Repercussions of race and caste are irreparable, says Ashwini KP

Rachana Ramesh | NT

Bengaluru: The UN Human Rights Council has appointed, Ashwini KP, a Dalit activist and former professor of political science, as an independent expert on racism and related intolerances. She is the first Asian and Indian to be appointed for the post.

Special Rapporteurs are independent experts who serve voluntarily and report on human rights from a country-specific perspective or on a thematic basis. A vacancy for the position of Special Rapporteur (SR) on contemporary forms of racism, xenophobia, racial discrimination and related intolerances propped up unexpectedly, after Zambia’s Tendayi Achiume, resigned prior the completion of her three year term.

Three members were short-listed for the position, out of which one of them was Joshua Castellino, also from India and Botswana’s Unity Dow. The UNHRC president then nominated her to the Council, which officially appointed her just before the conclusion of its 51st session.

Ashwini’s three-year term will begin on November 1. She received her doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru University and has previously worked as a senior campaigner in business and human rights with Amnesty International India.

How has life changed for you?

I am extremely happy but at the same time nervous. There’s too many people calling me and congratulating me which is nice but in addition, it is a huge responsibility. When you come from a certain community and gender, there are a lot of expectations as you represent them.

When did you first become conscious about your caste identity?

I was not aware that I belonged to the Dalit community as a child. Once we reach the stage of high school, you can avail scholarships. Sometimes, it even becomes mandatory for you to provide your community details in certain applications.

I was about 13 to 14 years old when I became fully aware. I was not scared to be open about my identity. This was also because I come from an educated family, my dad was a bureaucrat. It gave me the space to be assertive. When you are assertive while being from a marginalised community, you must also be ready to face the challenges and take the risks.

Especially when you are a women and Dalit, you will lose out on a lot of opportunities and feel the repercussions.

How accommodative was JNU and later Amnesty about your Dalit identity?

How did they help you in raising awareness regarding caste discrimination and Dalit assertion? In comparison to many other universities, JNU is quite progressive. Considering it is one of the politically charged universities, it is extremely active and all the ideologies have an equal space.

I was a part of the United Dalit Students Forum, where Dalit and Adivasi students from different ideological backgrounds were a part. Since my childhood, I had the grooming regarding the anti-caste movement so it was not a cultural shock.

It provided me exposure as a higher academic. Personally, within the hostels or among my classmates, I did not find any repercussions of being assertive as everybody knew and were open about their caste identities. On the other hand, Amnesty is an elite space.

There is a serious lack of inclusivity, awareness and diversity. When it comes to representation, there are serious problems which need to be addressed. This is an issue with most of the development sector, where representation is used as tokenism.

What are the challenges Dalit women face?

Intersectionality doubles the discrimination marginalised women face. Be it an educated farmer or a safai karmachari, all Dalit women have their own struggles and I would not like to put them in a homogenous category. I have had the privilege to be educated and be the third generation of an educated family, I would not like to equate my struggles to theirs as the latter has harder struggles.

Access to education is a major struggle. Even if they manage to get education, access to higher education is another task. We can see only a handful pursuing masters or a PhD. Many of them cannot finish their education due to financial constraints or lack of a support system.

In rural areas, caste-based violence is a major problem, particularly, women belonging to the labour class. Class matters. I might not face a castebased sexual violence but the nuisances of caste can be subtle. I can become an easy target for them to deny me a position of power. Dalit women are always easy targets.

How similar or different is casteism and racism?

I read a booklet written just before Babasaheb’s death titled ‘Caste is worse or race is worse?’ for my thesis. When we look at caste and race, it is very much similar. Discriminations that are