Discrimination can’t be undone by reservation

Sometimes back a national media published a news regarding the unusual and hateful names of Dalit people in their citizenship documents. The news disclosed the naked reality of our society where the traditional caste system is deeply entrenched. It shows how the so-called upper caste people treat minorities in our society. The officials involved in the citizenship issuance process apparently had no qualms approving the certificates issued to the people whose names were clearly assigned as insults by the people from the so-called upper caste. These civil servants are no doubt academically qualified to hold their respective jobs, but they also lack morality. This is the sad reality of our bureaucracy, which is run by mindless pen-pushers. The Dalit community of Nepal is the most victimized and oppressed groups of our society. But our society by and large rather than voicing their solidarity with the Dalits, they resent reservation actions like reservations for minority groups. In a democratic system, certain policies are made to ensure participation and representation of marginalized and deprived groups. In the context of Nepal, Dalits are more deprived of their socio-political and human rights. Due to this discrimination, the presence of Dalits in mainstream politics and state bodies is very little.

The very structure of Nepali society is responsible for depriving Dalits of their rights. The caste system doesn’t give proper space to Dalits in the social sphere. For example, most Dalit candidates in local level election didn’t get votes from non-Dalits, particularly for executive position. Take any local unit of Nepal and you will invariably find that its head is a non-Dalit. This indicates the poor view of our society towards Dalits. The majority of non-Dalits openly dismiss a candidate if he or she happens to be a Dalit or a member of other minority groups. They cannot imagine a person whom they have oppressed and insulted all their lives becoming an elected official. This anti-Dalit stance runs deep in our society.

So ensure Dalit participation, the government has provided nine percent reservation facility for the community. It has done the same thing for women, indigenous groups, disabled, Madhesi, Muslim, etc. But for many non-Dalits, reservation for Dalit community is intolerable. They argue that the reservation for Dalits has reduced the opportunity for qualified non-Dalit people. If so then why is Nepal, which was ruled over by the so-called upper caste people for centuries, still underdeveloped? It is only the reservation policy for Dalits that irks the non-Dalits. They believe the Nepali society is free of caste discrimination and that the reservation facility for Dalits is unnecessary. Clearly, as non-Dalits, they have no idea what it is like to be a Dalit in Nepal. They certainly do not reflect on their own biases when they vote, when they hire workers and even when they make friends. They don’t know the pain and suffering faced by Dalits. They don’t know what it is to be ostracized and discriminated against all their lives. They don’t know the feeling of being told not to enter someone’s house or a temple. They don’t know the shame planted by society on the minds of Dalit children, who grow up to resent themselves when they grow up because they were born to the so-called lower caste family. Therefore, the nine percent reservation quota for Dalits is not enough to right all the wrongs they have gone through since ages. But the non-Dalits do not see this, as they have never put up with the humiliation of being a Dalit in Nepali society. There are many Dalits who don’t want reservation as long as the society guarantees equal treatment and respect to them. They say reservation facility can’t heal the wounds of caste discrimination. It can’t revive the lives of Navaraj BK and Sete Damai, who lost their lives on the account of being Dalits. Every non-Dalit should come to the terms to the fact that reservation policy is not a compensation for caste discrimination. It is just a gesture offered by the state in hopes of healing the Dalit trauma. To grow up in a hateful environment and compete with those who have been enjoying the structural dividend from ages is unfair to Dalits. Non-Dalits should realize this. It is easy to criticize or form half-baked opinions. But it takes a lot of introspection, historical understanding and moral courage to understand the pains of Dalits.