Pirthipur, Anandpur Sahib: From Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking part in a kirtan in Delhi to Rahul Gandhi serving langer in Varanasi, Dalit icon and mystic poet Guru Ravidas’s birth anniversary has never before received this degree of attention from the political class.This attention is all thanks to the crucial February 20 assembly election in Punjab where the state’s Dalit voters – who make up one-third of the state’s population – have become crucial for any party hoping to form government.Dalit politics in the poll-bound states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh were brought into spotlight by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram, who was the biggest mobiliser of Dalits in independent India. Days ahead of voting, his maternal home in the Pirthipur village in the Anandpur Sahib tehsil of Punjab’s Ropar district, where he was born and raised, has been at the centre of poll activities.Just outside the entrance of the house, a poster of Nitin Nanda, the BSP candidate from the Anandpur Sahib constituency, is visible. Inside, Congress workers can be seen canvassing next to a well-built marble statue of Ram and his sister, 75-year-old Swaran Kaur, was hearing them patiently.“It was commendable for Congress to make a Dalit Punjab’s chief minister, something that Kanshi Ram always wanted after UP,” Kaur told them. “But it will not do any good to us if our people will not get good education and health facilities and better employment opportunities.”Swaran Kaur in front of her brother’s statue in her Pirthipur home. Photo: Vivek Gupta.Kaur later told The Wire that the biggest problem with Dalits is that are easily distracted by offers of free ration or petty cash subsidies.She said her brother used to say that the only way to uplift Dalits is to ensure they receive good educations and to create suitable employment opportunities. If they are educated and have jobs, they will themselves buy ration from the market and take care of their families.“But the problem is that political parties have always used Dalits as vote bank politics and hardly worked for their upliftment. The party founded by my brother was no different and, in fact, is now monopolised by those having deep pockets,” she said.She went on to say that in Punjab, the level of education among the Dalit youth is very poor. Many of them failed to get higher education due to funding issues and even those who managed to study are struggling.“Rich people may still have the option to send their kids abroad. But what option do unemployed and poor Dalit youth have? Many of them are falling into drugs and destroying their lives,” she said.Also read: Punjab Elections: Allegations of ‘Dynasty Politics’ Continue to Dog Badals and SADSpeaking about the February 20 polls, Kaur said that all parties are making all-out efforts to secure Dalit votes. If the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) offered them Rs 1,000, another party offered double; the Congress made Charanjit Singh Channi the chief minister.“My brother had already made Dalits MLAs and chief ministers during his lifetime. All we want is better education and employment opportunities for our brothers and sisters. Everything else is mere drama,” she added.Om Prakash, another villager, said that while Kanshi Ram was a social reformer deeply influenced by B.R. Amdedkar’s ideas who built a party for the poor, that party no longer exists. Poor job-seekers, according to Prakash, are fighting their battles all alone.“In every election, Dalits are enticed with cash subsidies. Once government is formed, they are ignored,” he saidSukhwinder Singh, who lives opposite Kanshi Ram’s house, said that after becoming chief minister last September, Channi made several announcements for Dalits and the poor, including the waiving off of pending electricity bills, but the impact of the same is yet to be seen on ground. “Political tokenism has never improved the lives of the poor,” Singh said.There is a dichotomy in terms of the social and economic conditions of Dalits in Punjab. Dalits of the Doaba region are better placed due to their overseas exposure while their counterparts in Malwa are very poor and survive as daily-wage labourers.In this election, there is a clear attempt by political parties to consolidate all sub-castes to their favour, but the on-ground situation appears different.The Wire met a group of Dalit youths from the Daddi village near Anandpur Sahib. Among them was Daljit Singh, who told The Wire that just because one party has made a Dalit the chief minister, that does not mean that all Dalits should rally behind him.“For how long should we remain influenced by caste factors?” He asked. “I voted for Congress in the last election but I am disappointed with their performance.”The group of Dalit youths from Daddi village. Photo: VIvek Gupta.Gurvinder Singh, another member of the Daddi group, said that the youth is seeking change. “Visit the government school in our village. The teaching staff is short, facilities nil,” he said. “Kids of politicians study in big schools. But schools where the poor study are left in a lurch.”The literacy rate among Scheduled Castes (SC) in Punjab is 65%, according to the 2011 census; lower than the state’s overall literacy rate of 76% and the national average of SCs at 66%.“Higher education is very expensive. I could not pursue it due to financial problems,” Gurdeep Singh, of the same village, said.He said even he could not avail of a grant under the post matric scholarship scheme for SC students in Punjab as it remained a non-starter during Congress rule.“But politicians are busy dividing the communities on the basis of caste and religion. Dalit issues collectively haven’t been given precedence,” he said.
