Atrocities on Dalits in Odisha Reflects Rising 'Upper' Caste Hostility Under the BJP Government

Shock waves spread across Odisha and indeed the country after men of the Dalit Pana community were beaten near Dharakot of Ganjam district of the state. They were forced to crawl with grass blades between their teeth and also to drink drain water. They went through that ordeal after they were falsely charged with smuggling cattle by Savarnas. 

According to media reports the accused have been arrested by Odisha police following a huge outcry against the inhuman treatment of Dalits. The Bharatiya Janata Party government headed by chief minister Mohan Majhi assumed office a year back. So far, the government has not done anything to stem such casteist mistreatment.

This author has spoken to rural residents belonging to Dalit and Muslim communities, who believe that BJP workers in Odisha have had a role to play in making violent language against them the new normal in Odisha. 

Many say that this, in a society where it is not unusual to see people of all castes attending religious functions together, is a new low. Odisha has always been one of the most caste conscious states in India. And yet, caste relations were marked by widespread and structural discrimination, and so much not by violence.

Growing caste hostility

A campaign has been mounted by BJP functionaries, claiming that the Panas are beef eaters. 

The Pana community has a symbolic role to play in Hindu cultural traditions. They perform certain functions in temple ceremonies and weddings. Their skills in beating drums and playing traditional musical instruments are often priceless in Hindu rituals. 

People from the community collect the skins of dead cows to use them in their drums. Some are sold to shoemakers. Most are agricultural labourers and earning very little. Their temple roles are thus a source of revenue.

In Ganjam district, Brahmins and Pradhan communities are usually landlords. It used to be casteist custom that Brahmins’ legs would dangle from their verandahs in such a manner that they would be above the heads of Dalit people. 

Similarly, Pradhans and other cultivating caste groups displayed a similar approach to Dalits who work as labourers in the agricultural fields. This special bond between Panas and cultivators fosters some kind of fictive kinship among them in rural Odisha. 

Changing dynamics

Dharakota, the place where Pana people were subjected to the most recent atrocity, witnesses large-scale migration to Gujarat and Kerala by non-Dalits who operate a network among their communities. Panas and other Dalit workers have no option but to stay on at their respective villages and work in the lands owned by 'upper' caste people.

There is, meanwhile, tussle here between Dalit and other backward class communities as both believe that the other is out to take their jobs. Affirmative action has meant government jobs for a section of Dalit people – leading to resentment among others.

Pana people are also adept at maintaining livestock – something that leads to a degree of economic prosperity, which again is a precursor to social discontent.

A new normal

The spread of venomous Hindutva ideology combined with cultivated hatred against the Dalits and Panas in the name of cow protectionism has become a new normal in Odisha under the present BJP dispensation. 

Professor F.G. Bailey's 1960 study Tribe Caste and Nation has shed light on the Pana people and their ties with the tribal Kandha community as a microcosm of the hatred at play.

Pana people used to face stiff opposition from caste Hindus and the tribal community, both, in entering temples – an oppression that was overcome in due course. Now, Panas are elected sarpanches and play an important role in villages.

But in early 2000, Hindutva politics entered into the area and recognised the Kandha as Hindus and Panas as Christians. It caused violent conflicts among them and often resulted in riots. With the coming of the BJP government the problem has been exacerbated. Caste Hindus, furious about the social mobility now enjoyed by Panas, have been pouncing on them with the ruse of cow protectionism.

The heart-rending ill treatment of Panas near Dharakot is a blot not only on society and culture of Odisha but on democratic politics. 

Radha Kant Barik was a professor at Indian Institute of Public Administration.

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