People's Democracy

FIRST ALL INDIA DALIT RIGHTS CONVENTION

Countrywide Campaign On 12-Point Charter Of Demands

G Mamta

Prakash Karat inaugurating the convention

THE CPI(M) has resolved to conduct a week long countrywide campaign during the month of April on a 12-point charter of demands adopted at the first ever ‘All India Convention on Dalit Rights and Issues’ organised by the Party in New Delhi on February 22, 2006. The charter of demands formed part of the resolution adopted by the convention. The campaign would be followed by struggles led by the Party on issues relating to dalit rights and problems further identified during the campaign.

The convention has also given a call for fighting the communal forces who actually perpetuate the caste system which oppresses huge majority of populace. 

Prakash Karat, general secretary of the CPI(M), inaugurated the convention held at V P House lawns. Around 600 delegates from  21 states attended the convention. Anil Sarkar (Tripura), Kanti Biswas (West Bengal), John Wesley (Andhra Pradesh), P Shanmugham (Tamil Nadu), Subhadra (Maharashtra) and Ram Jag (Uttar Pradesh) comprised the presidium.

In his inaugural address, Karat stressed the need for the Party to intervene directly on the caste question by concretely studying the forms of caste and class oppression and launching movement for social emancipation. He underscored the necessity of interlinking the struggle for economic and social emancipation with the struggle against imperialist globalisation.

Prakash Karat said that the CPI(M) has organised this convention to focus on the problems of dalit people and their rights in the country. Pointing out that the 18th congress of the Party had emphasised the need to take up social issues in a big way, Karat hoped that this first all India convention would help in giving direction to the ongoing struggles against caste discrimination and related problems in the states in the coming days. After the 18th congress, a committee was formed on dalit issues to study all aspects of the caste question and give a direction to take up and fight issues against discrimination and oppression. The report of the committee underlined the fact that the caste discrimination in India is based on land relations and given the land relations in the villages, the dominant sections utilise caste system to reinforce class exploitation.  Karat pointed out that even after six decades of Independence, there is no real material difference in the forms of oppression and discrimination against dalits. In Tamilnadu, the Party surveyed 7000 villages and observed that in 40 per cent of the villages, untouchability is practised in various forms.

Prakash Karat said that the CPI(M) has a different approach to the caste question. The bourgeois parties utilise caste as an instrument for political and electoral mobilisation and perpetuate caste divisions and foster caste prejudices. After Independence, the Indian State failed to implement land reforms and change land relations, which is at the root of oppression. The CPI(M) targets the roots of caste oppression. All studies show the correlation between landlessness and the position in the hierarchy of caste system. Landlessness increases as you go down the ladder, he said. 70 per cent of the Scheduled Castes people have no land or are nearly landless and this is the root cause of oppression.

A section of delegates attending the convention 

Historically from the freedom movement days, fighters against caste oppression and social reformers like Dr Ambedkar, Sri Narayan Guru, Jyothirao Phule, E V Ramaswamy Naicker and others waged struggles against discrimination but the current of this movement got delinked from the anti-imperialist movement and this delinking cost us heavily, said Prakash Karat. That is the reason why radical social transformation did not take place in our country. He exhorted the necessity to relink today the struggle for economic and social emancipation with the struggle against imperialist globalisation. He pointed out that the BJP addresses dalit question from the Hindutva angle and tries to bring them under its fold without addressing the question of oppression.

Prakash Karat stressed that the Party needs to intervene directly and it is not enough to pass general resolutions but concretely study the forms of caste and class oppression and interlink them. The task before us, he said, is to build wider unity and movement on the caste question. The experiences of Andhra Pradesh in the past eight years and that of Tamil Nadu show that concrete study and action is imperative to build the movement. In Andhra Pradesh, the KVPS (Struggle Committee against Caste Discrimination) has been formed and the movement against discrimination attracted new sections of people. In Tamil Nadu, surveys and struggles were organised on the forms of untouchability and other issues concerning dalits. Other political parties were invited to the district conventions organised on dalit problems.

Concrete demands have to be framed and fought for, said Prakash Karat. He quoted Party Programme, ‘to fight for the abolition of the caste system and all forms of social oppression through a social reform movement is an important part of the democratic revolution. The fight against caste oppression is interlinked with the struggle against class exploitation’ and asserted that the Party will chalk out the line of action for work among dalits and all oppressed sections.

K Varadarajan, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) and convenor of the committee, placed the draft resolution of the convention. M K Pandhe, Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau members participated in the convention.

Later, the draft resolution was adopted by the convention after a thorough discussion in the delegate session. An inspiring photo exhibition depicting the struggles against caste discrimination in Andhra Pradesh was put up by the KVPS outside the venue of the convention.