A ticket too far for Dalits

And there is a virtual scramble for the reserved seat from Osmanabad in Marathwada which is one of the three reserved constituencies from the State.

The RPI failed to wrest Pandharpur during its negotiations with the Congress where the party has renominated six-time sitting MP Sandeepan Thorat. The other reserved seat is from Buldhana, which the Congress wishes to keep for Dalits within its own party, having agreed to give away neighbouring Akola toPrakash Ambedkar.

The two other seats the RPI has secured are Amravati and Chimur, both of them in Vidarbha. The party has yet to decide on which seat it will contest from the metropolis, with the Congress deciding to keep only two out of six. It is in this context that various groups within the RPI are now pushing for Osmanabad. While RPI president R S Gavai admits that one more seat for his party is in the offing, he refrains from identifying the constituency. “That will be decided later through negotiations between leaders,” he said.

However, within Marathwada a signature drive has been undertaken by various factions of the RPI proposing that the seat be given to their party. Several district presidents of the RPI seem to be behind the move to prop up a Buddhist Dalit from their own party as against a Hindu Dalit from the Sena, amid reports that the Congress plans to pit a candidate from the same caste. Both the Sena’s candidate already declared and the Congress’ possible nominee are “actually OBCs within the Maratha caste,” says T M Kamble, former MLC who made a good showing against Thorat from Pandharpur on a united RPI ticket in 1996.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Kamble said that there was a 20 lakh Buddhist Dalit population in Marathwada which has a total 11 constituencies. “If the Congress does not give us a single reserved seat meant for the likes of us, what is the message they might convey to the masses?” he asked. Kamble’s bid for the seat appears to have begun a fight between the “original untouchables” and those higher up on the social ladder.

“We are from the most deprived communities and the reserved seat should be for people like us. Yet both the Shiv Sena and Congress are seeking to put up Hindu khatiks and kalals (non-untouchables but Dalits within the Hindu fold) from Osmanabad. Buddhist Dalits have suffered major atrocities here in the past few years particularly over the renaming of the Marathwada University after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. So how is it that no party is thinking of putting up an original Scheduled Caste candidate in the region?”According to Kamble, there is already a lot of discontent among Buddhist Dalits on seats issue. “Among the seats we have received so far only one — Amravati — is a cakewalk. There will be a tough fight on the others. We should have got Mumbai North-East as well, for the Ramabai Ambedkar incidents make this a sure winner for us this time, particularly if there is a one-to-one fight with the BJP. So we should be compensated with at least one reserved seat to avoid the feeling of betrayal.”

Congress leaders declined to comment. According to a senior Congressman, their party president (Sitaram Kesri) had himself put a spoke in the wheel of the State Congress’ efforts at alliances with both the SP and RPI in order to accommodate favourites. A Kesri supporter, however, said the attempt was to see that whatever seats are given away are generally won by the allies. “There is no point in handing these on a platter to the Sena-BJP. We, too, are taking all the caste combinations into account. We hope to put up the best fight everywhere.” Under the circumstances, the RPI can only wait — and hope.