FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

TOWARDS THE THIRD LIBERATION

As prophesied by Swami Vivekananda, the Shudra Age has dawned and the balance of power has decisively shifted in favor of the Shudras from the grip of the Savarnas. In this sense, the Parliamentary Election of 1996 marks a water- shed, the Second Liberation of the Indian Society, if transfer of power in 1947-1950 is interpreted as the First Liberation. Power was then transferred from the hands of a foreign imperial power to those of the Indian people. But the hands actually belonged to the Savarnas who constituted the national bourgeoisie and the socio-cultural elite and provided the political leadership of the Freedom Movement.

The Wheels of History never stops moving and the masses are the prime movers. With the dawn of democracy, and the introduction of adult suffrage, slowly and steadily the cast-outs, the deprived, the depressed, the wretched of the earth who form the overwhelming majority of the people have been asserting themselves and seeking Equality, Justice and Dignity, asking for their share of power, their piece of the cake, their right to breathe the air of Freedom. Over the years, even though the party system, as it developed, is controlled by the high caste leadership, even though the administration is in the hands of the elite, even though the electoral system is subject to manipulation by the propertied classes, the face of the Legislatures the central and the state, has changed beyond recognition, essentially reducing the preponderance and consequent dominance of the Savaranas and raising the representation of the Shudras. Today in all legislatures, the Shudras (along with the Achhuts and the Adivasis) form a majority. Today for the first time the Union Council of Ministers has very few Savaranas, Indian politics has been Mandalised and howsoever, one may decry the manners of the neo- political groups or deplore the fall in 'standards' or lack of manners and etiquette, or denounce the absence of merit, the situation is irreversible and the process shall inexorably move forward, towards a regime of Equality, Justice and Dignity for all the castes, classes and denominations, all identifiable and conscious social groups-Towards the Third Liberation.

SOCIAL UPHEAVAL AND POLITICAL RECONSTRUCTION

The Indian society is undergoing both a social upheaval and a political reconstruction. The Indian Society, plural as it is, is both multi-segmented and multi-layered. A social group is defined both by the segment and the layer to which it belongs. Whether one cuts the cake first horizontally and then vertically, or first vertically and then horizontally, the size, shape and, above all, the volume of each piece will be the same. In India, self-definition is a very complex process. There can be no neat surgical operation. Somewhere the vertical knife is at work, somewhere else the horizontal scalpel is in operation. Wait and be patient, once the process is complete and it cannot be halted half way, each identifiable piece would proclaim and achieve an identity of its own. The call of solidarity in the name of the Nation or the State or the Country or the Culture, or in the name of Caste, Religion or Language will not stop it, it may slow it down; it may even allow the elite within each group to assume leadership and become its spokesman and the beneficiary of the process but even that would be a temporary phenomenon.

To understand the dynamics of Indian Society, first we have to discard terms like High Castes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities. These are broad categories, rather legal and constitutional, which conceal more of the social reality than reveal it. The High Castes consist essentially of Brahmins, Rajputs and Vaishyas- the twice born - each with its own sub-groups.

The Scheduled Castes bring together various out-castes which lived and died outside the Varna System and were regarded as being outside the pale and, therefore, untouchable, Gandhiji called them Harijans and Ambedkar fought for their rights. Today they call themselves Dalits. The Scheduled Tribes are the Adivasis the original inhabitants of this land driven into the hills and forests, physically separated from each other and speaking diverse languages but suffering continuous encroachment on their land, water, forest, their way of living, their life, property and honor-all in the name of progress and development.

The Shudras are euphemistically called the Other Backward Classes because the original Backward Classes recognized in the 1935 Act and then in the Constitution were the SC's and the ST's. But the Shudras have many castes - in Bihar 96 are enumerated in the Reservation Lists-called Annexures I and II varying widely in population, education, political experience and influence and, therefore, share of power. Today, 66% of the Shudras have virtually no representation in the power structure; they are educationally and economically and, therefore, socially at the bottom.

So are the 'Minorities', the Religious Minorities: the Muslims, the Sikhs, the Christians, the Jains, the Buddhists and the Parsis, of whom the Muslims constitute 75%. For historical reasons they are cast in the role of political adversaries and subjected to ridicule, distrust and suspicion 50 years after independence, they continue to pay the price of Partition, though 90% of them were born in free India and have never known Pakistan-except as yet another Muslim country. Today they have virtually no representation in the power structures. Persistently, under-represented in several Legislatures, they have no presence in many. Once the beneficiary of separate electorate and reservation in legislatures, both abolished in 1950, they are practically disenfranchised-you may call it political genocide, though the first draft of the Constituted listed them with SC's and ST's as worthy of reservation under a joint electorate system. They have very poor representation in the Executive and the Judiciary; they are educationally deprived and have a low profile in practically all professions and in all spheres of economic activity.

Secondly, we must view the quest for Dignity, Equality and Justice in a historic perspective. The quest began when the Vedic society had lost its dynamism and become a stagnant pool, a rigid system. Then Islam, with its message of Universality, Equality and Justice appeared on the scene and recharged the spiritual and religious impulses of the masses into the Bhakti movement. Subsequently India had its encounter with the West, which provided in Rabindranath Tagore's words something which was missing in our national make-up and showed it the way to modern technology and political democracy. Then the Indian people broke the shackles of slavery and gave themselves a constitution which promised Freedom, Equality, Justice and Fraternity and a polity based on adult suffrage. This was a revolutionary move. Thus came the transfer of power to the people - first, in name, then gaining substance, in election after election, as the new Shudra elite acquired money and education, when after 50 years of democracy, the deprived and the dispossessed have stood up to claim their birth right -a share in power. Right to vote has transformed every social group, whatever its identity or size, into subjects, rather than objects, of the game of Power - into active players, from a frustrated and even bored watchers.

Many Backward' groups liberated from the hegemony of the Forward castes - are now groaning under the fraternal embrace of their fellow 'Forwards' and protesting against inequity and crying for Justice.

Since the world as a whole has entered the age of ethnicity and most forgotten and suppressed identities are surfacing all over the world, since the processes of fission and fusion are simultaneously taking place, even in the far more homogeneous societies, restructuring nations and redefining the boundaries of States and redistributing the social space. In India the social boundaries shall be redrawn; no fissure, no crack, no cleavage, which shows, can be ignored as new identities will demand accommodation, equitably and justly, within the body politic, rejecting not only religious but caste solidarity. The winds of change, blowing across all social spaces, shall not bypass any crevice horizontal or vertical.

RESISTANCE WILL FAIL

No social group in human history has voluntarily forsaken power or let it slip out of its hands, without attempting to reverse the process, by manipulation, manoeuvre, deceit or force. So it is not surprising that in the Hindu society, the high castes - the hereditary beneficiaries of the Brahmanical system are trying to retain power as much and as long as they can. The rise of the Hindutva forces is nothing more than the last flicker of the flame, the last manoeuvre to maintain the status quo or to retain their supremacy in the name of Hindu solidarity against the historic adversary' - the Muslims - and the enemies of the Nation within and without! But the battle cry is not going to deceive anyone permanently nor is the siege going to be lifted by the emergent forces until Social Justice prevalence and the city of Inequity and Oppression surrenders. The conscious Shudras fully understand that the target of Hindu chauvinism is not the Muslims but the vast majority, 80% of the Hindus. The resistance will fail.

THE GOAL

Pressure for decentralization of governance, for devolution of resources, for the federalization of the political system, for autonomy right down to the Panchayat will grow. Pressure for smaller States will increase so that governance becomes more transparent and administration more responsive and development more meaningful and decision- making moves closer to the people. Nothing can stop this historic movement. India shall move from Union of State to a Union of States which are Unions of Districts, which are Union of Prakhands, which are Union of Panchayats.

Pressure for the reform of the electoral system will grow. The people have been living under 'minority government's which are based on the positive support of 20% of the electorate (considering 60% turnout in voting with 30% in favor of the party or alliance in power). The Party system knowing no inner democracy and revolving around party bosses, with built-in criminalization, communalization and corruption, will be reformed. The consolidation of the secular, progressive forces through the introduction of the proportional system and the run-off procedure, to secure greater legitimacy and representativity in the legislature will be based on the alliance of the emergent social groups.

The direction of movement is clear, the pace may vary. But at the end of the journey, every self- social group/ sub-group shall stand empowered, proportionally represented at the policy-making and decision-making and executive levels, free from fear of discrimination or even being fraternal exploitation, free to contribute to the common deal and free to draw sustenance from it, and above all, free to maintain its particular identity or such elements thereof which it deems valuable and viable and free to accept or reject changes in them according to its own perception of the situation. That would be Third Liberation.

India is moving step by step, but fast, as the wheels of history today move faster, towards a working model for the world of tomorrow which shall be based on peaceful coexistence and fruitful cooperation of all ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural, functional groups within States. Then the world government, of which humanity dreams today, will become a reality.

New Delhi

1 December, 1996                           

 (SYED SHAHABUDDIN)