Why Punjab’s Dalits are a divided house over SC sub-categorisation verdict

The strike received a partial response in the state, that too in the Doab region where the Ravidasias are the dominant Dalit group. The Malwa and Majha regions, where there are more Mazhabi Sikhs and Balmikis, remained almost untouched by the bandh. Of the approximately 88.66 lakh Dalits, Mazhabis and Balmikis form almost 40% of the SC population. However, they have little representation in government jobs and education institutions as well as in the Dalit political space in Punjab. Of the 34 SC-reserved Assembly seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, leaders from the Mazhabi or Balmiki castes represent only eight of those constituencies. Of the four MPs from SC-reserved constituencies, all are from the Ravidasia community.

“After this uproar over sub-categorisation, political parties will think about giving appropriate representation to the Mazhabi Sikhs and Balmikis in the party structure as well as the Assembly and Parliament. The community has become more aware as there is improvement in literacy rate,” said four-time Congress MLA and former minister Raj Kumar Verka who is from the Balmiki community. Elected public representatives from both clusters of Dalit sub-groups have largely remained silent about the court verdict.

A Jalandhar-based BJP leader from the Mazhabi community said, “The bandh had a low impact as most participants in Dalit protests come from our community. But we were not part of the bandh. I do not want to speak at this moment because the decision is in our favour. It is true that our community does not have deserving representation in any field, including jobs.”

A traditional Congress vote bank since 1975 when the Giani Zail Singh-led state government directed that Balmikis and Mazhabis be granted 50% of the quota available to SCs on a preferential basis wherever possible, a section of these Dalit communities voted for the Akali Dal in the 2007 elections and in recent years the BJP has been trying to win over their support.

Dalit activist Dr Kashmir Singh said, “Their low representation in government jobs led to Giani Zail Singh to provide 50% reservation to the Mazhabi Sikhs and Balmikis in Punjab. Despite this reservation, these two communities do not have the required representation in government jobs as well as in politics.”

The Dalit activist said a few months after the Zail Singh government’s directive, reservation was limited only to recruitment in government jobs and “withdrawn from admissions in educational and vocational institutions”. “As a result, very few individuals from these communities have been recruited to date,” Dr Singh added.

One of the reasons why the leather-working castes were comparatively more advanced historically is that their trade grew during British rule because of the demand for military boots in Army cantonments. This sparked their aspiration for education for upward mobility and they started the first Dalit movement in Punjab, the Ad Dharm of Mangoo Ram, in the 1920s and enumerated themselves in large numbers in the 1931 census as Ad Dharmis.

Darshan Ratna Raavan, the most influential religious leader of Balmikis, said, “Most of the Mazhabi Sikhs and Balmiki community leaders in different parties are only symbolic faces. They are not real leaders. We agree with the argument of the Bandh-supporting Dalit organisations about the creamy layer. But we will not tolerate any opposition to sub-categorisation in reservation. It is our right. Our next move will be to push for the implementation of this sub-categorisation in the electoral system. Of the four SC-reserved seats in Punjab, two should be for us.”

He added, “My biggest fear is that the BJP can prey on our community as they have been sending RSS preachers among them. If other parties prefer to remain silent on the rights we deserve, it will be their loss.”

In an article for The Indian Express on August 11, Raavan reasoned that sub-quotas would not affect Dalit unity and said the day Mahadalits — the most backward among Dalits — “make economic, social, educational and political progress, the power of the entire Dalit society will increase”.