Udit Raj: BJP's most prominent Dalit face reckons party needs to do more to annihilate caste prejudices

Two years ago, Udit Raj joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and became its most prominent Dalit face. More recently, as the BJP defends its ministers Bandaru Dattatreya and Smriti Irani who have come under attack for their alleged hand in the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, Raj finds himself having to answer critics who have attacked him for joining the BJP.

Man on a Mission Raj says he joined the BJP with a purpose. And although it has indeed helped him raise issues pertaining to Dalits at a national level, he indicates that he is not in agreement with the line taken by the party on several significant social issues, particularly those that matter to the Dalits. He also makes it amply clear that the BJP needs to do a whole lot more to address the concerns of Dalits, although he insists that prime minister Narendra Modi cannot be judged on the basis of the Dalit agenda alone. But he doesn’t rule out his intervention.

“He is a PM for governance and the caste issue is basically to be addressed by social activists and the middle class. Unfortunately, politicians shirk their responsibilities in bringing about social reform whether it is eradication of caste or bridging the gender gap. In the days to come, I hope he (the PM) will take a call (on these issues),” said Raj.

For his part, Raj says that he has been successful in being heard in Parliament. “Parliament forum is important. I have raised maximum issues pertaining to Dalits. My motto is to annihilate the caste system If 25% of the population lives in distress, can the nation progress?” Raj says that the backing of the party and his work in Parliament are enabling him to further the Dalit agenda.

“Those who are crying hoarse about Rohith Vemula need to stand with us (Dalits) for our empowerment. When we stand and fight for our rights and eradication of the caste system, where are they?”

Asked whether the Rohith Vemula issue will cost the party politically in Uttar Pradesh, Udit Raj replies rather cynically and cryptically at the same time that the question was best addressed by the party leaders “but to my mind it should not because discrimination is perpetual and the order of the day.”

Raj lays out the case that the caste system has not just been about the suffering of a section of the society but that it has also dwarfed the potential of the country. “Casteism has a huge impact on economic growth. Look at what smaller countries like Singapore and Korea have achieved. So much of the creative potential of a whole generation gets locked up due to dogmatic thought that mainly emanates from the caste system and gender separation.”

He also repeatedly mentions the need for India to take a leaf from other parts of the world. He pointed out that the Renaissance and Reformation in Europe was led by intellectuals and the middle class.

“All over the world, intellectuals such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Locke, Simone de Beauvoir, Tolstoy, Marx and Hegel changed the society, and in our case, it is expected from politicians only. Our middle-class has done nothing. It is the middle class now who needs to show the way. Indian society still glorifies wrong mindsets that were practised more than 2,000 years ago.”

On Republic Day, Raj celebrated his 55th birthday at a farmhouse 30 km from central Delhi, where he caught up with voters and party workers (as per official record, he was born on January 1, 1958). Hundreds of people from the area and party workers waited patiently on either side of the podium. “I never knew what a birthday was about as a child. Now I know that life can be made constructive despite the limitations put up by destiny,” he says.

Vision for Dalit Upliftment Raj grew up as the son of a farmer in a village close to Allahabad. One of his earliest memories is of his friend who was also a Dalit beating up an upper caste youngster following an argument, which sparked off a caste-conflict in the village. Raj got involved and tried to defend his friend. Soon he was also targeted and that episode began his revolt against casteism. Most of the activists present at the birthday celebrations carried the twin identities of being BJP workers and members of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations at the same time, where Raj has been active for over 17 years.

The two worlds do not coexist easily. Several such persons who were Dalits and had followed Udit Raj into BJP said they felt that caste was an issue even within BJP. Parminder is an associate of Udit Raj and is one of the main organisers of the birthday gathering.

According to the suited middle-aged man, when the Indian Justice Party formed by Raj was merged with the BJP, there was an understanding that Raj’s vision for Dalit upliftment would be taken up seriously. “But the Sangh and the BJP have not given it enough thought and are not doing enough to deal with caste issues,” he said.

Sanjay Jhatav has worked with the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations for the last 25 years. He expressed concern over the suicide of Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad. But he also hastened to add that the PM had expressed his anguish on the issue. “This reaction is also partly because of Udit Raj’s influence,” he claimed.

But the most telling commentary on caste is the logic provided by Raj for why he felt drawn to his batchmate Seema, whom he married. “It was not just blind love. That doesn’t last long. She is a good human being and did not judge a person by his background of caste and creed, as did so many others. That was the main reason (for the attraction).”

For Udit Raj, the Dalit struggler trying to fit into a crowd of people from privileged backgrounds in India of the ’80s, that would have been a find indeed.