Naqshi
Kanthar Maath and Sozan Badiar Ghat. These classic works of Bengali
poetry are also an exposure of the Caste Hindu Zamindar Class. Who
used the peasants against one another and the religious riots were
always sponsered by them.
In Sozan Badiaar Ghat, the Zamindar distributed the flowers from
the Garland of Goddess Kali amongst the Namoshudra Peasants as they
were not ready to fight against their converted Muslim Brothers. A
Namoshudra girl eloped with a Muslim Boy. The Zamindar made an issue
of it. It was a fierce fight amongst the Peasnts of Jassore and
Faridpur. At the end, the peasants were destroyed and the land was
the property of the Zamindar, a market place! These are the seeds
planted for the partition as well as Globalisation.
Namashudras and Paundras have suffered the most bleeding, violent
displacement in History only to be comapred with the Palestine. The
paundras had their settlements in and around Sundarbans
area.Sundarbans is the name given to a beautiful forest or a forest
in which the Sundari tree (Heritiera fomes) grows. At the early
stages of the history of the area, the entire Bengal basin was
submerged under the sea and sedimentation from the Ganges-
Brahmaputra river systems created a landmass, which is today's
Bengal Delta. The first Sundari trees presumably first took root
below the Rajmahal Hills, establishing the northern extent of the
Sundarbans in history.
The Bengal Delta was originally occupied by vast stretches of
grassland filled with saline marshes and tropical wetlands
containing one of the worlds' largest stretches of biodiversity-
forests – the Bengalian Rainforest. These forests were one of the
richest wildlife areas of the world, holding elephants, tiger, gaur,
leopards, wild buffaloes, three species of rhinoceros, seven species
of deer and a wide variety of other fauna.
The first human settlers, who may have been the "Veddoids', appear
to have arrived in the delta by 5th Century BC, though the first
archeological evidence of human civilization dates to around 400-300
BC.
Civilization flourished in the delta during the reign of Asoka (273-
232 BC) and in subsequent Hindu periods. The indigenous inhabitants
were the `Pods' and the `Chandals' who were fishing tribes. The
process of human settlement continued unabated till the11th century,
when shifting river channels and epidemics seemed to have forced
settlers to abandon the area for a while.
Bangladesh's economic dependence on the revenues from the Sundarbans
and the ability of their forests to regenerate swiftly meant that
they could continue with a policy of harvesting the produce. The
Indian forests in the 24 Parganas by then had been seriously denuded
by years of felling and the lack of adequate fresh water. India was
also not dependent on the revenues from the produce of the
Sundarbans and as a result commercial felling reduced and even
completely stopped in many parts of the forest. However, the
pressure of humanity had its last say on the Indian Sundarbans in
1963 and 1973 when refugees from East Pakistan (and Bangladesh) were
allowed to clear reserve forests for agriculture and settle in areas
like Jharkhali and Herobhanga islands.
Diamond Harbor. Also living here, according to the 1971 census, is
thirty percent of West Bengal's approximately 200,000 Namasudras,
descendants of the Chandals. Other important scheduled castes
include the ... (or Kochh), and the Kaoras. The Bagdi came to the
Sundarbans from western and central West Bengal, although their true
origin is unknown
The Namasudras are low caste Hindus and are sporadically spread all
over the country, and there are small concentrations of Namasudra
populations in the low-lying wet-lands of the south-western coastal
region. It is difficult to quantify them in terms of their
population in the whole of Bangladesh, as they are not enumerated as
a separate community in the official census. However, they appear to
be the most numerous of the ethno-religious minority communities in
this part of the country.
As suggested in the district gazetteers which serve the purpose of
one of the earliest sources of ethnographical and sociological
information, the Namasudras and the Paundra-Khatriyas are basically
one and the same community, and that both were formerly called
Chandals. Both occupy low positions in the hierarchy of Hindu
castes, but are generally known to be two different communities.
The local people do not identify either of the two castes as the
real Chandals, whose traditional occupation is the cremation of dead
people.
Their phjysical features are mostly Dravidian, with some admixture
of Aryan/Alpine and Australoid. They live in low-lying wet-land
areas along with some other castes, such as Poundra-Kshatriyas and
Rajbangshis, and share a common faith, rites and rituals. But they
do not have any matrimonial relationships with these other castes.
Though they generally claim to belong to the Hindu community, they
do not worship all the Hindu gods and goddesses. On the other hand,
they have some gods and goddersses of their own, not recognised for
worship by the upper and middle caste Hindus.
They consider the Reverend Harichand Thakur of Orakandi in the
district of Faridpur as their Guru and godfather, and go on
pilgrimages to Orakandi for the annual Mela there.
Though traditionally agriculturists by occupation, less than 25% of
the households are fully self-reliant in that occupation. The rest
are poor and marginal farmers, or absolutely or functionally
landless, relying on wage labour, or at best, share-cropping. Even
then, there are less than 40% who depend solely on agriculture.
Nearly 30% are actually wage-labourers. Less than a quarter used to
be fishermen, but they do not possess any ponds of their own, and
have little access to open water-bodies in the public domain. The
rest of the Namasudra population are petty traders, shrimp gher
workers, rickshaw/van pullers and others.
The Paundra_Kshatriyas or Podes :
Though the district gazetteers consider them the same as Namasudras,
both these communities consider themselves as separate from each
other. Numerically they come second to the Namasudras. According to
numerous sources, the ancestors of the Paundra-Kshatriyas,
or "Podes" as they are commonly known, came to this region from the
north, cleared the forests and settled here centuries ago. In the
remote past, they had vast tracts of lands, water-bodies and forests
under their collective ownership and community control. At present
many of them are functionally landless and landpoor, with very
little access to other public resources as forests and open water-
bodies.
However, as agriculturists, they are comparatively more affluent
than most other minorities. Over 48% of them have more than one acre
of land, and upto 7 or 8 acres, while about 32% are functionally or
absolutely landless. The middle group, comprising about 20%, owning
upto 1.00 acre of land, are poor and marginal farmers who have to
resort to share-cropping to supplement their incomes. The landless
among them follow many occupations such as that of boatmen(both
manually operated and mechanised), petty trading in fish and
groceries, shrimp farming, fishing, bamboo and cane work, carpentry,
service, etc. The last item in the above list of occupations is
significant, as during the early part of the 20th century, they
realised the value of education, and those of whom who could afford
it, obtained education and entered civil service.
The Rajbangshis or Teors :
Although a distinct ethno-religious group, they are in many
respects, such as religious beliefs, culture, customs etc., almost
identical with the Namasudras and Paundra-Kshatriyas. But in terms
of principal occupation, they form an exclusive fishermen community.
As a result, however, of complicated historically conditioned socio-
economic processes over centuries, they have lost much of their age-
old access to rivers and other open water-bodies, to the detriment
of their own economic well-being and social status. As a result,
they are either absolutely or functionally landless, as over
82% of them own less than 0.50 acre, and most of them not even a
homestead. Less than 9% own more than one acre.
The Rishis and Muchis :
There is an interesting story about the Charmakars or Chamars, who
used to skin and eat the flesh of dead cows and other domestic
animals, and followed the occupation of tanning hides and skins and
making and repairing footwear.
It is said that an educated person of their race, named Deben Babu,
came to this region from Calcutta about 50 or 60 years ago, and
called a convention of all people of that caste at Navaran in
Jessore district. At the convention, Deben Babu told them that they
were actually the descendants of the ancient Rishis and Munis(sages)
who wrote the Vedas and the Puranas, but that they had fallen in
Society as a result of their lowly occupation. He called upon them
to abandon their dirty occupation and adopt the surname or caste
name Rishi. It is said that the "Matbars"(headmen) of the Muchis
living on the west bank of the river Kapotakshya accepted his
proposal and converted to Christianity along with their followers,
while those living on the east bank of that river preferred to live
as they had been doing all along.
Reverend John Fagan has observed that whatever their understanding
of Deben Babu's use of the word "Rishi" might have been, he
suspects it to be an erroneous one for good reasons.
As traditionally they had been living in the fringes of Society as
lowly tanners and leather workers, they have no great attachment to
land, and landed people are very rare among them. Only about 10% of
these people follow their traditional occupations, while more than
half are wage labourers. About a quarter of them live on bamboo
and cane work, while others follow
various occupations such as rickshaw/van pedalling, fishing and
petty trading. According to Reverend John Fagan, there are some
250,000 people of this caste in Bangladesh. According to his
distribution, 40,000 are in Khulna, 70,000 in Jessore, 45,000 in
Mymensingh-Tangail and about 40,000 in Dhaka(Fagan, John).
OTHER MINORITY GROUPS :
Some other minority groups found in the region are Jeles/Malos,
Parois, Patnis, Telis etc. claim to be Hindus, but they are
considered low caste by upper and middle caste Hindus. The Telis are
traditionally seed-oil extractors, while the Patnis used to be
traditionally boatmen. The Jeles or Malos and Parois used to be
fishermen. But most members of these miniscule groups no longer
follow their traditional occupations. Only about half of the
Jeles/Malos and Parois do the work of fishermen, either
independently, or on commission basis. Physically they are Non-
Aryan, an admixture of Australoid and Dravidian. Many of them are
now wage labourers in various farm and non-farm sectors.
The Bengali Muslims are already sucked dry and reduced to walking
skeletons by the Brahminical people controlling the CPM. On one side
they drink the blood of Muslims and on the other they also squeeze
the Bengali Dalits, totally pauperised. The two genuine proletariats
of Bengal are the worst sufferers and yet kept intoxicated by the
marxist opium
The 1901 Census, however, dismissed these figures as too
disproportionate and placed the percentage of converts from Hinduism
much higher. The idea of the original "Hindu-ness" of Muslim
inhabitants extended to the argument that the early Muslim invaders
in Bengal were not even Arabs but Pathans. Yet the fact recorded in
the census is that the Muslims who called themselves "Shekh"
outnumbered those who professed to be Pathans in a ratio of fifty to
one, and furthermore, that many of these "Shekhs" had only recently
begun to claim this name and were formerly known as Ashraf in south
Bengal and as Nasya in north Bengal.[9] Two different commentaries
are thus juxtaposed in a contained narrative of conflicting
memories: the descriptive record of Muslim self-definitions as Arab-
descended is framed by a commentary that negates those self-
perceptions and posits an alternative explanation of Muslim origins
in the fractured space of Hindu communities.
Explanation became even more racialized through the ethnographic
contributions of Herbert Risley, who was brought into the census-
taking operations at a crucial stage of description. The
ethnographic scale of measurement, or "Cephalic index," that he
devised conclusively "proved" the Hindu origins of Indian Muslims,
despite the latter's claims to foreign ancestry that their names and
titles presumably asserted. By taking measurements of the proportion
of the breadth of the head to its length, as well as of the breadth
of the nose to its length, Risley placed Muslims closer in racial
features to the lower castes of Chandals and Pods than to Semitic
peoples.[10] Here is a clear instance of how the discourse of class,
blending indistinguishably with the discourse of race, appropriated
the category of religion as uniting both discourses; it became
possible to state that "although the followers of the Koran form the
largest proportion of the inhabitants [of Rangpur district], there
is little reason to suppose that many of them are intruders. They
seem in general, from their countenances, to be descendants of the
original inhabitants.
defined as those who comprised the higher classes, and local Muslim
converts from Hinduism, who were consistently identified with the
lower classes, did two things: first, it accentuated differences not
so much between Hindus and Muslims but between Muslims and Muslims
on the point of foreign or native descent, with Muslims converted
from Hinduism being regarded more ambiguously as Muslim and more
relationally placed vis-a-vis Hindus; secondly, the dichotomy of
foreign versus locally descended Muslims replaced a unity of Muslim
identity -- which the profession of Islam presumably implied -- with
categories of differences based on social class. Both factors figure
importantly in the reconversion movements led by Hindu groups as
early as the nineteenth century, and which continue to function
today in certain regions of India (especially in those areas where
mass conversions have taken place, such as in Meenakshipuram)
The Bengali Bhadralok, comprising a micro-minority 8% of its
population (a combination of three jatis: Brahmin, Baidhya and
Kayasth) have been lording over the Muslims and Dalits far too long.
And the Muslims forming 35% of the state's population — highest in
the country — have been tolerating the Manuwadi Marxists for too
long. The time has now come to say enough is enough.
The Left Front came to power in 1977 headed by Jyoti Basu, a
Kayasth. The only boast of the corrupt and also casteist communists
is that they have prevented anti-Muslim riots breaking out in
Bengal. What they mean by this is they have prevented their blood
thirsty jatwalas from openly slaughtering the Muslims just as Modi
did in Gujarat.
Instant slaughter sends shock waves but killing through slow
poisoning goes unnoticed. The Bengali Bhadralok slow poisoning
killed many times more Muslims in Bengal than what Modi did in
Gujarat.
The Dalits, particularly the Namasudras (Chandals), must note that
most of the Bengali Muslims are converts from their community. The
Bhadralok hate Dalits as much as they hate the Muslim.
Babasaheb's movement was supported by the Mahars of Maharashtra,
Pariahs of Tamilnadu, Malas of Andhra Pradesh, Jatavs of Uttar
Pradesh and Chandals( Namo shudras) of Bengal. But when Babasaheb
himself could not win the election in 1952 and 1954 , his supporters
began to think if Babasaheb himself can not win then how can we win
and become MLAs/MPs ?
In 1946 Babasaheb had won from the Jaisor and Khulna seats from
Bengal. How did this happen ?In both these constituencies the
population of Chandals was 52%. They thought rather than sending any
one else , it is better to send Babasaheb to the constituent
assembly. Babasaheb was able to win because the Chandals has
majority votes with them. Mahar, Pariah, Jatav, Mala, etc castes did
not have numbers as large as the Chandals and therefore these castes
did not win elections and thus they began to leave the movement of
Babasaheb.
According to Mandal Commission report, there are nearly 1500 castes
among the SCs, 1000 castes among the STs and 3743 castes among the
OBCs. The number of such castes is more than 6000. These are all
such castes which have been victims of the Manuvadi social order.
Some of them have been victimized less and some have been victimized
more. But the truth is that all these 6000 castes have been victims
of the manuvadi social order. Should not all these castes organize
together to fight against the exploitative `caste system' ? Among
these castes some castes are bigger and some are smaller in terms of
population. If all these castes remain divided among themselves then
they will remain as minorities.
In Bengal the list of scheduled castes included not only
the 'untouchables' but also several Ajalchal castes ritually ranked
a step above them. The colonial bureaucracy enlisted communities
under the Scheduled Caste grouping not much in accordance to their
ritual status, but more in terms of their economic status.
Therefore, it has been argued that since the intensity of
untouchability was relatively weak in Bengal, compared to some other
regions of India, movements such as those demanding right of entry
to temples could never become a major plank in the movement for the
removal of untouchability. Therefore lower caste protest did not
always demand the complete removal of untouchability. Scholars like
Masayuki Usuda have argued that these movements took the form of
joint efforts in which socially backward castes too participated.
The problems of untouchability and those of social ostracism were
reflected in the antagonisms that prevailed between the indigent
Chhotoloks (low born) and the rich Bhadraloks (men enjoying a higher
status by virtue of their ritual ranking, education and other
virtues) in the society. At times movements among the Bengali
untouchables assumed class connotations.
The forms of discrimination against the untouchables in Bengal
differed from that in Maharastra or South India. In Bengal, caste
rigidities were never strong enough to keep the untouchable
population in a state of perpetual servitude. In this context, the
types of discrimination faced by depressed or scheduled caste
leaders like jogendranath mandal were not the same as those
experienced by Ambedkar in Maharastra.
However, the main issue around which this communalpolitical
polarisation was taking place was the Pakistan demand of the Muslim
League. At a meeting at Agra in March 1946, Ambedkar hadannounced
his support for the League demand, "Muslims are fighting for their
legitimate rights and they are bound to achieve Pakistan". About a
month later, in a press interview, he justified hisdemand for
separate villages for the Scheduled Castes. This would not amount,
he thought, to anencroachment on the rights of any other party.
There were large areas of cultivable waste land lying untenanted in
the country which could be set aside for the settlement of the
Scheduled Castes.The echoes of this demand could be heard from
distant places. In the Central Provinces some of the Scheduled
Castes started talking vaguely about a 'Dalistan'; [38] and in
northern Bengal a few Rajbansis, supported by the Scheduled Caste
Federation leader Jogendranath Mandal, raised the demand
for 'Rajasthan' or a separate Rajbansi Kshatriya homeland. But the
majority of the Scheduled Castes in Bengal, the Rajbansis included,
seemed to be on the exactly opposite pole. Their responses to the
partition issue clearly show that they had completely identified
themselves with Hindu sentiments and apprehensions on this matter.
On 25th November 1949, the Poona Pact was 17 years old. At that
time, the impact of the Poona Pact was not fully realised by our
people. even though it was known to us that to get Baba Saheb
elected to the Constituent Assembly, he had to be taken to Jesore
and Khuina of Bengal. That was the main reason of his Hope that his
People will Revolt against the unequal Brahminical Social Order.
Later events showed that Spirit of Revolt was killed by the Poona
Pact, and we have entered a New Age. Today, we know it well, as the
Chamcha Age. The Brahminicals of that time, managed to defeat Dr
Ambedkar through their chamchas in 1952 in Bombay through Kajroklar,
and in 1954 in Bhandara through Ballor. These defeats demoralised
his followers. Since the 1st Mahar Parishad of Kolhapur, the Mahars
were solidly supporting Baba Saheb Ambedkar during all his struggles
against the Brahminical Social Order. They were with him, in
denouncing the Poona Pact. By 1982, the situation had changed. The
Poona Pact was 5(rvyears old. No Mahar Leader was available to
denounce the Poona Pact. On the other hand, the beneficiaries of the
Poona Pact organised the Golden Jubliee Celebrations in Poona, with
Smt lndra Gandhi, the than Prime Minister of India as the chief
guest, and Justice R K Bhole was to preside over the programme. All
the Mahar Leaders agreed to make the Golden Jubliee Celebrations a
grand success.
Mind you,the I9th and the 20th Centuries are well known for the
Struggles of the Shudras and the Ati-Shudras of India. Shudra
Struggles were lead by Mahatma Jotiba Phule and Chhatarpati Shahu
Maharaj of Maharashtra, Narayana Guru of Kerala and Periyar
Ramaswamy of Tamil Nadu. All these Struggles of the Shudras were
against the Brahminical Social Order and for the Self-Respect of the
Shudras and Ati-Shudras. Ati-Shudra Struggles were lead by the
Chandals of Bengal, Paryas of Tamil Nadu, Mahars of Maharashtra,
Malas of Andhra, Holayas of Karnataka, @ulayas of Kerala and Chamars
of N-W India.
In Bengal, due to their socio-economic backwardness, some of the
lower or 'untouchable' castes developed worldviews that were
fundamentally different from that of the nationalists and this led
to their alienation from mainstream politics. However within the
same social movement of such ritually 'inferior' castes, there could
be a convergence of different tendencies - some protestant and some
accommodating. In fact, as a result of such tendencies, lower caste
social protest in spite of the immense possibilities of initiating
some fundamental changes in society or polity, fell far short of the
cherished goals.
The lower caste movements since the last decades of the nineteenth
century were organised and largely led by the Namashudras of Eastern
Bengal and the Rajbangshis in the North. They organised and led two
of the most powerful movements among the Scheduled Castes of Bengal.
In fact when scheduled caste politics emerged in the province in the
1930s, they provided it with both leadership and a popular support
base. Moreover, these two communities by and large remained aloof
from the nationalist movement. The Namasudras (2,087,162 as per 1911
census) constituted the largest agrarian caste in Eastern Bengal and
their alienation from the Congress led anti-British agitation
weakened the nationalist movement. Similarly, the Rajbangshis who
too were a dominant caste in North Bengal exhibited apathy for the
Congress led freedom movement and this possibly explains much of the
weaknesses of the nationalist movement in this region.
The Namasudras who were earlier known as Chandals (a term derived
from the Sanskrit chandala, a representative term for the
untouchables) lived mainly in the Eastern districts of Bengal.
According to the census of 1901, more than 75 percent of the
Namasudra population lived in the districts of Bakerganj, Faridpur,
Dhaka, Mymensingh, Jessore and Khulna. Moreover, it has also been
pointed out in several studies that a contiguous region comprising
northeastern Bakerganj, southern Faridpur and the adjoining Narail,
Magura, Khulna and Bagerhat districts contained more than half of
this caste population. In North Bengal a section of Kochs, who began
to call themselves Rajbangshis from the early nineteenth century,
also lived in a contiguously definable region. By the early years of
the twentieth century more than 88 percent of the Rajbangshi
population lived in the districts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri
and the princely state of Cooch Behar. Presumably, this sort of
geographical moorings, which has been explained in terms of the
tribal origin of both the communities, accounted for their strength.
The loss of such geographical anchorage in 1947 contributed to the
decline of their movements.
Both Namasudras and Rajbangshis bore the stigma of untouchability
and in most cases the various social disabilities from which they
suffered created a considerable social distance between them and the
privileged upper castes of Bengal - the Brahmins, Kayasthas and
Baidyas. Apart from their low social standing, the majority of the
Namasudras were tenant farmers with or without occupancy rights
while a few were sharecroppers or bargadars, whose numbers
proliferated towards the end of the 1920s. Thus the fundamental
dichotomy in Bengal agrarian relations coincided, in the case of the
Namasudras, with the caste hierarchy. However, a miniscule group
among the Namasudras did move up the economic ladder by taking
advantage of the process of reclamation that had started in the area
(mostly in the three East Bengal Divisions of Dhaka, Rajshahi and
Chittagong). Consequently, while some Namasudras set themselves up
as big peasants or tenure holders, some others took to moneylending
and trade and somewhat later to education and various professions.
In the case of the Rajbangshis the situation was quite different, as
they were better placed than the Namasudras in terms of their
ranking in the agrarian structure. In Rajshahi division the
Rajbangshis constituted about 10.68 percent of the rent receiving
population. Among the Rajbangshi 'cultivators'
sharecroppers or adhiyars, a substantial section happened to be rich
peasants, enjoying various grades of tenurial rights as jotedars and
chukamidars. Incidentally, the wide-scale clearing of jungle areas
over large parts of Northern Bengal resulted in the establishment of
some big zamindari houses by the Rajbangshis. However, it needs to
be borne in mind that these inner contradictions did not come to the
fore till the end of the 1930s as both the Namasudras and the
Rajbangshi elite were not able to carve out a separate identity for
themselves and consequently remained attached to the peasant
community.
Under the influence of certain liberal religious sects, a sense of
self-respect developed among the Namasudras. In fact, these liberal
as well as radical sects under the leadership of charismatic gurus
like Keshab Pagal or Sahalal Pir challenged the hierarchic Hindu
caste system and preached a simple gospel based on devotion (bhakti)
and spiritual emotionalism (bhava). In 1872-73, the Namasudras under
the leadership of Dwarkanath Mandal, tried to bolster their self-
esteem by undertaking a social and economic boycott of the upper
castes. The failure of this movement led to the establishment of the
Matua sect - an organised religious sect under the influence of Sri
Guru Chand Thakur. The Guru, who came from a rich peasant household,
preached the elimination of caste, equality of men and women and the
possibility for spiritual relief through performance of secular
duties. Subsequently, the message of the movement found expression
through the shlogan of hate kam mukhe nam (work with the hands,
chant with the mouth). At about the same time, several other lower
caste spiritualists like Prabhu Jagatbandhu (1871-1921) spread their
teachings among the Namasudras of Faridpur and Jessore.
Jagatbandhu'
the Mahanta sect.
The conversion of the Namasudras to Christianity was another
phenomenon that deserves special mention. The Christian
denominations, namely, the Baptists, Anglicans and Roman Catholics
converted a fairly large number of Namasudras in Faridpur and
Bakerganj.
From the early years of the twentieth century, the Namasudra Samiti
gained in prominence and 'uplift meetings' were regularly organised
to disseminate the message of the caste movement. At the same time
Jatras and mass contact drives, such as those for the collection of
musthi (handful of rice) were frequently organised for the purpose
of mobilisation. From 1912, the Bengal Namasudra Association
provided the movement with a more formal organisational network.
Thus as the movement progressed, it encompassed within it two
distinct levels of consciousness and action, one represented by the
elite and the other by their peasant followers.
In the case of the Rajbangshis, the movement for self-respect was
organised by the members of the affluent section of the community.
From the 1890s, the influence of Sanskritisation could be clearly
seen and there was an effort to characterise the Rajbangshis as
Vratya (fallen) Ksatriyas. At the same time, from 1912 onwards the
Rajbangshi elite organised a series of mass thread wearing
ceremonies in order to boast their Ksatriya status. Moreover,
efforts were also undertaken to establish links with the Bharatiya
Ksatriya Mahasabha.
Since the early years of the twentieth century both the Namasudras
and the Rajbangshis sent requests to the colonial bureaucracy to
bring them under the orbit of preferential treatment. Apart from
extending preferential treatment to them in matters of education and
employment, sympathies were also sought from the colonial
bureaucracy over matters related to political participation. While
the position of the Namasudra and Rajbangshi elite in the local
bodies showed signs of improvement, their representation in the
provincial legislature was still negligible. But more importantly,
in order to gain special political privileges, the lower caste elite
consciously advocated an anti-Congress and pro-British stance. At
the same time, the lower caste elite, particularly the Namasudras
who had actively opposed the swadeshi movement of the Congress,
favoured a blatantly separatist line in the wake of the
constitutional proposals of the 1910s and 1920s seeking greater
devolution of power among various Indian groups. Almost immediately
after the Mont-Ford proposals, the Rajbangshi and Namasudra elite
pressed for greater representation for depressed communities in
Bengal. As a result of these demands, the Reform Act of 1919
provided for the nomination of one representative of the depressed
classes to the Bengal Legislature.
Since the early 1920s the pro-British stance became more pronounced
and the lower caste elite in pursuit of greater political privileges
became more critical of the Congress policy to speak on behalf of
the nation. Consequently, for them nationalism assumed a different
meaning. In spite of being critical of the Hindu social order and
championing an anti-Congress position they were not anti-
nationalists as such. In other words the lower caste elite were in
quest of a nation based on the principles of substantive rather than
the nominal citizenship being offered to them by the Congress.
However, it would be wrong to surmise that the lower caste elite
consistently favoured a political approach distinct from that of the
nationalist mainstream. Occasional convergence did take place. For
instance, in the 1920s, some of the Namasudra and Rajbangshi elite,
notably Keshab Chandra Das, Mohini Mohan Das, and Upendranath Barman
favoured a policy of collaboration with the nationalists.
Understandably, anti-Congress feeling ran high among the less
privileged Namasudra and Rajbangshi peasantry. Interestingly, as a
part of their protest against social and economic discrimination
Namasudra and Rajbangshi peasants entered into bitter strife with
dominant landholding groups, comprising both high caste Hindus and
Muslims.
By the 1930s, with institutional concessions pouring in, the lower
caste elite became more and more unmindful of the interests of their
peasant followers and showed more interest in Council politics and
Constitutional debates. But, to keep their influence intact over
their rural following, they did at times expose issues closely
related to the lives of the peasants. In the 1930s, their political
separatism became all the more pronounced because of a distinct tilt
towards Ambedkar's brand of separatist scheduled caste politics. But
by the mid-1930s, the lower caste elite began to lose popular
support, more because of the emergence of political outfits like the
krishak praja party, which had a pronounced peasant orientation. But
with the Krishak Praja Party turning away its face from the
scheduled caste constituency on the eve of the 1937 elections, the
lower caste elite was once more able to recover their lost political
base. But more importantly, during this period the Congress was also
able to woo a section of the lower caste elite.
In the 1937 elections, the scheduled castes won 32 out of the 256
seats in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. The composition of the 32
successful candidates revealed a shift in political allegiances. In
addition to 23 Independent members, 7 were elected on Congress
support and the hindu mahasabha backed 2.
Since the late 1930s, the lower caste movement lost much of its
momentum and autonomy as class divisions began to surface. The lower
caste elite could no longer sustain their links with their rural
following. The onset of depression and the resultant hardships of
the peasantry forced a substantial section of the rural proletariat,
irrespective of caste affiliation, to draw closer to the Kisan Sabha
agitations. In the Jalpaiguri-Dinajpur region throughout the early
1940s, common caste identity failed to stem the conflict between the
Rajbangshi Jotedars and the Adhiyars, over the latter's demand for a
greater share of the harvest. This conflict culminated in the
tebhaga movement of 1946-47. But more importantly, the hobnobbing
between the Independent Scheduled Caste party and Krishak Praja
Party-Muslim League ministry also proved to be a short-lived one.
The establishment of the Bengal Provincial Scheduled Caste
Federation also did not signify the rise of a third political
alternative.
In retrospect it needs to be argued that lower caste community
identity was always in a process of change, thereby resulting in
fragmentation. In fact, the fragments and particles that fell apart
were appropriated by the other wider identities of nation, religion
or class. In that sense, the integration of the lower castes, more
particularly in the 1940s, with various other political streams such
as Congress led nationalism or Hindu Mahasabha instigated
communalism or the Communist led Kisan Sabha were rooted in the very
logic of such movements. [Rajsekhar Basu]
The Hindu Mahasabha, though initially committed to opposing any
partition of Akhhand Hindustan, eventually accepted it after the
outbreak of communal violence and concentrated on retaining the
predominantly Hindu majority areas within the Indian Union. [40] It
appointed, in February 1947, a Working Committee to report on "the
feasibility and desirability of having a separate province for
securing a homeland for Bengal Hindus". Following this on 6 April
the Mahasabha workers at a conference at Tarakeswar resolved to
start a movement in east Bengal for "retaining East Bengal
province ... within the Indian union". But as it appears, even
before this meeting a movement had already been launched in the
eastern Bengal countryside for building up public opinion in support
of the proposed Bengali Hindu homeland. A survey of public opinion
by Amrita Bazar Patrika in early May showed that an overwhelming
proportion (98%) of Bengali Hindus supported partition. The
Scheduled Caste population of the province could hardly insulate
themselves from this popular
euphoria that Hindu Mahasabha had created. And particularly the
Namasudras of eastern Bengal and the Rajbansis in the north could
hardly afford to remain aloof, as the proposed partition plan
concerned them in a very direct way.
In Bakarganj district on 3 April 1947, a joint meeting of the
Jhalakati Subdivisional Congress
Committee and the Subdivisional Hindu Mahasabha resolved to demand
the creation of "a separate Province ... comprising the Hindu
majority areas of Bengal" which would remain "an integral part of
the Indian Union". The new province, it was demanded,
should "include the Barisal Sadar Subdivisions (North & South) and
the Perojpur Subdivisions of the District of Bakarganj" [44] where
the Namasudras constituted the largest Hindu caste group. A month
later on 4 May the Goila Union Hindu Mahasabha held another meeting
where identical resolutions were passed unanimously. [45] On the
same day, in the Gournadi Police Station area of Bakarganj district,
there were two other meetings at Tarkibandar and Ramshidhi Bazar. At
both places resolutions were passed in favour of partition and
inclusion of the Hindu majority areas of Bakarganj and Faridpur into
a new province for Bengali Hindus. The meetings were attended by
people from a number of villages of the Gournadi PoliceStation area
where a large segment of the population were Namasudras.
In neighbouring Faridpur, the Scheduled Caste population was more
directly brought into this propaganda campaign. On 6 May a "meeting
of the scheduled caste inhabitants of the Gopalganj subdivision of
Faridpur District" was held at the village of Tuthamandra. The
meeting was attended by "several thousand villagers" and was
addressed by fifteen speakers, all of whom except one belonged to
the Scheduled Castes. It resolved to support partition, since there
was "no other remedy" for the threats to the "life, property, honour
and culture of the nonMoslems of this province", and demanded that
the Gopalganj subdivision should be united with Khulna and attached
to the new province of West Bengal. In the same Gopalganj
subdivision, another "very largely attended meeting of the Scheduled
Castes" was held at Boultali on 12 May and it again adopted
identical resolutions. In Khulna the extent of Scheduled Caste mass
participation in the partition campaign is unknown to us.
However, in this district a "conference of the leading members of
the Scheduled Caste community"was held at Khulna town on 3 May. It
demanded "the creation of a separate province called West Bengal
Province under the Central Indian Union". On the following day, the
same resolution was adopted again at Bagerhat town at another
meeting of the Scheduled Castes of the Bagerhat sub division. The
Hindu militancy among the Namasudras of this region we have already
noted. To some politicians in Bengal, however, partition of the
province was still unthinkable. It was at this juncture on 22 May
that Sarat Bose, now an isolated figure in the Bengal Congress, and
Abul Hashim, of the Bengal Muslim League, released to the press
their proposal for the formation of a free united Bengal. The
campaign was then taken up by Suhrawardy and his followers in the
Bengal Muslim League. Among their other supporters was Jogendranath
Mandal, the President of the Bengal Provincial Scheduled Caste
Federation.] The Working Committee of the Federation resolved on 14
May that "the division of the province into Hindu and Muslim
Bengal ... [was] no solution of the
communal problems". It would "check the growing political
consciousness and ruthlessly crush thesolidarity of the Scheduled
Castes of Bengal ... While the Scheduled Castes of Eastern
Bengal ... [would] be at the mercy of the majority community
[Muslim], the Scheduled Castes of Western Bengal ... [would] be
subject to perpetual slavery of the caste Hindus. Hence the
Scheduled Castes of this province ... [could] not be a party to such
a mischievous and dangerous move ...". Both Suhrawardy and Mandal at
this stage were claiming that the Scheduled Caste Hindus were not in
favour of the partition of Bengal, as demanded by the Hindu
Mahasabha. The actual situation in the interior, however, suggests
that the majority of the Scheduled Castes, particularly in eastern
and northern Bengal, had identified themselves with the sentiments
whipped up by the Mahasabha and had rejected the leadership of
Jogendranath Mandal.
On 21 June 1947, a meeting at Sreeramkathi High School compound in
Nazirpur Police Station of Bakarganj district was "attended by
thousands of people specially of Scheduled Caste communities"
The meeting resolved that the northwestern portions of Bakarganj
district, along with the contiguous areas of Gopalganj subdivision,
Rajair and Kalkini Police Stations of Faridpur, "being predominantly
Hindu Areas wherein the Scheduled castes are majority, ... should be
included in the West Bengal Province for the cultural, religious and
economic advancement of the Scheduled Castes who in no case would
submit to the rule of the Muslims". The meeting further resolved
that "the Scheduled Caste Hindus of the area have no confidence in
the leadership of Mr. Jogendranath Mandal ... because of his
surrender to the Muslim League ...". Another meeting on 22 June at
Jalabari School compound in Swarupkathi Police Station of Bakarganj
resolved that along with the above mentioned regions, "the Northern
portions of Pirojpur subdivision ... being predominantly Hindu
Majority areas" should also be included in the province of West
Bengal. The other resolution passed in the meeting registered a lack
of confidence of the Scheduled Castes of the area in the leadership
of Jogendranath Mandal. On the same day another "Public Meeting of
the People of Pirojpur P.S. North" held at Rayerkathi School
compound adopted unanimously the same resolutions. All these three
meetings, like the other propartition meetings mentioned earlier,
were presided over by local Scheduled Caste leaders who had never
been prominent in institutional politics. But on the other hand, the
identical wordings of the resolutions adopted in three different
meetings held simultaneously at three different places also indicate
some amount of organisation and planning to mobilise public opinion
among the local Scheduled Caste population.
Their counterparts in northern Bengal identified themselves with the
same sentiments and
apprehensions. At a meeting in Jalpaiguri in May 1947, attended by
500 delegates from all the districts of the Rajshahi division, the
Rajbansi leader Upendranath Barman described the Sarat
BoseSuhrawardy scheme of united independent Bengal as "a great
political trap" for the Hindus.
Onemonth later, a "meeting of the Scheduled Caste Rajbansis of
Dinajpur", held at Thakurgaon on 22 June, demanded that "the
Districts of Dinajpur, Malda and such portions of Rangpur which are
predominantly inhabited by the Rajbansis ... be included in the new
Province of West Bengal ...". The meeting was presided over by a not
very well known Rajbansi leader, indicating that there was local
initiative to remain in the Hindu province to preserve what they
described as "the linguistic, social and cultural unity of the
Rajbansi community as a whole".
All these meetings in the villages of eastern and northern Bengal
reveal a new mentality which recognised caste only as a microcosm
within the greater Hindu identity. At the institutional level also,
most of the Scheduled Caste MLAs had already accepted this
integrationist position. This became clear when the partition issue
was put to the vote in the Bengal Legislative Assembly on 20 June
1947. RupNarayan Roy, the Rajbansi Communist MLA from Dinajpur did
not vote, like Jyoti Basu of his party.
Four other Scheduled Caste members from eastern Bengal also voted
with the Muslims. The rest of theScheduled Caste MLAs voted for the
CongressMahasabha scheme to keep West Bengal as a Hindu majority
province within the larger political entity, India. Outcomes
But the partition which ultimately came in the midnight of 1415
August 1947 did not help the
Scheduled Caste masses. Many prominent groups like the Namasudras
and the Rajbansis lost their territorial anchorage and, contrary to
their hopes and in spite of their pleas, most of the Namasudra
inhabited areas in Bakarganj, Faridpur, Jessore and Khulna, like the
Rajbansi areas of Dinajpur and Rangpur, went to East Pakistan,
instead of West Bengal. The postpartition violence, as F.C. Bourne,
the last British Governor of East Bengal reported in 1950, left many
of them with "nothing beyond their lives and the clothes they stand
up in". [60] This compelled many of them to migrate as refugees to
India, where being uprooted from their traditional homeland they had
to begin once again their struggle for existence.
In the early 1950s, in the border districts of West Bengal the
Namasudra refugees were involved in violent strife with locally
entrenched groups like the Goalas and Muslims and desperately tried
to acquire a foothold in the area. Thus, social mobility which they
had achieved in the course of the previous 75 years was undone and
the strength of their social movement was sapped. But what the
partition movement indicated, and the postpartition behaviour of the
Scheduled Caste peasants inWest Bengal confirmed, was their
integration into the mainstream of Bengali Hindu society, of which
they have remained part and parcel ever since. And this is true in
spite of the shortlived separatist movement of the Rajbansis in
northern Bengal. The post1971 new waves of migration, this time by
an impoverished and desolate Muslim peasantry from Bangladesh, once
again threatened the position of the Scheduled Caste peasantry,
settled, after long periods of stress and pain, in the border
districts of West Bengal. They do not want to be secondtime losers
and therefore these areas have become strongholds of Hindu
fundamentalist politics, in an otherwise troublefree West Bengal.
In the context of Partition politics, 'religion' replaced 'caste' as
the defining criterion for community boundaries in the collective
imagination of the Scheduled Castes. thus, the rebel peasants of
Indigo revolution or sanyashi vidroh were tamed and enslaved. They
lost the caste identies while the castehindus used this opportunity
to persecute them eternally. It continued across the border and all
over the divided bleeding geopolitics. The caste Hindus, cotrarily
maintained their caste Identities and eventually established an
unbrokeable Brahminical ruling Hegemony in India which is now well
represented by Pranab Mukherjee, Shoumitra Chatterjee, Mahashweta
Devi, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Somnath
Chatterjee, Mamata Bannerjee, Subrato Mukherjee, Dipankar
Bhattacharya and others in different spheres of life.
The First India Act of 1919 was influenced by the Struggles of
Mahatma Phule and Chhatarpati Shahu Maharaj. The Second India Act of
1935 was influenced by the Struggles of Dr Baba Saheb Arnbedkar. In
the 1st India Act of 1919, the Anti-Shudras were designated as
Depressed Classes.
As a result of the Ambedkarite Struggles during the 1920s and early
30s, the Depressed Classes got a fair deal in the 2nd India Act of
1935. Two Schedules were prepared for the Depressed Classes, and
made part of the 2nd India Act of 1935. The Depressed Castes were
included as the Scheduled Castes and the Depressed Tribes were
included as the Scheduled Tribes. Then onwards, the Scheduled Castes
and the Scheduled Tribes started getting a fair deal from the
British Government of the day.
With the background of these two India Acts of 1919 and 1935, and
the 40 years long Struggles of his life, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar got
the opportunity to preside over the Drafting Committee of the
present Constitution of India. Thus, the present Constitution of
India bears the impact of two Centuries old Struggles of the Shudras
and Anti-Shudras of India. Besides the utility of the Constitution
to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward
Caste, the SC, ST & OBC people are emotionally attached to the
Constitution. Therefore, they will not tolerate any tampering with
the Constitution.
Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar was not fully satisfied with the
Constitution. He therefore expressed his dissatisfaction before the
Constituent Assembly on 25th November 1949. He told the Members of
the Constituent Assembly, "on 26th of 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.
In Politics, we will be recognising the Principle of one man one
vote, and one vote one value. In our Social and Economic Life, we
shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to
deny the Principle of one man one value. How long shall we live this
Life of Contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny Equality
in our Social and Economic Life? If we continue to deny it for long,
we will do so only by putting our Political Democracy in peril. 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 we have so laboriously built up." The
Less Brahminicals of the Constituent Assembly did not respond. The
Contradictions continued. Now after full 50 years, in 1999, the
Utmost Brahminicals of the BJP, instead of seeking a Review of the
Brarnhnical Social Order of perfect inequality, have appointed a
Commission to Review the Constitution itself.
Citizenship Amendment Act, SEZ Act, Chemicals act, Nuclear Deal,
AFSA, Liberalisation, Privatisation, Urbanisation, Retail Chain,
Hire and Fire, ITan so on. They are killing the constitution even
today.
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