Dalit nominee sits on floor, carries own cup

IGLAS (HATHRAS): A dalit BJP candidate here not only sits on the floor when he goes canvassing to the homes of upper-caste voters, he never forgets to carry a steel glass along to drink tea. Here's why: A dalit using a cup at an upper-caste home would make the utensil "impure".This in an age when ending casteism is the stated mission of all parties.

Amit Shah, national president of the party Rajvir Diler represents, recently participated in a sit-down lunch, "sah bhoj", with dalits across Uttar Pradesh to drive home his party's social-equality message. It's not difficult to understand why Diler, BJP nominee from Iglas, is averse to breaking the caste shackles, unlike fellow dalits elsewhere. Iglas is a reserved seat a three-hour ride from Delhi, less than 300km away .

It is dominated by Jat voters, about 90,000 of them.They decide the winner. So while other dalit candidates here, too, show respect to upper caste voters, he takes things to the extreme. Diler calls his ways of sitting on the floor and using his own glass his "paramparagat aadat" (family custom). And the "paramparagat aadat" is followed at every step. Metres from the panchayat office Diler in his late 40s, repeatedly touches the feet of Mohan Singh, Jat pradhan from Tochhigarh, who is years younger to him. "Main aapke pair padhta hun, mujhe meri galti to batao. Main ek gaon ka chowkidar bannna chahta hun, vidhayak nahin (I beg of you, please tell me my fault. I'd rather be a watchman than an MLA if you are angry with me)," he exhorts Mohan.

But the pradhan, who controls about 4,500 Jat votes, tells him things are different this time. Ajit Singh's RLD, a party that Jats identify with, too, has fielded a dalit.

Diler is candid in justifying his desire to remain shackled in casteism. "Main ek bhangi ka beta hun. Mere pita bhi yahin karte thhey. Main apni maan mary ada khatm nahin kar sakta. Zama na chahe badalta rahe (I am the son of a Valmiki. I can not break away from tradition. Let the world change, I won't)," he says.

He pulls out his steel glass from his pocket when asked if it is true that he doesn't drink tea in cups provided by the upper castes.

Valmiki is the lowest among dalits in the caste hierarchy and Diler inherited the so-called tradition from his father Kisen Lal, five-term MLA and one-time MP .

Diler's supporters say people of all castes love him for his desire to remain steeped in discriminatory casteist practices.

The caste hierarchy is evident in the black Bolero Diler uses. While he sits with the driver in the front seat, the most comfortable middle seats go to Jagdish Prasad, a Brahmin, and Robin Chaudhary, a Jat. In the two cramped last-row seats are Amit Valmiki and Mukesh Kumar Baghel, who also belongs to a 'most backward caste'.
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