When will a Dalit leader become Prime Minister of India? Now is the time

• Dr. Drona Prakash Rasali

The dream of Baba Saheb Ambedkar that someday a Dalit will become the Prime Minister of India under the republican Constitution he framed for the country is long overdue. Long before this decade of 21^st century, India should have been a mature enough democracy to realize that dream, which hasn’t been yet. Along with a Dalit leader becoming the Prime Minister, there would have been a long list of economic and social reforms that would naturally ensue. Economic boom that has now been realized owing to massive economic reforms brought since a Sikh economist of world class, Dr. Man Mohan Singh, became the 13th Prime Minister of India in 2004. The current government of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on economic policies of privatization and liberalization through a neoliberal framework which led to concentration of increasing wealth to fewer more billionaires, while massively widening the gaps between rich and poor.

While India with a population exceeding 1.4 billion is now known globally as an emerging economic giant, poverty and joblessness are rampant among the masses with hunger index and infant mortality remaining worst for such a country in South Asia. Social change to the level of bringing about socio-economic equities and human dignity for all people including Dalits, Indigenous and other marginalized populations towards the country attaining a fully democratic egalitarian society is a way too far. This can be realized with Dr. Ambedkar’s dream fulfilled, when the largest democracy in the world would get a Dalit Prime Minister whose natural inclination would be in filling those gaps.     

The political experts, commenting on the current 2024 general elections in India, visualize that if the INDIA alliance block gets a chance to form the coalition government, which they say is likely to happen, Mallikarjun Kharge, the President of the Indian National Congress and the current Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha would make an excellent candidate for a Dalit Prime Minister. More so, Kharge. who has been a Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha first in 2009, and in Rajya Sabha since 2020, has all the exceptional qualities of a Prime Minister of the multiculturally diverse country like India. He is not just a lawyer and a senior politician from Karnataka, he speaks well several languages of India from North to South and English- a rare quality among Indian political leaders. He has served Legislative Assembly in his State since 1972, served as its Leader of Opposition in 1973. He has served as the chair of several committees both in the State Assembly and Lok Sabha.

Political experts say that with a simple-looking personality, Kharge is likable and acceptable leader for the INDIA block to choose him as a Prime Minister, if there is a moment of this opportunity forthcoming. Now is the time for a Dalit leader to ascend to the Prime Ministerial leadership in the Republic of India.

 Dr. Drona Rasali is the Moderator of nepaldalitinfo International Network.