By Patricia Lee Sharpe
Social barriers to ladder-climbing keep falling. The U.S. has its first African-American president. India has its first woman presiding over the Lok Sabha or lower house of parliament—and, two for the price of one, she happens to be a dalit, too.
Dalit is the term currently in use for the lowest of the low, castewise, in India, those once called untouchables and then, more euphemistically, by Mahatma Gandhi, Harijans or the “children of god.”
Not that Meira Kumar is a nobody, so to speak. She is an ex-diplomat five times elected to the Lok Sabha—and this also: her father was Jagjivan Ram. He rose to be Deputy Prime Minister in the days of Jawaharlal Nehru. He also helped to lead the pro-democracy movement during the dark days of Indira Gandhi’s autocratic “emergency,” serving ultimately as a constantly re-elected Member of the Lok Sabha from the state of Bihar for fifty years. So dynastic politics is alive and well in India as well as the United States. Think Gandhi. Think Kennedy. Think Gore.
But the selection of Meira Kumar actually had nothing to do with idealism—help women! help dalits!—or even with nepotism—remember Daddy! During the recent election, there was a possibility that Congress would win so few votes that Congress would have to cede the prime ministership to the leader of an allied party in order to form a governing coalition able to keep the B.J.P. from regaining governing status. The politician who aspired to be that non-Congress Prime Minister is Mayawati, also a dalit. She’s the flamboyant leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. As it turned out, Congress picked up more than a few votes. To control the Lok Sabha a coalition was indeed still a necessity, but Congress had enough seats to be invited by the President to form the government. So Man Mohan Singh is prime minister again, and Meira Kumar is speaker of the House, to use the equivalent American title. Although Kumar is from Bihar, her elevation will surely detach some dalit support from Mayawati's B.S.P. to Congress in U.P.
The Asian Age ran an op ed piece that explored many of these themes. It also emphasized a fact which has strong echoes in the United States. Many dalits, writes Antara Dev Sen, have risen to the top, which speaks very well for India today. But most dalits, she emphasizes, still do dirty jobs, and (my addition) they aren’t the most desired in the marriage market.
The same is true in the United States. Individual African-Americans have now reached the top in nearly every profession, but the percentage of African-American languishing in America’s jails is also shockingly high. Other also demographics show most African-Americans lagging badly.
Conclusion: neither India nor America has a right to the moral high ground on the basis of a few extraordinary success stories. The real test is whether most dalits or most African-Americans enjoy the respect and economic potential comparable caste Hindus or white Americans take for granted.
