[Reader-list] - Dalit nominee sits on floor, carries own cup

[Asit Das]

http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&
articlexml=BATTLEGROUND-UTTAR-PRADESH-Dalit-nominee-sits-on-
floor-08022017017030

Feb 08 2017 : The Times of India (Mumbai)
BATTLEGROUND UTTAR PRADESH - Dalit nominee sits on floor, carries own cup
Alok Sharma
Iglas (Hathras):


MP's Son Fighting On BJP Ticket In Jat-Dominated Reserved Seat Says He
Accepts Casteism

***A dalit BJP candidate here not only sits on the floor when he goes
canvassing to the homes of upper-caste voters, he never forgets to
carry a steel glass along to drink tea. Here's why: A dalit using a
cup at an upper-caste home would make the utensil “impure“.This in an
age when ending casteism is the stated mission of all parties.***
[Emphasis added.]

Amit Shah, national president of the party Rajvir Diler represents,
recently participated in a sit-down lunch, “sah bhoj“, with dalits
across Uttar Pradesh to drive home his party's social-equality
message. It's not difficult to understand why Diler, BJP nominee from
Iglas, is averse to breaking the caste shackles, unlike fellow dalits
elsewhere. Iglas is a reserved seat a three-hour ride from Delhi, less
than 300km away .

***It is dominated by Jat voters, about 90,000 of them.They decide the
winner. So while other dalit candidates here, too, show respect to
upper caste voters, he takes things to the extreme.*** [Emphasis
added.] Diler calls his ways of sitting on the floor and using his own
glass his “par amparagat aadat“ (family custom). And the “paramparagat
aadat“ is followed at every step. Metres from the panchayat office
Diler in his late 40s, repeatedly touches the feet of Mohan Singh, Jat
pradhan from Tochhigarh, who is years younger to him. “Main aapke pair
padhta hun, mujhe meri galti to batao. Main ek gaon ka chowkidar
bannna chahta hun, vidhayak nahin (I beg of you, please tell me my
fault.I'd rather be a watchman than an MLA if you are angry with me),“
he exhorts Mohan. But the pradhan, who controls about 4,500 Jat votes,
tells him things are different this time. Ajit Singh's RLD, a party
that Jats identify with, too, has fielded a dalit.

***Diler is candid in justi fying his desire to remain shackled in
casteism. “Main ek bhangi ka beta hun.*** [Emphasis added.]

Mere pita bhi yahin karte thhey. Main apni maan maryada khatm nahin
Uttar kar sakta. Zamana chahe badalta rahe (I am the son of a Valmiki.
I can not break away from tradition. Let the world change, I won't),“
he says.

He pulls out his steel glass from his pocket when asked if it is true
that he doesn't drink tea in cups provided by the upper castes.

Valmiki is the lowest among dalits in the caste hierarchy and Diler
inherited the so-called tradition from his father Kisen Lal, fiveterm
MLA and one-time MP .

***Diler's supporters say people of all castes love him for his desire
to remain steeped in discriminatory casteist practices.*** [Emphasis
added.]

***The caste hierarchy is evident in the black Bolero Diler uses.
While he sits with the driver in the front seat, the most comfortable
middle seats go to Jagdish Prasad, a Brahmin, and Robin Chaudhary , a
Jat. In the two cramped last-row seats are Amit Valmiki and Mukesh
Kumar Baghel, who also belongs to a `most backward caste'.***
[Emphasis added.]