Abstract
Uttar Pradesh (UP) has remained a paradox. There are political parties in the state, such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), which claim to represent the interests of the state’s downtrodden population, namely dalits, other backward classes (OBCs) and Muslims. They have massively mobilised the downtrodden population, which has resulted in a significant increase in the political confidence and assertiveness among these groups. Accordingly, the BSP and SP have almost continuously governed the state over the last two and a half decades. However, their rule has not necessarily translated into the realisation of substantive democracy in the state, which is still lagging far behind on almost every indicator of economic and social development when compared to many other states in India. UP continues to be marked by casteism, poverty, corruption, terrible law and order situation, bureaucratic malpractices and caste, communal and gender violence.
The book under review deals with this paradox. It is an edited volume consisting of 10 chapters including the Introduction. The chapters by Manuela Ciotti and Radhika Govinda present some significant material on the empowerment of the downtrodden and good governance due to successive governance by the BSP. Ciotti’s chapter discusses the success of the BSP in making dalit women politically active and ambitious. Dalit women activists today mobilise fellow dalits, helping them to avail government-provided facilities. These activists present themselves as persons involved in seva (social service), helping to take the dalit community forward; through this, these activists challenge the perception that they are domesticated female citizens and mere receivers of seva. The chapters present dalit women as secular agents of political participation and read the BSP through the mobilisation of dalit women activists.
Radhika Govinda argues that it is because of dalit political assertion and the availability of programmes such as Mahila Samakhya that many women’s organisations and NGOs have considered dalit and Muslim women to be the subjects of their activism. Women’s activism in UP is led by upper-caste Hindus and middle-class women who project dalit and Muslim women as marginalised groups in distinct and specific ways. The idea of communalism and the neoliberal logic of empowerment guide these identifications and projections.
The other chapters in the volume present the failure of the state in bringing about good governance and development. The chapter by Satendra Kumar argues that in Khanpur village, traditional caste-based inequalities still continue to shape the pattern of occupational diversification. The political transformations fashioned by the BSP and the SP have hardly led to any significant change in the traditional occupational patterns of the lower castes. They continue to be in degrading occupations. Kumar substantiates his statement by studying an artisan-service caste, namely the Nais.
Patricia Jeffery’s chapter interrogates the health care system in western UP, through the ‘Pulse’ polio campaign. She argues that the campaign is coercive, reproducing many stereotypes about Muslims and contributing to state-led tactics to manipulate economically marginalised Muslims. Muslim children in the polio hotspots receive numerous doses of oral polio vaccine, but little has been achieved to remedy the health-related problems faced by them.
The chapter by Ali Mehdi argues that the BSP has failed to improve dalit access to education. Dalit children have continued to face discrimination in government schools. Dropout rates remain very high. Besides, dalits are unable to capitalise on their educational credentials. Thus, they continue to suffer from the worst forms of capability deprivation.
The chapter by Lucia Michelutti and Oliver Heath observes that Hindu–Muslim relations in Mathura are fashioned by communalism and viewed with suspicion and mistrust. This is a consequence of Hindutva and identity-based patronage politics, which have heightened community awareness, leading to the strengthening of in-group trust and weakening out-group trust. Muslims think that the SP is helping only Yadavs and not enabling them to get access to better education and jobs. The authors believe that the rising tension between Yadavs and Muslims due to the caste/community-based patronage politics of the SP is making the BJP popular in Mathura.
Philippa Williams also offers a disturbing account of the changing relations between Hindus and Muslims through the Varanasi silk industry. Though the relationship among Hindu traders and Muslim producers was rarely harmonious, it has deteriorated in the recent past due to liberalisation, leading to a decline in the silk industry and an increasing communalisation of UP’s politics. Williams did not come across a single shop owned by a Muslim in the main market at Kunjgali, which is indicative of their exclusion and marginalisation.
Assa Doron presents an anthropological study of the Mallah, a backward caste in UP. Labelled as a ‘criminal caste’ by the colonial state, the Mallahs have been subjected to new forms of stigma and disciplinary regimes in the recent past, furthering their socio-economic marginalisation. During the BSP and the SP regimes, the Mallahs continued to experience multiple indignities in their engagement with the state. The Mallahs are well aware that the BSP benefits the dalits and has been trying to ‘dalitise’ time and space through the use of dalit icons and cultural projects, much to the mortification of the Mallahs in Varanasi. That is why in recent years, Mallahs have found Hindutva to be a desirable opportunity.
The chapter by Zoya Hasan presents both sides of the story. She writes that the rise of the BSP and the SP has ended the dominance of the upper castes in UP politics and succeeded in facilitating the entry of disadvantaged groups in the power structure. However, it has not been translated into tangible redistributive policies or programmes that can address the vital concerns of the disadvantaged. The enormous class, gender, caste and community inequalities still persist with massive poverty, corruption and malfeasance in the social and political order. The quest for recognition has trumped redistribution.
The chapters in this volume provide a qualitative and in-depth understanding of bad governance, development failures and identity politics, in the context of dalit empowerment in UP. The chapters are creative, thought provoking and based on fieldwork. This is a significant contribution to Indian sociology in particular and to social science in general. Having said that, separate contributions by the editors, who are experts on society and polity in UP, would have added to the richness of the volume.