BOOK REVIEW Imagining a Casteless and Classless Society framework of both discourses. Arguably, the emergence of the dalit consciousness in the state was manifest in dalit creative writings. No Instant Revolution Yogesh Kumar T he colonial state in India attempted to marginalise Punjabi through policies that denied the language all forms of state patronage. However, both as a colloquial language and a literary tradition Punjabi thrived during the colonial period. Mir (2010) argues that Punjabi literary culture enjoyed relative autonomy from the colonial state practices particularly vis-à-vis certain other Indian vernacular languages such as Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. This relative autonomy allowed the language greater scope for continuity with precolonial practices. Punjabi literary culture has therefore always offered an example of stability as people and institutions in the region traversed the divide between precolonial and colonial rule. It also continues to play a significant role in understanding the sociocultural and political aspects of Punjabi society. Lal Singh’s poetic and other writings have been widely considered as a contribution to the Punjabi literary tradition especially in the context of the sociocultural and political turmoil in Punjab (the 1960s), when the Naxalbari and 30 Poet of the Revolution: The Memoirs and Poems of Lal Singh Dil translated by Nirupama Dutt (New Delhi: Viking /Penguin), 2012; pp 216, Rs 399. leftist movements were at their peak. The memoirs and poems of Lal Singh Dil have exposed the untold aspects of life of a dalit poet-revolutionary. His main protagonists were landless dalits, agricultural workers, still others were daily wage earners and the unemployed. His writings come to us as a mix of both the neo-Marxist and subaltern approach being used to understand Punjabi society in the postcolonial context. Dil exposes in his autobiography the caste-based composition of leftist cadres in Punjab, which was the immediate historical reason for the withdrawal of dalit support to the Naxalite movement in the 1960s. Dil’s poetic instincts never rejected the significance of religion and the revolutionary way of life. In fact, he carved his own identity from both perspectives. As a poet, Dil incorporated both his revolutionary and cultural instincts and tried to give shape particularly to his own identity under the DECEMBER 27, 2014 Hans (2008) tells us about the revolutionary rise in Punjab as witnessed in the form of Naxalism in the late 1960s, and which produced two dalit poets with revolutionary as well as dalit consciousness. These were Sant Ram Udasi (1939-86) and Lal Singh Dil (1943-2007). Dil was born in a Ramdasia Sikh (Chamar) family in 1943 and was trained to be a schoolteacher when the Naxalbari movement attracted him. As a dreamer of a casteless and classless society, he visualised a new dawn for the oppressed. Dil’s dalit consciousness and identity was free from feelings of hatred, vengeance and malice. As a sensitive poet whose poetry was true to life experiences of poverty, injustice and oppression Dil was viewed as the bard of the Naxalite movement in Punjab. His collection of poetry Satluj Di Hawa (1971), Bahut Sare Suraj (1982) and Sathar (1991) as well as his autobiography Dastaan (1998) enjoyed a significant place in Punjabi letters. The memoir reveals how he was discriminated and suffered from neglect and worse, humiliation. This was so not only in a caste-ridden society but surprisingly even among his comrades who were supposedly free from caste-based vol xlIX no 52 EPW Economic & Political Weekly BOOK REVIEW prejudices and opposed to the caste system as a system of power and discrimination. After his disillusionment with the party as well as the very idea of an instant revolution, he shifted to Uttar Pradesh in the early 1970s, where he worked alternatively as a cowherd, house servant, watchman and peddler. It was seen as a self-exile. As an act of defiance, he converted to Islam changing his name to Muhammad Bushra. Juergensmeyer (1982) argues that the Chuhra and Chamar communities (both were considered to be untouchable castes in Punjab) constituted a major support base for the Marxist movements in the state but for a short span of time. The so-called untouchables soon withdrew their support because all cadres were dominated and operated by Jat Sikhs – the large landholding caste in Punjab who treated both the Chuhras and Chamars as impure or untouchable. The Marxist appeal for equality among the “haves and have nots” seemed to Dil to be very bleak under the shadow of the caste lines. The Jat Sikhs never agreed to share their large landholdings with the dalits and denied them an equal social status (Ram 2004). Dil’s poetry covers four decades of the history of post-Partition Indian Punjab. Sharma (2014) argues that Dil invented a peculiar poetics of disjunction to deal with the world that called him to do battle again and again. He is the only contemporary Punjabi poet who deals comprehensively and fearlessly with capitalism’s historical geo graphy in this part of the world (East Punjab). He had grasped very early the unequal and oppressive social order under the neo-liberal economic order. Dil mentions in his writings the process of expropriation of the commons in the Punjab and shows how pastures, ponds, graveyards and other common lands are being occupied by the wealthy and powerful who also control the political parties. The poor, the overwhelming majority being dalits, are thus violently robbed of the barest means of survival and are unable to find sustenance in their villages, and compelled to rush to the cities, where again they face disappointment. In his poetry entitled Satluj Di Hawa, he addresses the river Satluj as a witness to the subcontinent’s history of dispossession and dishonour and further talks in his poetry about the critique to the global capitalism, which blends sadness, anger and joy. Dil’s relevance lies in the fact that he provided an alternative vision to the Marxist perspective by refashioning it through religious world views. He took both perspectives in order to ignite the dreams of a casteless and classless society. He argued that both Mao and Prophet Muhammad are saviours of humanity. Despite converting to Islam Dil never wavered from the tenets of Marxism. His was the position that “Allah is very kind to Maoists because he understand culture”. Yogesh Kumar ([email protected]) is with the Department of Political Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh. References Hans, R K (2008): “Dalits and the Emancipatory Sikh Religion”, 3-5 December, University of Pennsylvania Conference. Juergensmeyer, M (1982): “Religious Rebels in the Punjab: The Ad Dharm Challenge to Caste” (Berkeley: University of California Press). Mir, F (2010): The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab, University of California Press. Ram, Ronki (2004): “Untouchability in India with a Difference: Ad Dharm, Dalit Assertion, and Caste Conflicts in Punjab”, Asian Survey, Vol 44, No 6, November/December, pp 895-912. Sharma, R (2014): “Lal Singh Dil and the Poetics of Disjunction: The Poet as a Political Cartographer”, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol XLIX, No 6. Higher Education in India In Search of Equality, Quality and Quantity Edited by Jandhyala B G Tilak India has a large network of universities and colleges with a massive geographical reach and the facilities for higher education have been expanding rapidly in recent years. The story of higher education in India has seen many challenges over the decades and has not been without its share of problems, the most serious being a very high degree of inequity. Pp xiv + 538 Rs 745 ISBN 978-81-250-5131-2 2013 Drawn from writings spanning almost four decades in the EPW, the articles in this volume discuss, among other things, issues of inclusiveness, the impact of reservation, problems of mediocrity, shortage of funds, dwindling numbers of faculty, and unemployment of the educated young. Authors: André Béteille • Shiv Visvanathan • Suma Chitnis • Satish Deshpande • K Sundaram • Rakesh Basant, Gitanjali Sen • Jayati Ghosh • Thomas E Weisskopf • Lloyd I Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph • A M Shah • Errol D’Souza • G D Sharma, M D Apte • Glynn L Wood • D P Chaudhri, Potluri Rao • R Gopinathan Nair, D Ajit • D T Lakdawala, K R Shah • Chitra Sivakumar • Amrik Singh • Jandhyala B G Tilak • Anindita Chakrabarti, Rama Joglekar • Karuna Chanana • Saumen Chattopadhyay • Samuel Paul • Deepak Nayyar • V M Dandekar • M Anandakrishnan • Thomas Joseph Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd www.orientblackswan.com Mumbai • Chennai • New Delhi • Kolkata • Bangalore • Bhubaneshwar • Ernakulam • Guwahati • Jaipur • Lucknow • Patna • Chandigarh • Hyderabad Contact: [email protected] Economic & Political Weekly EPW DECEMBER 27, 2014 vol xlIX no 52 31
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