People's Democracy

Raise Dalit Issues Without Inhibition

MANY a time we hesitate to raise dalit issues under the impression that this would alienate the non-dalit sections from us. This is totally contrary to our basic understanding. We would be able to draw the non-dalit sections to us only by augmenting our strength. If the upper caste people may get away from us if we organise the dalit masses, how is it that Brahmins vote for the BSP?

This was the comment made by Jaswinder Singh, a member of the CPI(M)’s Madhya Pradesh state secretariat, while concluding the two-day workshop. He said those who say that class unity may be forged only by conducting class struggles, are not aware of the realities of our society. If feudalism is still with us, we do have to fight for its abolition. Our party programme identifies three enemies and feudalism is one of them.

Earlier, in the very beginning of the workshop, he had made it clear that holding a workshop of dalit cadre of the party did not aim at creating a dalit cell of the party. Such cells are created by bourgeois landlord parties who want to strengthen the caste system, not to destroy it. On the other hand, the people’s democratic revolution that we visualise, aims to destroy all the feudal relations and the vestiges of feudalism, and casteism is one of them.