India and Pakistan are quite similar in culture, language, and cuisine. Even though the separation of the subcontinent came about ostensibly due to the fact that Muslims and Hindus could not live in a single state in harmony, we are more alike than we are dissimilar. We eat the same food, we have similar marriage ceremonies, and we have the same favorite sport-cricket.
But that is not all we share.
We each possess relatively similar amounts of xenophobic hatred, homophobia, class divides, and weak judicial and educational systems. Though perhaps it can be debated which country is worse, there is no denying that both of our countries have serious issues.
Poverty, Illiteracy, Sexual abuse, Religious extremism. It is found on both sides of the borders. We have the Jamaat-e-Islami spewing hatred, having their leaders revered for calling for the death of religious minorities and supposed blasphemers. They have the BJP with incessant calls for the culling of those that dare eat beef.
As much as the conservative, right-wing, religious majority leaders of both the countries would like to demonize each other, many of the cultural and socio-political phenomena remain the same on both sides of the border. Both sides can learn from each other and perhaps turn their attention from stockpiling nukes to helping their more destitute populace come out of the shadows of ancient systems of oppression and abuse.
The point of this article is to narrate two stories from across the border. The purpose of that is to showcase that not only do we share the same kind of culture and social dynamics, but also the fact that we also have the same kind of tools of oppression used against us.
And that too, at the hands of our own.
In her article “Keeping the State Away”, published in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Alpa Shah dictates the story of the Mundas.
These tribal villagers are widely understood to be illiterate and poor individuals that essentially are turned against the state by the elite of the region, while the elite funnel away the state funds meant for their betterment. The story is one that illustrates the age old struggle of the classes, where it is in the best interest of the ones that are in power to suppress the masses by keeping them poor and uneducated.
The struggle here is not as talked about as other sorts of struggles, the ones that are more violent, or are between groups of interest-like the kind between countries or individuals of differing ethnicities or religions. This kind of conflict is found all across the globe, but in Jharkhand, this kind of class struggle is one that much more amplified. And thus, this is one of the best examples that serve to illustrate the techniques used by the elite to suppress the poor or working class.
The two kinds of classes that exist in this eastern part of India are the Yadavs and the Mundas. The Yadavs were historically, unsurprisingly, the zamindars or the landlords that are the upper caste elite of the region. The Mundas, on the other hand, are the descendants of the tenants of these upper class landlords. The Mundas were viewed as lower class and were of lower castes. In this region they were known as adivasis, referred to officially as the Scheduled Tribes by the government of India and the state government too.
These also included the Dalit or the lowest class on the rung of traditional indian social hierarchy, referred to, quite literally, as the untouchables. These were part of the Scheduled Castes stated by the government as well.
The Yadavs of the area had contracts with the state and were also traditionally the spiritual leaders of the local people as well. A lot of the time, these spiritual leaders were also the local MLAs and owned businesses along with the large generational farmland that they possessed. All the while, these spiritual leaders worked hard to stem any kind of contact between the state and the local Munda or lower class. They accomplished this with the use of whipping up religious xenophobia against all outsiders. Their historical role as spiritual leaders allowed them to do this to good affect.
To this day the Mundas live in mud huts with no electricity while the Yadavs enjoy the air conditioning in their modern houses.
Over here on this side of the border you are likely to hear similar stories. Waheed Chaudhry, Anwaar Mohyuddin and Muhammad Sulaman Ijaz hail from the Department of Anthropology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. The three have penned an article about the feudal elite actively working to prevent the locals from getting an education and escaping their clutches.
The Meers, the local leaders of the area are the most renowned for doing this. According to a key informant for their research, one of the local sardars was known to state meri ejazat ke begair koi sans bhi nahi lesakta (no one can breathe here without my permission).
In the locals schools, fake enrollment lists are created inorder to fool government officials. Their handpicked people serve as faculty in these ghost schools and were aptly compensated for this purpose. In a much more direct manner, the elite was able to, and continues to, limit and restrain the imaginings of the hapless locals.
Both of these stories illustrate the manner in which the elite and working/poor class coexist in the subcontinent. Even in the modern age, people are suppressed by the elite in collusion with the state, even in democratic countries. Read about the UN failed to intervene.
More and more, it is clear that ideas of nationalistic or patriotic hatred fueled by religious sentiment are infact just a way to redirect the ire of the masses from their own sorry state towards actors that have in no way put them in their current misery.
Introspection is required by the patriotic individual to look towards what is happening on the ground compared to what is being talked about in rage-filled speeches. Also, read about the history of chai in the subcontinent.
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