intosubstantivereality.
TheKhairlanji incid-
ent,where a Maharashtra
Dalit family was
murdered,andtheburn-
ing of Dalit homes at
Mirchpurin Hisar,Hary-
ana,showhowevena little
assertion of equalityis met
withbrutal reprisal. Hon-
our killings punishing
inter-caste marriages in
mostcasesinvolveunions
between womenfromthe
uppercastesandmenfrom
lowercastesor backward
classes.Thereprisal is of-
tenviolentlydirected at
women who have sup-
posedly transgressedtra-
dition and thus
compromised theirroleas
“gatekeepers”of ritualand
lineage.
The writer observes
that Brahmanical patri-
archy’s obsessiveconcern
with controlling female
sexuality in order to en-
surethereproduction of
pureblood,described as
the earliestevidenceof ge-
netic engineering, hassur-
vived across all caste
groups, highandlow,and
thatchanges in legalforms
andliberal ideologies have
notbeenable to breakits
hold. Tragically, lower
castes, especiallyin north-
ernIndia, also monitorfe-
male sexuality for
purposes of exogamy
without quite realising
thatthesenormsarede-
rivedfromtheverystruc-
turesthatoppress them in
other ways.
Fear of reprisal is
weaker in placeswithhis-
toriesof affirmative action,
strongsocial reformmove-
mentsandpoliticalmove-
ments by theLeft. The
presence,growthandsur-
vivalof the Left partiesin a
sensetestifyto theirsuc-
cessin raising classissues
and building solidarities
beyond caste identities
whilealsoraisingissues of
casteoppression.Theper-
ceptionthatonecanonly
understand whatcasteop-
pressionis if onebelongs
to an oppressedcastehas
oftenprovedto be a limita-
tionin organising the poor
on classlines. While most
caste-based organisations
havemenat thehelm,it
might be worthwhile to
studyhowwomenperceive
identitypolitics.NEWMATRIX OFTIES
There has been a sea
change in thenatureof
casteoppression.Thein-creasing assertiveness of
“sociallybackwardcastes”
in both economic and
politicaltermsandtheir
wooing by mainstream
bourgeoispolitical parties
havecreateda completely
newmatrixof relations.
Earlier, there usedto
be silent scorn forthose
whosoughtadmissionsor
gotjobsundera “quota”.
Today, not only is that
scorn, by the so-called
“meritorious” caste
Hindus, more apparent,
there is a persistentde-
mand for inclusionin re-
served categories by such
groups. Ontheonehand
there is increasingresist-
anceto reservationin jobs
and educational institu-
tions in the name of
“merit”.On the otherhand,
somesociallyandeconom-
icallyforwardcastegroups
in north India have de-
manded either tribal
status or recognitionas
“backward castes”in order
to benefit from such
reservation.
Theintroduction of 10
per cent reservation for
economically weaker sec-
tionsin governmentjobs
and educational institu-
tions by the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP)gov-
ernmentwasnot an innoc-
uousmove.It wasmeantto
winbacktheuppercaste
sectionswhohad“moved
away” fromthepartyfol-
lowinga certain position
thegovernmenthadbeen
earlier compelled to take
vis-a-vis the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled
Tribes (Preventionof At-
rocities) Act. The move
seemsto havepaidrichdi-
videndsfor the partyin the
recently concluded Lok
Sabha election.
GenderingCastedoes
notlookat thenewdevel-
opments in the demand foraffirmativeaction.It goes
beyond gender in some
sensesandalsolooksat
someof the turningpoints
in the historyof casteviol-
encelikethatof Keezhven-
mani(TamilNadu)where
44 Dalitswereburntalive
in 1968or Belchi(Bihar)
where11 Dalitswerekilled
in 1977. While such
pogroms occur less fre-
quently, brutal killingsin
the nameof honour,in the
nameof thecow,harass-
mentof Dalitstudentsand
professionalsandthewil-
ful destructionof property
belonging to Dalits are
new manifestations of
caste-related discrimina-
tion and violence. The
bookcoverssomeof the re-
centinstancesof violence
againstDalits.
Feedback from wo-
men’s organisations that
work with survivors of
casteviolencewouldhave
enhancedthe richmaterial
in the book. It has been the
specific experienceof wo-
men’sorganisationswork-
ing oncases of “honour
crime”thatsuchviolence is
notjustan expressionof
theinherent violencein
“castepatriarchy”, butalso
a reflection of the weaken-
ing controlof thepatri-
archs and other social
satrapsoverthelives of
youngpeople.
Whiletheremayhave
beena temporaryobfusca-
tionof thecontradictions
between various caste
groupsin the nationalistic
surgeevinced in there-
centlyconcluded election,
it wouldbe facileto as-
sumethatthecontradic-
tions of caste,class and
genderwilldisappearper-
manently as eachcategory
seeksto assertits space
andrealiseits aspirations
in an increasinglyunequal
polity. $BHAIYALAL
BHOTMANGE,whose
familymemberswere
killedin Khairlanjivillage
in Maharashtra. Afile
photograph.VIVEKBENDREHarassmentofDalit
students andprofessionals
is a newmanifestationof
discrimination.