Dhasal gets enigmatic with new-found friendship with Shiv Sena

The decision of Namdeo Dhasal, the once-radical Dalit Panther leader and gifted poet, to join hands with the Shiv Sena has come '!m a surprise to observers. He has invited Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray to attend a function in Pune on Friday to mark the 25 years of the Dalit Panther organisation.

No two organisations have been more antagonistic and ideologically opposed to each other than the Dalit Panther and Shiv Sena. It used to be said that the panther and tiger (the Sena's symbol) could never get along. The organisations have had a long-standing feud, right since the 1974 BDD chawls riots in Worli, Mumbai.

In the last few years, Mr Dhasal had been marginalised in the Republican Party of India, the Dalit political party. So he stands to gain from his association with the Sena. The Shiv Sena too will benefit from the alliance since Mr Dhasal belongs to the Mahar community, which has always been stubbornly hostile to the Sena.

The Mahars were also angry with the Sena chief for certain disparaging remarks passed by him in 1993 against Babasaheb Ambedkar. The Sena also virulently opposed Dalits during the controversy over the government's publishing of the Riddles of Ram and Krishna in the collected works of Mr Ambedkar.

The Sena now has a chance of gaining followers among the Mahars, who are mostly Buddhists. The Shiv Sena's following among Dalits is now confined to non-Buddhist Dalits like Matang and Chambhar, whom the party calls Hindu Dalits.

In the initial years, Mr Dhasal showed strong left-wing leanings. He wrote a poem on veteran Communist S.A. Dange and poet Pablo Neruda, was inspired by Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro, was a frequent visitor to the Soviet information centre at Bhulabhai Desai Road and called himself a comrade. He married Mallika, the
daughter of Maharashtra's foremost Communist folk singer Amar Shaikh. Ms Mallika later in her autobiography detailed her stormy marriage and the treatment she received at the hands of her aggressive husband.

Mr Dhasal has always been something of an enigma, changing his political alliances. He stormed the literary scene in the seventies with his collection of poems Golpith, on life in the red light district where he grew up. The poetry introduced a new vocabulary which impressed as well as stumped Vijay Tendulkar who wrote a foreword for the book. A special issue on Mr Dhasal was brought out recently by the noted literary magazine Anushtubh. Such is his standing in the world of literature.

Mr Namdeo Dhasal figures prominently in VS. Naipaul's book A Million Mutinies and he gave a lot of insights to the novelist into Mumbai and its life. He is also close to poet Dilip Chitre.

Arun Kamble, noted Dalit writer and Dalit Panther leader, said Mr Dhasal is without doubt a highly talented poet and speaker. "But something has gone wrong somewhere. He has been a rebel but without a consistent philosophy of rebellion. He is more of an emotional person."

Mr Kamble said, "On the one hand one loves Dhasal for his poetry. On the other one feels dismayed by his actions. He was also seriously ill sometime ago. The action in allying with the Sena shows the crisis in the Dalit movement."

However, Mr Kamble was confident that the Dalit movement would surge ahead and the stagnation would end soon. Raja Dhale, who founded Dalit Panther with Mr Dhasal and later formed a separate organisation called Mass Movement, said "Dhasal has never been stable. He was never militant in the real sense. I do not think
he would get response from Dalits in this venture." Mr Dhasal has spelt out his views on the Dalit movement in the issue of Sena daily Saamna of December 6, Babasaheb's death anniversary.
Most of the points made in the article are considered relevant though his political shift has convinced few Dalits.

Mr Dhasal has argued that the Republican Party leadership has remained confined to one Dalit community, Mahars. By excluding other Dalit communities because they are Hindu, the party has alienated itself from the mainstream. In the process the Mahars are on the verge of becoming fundamentalists, Mr Dhasal said.

This, he added, was contrary to the philosophy of Babasaheb Ambedkar, who wanted to forge an alliance of people of different communities to ultimately break the caste system. However, the Mahars have reduced him to a leader of only one community

Observers point out that the once radical Dalit movement has lost its militancy and anti-establishment character. Ramdas Athavale has been a Congress ally for quite some time.

and now Prakash Ambedkar, Babasaheb's grandson, has announced hg decision to go along with the Congress. And now Namdeo Dhasal is going along with the Shiv Sena.