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Journalism of Courage
In the days leading up to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election, the Modi government cleared a Bill to grant tribal status to the state’s Hattee community, a demand pending for 50 years. While that Bill is yet to be passed, the repercussions of it are playing out across the five constituencies of Sirmaur district where the Hattees are concentrated, with the Dalits opposed to the move vowing to vote against the BJP.
Apart from Sirmaur’s five constituencies, the Hattees can influence results in four seats of Shimla district too – a factor that would have been part of the BJP’s calculations in a state where it is facing a tough challenge from the Congress.
However, as the Kendriya Hattee Samiti canvasses openly for the BJP, even local party leaders are apprehensive of the Dalits turning against them. Of the five constituencies in Sirmaur, two are reserved for Scheduled Castes (Renukaji and Pachhad) given their large numbers in the seats (35-40%), while they comprise at least 29% of the population in Shillai, and are in substantial numbers in Paonta Sahib.
At a rally held in Sataun in Sirmaur district recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah made it a point to reassure the Dalits that they had nothing to worry from Hattees being given tribal status, and that their rights would be protected. However, organisations like the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch and Dalit Vikas Sangathan, which have come together under the banner of the Anusuchit Jati Adhikar Sanrakshan Samiti in Sirmaur, are not convinced.
The convenor of the Dalit Vikas Sangathan, Sirmaur, Birbal says that the biggest fear among the Dalit population is that once the Hattees have ST status, thte area too would get tribal status (classifying all the people in the region as tribals), which would weaken the force of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act here.
A tribal status for the area would also mean that panchayat seats will stop being alternatively reserved for SCs and others. SC candidates may never become panchayat pradhans, or block district committee and zila parishad members, he says.
The convenor of the Anusuchit Jati Adhikar Sanrakshan Samiti, Anil Manghet, says the BJP is fooling both them and the Hattees, pointing out that the tribal status promise remains still a proposal.
“They are misleading people for political gains,” Manghet, who is an advocate, says. “To grant tribal status, the government has to first amend provisions of the Constitution. Is there any such change made? Where are those papers? Nothing has been shown to anyone anywhere… Woh jumblebaazi kar rahen hain (they are just making false promises),” Manghet says, adding that the BJP should also explain how it plans to protect Dalit rights if the area too gets tribal status.
The convenor of the Kendriya Hatti Samiti, Ami Chand, denies there is any confusion on the matter. Asserting that the tribal status approval was a given, he calls it the first phase. “After this process, the second phase will start. As 60% of the population will be covered as tribal, the area too will get the tribal status.”
However, there is no certainty of that as of now. While Himachal had submitted a proposal to notify the Trans-Giri area (nestled between the Giri and Tons rivers) in Sirmaur district, the Dodra Kwar sub-division of Shimla, areas of Shimla and Kullu as Scheduled Areas, the Union government examined the proposal but did not consider it due to “want of crietria”.
Apart from the Trans-Giri area, the Hattees are spread out in Jaunsar Bawar region in Uttarakhand. The larger area was once part of the Sirmaur royal estate until the British conquered it in 1815.The Trans-Giri Hattees have been seeking reservation since 1967, when tribal status was accorded to members in the Jaunsar Bawar area.
The Dalits, incidentally, make up as much as 25.22% of Himachal’s numbers as per the 2011 Census, placing the state next only to Punjab in the share of SCs in its population. While the upper castes (Brahmins and Rajputs) are double their numbers (50.72% of the population), Himachal does not have a history of serious caste discrimination.
A corollary is that Dalits in the state are not known to vote en masse. Calling the relationship between the SCs and upper castes in the state as “cordial”, Prof Kamal, a retired political scientist from Himachal Pradesh University, says, “Unlike neighbouring Punjab or Uttar Pradesh, there isn’t a high consciousness regarding caste among the SC population here… There is no caste atrocity at the rural level, no violence.”
This explains why the BSP has failed to make any gains in the state despite its large population of SCs, unlike in Punjab, for example. BSP founder Kanshi Ram was from Punjab.
Prof Harish K Thakur, a political scientist at Himachal Pradesh University, says that what has changed in the three decades of the state’s existence is that while earlier the SCs and STs leaned towards the Congress, “since 2012, the BJP has made deep inroads among the communities”.
Among the BJP’s biggest hopes in countering Dalit anger now is its Sirmaur MP, Dalit leader and state party president, Suresh Kashyap. Asked about fears among the Dalit communities, he cites Amit Shah’s speech to say that the Home Minister himself has assured that their rights will be protected. “So no issue remains now,” he says.
