(Address delivered by CPIML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya at the third conference of All India Federation for Social Justice on "Caste Census, Women's Rights and Reservations: Three Pillars of Social Justice" on December 3, 2024 at Maharashtra Sadan, New Delhi.)
Just a week ago we observed the 75th anniversary of the adoption of our constitution. Ideally, after 75 years of existence of our constitution republic we should have been talking about the maturing of the republic, deepening of our democracy and expansion of our rights. But it's completely the other way round. The entire constitution is today in danger. When I say the entire constitution, I really mean it. Every word contained in the Preamble of the constitution is today in danger. There are people going to the courts for mutilation of the Preamble for Socialism and Secular to be removed. Luckily the Supreme Court hold the preamble to be part of the basic structure of the constitution and the words are still more or less safe. But if you look at every policy of the government and the discourse today - the clamour for complete rejection of the constitution, or subversion of the constitution - you can very well understand that in such a situation the constitution needs to be protected.
The topic today is the three pillars of social justice - reservations, caste census and women's rights. Before entering into the topic, I think the key word in the Preamble of the constitution is Equality. If you go back to Ambedkar, there can be no equality without the complete annihilation of Caste. Caste is a system of inequality. So within a system of inequality without weakening it, without annihilating it, there can be no crystallisation or actualisation of equality in the true sense of the term. When I talk about social justice, it is about a step towards social equality, and reservation as a step towards social justice.
In Bihar we had a caste census and its outcome told us that 85% of Bihari society belong to SCs, STs, OBCs and EBCs, and roughly 15% belong to the general category, as some people call them upper castes. If you look at this figure and then consider the way reservation has been subverted already by the so called Economically Weaker Sections reservation at 10% - this is almost 100% reservation for the general castes. Because 15% is the population and economically weaker sections within that population come to be 10% of the total population. So for ten percent you have ten percent reservation which is 100% reservation. If you talk about privatisation of education, you are actually talking about 200%, 300% or 400% reservation for the rich. On the other hand, there is a minimal reservation with 50% embargo, and this actually has already been violated by the 10% EWS reservation. In Tamilnadu the reservations have been included in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution, also for Bihar or any other state we need to cross this embargo. The 50% doesn't make sense. According to the caste census outcome the expansion of reservation is the need of the hour. The expansion of reservation should also be seen as a tool for increasing representation. there is gross underrepresentation of all the marginalised communities. The need of the hour is due and adequate representation for all.
We are talking about women's rights, and again, women's rights must not be limited to reservation alone. Even for reservation, we find the reservation that has been approved is not going to be implemented anytime soon. We need to talk about women's rights in a comprehensive sense. If you really want annihilation of caste it is impossible without complete emancipation of women. As long as marriage remains caste marriage, and intercaste marriage remains the exception not the norm, you cannot have annihilation of caste. And you can not have inter-caste marriages a norm till half of India's population, Indian women, have the freedom to make fundamental choices about their own lives. These are all interrelated things. If you really talk about social justice in this comprehensive sense you need to increase reservations and greater women's rights and certainly the caste census could be an important step in this direction.
There is still not a hundred percent unanimity about Caste census, but there is growing concurrence, convergence around these three ideas - caste census, greater reservations and women's rights. Time has come to take up a common agenda for everybody committed to the ideal of social justice.
In a situation where the constitution is in danger, every day we have to fight for preservation of the constitution, protecting it. I am at one with my previous speaker who has said that today even if we talk about some specific issues we cannot talk about it divorced from the compelling agenda of defence of India's constitution and democracy. This is the overarching theme which informs every specific demand and every aspect of our movement. In that context along with social justice the Preamble talks about justice in general, economic as well as political. Ambedkar continues to remind us that equality, liberty and fraternity comes as an integral package. Neither can be achieved without the other two.
On the 75th anniversary of our republic and 75th anniversary of the adoption of our constitution we should renew our commitment to defend India's Constitution and to realise every word in the Preamble, socialist, secular, democratic Republic, and what the constitution has committed to India's citizens - complete liberty, equality, fraternity and complete justice. The time has come after 75 years when we need to actually fulfill that constitutional commitment.
I will conclude with the warning that Ambedkar had given seventy five years ago, when the constitution was being adopted. He kept on reminding us that equality cannot be just about electoral equality. Without social and economic equality, this electoral equality will soon lose all its meaning. He kept on reminding us that the soil of India remains undemocratic, this constitution remains just a top dressing of democracy on an undemocratic soil. Which means that the soil, the social soil, needs to be democratised. If you cannot democratise it, the undemocratic social soil will tear apart the fabric of the constitution. Most importantly, what he told us is that if ever India becomes a Hindu rashtra that will be the biggest calamity to befall India. And we need to rescue the country from this calamity which is very much staring us in the face. We all are fellow travellers in this shared battle for India's democracy.
