For thousands of years in rural India, the Hindu caste system has operated much like
apartheid. Originally based on occupation, the Brahmin or priestly class is at the top
of the caste ladder. Not even on the bottom rung are the untouchables who do the lowliest
and dirtiest work. This oppressive social system dictates that
the castes live apart. Untouchables can't even share a meal with the higher castes,
and are forced to have separate wells like this for fear of polluting the water of the
higher castes.
While many of the taboos are now disappearing what's still firmly in place is a strict feudal
system with the untouchables as serfs and the upper castes as landlords.
The economic divide enforced by caste can be seen in any village.
The untouchables remain landless, earning a bare subsistence, working on the farms of
the upper castes.
There's a huge difference between the upper castes and us.
They have their farms while we do the work for them. Isn't that a difference? We work
for our food — they can grow their own crops and feed themselves.
The untouchables have seen little change since independence. Mahatma Gandhi dubbed them Harijans
or 'Children of God.' But today they've rejected the term as patronising and prefer to be called
Dalits or 'The Oppressed.' Many Dalits now accuse Gandhi of being part
of the system that has oppressed them. Indeed Gandhi's grandson, and former politician,
Rajmohan Gandhi, feels the caste divide in Indian society remains all too clear.
Your grandfather is the father of modern India. He tried to do something for the untouchables,
but many Dalits criticise him for not doing enough. Do you think that's the case?
He did far more to make the higher castes ashamed of the wrongs of the caste system
and untouchability than he was able to do for the lower caste of the Dalits. If the
point is made that the Dalits, still after his influence, are still suffering, I think
that is a legitimate point.
Does it suggest that those who followed him haven't done enough?
Yes, I think it does suggest that. Undoubtedly.
The caste system is still firmly entrenched in India, but the Dalits are fed up, and determined
not to simply accept their miserable fate. Here in Bihar they formed the Untouchables'
Army — the Dalit Sena — and are fighting back against centuries of oppression. I'm
travelling with senior leaders of the Dalit army. I don't know where we're headed. We're
travelling into the countryside to visit one of their underground military training camps.
The camp's location is a closely guarded secret. Our journey there with Dalit Sena leader,
Dr Sharma, became a cloak and dagger affair, with lookouts, special signals and endless
waiting for the all clear.
After a trek of several hours we finally arrived to find that the untouchables army
is no ordinary army.
It's the village women, many as young as 16, who receive the military training, simply
because in the war between castes, they are the most at risk.
Only recently in the village of Varuna about seven or eight men raped a woman. Sixteen
men stripped her and forced a stick through her vagina into her stomach. She was four
months pregnant, and died.
The abuse of Dalit women is routine. A way for the upper castes to assert their superiority
and maintain order on the caste ladder.
They have guns. They force labourers to work for them.
Their wives and sisters will be raped or sexually humiliated if they refuse.
There used to be a tradition that a Dalit woman would have to spend the night before her wedding in the house of the landlord.
These were set traditions.
The women spend up to a fortnight here, sheltered and fed by nearby villagers, as they learn
to use guns and make bombs. Their firing range doubles as pasture for the village goats and cattle.
Hey kid! Get rid of the goats quickly because we're going to start shooting.
Dalit women like Baby Devi are being taught self-respect, as well as how to kill.
You see, no one has any respect for Dalits.
Had they been respected they wouldn't have been abused.
I have picked up my gun in order to defend myself — to protect my modesty and to make sure
Does the gun make you feel safe?
Yes. I can defend my honour.
Now that the Dalits are armed, they've grown bolder. In addition to the Dalit Sena, there
are numerous gangs of Dalit bandits, who defy the authorities by terrorising high caste
villages.
In many parts of Bihar, it's the upper castes who are now on the defensive.
This upper caste village has been attacked by armed Dalits on three occasions. The resulting gun fights left several injured and one man dead.
We're not interested in fighting. We are defending our rights.
If they are denied, then we will fight back.
These Rajput, or warrior caste villagers are armed to the teeth, and determined to prepare
the next generation for the struggle ahead.
Priti Rena is only 8 years old and not even strong enough to pull the trigger, let alone hold a shotgun without assistance.
Clearly on the back foot, this rag-tag force
is a response to the anarchy in the countryside.
In much of Bihar the rule of law is non-existent, the police are corrupt and hold no sway and the castes emerge as powerful groupings to
defend property, power and one's fellow caste members.
You're even training the children here with guns. Why do they need to be trained?
The problem is that we are getting old. We've all fought
the terrorists and criminals and if we don't train the new generation our arms will be captured, and we'll be killed.
Until recently the upper castes used their muscle to rule Bihar. While over 80% of the
population are lower caste, landlords often control the ballot box by force of arms. Those
days are over.
Dr. Sharma, a former government minister, is on the warpath for democracy.
He's encouraging the Dalits to fight back.
In Bihar, as in many other states, India's lowly have made their influence felt in organised
politics as never before. Certainly no political party can afford to ignore the lower castes
by sheer virtue of their numbers.
Long live Laloo Yadav, son of Bihar!
The state is run by Chief Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, himself from a low caste — the
Yadavs or 'Cattle Herders.'
Yadav's party has ruled Bihar for four turbulent years. All the while Laloo has thumbed his nose at the higher castes.
This is because I command the full support of the poor and the backward. All of them stand behind me.
I have identified myself with their causes.
How important is it to have a low caste Chief Minister?
When people see someone from their own caste become Chief Minister they say to themselves
— "One day, I too could be Chief Minister."
How has the change in the caste system changed politics in this country?
Yes, well you have some states of India now that are ruled by parties that are committed
to rule by some castes. So the caste divisions of Indian society have become political fault
lines you might say, or political battle lines across India, and therefore parties are based
on castes. That makes caste a very powerful political factor.
For six weeks, a student led revolt against the government's job quota plan has seen more
than 40 people killed.
As Indian politicians know only too well, gaining power is one thing. Actually doing
something once you're in government is an entirely different matter. In 1990, former
Prime Minister VP Singh, promised to reserve 27% of all government jobs for the lower castes.
The plan prompted an angry response from upper caste students.
Events turned nasty when this student leader tried to burn himself to death in protest
at the quotas. More than 150 others followed his example. Many died from their burns.
Job reservation continues to be the most explosive issue in the struggle to reform the caste
system. Last month the government in Uttar Pradesh, next door to Bihar, sought to further
increase the quotas. Riots broke out once again, and many demonstrators were killed
by police.
There was a strong feeling on the part of the higher castes that these reservations are unfair, because there is a large
percentage of poor people among the higher castes.
When you're a poor person of a higher caste, your son or daughter does very well in exams
but can't get a place in a school or college, cannot get any prospect of getting a job, that leads to very deep resentment.
In a poor country like India, competition for jobs, wealth and education is inevitably fierce.
There's always someone who misses out. In the past the caste system ensured stability, by making sure everyone knew their place.
But now, after centuries of oppression, those at the bottom of the cast system are finally challenging those who benefit from it.
The downtrodden are in the majority and using their new found political muscle to demand change.
The irony is that attempts to change the caste system have only succeeded in sharpening caste
identity. This has in turn served to make the caste war even more intense. But Dr Sharma
is convinced there's no alternative.
The caste system here is like a cancer — and the suffering this cancer causes is due to
the hatred between the castes. To end the suffering, we must root out the cancer.