The importance of a Dalit president

Very shortly, and most likely, India will see a Dalit president occupying the highest seat of power in India but what does this mean? What does it signify for the working masses of India and the non-ruling class. For all useful purposes, nothing at all since the Presidential chair is a rubber stamp in the Indian Parliamentary Bourgeois Democracy. It is not like the outgoing President did anything path breaking and caused a Constitutional crisis by not following the diktats of the elected leader, the Prime Minister. So, the question then is, if this tokenism should even be acknowledged? The answer is resounding in the affirmative and this is because it has to be understood in the following realms of significance.

The Dalit identity and ascent

In an interview to Kafila.org, Dalit ideologue Kancha Ilaiah had proclaimed, though erroneously in retrospect, that Dalits should stand behind Modi if it allows them a direct path into the houses of power. The rationale at that time is that the Liberals and Left parties had ignored Dalits thus far. This is of course correct without a doubt from a tactical perspective. From an ideological perspective, Kancha’s views were akin to stating that Communists must support Fascists to get rid of Liberals. But that is to miss the real point being made; if nothing else, Dalits taking the seat of Power and being in the seat of power. This is important to Dalits. This is especially important to project in light of a Hindu Fascist Govt that does intend to eliminate Dalit consciousness politically and economically. Thus, when the Hindus give the ceremonial post to a Dalit, who is their member, the Good Dalits and Bad Dalits are now separated. A Good Dalit for Hindus is one who is a loyal servant of the Hindus. A good servant can thus be rewarded with these piecemeal measures. A good Dalit can have a good life under the Hindu boots – as long as he looks away from the obvious atrocities the Hindus are religiously obliged to perpetrate upon his ilk. I draw a parallel here to an African American Republican party member for common reference. This is a person who has been “Whitened” from being a Slave because he has accepted his master’s voice as the “Way”. For the mass of common Dalits that are not in the realms of power, this distinction is invisible. The mechanism they see is of a Dalit who has broken through – to hell with the fact that it is by siding with the oppressor; in fact, maybe siding with the oppressor was the way all along? Maybe Ambedkar was wrong? All these points aside, it is still good that a Dalit will be the President because that is one less post that is occupied by a Brahmin. The endeavour should always be to ensure zero representation to and complete oppression politically and economically of Brahmins and their guard dogs the Kshatriya and their sponsors the Vaishyas.

The political angle.

Politically, the BJP has affected a masterstroke. Understand that the BJP knows the “Indian” DNA very well. It understands that the intellectuals’ line of argumentation is that of compulsive antagonism and that of the lumpen proletariat is compulsive obedience to power. The BJP calculated that the opposition would oppose the appointment and thus seize the Dalit narrative and paint the opposition as the Brahmin Elite – and the idiots did fall for it by antagonising compulsively and not objectively. In the backdrop of Sharanpur, this appointment then divorces the BJP from the UP State BJP that will now be seen as one odd cousin in the family. Again… it would be foolish not to notice how the Dalit is preferable to the Muslim for the North Indian Hindus. Thus, in the minds of the lumpen proletariat of Dalits, the Ambedkarite notion of Dalit-Muslim unity has fallen apart.

The Moral of the story

It is simple. The age old Indian Rope trick of fooling the audience continues: A token post, a head of state that is not elected by the masses and a rubber stamp that will only take orders from the inbred Brahmins in the BJP. But that is so much more than even what the Dalit movements themselves have achieved! The mighty orator Jignesh Mevani has spent more time attacking the Communists than attending to the rights of Dalits in Gujarat. Mayawati’s idiotic battle tactics in UP played to the BJP’s communal and caste polarisation tactics. As far as the world can see, the existent Ambedkarite movement is an impotent force that only demonstrates and sings songs at rallies. It has thus fallen into the JNU left trap of theatrics and polemics rather than action on the ground. It is only UP’s Bhim Army that is really providing direction to the Dalit Community but even that will fizzle out unless Armed Struggle against the Brahmin Hegemonic state begins soon.

Most important question is…. Why didn’t opposition come out with a Dalit leader? And thus, the Dalits walk further away from what Ambedkar taught into the chains of the inbred, backward, savarna