We want dignity and representation of Dalit people: Pradeep Narwal

On the 130th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, we spoke with young, dynamic, Dalit leader Pradeep Narwal. Narwal has had a remarkable personal and political journey.  He is currently national secretary at AICC, in charge of Bundelkhand region, where a large section of the population is poor and migrating for economic reasons.

We asked Narwal what has changed in Dalit politics post independence. Does he feel we are equal as people? How will he as a young Dalit want to remember Ambedkar?

Narwal asserted that it's because of Dr Ambedkar that Dalits are considered human beings in India today. He elaborated, "BJP-RSS still doesn't consider us as human beings. They instigate inter-community clashes.''

Pradeep Narwal said that he owed everything to BR Ambedkar. "However, Ambedkar was the chief architect of the Constitution because Congress was then the ruling party. Had BJP been the ruling regime of the day they would not have let Ambedkar's constitution become our reality. Never before 2014 had any Dalit rallied to save the Constitution. It's a point to ponder over. What happened after 2014 that Dalits want to protect Ambedkar's Constitution? Clearly most Dalits don't feel safe in this regime," he said.

“Dr Ambedkar represented the workers and the farmers. During the farmers’ protest we have repeatedly heard that the Dalit farmers will suffer the most,” he added.

We asked him about the criticism that Congress had not stood strongly with the farmers. Narwal pointed out that from day one, Rahul Gandhi had shown solidarity with the farmers' cause. Priyanka Gandhi, in fact has held several Panchayats for farmers.

The Hathras case is one among the many assaults that Dalits of India have faced recently. We checked with Narwal whether Congress followed up on the Hathras case after Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka visited the family.  Narwal said he met the family recently yet again and that the Congress is committed to the family and all victims of violence.

Caste based reservation is also one of the issues that should be discussed in a positive way. Many non-Dalits wonder why caste based reservation should be regarded as an affirmative action and not a relic we should do away with. Narwal asserted that reservation on the basis of caste was not a poverty alleviation programme, but a corrective programme for thousands of years of oppression of a group of people. "We want dignity and representation of our people," he said.

Narwal went on to say that Rajiv Gandhi introduced reservations in the Panchayat system. "The Panchayat system is one of our most robust symbols of democracy," he said, adding that the SC-ST atrocity act was also brought in by Rajiv Gandhi.

As our conversation with Pradeep Narwal ended we couldn't help notice that although he was respectful towards the Dalit leader Mayawati, he also had a critique of her work and politics.

We ended our interview with the question: Is annihilation of caste really possible?

For this answer and the entire interview watch the video.