Kerala Left's ire over Dalit-baiting 'hypocritical'
Friday, 04 November 2011 21:12
VR Jayaraj | Kochi
Kerala's CPI(M)-led Opposition LDF is presently on an agitation
against the alleged insult hurled out at its leader AK Balan, a Dalit,
by the Chief Whip of the Congress-led UDF Government with casteist
remarks but records show that the Marxists themselves have liberally
used such insulting remarks against Dalits when it suited them.
The Left stalled the proceedings in the Assembly the other day over
the insult Chief Whip PC George, known for making acerbic remarks in
speeches in the House and outside, showered on October 28 on Balan,
former minister and State CPI(M) secretariat member, with his
statement "I am not saying much as he belongs to Scheduled Caste."
Despite intense Leftist protests since October 28 inside the Assembly
and outside and severe criticisms from several leaders in the Congress
and other coalition constituents, George, vice-chairman of the Kerala
Congress (M), a constituent of the UDF, has stubbornly refused to
apologize for his derogatory references to Balan.
The Opposition has announced boycott of George in the Assembly and
outside. They will also not participate in TV talk shows if George
participates in such programmes. Balan himself has lodged complaints
with the Chief Minister and the DGP requesting action against George
under Prevention of Atrocities against SC Act, IPC and provisions of
the Police Act.
However, Dalit activists point out that the CPI(M)'s protests in the
name of Dalits and their rights are nothing but hypocritical drama
because the Marxists themselves have allegedly used derogatory remarks
against Dalit whenever that suited them. "Now, when one of them has
suffered a blow, they feel the pain," said Suresh Kumar, an Adivasi in
Aralam, Kannur.
Dalit rights workers recall the infamous reference to Congress's
former Dalit minister MA Kuttappan by former Marxist chief minister
late EK Nayanar, an upper caste Hindu. Nayanar had then referred to
Kuttappan as "That Harijan Kuttappan" but "Kerala has not heard an
apology coming from him," said Suresh.
The Nationalist People's Forum recalled how M Vijayakumar, a former
Marxist Minister and ex-Speaker, had insulted BR Ambedkar, the social
section he belonged to and a poor people's slum in Thiruvananthapuram
with his statement that the most suitable place for an Ambedkar statue
was the Chenkalchoola slum in the capital.
The forum took a direct dig at Balan himself saying that he had not
included even a single Dalit in his personal staff when he was power
minister in the 2006-11 LDF government. It also alleged that those who
wanted action against George for a "normal" reference as "SC man" had
been eager to deny quota benefits to Dalits.
Kochi-based sociologist BS Panicker points out that the Kerala
Marxists have consistently refused to listen to the grievances of
Dalits. "When about 10,000 Dalits agitated at Chengara in
Pathanamthitta for land to live and cultivate, the former LDF
government threatened them saying they would have to face police with
tooth and claw," he said.
"Then chief minister VS Achuthanandan had termed the leader of that
Dalit stir as a rubber thief. The LDF had described the agitating
Dalits as agents of the LTTE and Maoists," Panicker said. The Marxists
had even taken a theoretical position that identity politics was not
acceptable as part of a clever move to break the non-political unity
among Adivasis and Dalits unity, he added.
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