We are accustomed to seeing social elites as powerful authorities like national leaders, business tycoons, cultural influencers, etc. However, any aberration in this norm becomes the talk of the town and invites scrutiny to understand the reasons behind such an occurrence. For example, the elevation of Draupadi Murmu as the President of India was not analysed as a normal event in India’s democracy. A curious investigation was initiated to examine her social location, gender conditionality and political trajectories in order to legitimise her appropriateness for the position. Similar curiosity and surprise was expressed by political pundits when K. R. Narayanan and Ramnath Kovind were elected as the presidents. Interestingly, when key positions of power are adorned by the social elites, no such shock or scrutiny is visible.
There is a sense of comfort amongst certain Dalit-Bahujan groups that as a political class, they have a growing acceptability in democratic institutions as they also govern and influence certain regions and groups. However, this is a narrow understanding of power. The modern structures of power are diverse, multi-layered and create new spaces and institutions of influence. For example, interactions on social media appear free, participatory and non-discriminatory. However, in reality the social network can be utilised to serve the interest of certain corporate bodies or influential individuals. ‘Power’ thus operates in non-political zones through some invisible hands that often serves traditional power authorities and retains their control over social and economic assets.
It appears that the Dalit-Bahujan mass hardly investigates the processes and structures of power. It is overtly visible that the social elites dominate and exploit various sources and institutions of power and serve their particularistic class and social interests, the Dalit-Bahujan mass has not been very agitated by such a status quo.
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Though there is revolutionary social thought and political consciousness available in the history of anti-caste and non-Brahmanical movements that has challenged the hegemonic domination of the social elites in the past, there are few flag bearers, intellectuals and social movements in the contemporary times that can claim to inherit the radical legacy. The exploitative domination of the social elites will not end until an enlightened Dalit-Bahujan mass decides to challenge the conventional authorities by embarking a mass movement for social justice and claim authoritative power into their own hands.
The social elite hegemony
In the modern economic and political arrangement, it is expected that the positions of power in any sector or discipline shall be open to all for fair competition. The liberal constitutional principles also suggest that any collective workforce shall represent the general plurality of the population, thus strengthening the democratic credentials of the society and economy. For a greater participation of diverse social groups, it is required that the new institutions shall provide effective assistance and safeguards to the disadvantaged groups and make them part of the mainstream economy. However, such moral principles are halfheartedly applied. As a result, the modern institutions are undemocratic, and marked by the absence of poor and marginalised social groups in power structures while unapologetically functioning on the behalf of the dominant class elites.
It is a global phenomenon that the positions of power and authority are meant to be adorned by the social elites and rich classes (like the whites in the US and Europe) whereas the ‘other’ groups (African Americans, Mexicans and other migrant communities) are expected to perform as the subordinates, as the peripheral workforce that perpetually remains dependent upon the mercies of the ruling classes. In India’s case, the history of domination by the social elites is much older and perpetuated even in the current times.
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Any cursory history of powerful positions in the central cabinet, higher judiciary, the chief authorities of the security forces, the editors of media house, CEOs of multinational corporations, the leading influencers in the cultural and sports industry, etc. will showcase that the social elites have been dominating these positions since the day of its origin. The Dalit-Bahujan ‘others’ are the bewitched spectators of this phenomenon. They often operate as the passive and poor recipients of orders and profits showered over them by the philanthropist ruling elites.
Ironically, there is no big conflict between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ that may have resulted in challenging such exploitative social and class conditions. The lower social strata operate under the cultural hegemony of the social elites and find no hesitation in adoring them as the true heir of power and status. Large Dalit-Bahujan sections readily function as the comprador class of the traditional ruling classes, under the pretext that they are serving the national interest or protecting the Hindu religious values. As a result, they often look down on the interest of the majority lower caste communities as narrow, caste-based, political assertion and even anti-national at times.
This inferiority complex amongst the Dalit-Bahujan masses provides legitimacy to the leadership and authority to the social elites. Though in modern social history, iconic leaders like Periyar Ramaswamy and Babasaheb Ambedkar destabilised such conventional norms and invited the Dalit-Bahujan mass to imagine themselves as the legitimate inheritors of power and prestige, their thoughts are undervalued in the current context. Instead, the social justice movement today is weak, peripheral and incapable of challenging the authority of the social elites. Further, the Dalit-Bahujan middle class, intellectuals and social activists also hesitate to claim the seat of power and provide a radical vision that can awaken the Dalit-Bahujan movement today from such slumber.
Witnessing the domination
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) comprise almost 25% of the national population. The state is mandated to provide reservations to the socially marginalised communities in the public sector jobs. The reservation policy opens a window to democratise the workforce, ensuring participation of the socially disadvantaged groups like the SCs and STs in the state institutions. However, the reservation policy ensures only a token presence of the rich social diversity of the majority population. Any inquiry about the social demography of state institutions will prove that the presence of SC/ST and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) is marginal, or restricted to the lower strata of the workforce.
Almost no public institutions showed commitment in ensuring equitable and substantive representation of the marginalised social groups and following the directives of social justice policies effectively. For example, of the total number of faculty positions in the 45 central universities, the combined strength of SC/ST and OBC faculties is not even 15%. It means that more than 80%of the positions are occupied by the social elites. Out of 45 vice chancellors, only 4 belonged to the Dalit-Bahujan social strata and the same can be stated for other bodies in the institutions. The participation of the marginalised social groups in other elite institutions like the IITs and IIMs is even lesser.
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The key positions of power in most of the public institutions remain under the exclusive clutch of the social elites. Even after the announcement of reservation policy for the OBCs in 2006, the otherwise dominant middle castes (like the Yadavs), have not been able to challenge the conventional control of social elites over state institutions. Further, outside the state institutions, their participation in the private economy as the bearers of capitalist economic assets is also miniscule. The top business houses, capitalist enterprises, cultural institutions and corporate bodies are dominated by the exclusive clubs of social elites and the rest operate as the low-key functionaries.
The future of the social justice movement
It is undemocratic and immoral that the positions of power, authority and high status are overtly dominated by the social elite junta. The majority of the population is thus forced to perform under the dictates of an exclusive club of social elites. With effective social networks and historic privileges, a small minority holds the most powerful positions. It helps them to serve their own class interests and cultural objectives effectively while neglecting the demands and problems associated with the Dalit-Bahujan groups.
Such a scenario is disheartening as the national government often makes promises to ensure equitable participation of these groups in the mainstream work force but consistently fails to substantively implement the reservation policy at any level. Ironically, there is also a visible absence of strong political and social movement demanding equitable participation of the marginalised social groups in these positions of power.
The general mobilisation of Dalit-Bahujan groups occur mainly during the legislative elections, to protest against caste atrocities or during certain social and cultural events. However, there are few public mobilisations or sustained protest demonstrations to demand swift and effective implementation of the reservation policy in all public sectors. In the absence of any public uproar or challenge against the current status quo, the government is comfortable in retaining and protecting the domination of social elites over state institutions. Since Dalit-Bahujan groups are mostly uninfluential, peripheral and passive, the structure of power has become an oligarchic and exclusive domain of the social elites’ hegemony.
Harish S. Wankhede is Assistant Professor, Center for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
