No abstract

Given different socio-economic structures, and acute landlessness among the Dalits of East Punjab, the agendas of conversion to neo-Buddhism and sanskritisation, the two most popular Dalit social mobility models in India, have failed to strike a cord among the Dalits in this border state of northwest India. But that does not imply that Dalits of Punjab have failed in improving their social status. On the contrary, they have been very vocal in their assertions for social justice and dignity, and pressing for a due share in the local structures of power; a clear indication of a significant surge of Dalit social mobility in Punjab. The question that still remains largely unexplored, however, relates to the patterns of Dalit social mobility in Punjab that have emerged independently of the agendas of conversion to neo-Buddhism and sanskritisation. The study aims to map out the contours of an emerging alternative Dalit agenda in Punjab, which is conspicuous by its absence in existing Dalit studies, and examines its catalytic role in enhancing the legitimacy and effectiveness of increasingly visible Dalit social mobility in the state. The paper concludes by visualising the possibility of an articulation and assertion of a similar alternative Dalit agenda through highly contentious democratic politics in other parts of India, where the archetypical agendas of conversion and sanskritisation have either failed to deliver social justice and dignity or could not simply appeal to the local Dalit population.

Recent caste clashes in Punjab have destroyed the myth that untouchability is alien to this part of India and indicate that the downtrodden no longer can be subjected to social oppression and humiliation. A manifestation of Dalit assertion, these clashes have sharpened the issue of Dalit human rights.

Recent Dalit assertion in Punjab ought to be traced back to the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s, which emerged along with several similar movements in a number of regions in India. The movement aimed at carving out a distinct identity for the untouchables, independent of the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. What made this movement particularly important was its purely low-caste character and the vehemence of its struggle against the structures of social domination. The only movement of its kind in the Northwestern region of the country, Ad Dharm aimed at securing a separate and respectable space for the Scheduled Castes through cultural transformation, spiritual regeneration and political assertion, rather than seeking equality within the Hindu fold. Curiously, this movement, which laid the foundations of Dalit consciousness in Punjab, has failed to gain serious scholarly attention, Mark Juergensmeyer’s pioneering work being the only exception.

Social exclusion of Dalits in India is often understood in terms of discriminatory social structures embedded in oppressive cultural domains of pure versus polluted. Territorial demarcation of Dalits from upper/dominant castes is yet another way of perpetuating and sustaining social exclusion while segregating them in separate neighbourhoods built on the Varna principle of graded social inequality. However, over the last few years, Dalits have gathered some strength to say no to social exclusion while re-territorializing their segregated living spaces into radical sites of social contestation. Dalit counterculture and alternative Dalit heritage are what provided the necessary material for the re-territorialization of Dalit segregated neighbourhoods. The central concern of this study is to unravel what led to transformation of separate Dalit neighbourhoods into social territoriality of contestation.