72. DIVIDE AND DESTROY
THE BRITISH rulers of India are said to have devised the principle of 'divide and rule' to govern India. They divided to rule, but rule they did.
India as a nation state
They did what was necessary for them to rule. They united the country politically in the modern sense with an iron hand. India has been one country from 'Setu to Himalayas' since ancient times, but people identified themselves as followers of a dharma, and did not owe allegiance to one political ruler or unit. Indians have always been traversing the length and breadth of the country but it was 'pilgrimage', not travel. The British rule changed this: it created a political identity, promoted the idea of a nation state in the modern sense, introduced one administrative system with uniform laws and reinforced it with visible signs of imperial power like railways, post and telegraphs, police and the armed forces, etc. The civil service they introduced was a stroke of genius. It has attracted compliments even from the great management philosopher, Peter Drucker.
The many divisions
The many divisions
Later, apprehensive about the rising intellectual power of English educated Hindus in the three main provinces, they pampered the Muslims, who had been brutally suppressed during and after the Mutiny of 1857.
Then, realising that their administration depended rather excessively upon the Brahmins, who were becoming nationalistic, they sowed the seeds of division and hatred among Hindus by giving selective encouragement to certain non-Brahmin communities, like the Mudaliars. Since these communities had their own economic stake, they found it expedient to go with the rulers!
The Sikhs they recognised as a "warrior class" and gave them preference in the armed forces. Thus the Sikhs whose Gurus had fought the Muslims to protect Hindus, and who had resisted conversion, were made to feel distinct.
They produced the theory of Aryan invasion and the Aryan-Dravidian divide. They encouraged the Justice Party of prominent and rich non-Brahmins as a counterfoil to the Brahmins, and the Congress.
[ It may be remembered here that E.V.Ramasamy Naicker of the Dravida Kazhagam, a later Avatar of the Justice Party, cabled the British authorities in London in July 1947 that even if the British granted Independence and left India, they should continue to govern Madras state, with the Dravidians and the Muslims!]
Thus, the seeds of Pakistan, Dravidastan and Khalistan were quietly sown by the British.
At the same time, they designated some communities as traditional thieves and excluded them from govt. service.
Bengalis as revolutionary
After the agitation against Bengal partition, they considered Bengalis to be revolutionary and did not take them into the armed forces.
Ironically, it was the Bengali Subhas Chandra Bose who created the Indian National Army, absorbed men from the Indian armed forces, triggered a mutiny in the Indian navy, made the British doubt their ability to command the loyalty of Indian forces and forced them to quit India post-haste! They virtually ran away!
It was another irony that Lord Mountbatten, who was related to royalty, was sent to liquidate the empire! The speed with which he did it took even White Hall by surprise.
Set Indians to tame Indians!
In this manner the British made many divisions. But they had the effect of strengthening their rule and their hold on India. They used Indians to suppress Indians. When Gandhiji gave the quit India call, they promptly jailed all the congress leaders; without leadership, the movement collapsed within 6 months. But they invited B.R. Ambedkar, M.S.Aney and others to join the Viceroy's council, which they did. This also gave time and opportunities to Jinnah to advance his cause of Pakistan.
Finally, when they could no more hold on to India, they divided India itself!
India after Independence
India had a strong sense of national identity when the British left. In British India, any Indian speaking any language could go and live in any part of India without discrimination. The undivided Madras Presidency had members speaking Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu, Oriya, Urdu, English in the legislative assembly. When Tatas created Jamshedpur, it became an epitome of India, people from all parts of India going and settling there . When I joined all-India service in the 60s, it still commanded some prestige. Can we imagine a member speaking in Hindi or Kannada in the Tamil Nadu assembly today? Or, can we think of Tamil being spoken in Karnataka assembly, even though many Tamilians live there?
Divisive congress, devilish congress
Divisive congress, devilish congress
The congress rulers have not only adopted this policy of divide and rule fully, they learned the tricks very well and now exceed their masters in its exercise and perfected it! They have divided India into linguistic states, and thus destroyed the pan-India feeling. They promoted Hindi as the national language and discriminated against all non-Hindi speaking people. I served in 7 states and Union Territory for 35 years and have experienced this discrimination first hand. Even some top civil servants were ardent advocates of linguistic causes. Thus C.D.Deshmukh resigned from Nehru's cabinet in support of separate Maharashtra, with Bombay as its capital.. When L.K.Jha was the Governor of Reserve Bank, he ordered that the Patna branch of Reserve Bank which was to be opened then should be manned by local people (Biharis)! [ RBI , as an all-India institution had always given option to employees from other offices to go and man the new office, so that it would start on sound lines with experienced staff, and it would have an all-India character. Local recruitment would follow, gradually] Now even the Railways create new divisions to accommodate linguistic claims, with local recruitment, seriously affecting its all-India character. The British used Railways to unify, we run it to divide!
They have divided the Hindus into numerous communities purely on caste basis, even while claiming to work for a casteless society. Now, not only on an all-India level, in each state politics is conducted on purely caste basis- right from the selection of candidates to the local elections. Even judges are appointed on caste considerations. By giving reservation on caste lines, caste has obtained a new lease of life on a firm constitutional basis! Backwardness is celebrated, has become sacrosanct and a powerful political tool. Ever more communities are struggling to be labelled "backward".
Rise of regional communal forces
Rise of regional communal forces
What congress party did to promote itself, is now working against it! In every state regional parties have risen on communal lines, based on the allegiance of specific communities. They have found that they can rule or dictate terms even without a majority! With their rise, congress is losing in every state , unless they align with the caste forces, which gives them only a subordinate place! I think the same fate will overtake the BJP, unless they strengthen the youth on a total agenda of true Indian Nationalism . This however seems unlikely.
Karnataka sows the seeds of discord
These thoughts are triggered by some recent developments in Karnataka. Since the formation of the state, two communities have been politically dominant: Vokkaligas (Gowdas) and Lingayats. Each group has its own geographical strongholds. The political leaders and legislators have come mainly from these two communities: Kengal Hanumanthaiah , perhaps the most prominent CM so far was a Vokkaliga . S.Nijalingappa, perhaps the most well-known name outside Karnataka was a Lingayat. But in their day, they were admired for their qualities, not for their communal affiliation. Later,the question of CMship became a problem only when these two communities could not agree among themselves, when they settled for a Brahmin like Ramakrishna Hegde or Gundu Rao. It was believed all along that these two communities were the most prominent politically, with about 30% of the state population.
The present CM who comes from another OBC community, organised a caste census of the state , against apprehension expressed in many quarters. Recently, he has been in trouble and there are reports that legislators are not happy with him. There are rumours that he is being replaced. So, he has played a clever communal card, and out-smarted everyone. Even before the census report could be consolidated and officially released, he has allowed or arranged for the vital data to be leaked!
It has created a storm: it has shown that the Vokkaligas and Lingayats do not form more than 17% of the population, almost half of what was thought earlier. Though both Vokkaligas and Lingayats are grouped among the OBCs, it is the other formations within OBC, SC/ST and Muslims who will gain prominence or at least demand greater share for them. The present CM clearly considers himself their leader! This formation called Ahinda will be his weapon to beat the conventional sources of power. I feel he has scored a victory already. The others are all on the defensive, disputing the numbers but unable to prove their strength to be higher than it is shown in the leaked figures! This is the latest instance of one more divide for a new leader to emerge!
It has created a storm: it has shown that the Vokkaligas and Lingayats do not form more than 17% of the population, almost half of what was thought earlier. Though both Vokkaligas and Lingayats are grouped among the OBCs, it is the other formations within OBC, SC/ST and Muslims who will gain prominence or at least demand greater share for them. The present CM clearly considers himself their leader! This formation called Ahinda will be his weapon to beat the conventional sources of power. I feel he has scored a victory already. The others are all on the defensive, disputing the numbers but unable to prove their strength to be higher than it is shown in the leaked figures! This is the latest instance of one more divide for a new leader to emerge!
This is what the leaked figures reveal:
These are the figures published by Public TV:
| CASTE / COMMUNITY | SUB-CASTES | POPULATION | PERCENTAGE |
| Scheduled Castes | 180 | 1.08 crore | 18 |
| Muslims | 84 | 75 lakh | 12.5 |
| Lingayats | 90 | 59 lakh | 9.8 |
| Vokkaligas | 10 | 49 lakh | 8.16 |
| Kurubas | - | 43 lakh | 7.1 |
| ST | 105 | 42 lakh | 7 |
| Brahmins | - | 13 lakh | 2.1 |
(The percentage has been calculated with Karnataka’s population as six crore, although the Census 2011 shows the state population as 6.1 crore.)
The communal brew
These figures topple many long-held views about the relative strength of various caste groups. But matters will not rest here. Lingayats and Vokkaligas demand the backward label for political advantages, but they are quite forward, culturally, educationally and economically. They are also enterprising. Though many sub-castes are shown under them, they have so far worked as a cohesive group, though rivalries based on personalities have been quite common. [In the olden days, H.K.Veeranna Gowda was a competitor to Hanumanthaiah within the community. But Hanumanthaiah was respected by all ] No sub-castes are shown under the Brahmins, but there are three main groups: Madhvas, Smartas and Vaishnavas. This does not matter as the over all significance of the community is quite negligible in political terms. There are many sub-castes under the SC/ST category and it is they who will struggle for supremacy among themselves. If they join hands and agree on a common candidate, they will surely get the reigns of power. This is the recent lesson from Bihar, where the Yadav caste combination alone won.
This does not augur well for the nation. Caste -based politics has raised its head only due to the ambition of the local leaders, and when the so called national parties failed to hold on to a national agenda, but started pandering to regional pressures for short term gains. No one thinks of national issues on national lines. No political party has a distinct economic plan. Public money will be squandered on populist schemes. The state is reputed to be the IT hub of India, but it is slipping into a medieval thinking mould in governance, with the caste as the focus!
Spreading virus
This exercise will be copied in other states as well, where the so called dominant communities may be tempted to test their strength! It may become an all-India viral fever!
The formation of linguistic states has hindered the rise of an all-India leader.[ So the Nehru family alone is known throughout the country!] Now within the state too, there is no real leader of the people as a whole, but only champions of particular communities. The present CM considers himself openly as an Ahinda leader! If such leaders cannot secure absolute majority on their own, they will emerge as king makers, forming and breaking coalitions. Such governments cannot pursue a development agenda, as their focus will be on retaining power.
Thus, while the divisions introduced by the British strengthened their rule, the divisions being created and fostered now by the various political groups in India only go to destroy the unity and integrity of Indian nation and society. No Indian leader seems to have read and learned any lesson from the Panchatantra!
When friends fall out, jackals rejoice!
NOTE:
In every state, the communal forces started by blaming the so called upper castes, especially Brahmins. The extreme position was observed in Tamil Nadu, where the movement has been over a century old. In the meantime, more and more castes demanded and got included in the list of SC/ST. BC, OBCs etc. The situation now is that there is a general divide between SC/ST on one side and BC/OBC on the other. In each category the loaves and fishes of office and privilege are enjoyed ( cornered) by a few communities, and the many others feel excluded/cheated. In Tamil Nadu for instance, the two Dravidian parties are run by OBCs and there is a feeling that they have not done much for the others. Thus, among the forces which created and fostered the communal poison, there are now 'haves' and 'have-nots': the creamy layer and those who merely suck their thumb! This feeling is bound to grow and snowball. It is said somewhere that all those that take the sword shall perish by the sword. Those who unleashed the communal forces will be hoisted with their own petard!
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