By Bhogtoram Mawroh
A few years ago I was told an interesting story by a very close friend from outside the state. He had gone to a bar regularly patronised by the social elite. That bar still exists, and compared to the many found around the city, it has a refined atmosphere boasting of a genteel clientele. I have been there a few times and I must admit it is one of my favourite places to hang out with friends. It was in this place, one evening, that the friend mentioned earlier met a Khasi man who was high in spirits but also quite sad. This individual (no name was given) was part of the civil services and declared proudly to my friend that he cleared his exams without having to resort to his ST certificate. The certificate that he was denigrating identified him as Khasi, who are part of the ST list as approved by the President of India for affirmative action that included reservation and other benefits. My first reaction to this story was a deep disgust at the individual who most probably belonged to the so-called “Donburom Class” (respectable elite) of the Khasi society.
The Donburom Class is a term used to describe members of the Khasi families that have, for many generations, monopolised the white-collar jobs in the state. They were the first ones to have benefited from the opportunities created by formal education and some had ancestors who had worked with the British government at some capacity during the colonial period. This continued after independence, and presently, many of their descendants are still either in the state or central bureaucracy, working in the corporate sector or studying abroad in some Ivy League colleges or universities which cost lakhs of rupees every year. The lives and upbringing of these individuals differ from what the overwhelming majority of the Khasi still experience today. The advantage they have already accumulated over many generations will ensure that they will continue to monopolise many of the opportunities that could have gone to those who needed them more. This is where the concept of the ‘creamy layer’ becomes relevant.
I have been told by a friend (a member of the Donburom class himself) that many from this class detest the nouveau rich who have emerged in recent years. Coal, with all its attendant problems, has allowed many new individuals from outside the Donburom Class to enter their hallowed space and challenge their hegemony. These new entrants will probably join the elite class in time, and their descendants may similarly be embarrassed by their indigenous tribal society. Most likely, they will also claim that they achieved success despite their indigenous identity. There is a term which is used for this process of conversion and self-hatred.
In his 1952 book ‘Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India’ M.N. Srinivas, an Indian Sociologist introduced the concept of ‘Sanskritization’. In this book, he described how the lower castes in Coorg of Mysore were trying to raise their status in the caste hierarchy by adopting some cultural ideals of the Brahmin. They started wearing the sacred thread which is only allowed for the dvija or twice-born who are members of the three upper varnas, viz., Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vaishya. They also began visiting temples, from which many members of the lower castes are still barred, and performed Arti and Bhajan. Additionally, they abstain from prohibited foods, for example meat, and unclean trades like leatherwork. They essentially imitate upper-caste lifestyles to gain equal treatment. One interesting observation made by Srinivas was that this process was not limited to only the castes groups. Some indigenous tribal groups also followed the Sanskritization process.
But does imitating the upper castes somehow make them a member of a group that has for generations monopolised access to power and opportunity? Even now the financial and cultural capital accumulated by the upper castes has allowed them to be in influential positions across all sectors of the society. For example, a 2022 report by Oxfam and Newslaundry found that 86% of the country’s journalists belonged to the general or upper castes. This is a similar case found in the academia as well. In 2012, when I had gone to attend a doctoral workshop in Gujarat, I met a scholar belonging to the lower castes who was working in a prestigious social science research institute in Maharashtra. He told me he was one of the first in his community to get NET-JRF (a prestigious scholarship for those who pass this UGC examination) and had got a job in that centre. However, members of the upper caste, holding all the senior administrative positions, would regularly discriminate against him.
Sometime ago there was a discussion on NDTV on caste discrimination and one panelist was a prominent Dalit entrepreneur. Since he had become very successful in his business, he now wanted a good chef for his family. For this, he selected a cook from the Brahmin caste. However, the cook refused to work for him because he did not want to make food for a Dalit. Therefore, regardless of whether lower-caste individuals adopt so called ‘clean’ professions, attire, and the language of the upper castes, they are constantly reminded of their position at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
Coming back to the Khasi man who was embarrassed by his indigenous identity and wanted to assert that his success stemmed from his own hard work, not the affirmative action the Indian Constitution provides marginalised groups, one must feel both disgust and pity for him. It is highly likely that even though he had passed his civil services, his colleagues, most of who would invariably belong to the upper castes, must have sneered at him for belonging to a reserved category. With few from his own or other marginalised groups being there to support, he must have felt alone and ashamed not being to answer back, especially to his seniors. Therefore, to cope with this humiliation, he likely declared that his success wasn’t due to his indigenous identity, but to ‘merit’. Of course, that is not true. Like the upper castes, the Donburom Class to which he must have belonged already had accumulated the financial and social capital to compete for the civil services. But despite his protestations about the denial of his indigenous identity, that he had to share his sadness with a non-indigenous person tells us it didn’t work. Of course, these are merely my conjectures and not based on verified facts. However, having personally experienced the sneering attitudes of the upper castes toward reservation, I am confident that this individual must have faced some discrimination as well.
In recent times, there has been a growing trend of the government and its officials repeatedly emphasizing that the indigenous community must move beyond their dependence on government jobs and reservations. This is the same language used by upper castes when talking about merit in place of representation. So, the process of Sanskritisation has already succeeded among the elites of the society. Having already captured the echelons of power and accumulated enough financial and cultural capital for their descendants who will continue to perpetuate the dominance of the Donburom Class (old and the new members), their aim is to make indigenous people ashamed of their identity. This is exactly how the rich keep getting richer and the poor remain poor—by blaming the latter for their own poverty. They are also most likely the ones who take their father’s surname instead of the mother’s, which is the traditional practice, in order to fit in with what they consider a superior culture. Individuals, who are ashamed of their indigenous identity, can no longer be considered indigenous Khasis but are, as some have pejoratively termed them, ‘international Khasis’. In the past, you would need to go to the mainland to be made to feel embarrassed about your identity. Now you have your own people doing that in your own homeland. It is sad but also pathetic. How will those Khasis who are not embarrassed about their indigenous identity react to this? Time will tell.
(The views expressed in the article are those of the author and do not reflect in any way his affiliation to any organisation or institution)