Unedited long version of my complaint rebuttal against an article on a Dalit entrepreneur in the New York Times

Dear Madam / Sir,

This letter is with regards to both the print and web versions of the article titled “Scaling Caste Walls with Capitalism’s Ladders in India” written by Ms. Lydia Polgreen which were published in the "India Ink" section of the web edition of the New York Times on December 21, 2011, and in the printed New York edition of the New York Times on December 22, 2011. (The printed version of the article appeared under the slightly shortened title "Scaling Caste Walls with Capitalism’s Ladders" in the New York edition of the New York Times on December 22, 2011).

Your reporting on Dalits aims at painting a false rosy picture of Dalits by making patently untrue statements regarding Dalits in India (such as claiming “physical untouchability has virtually disappeared”, and “connection between caste and occupation loosened long ago”), and by publicizing the financial success of a few Dalits and highlighting some false conclusions based on flawed studies, while concealing the miserable reality of atrocities, dehumanizing labour mandated by Dalits’ caste descent, segregation, stigmatization and manifold forms of discrimination and oppression imposed on the Dalit people who are ostracized as outcast – untouchables by Hindu society.

Your reporting on Dalits aims at perpetuating the misery and oppression of Dalits through dishonest journalistic reporting that seek to conceal the evil of untouchability and various forms of caste bigotry imposed on Dalits with untrue statements, in order to dilute any international public opinion that may have formed against the persecution of Dalits in India. 

You are shockingly wrong to write that physical untouchability has virtually disappeared from India. Almost all of the 200 million Dalits (outcast – untouchables) of India live in segregated colonies or ghettos in each town and village across India, and are not allowed to live amongst other Hindus or enter their houses inside the town or village. Dalits are forced to even bury or burn their dead separately in each and every village and town in India. Dalits may enter the streets of other Hindus in some villages to perform menial work, but they are generally not touched and not allowed into the households of other Hindus.

In your eagerness to show case the financial success of a singular Dalit man, you have failed to even mention the stark reality of segregation, ghettoisation, social exclusion, caste descent bonded degrading and inhumane labour (such as manual scavenging, ritual drum beating, landless agricultural labour, skinning of cows, cobbling, etc), and daily atrocities faced by Dalits.

You do great injustice to Dalits by not reporting the fact that Dalits still suffer from daily atrocities such as rapes, murders, arson, assaults and sexual abuse most of which are not investigated and prosecuted due to bigotry against Dalits in the law enforcement machinery and political establishment.

Almost all of the inhabitants of slums and ghettos in cities are indeed Dalits. Dalit children are also disproportionately forced into child labour and institutionalised religious child prostitution in Hinduism (such as the system of Devadasi, Jogini, etc).

Your interpretation of the term “physical untouchability” and your claim that physical untouchability has “virtually disappeared” from India are both false. You may have assumed that “physical untouchability” is restricted only to the practice of “not touching” another person which is a false understanding of the evil of physical untouchability imposed on Dalits. In India in general, and rural India in particular, there is no culture of touching each other in public and social settings, and even the practice of shaking hands for greeting is absent. Hence in a society where no one generally touches each other, unless one is a close relative, everyone should have been considered as “untouchables” and hence one may be puzzled why Dalits alone are considered as untouchables. The answer to this question lies in the fact that “physical untouchability” imposed on Dalits does not restrictively  mean only the act of “not touching”, but it encompasses a whole range of practices that aims to physically separate Dalits from Hindus. This includes practices such as forcing Dalits to live in segregated slums or “colonies” or “cheris”  in villages and towns across India, preventing Dalits from burying or burning their dead in the same land as other Hindus, refusing to serve Dalits food and drinks  in the village eatery or tea shop or serving food and drinks for Dalits in separate utensils or paper cups only meant for Dalits, preventing Dalits from buying land or house inside the village or town where other Hindus live, preventing Dalits from living inside the town and village, forcing Dalits into  caste mandated degrading and inhumane work, and a host of other practices whose list may be unending. Hence physical untouchability is not restricted to the three practices of untouchability you describe, which are: preventing Dalits from walking on the same streets as upper-caste people, preventing Dalits from drinking from the same wells and preventing Dalits from even looking other people in the eye. But, you are again wrong with regards to these three practices of untouchability you describe.

Dalits cannot draw or drink water from the wells in the areas of other Hindus, and Dalits have to have their own well in their segregated slum or ghetto. This is still the norm in most villages of India. Hence, you are totally wrong to state that the practice of preventing Dalits from drawing or drinking water from the same wells has ended.

You are also wrong to state that preventing Dalits from walking in the same street as upper castes has disappeared. In the majority of villages, the practice of not allowing Dalits into certain streets of the village or town is still in practice and has not virtually disappeared. 

Dalits were never prevented from looking others in their eyes, and you are wrong to state this as a form of untouchability. Certain Dalit sub-castes and backward castes people were declared as “unseeables” which means other Hindus should not see them, but Dalits were not prevented from looking others in the eye. As a matter of fact, since Dalits were servile classes, they have to look into the faces and eyes of other Hindus to receive their orders for menial work and caste mandated degrading labour.

Another place where untouchability is very much alive is the "sanctum sanctorum" (inner room) of Hindu temples into which Dalits (and backward castes) cannot enter and cannot touch the idols of worshipped deities. Only Brahmans and "twice born" Hindus such as Baniyas (Vysyas) and Kshatriyas have the right to enter the inner room of the temple where idols are kept based on their supremacist status in the caste system. 

Apart from various other manifestations of untouchability, one has to add that Hindus (of all castes) will not generally touch Dalits (except to assault, rape or murder them), and Dalits are generally not allowed into the households of Hindus in almost all villages in India. 

So, the evil of physical untouchability imposed on Dalits is very much alive and its various manifestations are killing and oppressing Dalits in villages and towns across India, and hence you have made a totally false statement to claim that physical untouchability imposed on Dalits has “virtually disappeared”. 

The constitutional ban on "untouchability" only remains on paper without any comprehensive enforcement by the central and state governments, since such an enforcement will require aggressive measures such as desegregation of Dalits, housing Dalits with other Hindus, burying and burning Dalit corpses along with those of Hindus, banning all caste descent mandated inhumane and degrading labour, universal ban on child labour and caste mandated Hindu religious child prostitution, etc., all which should be supported by universal and assured access to all levels of education, housing, medical care, sanitation and social security - all of which are absent in India. 

You are absolutely false in stating that “the once strong connection between caste and occupation loosened long ago”. The vast majority of the 200 million Dalits living in rural areas are still bonded to degrading and inhumane work mandated by caste descent such as drum beating, skinning of cows, manual scavenging, daily agricultural labour, cobbling, etc. India has still not eliminated manual scavenging. Many Dalit men die in their line of work as manual scavengers and gutter cleaners by inhaling poisonous gases or by drowning in the cesspool of insanitary waste. Several castes amongst the non-Dalit backward castes (lower caste Hindus) such as potters, barbers, tree climbers, weavers, stone cutters, etc., are also socially forced into menial work and hard labour based on  caste descent. But on the other hand, the “twice born” supremacist Brahman caste still holds a monopoly on priesthood as an expression of their “most supremacist” caste status, and legislations to allow people from all castes to become temple priests in the state of Tamil Nadu to strike at the root of the caste system has been thrown out by the Supreme Court by citing the Hindu law which mandates the caste system based on Hindu scriptures!

Hence it is imperative to the interests of truth and ethical journalism that the New York Times corrects and remedies the false and untrue statements regarding Dalits which were published in the New York Times such as "physical untouchability has virtually disappeared”, and “connection between caste and occupation loosened long ago”, which rank in the same level of severity as subverting the truth by denying the holocaust. 

You quote a flawed analysis by economists at the University of British Columbia to allude that the “wage gap” and “education gap” between “other” castes and Dalits has substantially decreased. The study by the University of British Columbia is fundamentally flawed because it compares Scheduled Castes / Scheduled tribes or  SC/ST  (the legal term for Dalits and indigenous tribes) -  with another invented singular category called “non SC/ST” (or “other castes” in your report’s terminology) which is fallacious. The study is wrong because it uses the terms “other castes” (or “non-SC/ST”) to lump together backward castes with “twice born” supremacist Hindus such as the Brahmans (priestly caste), Baniyas (traders) and Kshatriyas (royals) who are the ruling class of castes in India. “Backward castes” are lower castes below the “twice born” supremacist Hindus such as Brahmans but backward castes are above Dalits (outcast – untouchables) in the caste hierarchy. What the researchers at the University of British Columbia have done is to wrongly apply the terms “other castes” or “non-SC/ST” predominantly to backward castes, and compared the educational and wage levels of backward castes (which is low) with that of Dalits (which is lower) to falsely conclude that the educational and wage gap between Dalits and “non-SC/ST castes” has narrowed,  when the reality is that the educational and wage gap between backward castes and Dalits was always narrow because both of them (backward castes and Dalits) were socially oppressed and educationally deprived with low levels of education, employment and wage levels, thus leaving a narrow difference between the two groups in education and wages ! Therefore the narrowing gap in education and wages between backward castes and Dalits is no indicator of social, educational or economic mobility, but only indicates the lower status of both backward castes and Dalits in education and employment!

What an honest study would have done is to compare the educational, employment and wage status of Dalits with the ruling class of “twice born” supremacist Hindus such as Brahmans, Baniyas (Vysyas) and Kshatriyas, and similarly conduct a separate study to compare the educational, employment and wage status of backward castes with “twice born” supremacist Hindus. The study cited by you has not conducted such an honest research.

The state of Uttar Pradesh reports the highest national incidence of atrocities against Dalits such as rapes, killings, arson and mass murder. Dalits live in segregation in Uttar Pradesh just as in other states of India. But you cite a flawed survey conducted by Indian and American researchers in two blocks of Uttar Pradesh state to atrociously claim that the social status of Dalits has “risen” - by implication in all of India - through a ludicrous and bizarre use of trivial factors such as eating the “same” food and wearing the “same” clothes as their oppressors, using grooming products such as “shampoo and bottled hair oil” and “invitation” to non-Dalit weddings as “markers” of “rising social status”!

Almost all of the thousands of Dalits who are killed, raped and assaulted every year all across India, and the 200 million Dalits segregated as outcasts, subjected to caste descent based degrading labour, stigmatized and subjected to social violence may all wear shirts and trousers, and Indian dresses like dhotis, sarees and salwars just as their oppressors, eat food recipes that are similar to the ones eaten by their oppressors and they may all use soap, toothpaste, hair oil and shampoo just as their oppressors! So one fails to understand how you can cite food, dressing, and use of personal hygiene products as markers of “rise” in the social status of Dalits! You are mocking and demeaning Dalits as inherently unkempt people by ludicrously and untenably citing the use of personal hygiene products as a “marker” of “rise” in the social status of Dalits. Rural markets flooded with cheap consumer goods have enabled Dalits to use toiletries and personal hygiene products for several decades which only points to the fact that Dalits do look after personal care and hygiene, whenever they can afford it, but how does this “improve” their social status by destroying their segregated, outcast and inferiorized status in the caste system? Similarly, the dressing patterns and food recipes of rural Dalits were always similar to that of their oppressors, (except for Dalits’ eating beef) - but that does not mean any “rise” in the social status of Dalits that may end the segregated, dehumanised, inferiorized and stigmatized status of Dalits in Hindu society. Your delusion (and cruel joke) that believes that dressing well and eating well, and using personal hygiene products will “raise the social status” of Dalits and end the bigotry imposed on Dalits needs an immediate cure.  

Blacks living in the erstwhile segregated American south and apartheid South Africa wore the same kind of shirts and trousers, used shampoos, tooth paste and hair oil and also ate burgers and sandwiches just as their racist oppressors – which did not indicate any rise in the social status of black people vis-à-vis their bigoted oppressors in the regime of segregation and apartheid. Similarly, your claim of Dalits eating the “same” food and wearing the “same” clothes as their oppressors, and using shampoos, tooth paste and hair oil as marks of their “rise in their social status” is patently strange and false, since the regime of the caste system that imposes segregation, discrimination, stigmatization and atrocities on Dalits operates irrespective of the Dalits’ most personal functions such as food, dressing and use of personal hygiene products!

You cite invitations accorded to Dalits to attend weddings of “non-Dalits” as a marker of rising social status. The actual survey cited by you reports that Dalits’ attendance of non-Dalit weddings has fallen. Moreover, Dalits are invited to non-Dalit weddings not as an expression of equality but to perform work or to receive food which is hardly a measure of rise in social status! Hence, invitation to non-Dalit weddings accorded to Dalits is not a correct marker of Dalits’ rise in social status, but only an increased preponderance of marriage between Dalits and non-Dalits will be a right marker of a rise in acceptance of Dalits’ status in the rural setting. But marriage between Dalits and non-Dalits, or for that matter even marriage between other castes, leads to violence and honour killings. 

The true markers of  “rise” in social status of Dalits are not the use of personal hygiene products like shampoo or hair oil and dresses or food, but ending the institutionalised social injustices heaped on Dalits in the following manner: social acceptance of marriages between Dalits and non-Dalits,  housing of Dalits amongst Hindus by desegregating segregated Dalit ghettos, allowing Dalits to train and work as temple priests and heads of religious mutts by challenging the supremacist monopoly of Brahman priesthood, ending of atrocities against Dalits by establishing special courts and police wings staffed by Dalits for prosecuting atrocities against Dalits, ending of caste descent mandated – socio-religiously forced degrading labour such as manual scavenging, ritual drum beating, cobbling, etc., funding and conducting a nationwide media campaign against all manifestations of untouchability imposed on Dalits, ending Hindu ritualistic Dalit girl child prostitution such as Devadasi, Jogini, etc., and making education at all levels, medical care, housing and sanitation a constitutional right of every citizen - including Dalits. 

The article parades a singular affluent Dalit man while being silent on the stark realities of the caste system in which Dalits are marginalised as outcast - untouchables. This is as irrational and irrelevant as showing off a few affluent black men who may have lived in apartheid South Africa or racially segregated USA (of the past) to hide the evil of the racist societies they lived in. There were several educated and relatively wealthy black men and women who lived in the erstwhile apartheid South Africa and racially segregated USA,   whose money and education did not get them social equality and fraternity with white people. For the black people of USA and South Africa the solution lay in destroying the apartheid system, desegregation and abrogating Jim Crow laws and not in developing capitalism amongst black people by accepting apartheid, segregation and Jim Crow Laws. Therefore, publicising the affluence of a few Dalits by sustaining the caste system will not beget Dalits or any caste in the caste system equality and fraternity with each other, as long as the caste system and the Hindu religion remains, since the Hindu religion legally, scripturally, socially and religiously institutionalizes the bigotry of graded inequality of biological descent in a system of ascending superiority and descending inferiority of castes  in which the Dalits are oppressed and stigmatized as “outcasts - untouchables”. Even gaining affluence does not liberate a Dalit from his inferiorized and stigmatized status in Hindu religious society.  This is why many Dalits, including educated and financially well off Dalits, convert to other religions, particularly Buddhism, with the hope of escaping caste bigotry! But except for the four religions of Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism, all other religions and peoples are forced with the Hindu religious identity and the Hindu law embodying the caste system under Indian Law! This farce has legally forced the Hindu religious label and the caste system on atheists, Dalits, backward castes and indigenous tribal peoples who are all in fact banned from scriptural and sacramental membership of the Hinduism religion of "twice born" Hindus.  Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and any follower of any other religion apart from the four aforesaid religions have thus become "Hindu" under Indian law, thus legally subjecting them to the caste system! 

The plight of many Dalit students in high educational institutions such as IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), and IIMs (Indian Institute of Management), proves that climbing up the ladder of class and education does not beget Dalits any fraternity, equality and freedom from bigotry. Many Dalit students who are high achievers in education from middle class and upper middle class families have been harassed and pushed to suicide by caste bigots in high technological institutions such as IITs, AIIMS, etc., despite their educational excellence. This shows that climbing the ladder of class and education gives no protection to Dalits from caste bigotry and oppression.

While economic empowerment through any method, including capitalism - is necessary for Dalits, promoting affluence amongst a few Dalits will not destroy the segregation, caste descent mandated degrading labour, stigmatization, oppression, inferiorization, social inequality, enforced poverty, atrocities and discrimination imposed on the vast majority of Dalits and other peoples inferiorized due to the bigotry of graded inequality imposed by the Hindu caste system.  Many Dalit communities were subjected to arson attacks and mass killings, mainly because of bigoted envy against their raising class status in terms of money, land ownership and living conditions. Dalits living in Kodiyankulam, Tamil Nadu were an affluent Dalit community of families whose men worked abroad and made hefty financial remittances back to their families. On August 31, 1995, a bigoted state police posse of 600 cops stuffed with caste bigots who considered themselves “above” Dalits in the caste hierarchy subjected the affluent Dalit community in Kodiyankulam to plunder, destruction of valued goods, poisoning of the public well and arson attacks because of their bigoted envy against the raising affluence of Dalits in Kodiyankulam. In another atrocity perpetrated against Dalits as an expression of resentment against Dalits’ material empowerment, armed militias of Boomihar Brahman caste bigots mass murdered, mass raped and plundered Dalits on December 01, 1997 at the town of Laxmanpur-Bathe because the Boomihar Brahmans could not stomach the fact that Dalits owned large swathes of land. On the night of December 01, 1997, Bhumihars, who wanted to seize 51 acres of land that was allocated to Dalits, entered the houses, shot indiscriminately, raided 14 homes, killed 67 people, injured an additional 20 people, and murdered 7 local fishermen and brutally raped and murdered 5 girls. The girls were shot in the chest and vagina (Smita Narula, ''Broken people-caste violence against India’s untouchables'', Human rights watch, 1998, pp.61). Bhumihars who belong to the “most superior” Brahman caste have spearheaded a reign of mass murder and terror against Dalits in Northern states such as Bihar mainly to acquire lands owned by Dalits. Dalits have faced such violence from all castes in the caste hierarchy who consider themselves “above” Dalits. Hence, it is obvious that there are countless untold stories of Dalits who were killed just for trying to scale the walls of the caste system by acquiring material wealth in the form of land and money.

Hence, it is obvious that as long as segregation, stigmatisation and inferiorization of Dalits by the caste system remains, acquiring material wealth in the form of money and land is not going to make Dalits immune to the violent onslaught and socio-religious discrimination of caste bigotry.

The strong link between caste identity and physical labour determines which caste constitutes the working class and ruling class of India. The “twice born” Hindu castes such as Brahmans (priestly caste), Vysya – Baniyas (trading caste) and Kshatriyas (royalty) were strictly excluded from any kind of physical labour – and were given monopoly over education, trade and governance for centuries thus making the “twice born” Hindus led by Brahmans the ruling class of India. On the other hand, Shudras (the lower castes below the “twice born” Hindus – also known as the “backward castes”) along with the Panchamas (Dalits) were banned from even literacy, property ownership and governance for centuries but were strictly bonded to work involving physical labour.  Thus the Shudras (backward castes) and Panchamas (Dalits) who were imprisoned in various forms of caste mandated “physical labour” became the proletariat (working class) of India. This continues until today and one cannot find a single “twice born” Hindu such as Brahman, Baniya or Kshatriya in any work involving physical labour, while Shudras (backward castes) and Dalits are bonded to various forms of caste mandated degrading physical labour, and are also the industrial workers doing hard physical labour in India’s industries.  One cannot find a single "twice born" Hindu such as Brahman, Baniya or Kshatriya in any sort of work involving physical labour. Thus it is false to say that the “link between caste and occupation” has loosened.

It is totally another matter that the Brahmans and other “twice born” Hindus – (who are the ruling class of castes in India excluded from physical labour but who monopolized education, commerce and governance for centuries), took control of the leadership of Marxist and socialist movements in India, to ensure that no united socio-political action took place for the empowerment of the Shudra – Panchama (backward caste – Dalit) working class of castes, by totally ignoring the  fact that the ruling classes and working classes were determined by the people’s caste identities. So instead of rallying the Shudras (backward castes) and Dalits unitedly by destroying their divisive caste identities to unseat the Brahman – Baniya led “twice born” Hindu ruling class from the various seats of power, the socialist and leftist movements (including the extremist Naxalite movement)  were taken over by the very ruling class of Brahmans who ensured that the working class of Shudras (backward castes) and Dalits never mounted a threat to the ruling class of Brahman – Baniya led “twice born” Hindus – by  conning the working class of Shudra (backward class) and Dalit masses with absolute hogwash. 

You wrongly cite “barbering” as a caste occupation of Dalits. The caste of “barbers” are placed in the lower echelons of the caste system under the category of Shudras (backward castes). Backward castes are below the “twice born” caste supremacist Hindus led by Brahmans but are above the outcast – untouchables (Dalits) in the caste system. “Barbering” involves touching and hence “barbers” are not untouchables.

You describe that elders came out to greet a Dalit businessman (Mr. Ashok Khade) when he visited his village and you also feature a video of Mr. Khade entering his village temple. But you fail to mention that despite the outward warmth to a visiting media posse, none of the men in the village belonging to castes placed above the Dalits in the caste hierarchy will consider Mr. Khade’s family as equal human beings worthy of entering into a marriage relationship, and more importantly, a Dalit person such as Mr. Khade cannot destroy the caste supremacist status of Brahmans by becoming the temple priest. You also fail to mention that men like Mr. Ashok Khade may get into business activity involving physical labour intensive work such as welding, construction, etc., in which they may employ fellow Dalits who are physical labourers, because the “twice born” supremacist Hindus such as Brahman – Baniyas who control the big business corporations loathe to get into any business activity that may directly involve them in physically intensive labour. Brahmans and Baniyas never indulged in physical labour since they held a monopoly over education, governance and trade as a caste hereditary right, by banning education, social equality and property rights to Shudras (backward castes) and Dalits (outcast – untouchables) for centuries, which was challenged only after British rule.

Your article extols and celebrates Mr. Ashok Khade, a financially successful Dalit for his use of capitalism to gain wealth, but you also cite that he goes to the extent of hiding his last name denoting his caste in his business cards, out of his fear of losing business and clients. You also cite another Dalit businessman who has changed his last name to hide his Dalit identity since he feared losing clients. This only shows that these Dalit businessmen would not have succeeded financially had they revealed their caste identity while doing business. Thus it can be fairly concluded that most Dalit businessmen like them succeed only by hiding their Dalit identity, which is no cause for celebrating capitalism by a call to “scale caste walls with capitalism’s ladders”. Your article only proves that capitalism is powerless against caste bigotry imposed on Dalits, by pointing out that even to succeed in business Dalits have to hide their caste identity. Hence, it goes without saying that the vast majority of Dalits who cannot (or will not) hide their caste identity have no chance of using capitalism’s ladders to scale caste walls in India. 

Your article may have also relied on "Uncle Tom" like figures who misrepresent the plight of Dalits to appease the ruling classes of India, and you have not consulted organisations such as the National campaign on Dalit human rights, International Dalit Solidarity Network or even American organisations like Human Rights Watch and "Center for Human Rights and Global Justice" of New York University School of Law, who have worked on Dalit issues. 

A report titled "Hidden Apartheid - Caste Discrimination against India’s “Untouchables" - Shadow Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination" which was written and published by the "Center for Human Rights and Global Justice" of New York University School of Law can be accessed and read  by clicking on the following web link: http://www.chrgj.org/docs/IndiaCERDShadowReport.pdf

The problem of Dalits is not primarily a class issue, but one of bigotry based on caste (biological) descent that entrenches Dalits as a permanent underclass, just as the problem faced by blacks under the apartheid regime and racially segregated USA was of bigotry due to racial descent. A poor racist white man considers himself superior to a richer black person just as a poor Hindu man – irrespective of caste - is considered "superior" to a Dalit (outcasts – untouchable). Similarly “twice born” Hindu caste supremacists such as Brahmans are considered "superior" to both the lower castes (Shudras – backward castes) and Dalits, even if a person belonging to a backward caste or Dalit background happens to be richer. This bigotry of the caste system has legal sanction under the Hindu law based on Hindu scriptures, and the Indian constitution has not banned the caste system (as widely mis-reported in the western media). 

In the context of the caste system it may be inaccurate to generally use the term “upper castes”. This is because in a system of vertically graded inequality of castes, every caste is “upper” to another caste but “lower” to another caste except for the “twice born” supremacist caste of Brahmans who are the “most superior” caste.  No one caste is equal to another caste in this system of vertically graded inequality of castes.  The “Shudras” (backward castes) are divided into hundreds of such castes who are placed above and below each other in a system of vertically graded inequality with each caste professing superiority over the castes placed below it, and so are various “sub-castes” within Dalits (outcasts – untouchables).  "Twice born” Hindu caste supremacists comprising of Brahman, Baniya and Kshatriya castes are considered superior to all backward castes and Dalits. Backward castes (Shudras – lower castes) are placed lower than the “twice born” Hindu caste supremacists but above Dalits in the system of graded caste inequality. The Indian proletariat which comprises of the backward castes (Shudras) and Dalits are thus divided irretrievably by the bigoted caste identities. Thus backward castes and Dalits are unable to unite by destroying the caste system which is a pre-requisite  if backward castes and Dalits are to pose a united challenge to the ruling class of “twice born” supremacist Hindus such as Brahman – Baniya – Kshatriya castes– whose bigoted  monopoly over governance, commerce, education and academia for centuries has converted them into the modern ruling class of India lording over the government, bureaucracy, army, judiciary, business corporations, academia, arts and the media.

It is another matter of equal concern that backward castes and Dalits are both segregated from each other and kept in a state of mutual violence in rural India, as a divide and rule tactic of “twice born” caste supremacist ruling class of Brahman – Baniya - Kshatriya Hindus, who want to keep backward castes and Dalits in a state of perpetual bickering, violence and segregation so that backward castes and Dalits (who comprise 80% of the population) will not unite to challenge the ruling class of  Brahman led “twice born” Hindus. For the same reason, “twice born” Hindus led by the Brahmans have spearheaded the Hindutva fascist movement to encourage Dalits and backward castes to attack Muslims and Christians, mainly to distract backward castes and Dalits from their own oppressed status in Hinduism and prevent backward castes and Dalits from challenging the ruling class of “twice born” supremacist castes of Brahmans – Baniya – Kshatriya Hindus.

I will be preparing a separate complaint against the lack of journalistic integrity in the reporting of the New York Times specifically regarding untrue statements and unethical reporting practices on the conditions suffered by Dalits in India. 

Yours truly,

Some thoughts on Periyar:

I feel a need to counter the canard and false propaganda against Periyar that is being spread by the likes of S. Anand (Anand Navayana), Ravi Kumar and Chandrabhan Prasad amongst people outside Tamil Nadu who cannot read the rebuttals to this calumny against Periyar in Tamil journals such as “Dalit Murasu” and who have not been exposed to the atheist – caste annihilating – freethinking – rationalist – feminist – ideals of Periyarist thought which fundamentally seeks the destruction of Hinduism.

I feel that the "twice born" Hindu caste supremacists led by Brahmans have spearheaded a false propaganda against Periyar through proxy writers in order to prevent the spread of Periyar's radical - atheist - rationalist - humanist - anti-caste - anti-Hindu ideology for annihilation of castes and destruction of Hinduism, a religion which has unleashed misery, exploitation and oppression on the masses through graded caste supremacist racist system.  Periyar's ideas are seen by "twice born" Hindu racist supremacists as more of a threat to Brahmanical Hinduism than Babasaheb Ambedkar, due to Periyar’s potential appeal to all “non-twice born” backward castes and Dalits, because the Brahmans have succeeded in creating a false image of restricting Babsaheb Ambedkar  as a leader only for Dalits, when in reality Babsaheb Dr. Ambedkar is a leader for all Dravidian (Bahujan – Dalit) peoples oppressed by the caste system who called for annihilation of all castes. Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar also called for solidarity between backward castes and Dalits.  But since Periyar has not been co-opted with such restrictive labels, Brahmans and "twice born" bigots feel a need to defame and distort Periyar with lies by using proxy writers to misrepresent and malign Periyar.

Periyar worked for the liberation of all peoples oppressed by the caste system including Dalits. Periyar conducted wrote, spoke and took socio-political action on many occasions for Dalit rights.  But just as Babasaheb Ambedkar, Periyar emphasized the need for annihilation of castes and liberation of masses from the Hindu fold. To state that Periyar did not fight against the caste system but only against Brahmans is another blatant lie. Periyar called for the annihilation of all castes and also called for empowerment of all oppressed castes (backwards castes and Dalits) as long as the inequities of the caste system existed. When the Brahman bigot Rajaji brought in a law that forced school children to work in caste descent based degrading and inhumane occupations, which affected Dalits predominantly, Periyar fought that law tooth and nail and got it abrogated. One of Periyar's legacies is banning the use of caste names in people's surnames, not that it managed to annihilate caste bigotry totally but it was a manifestation of Periyar's ideological legacy to annihilate all castes. Periyar even advocated secession of Tamil Nadu from India to bring in laws to abolish the caste system. Periyar's separatism was motivated by annihilation of castes and not by ethnic nationalism. Periyar never said anything abusive against Dalit men or women but on the contrary emphasized the liberation of Dalits through religious conversion to Islam.  It is also total falsehood to state that Periyar did not attack Hinduism. Periyar spent all his life attacking all aspects of Hinduism. It was Periyar's radical and no holds barred attack on Hinduism, Hindu Gods, Hindu caste system, untouchability and Hindu scriptures, which included the breaking of idols of Hindu deities and burning the images of “Rama” that makes "twice born" Hindu bigots led by Brahmans (and their Hindutva cohorts) to perceive Periyar as more of a threat than Babasaheb Ambedkar, which has led writers on the pay of Hindutva interests to defame and distort Periyar with lies. It is a shame that such appeasers of Hindutva and Brahmanist racism have infiltrated the Ambedkarite movement. 

Periyar himself was a campaigning atheist who disowned Hinduism. Periyar introduced and obtained legal sanction for marriages conducted without profane Hindu rituals and devoid of Brahman priests. Periyar spent all his life attacking Hinduism and seeking the annihilation of the caste system, and agitated for all peoples oppressed by the caste system, both the backward castes and Dalits. Periyar organised and participated in campaigns and agitations for Dalits. A string of malicious lies about Periyar cannot become truth. S.Anand has viciously and vehemently misrepresented Periyar in many of his writings using lies and falsehood, which only belies an anger against Periyar by a Brahman racist supremacist. 

Keeping the Bahujan - Dalit masses in perpetual conflict and violence:

The Brahman – Baniya “twice born” supremacist ruling establishment that controls India – has always liked to keep the Shudra (backward castes), Dalit, Adivasi, Muslim and Christian people in perpetual conflict, division and violence against each other.  This is done to ensure that the majority masses of India (backward castes, Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims) do not unite against the Brahman – Baniya (Vysya) - Kshatriya “twice born” apartheid bigoted clique that has monopolized power as the ruling class of India. The caste system has been designed for this purpose so that Dalits live in perpetual segregation and violence, while backwards castes are divided in a system of graded inequality of castes. Religious pogroms against Muslims (and Christians) are fanned through the Hindutva ideology for this same purpose. An additional way of keeping the backward caste (Bahujan) – Dalit masses in perpetual conflict and violence is to fan ethnic conflict along the lines of linguistic identities, such as creating ethnic conflicts around issues such as the Mullai Periyar dam or sharing of Kaveri river waters.  The ire of the Dalit – Bahujan masses in Tamil Nadu and Kerala should be directed against the Brahman – Baniya (Vysya) – Kshatriya “twice born” ruling castes that control the national leadership of national parties such as Congress, BJP and CPI (M) and the media, and their appeasing castes such as "Nayars" (who take pride in their bastard descent  from a tradition that mandated illegitimate coupling between Brahman men and Nayar women), who fan ethnic conflicts around issues such as Mullai Periyar dam, by posing double faces, one for the people of Kerala and another for the people in Tamil Nadu. It is the Bahujan (backward caste) – Dalit masses of Kerala and Tamil Nadu who have been instigated against each other over the Mullai Periyar dam, while no Brahman or Nayar from Kerala and Tamil Nadu is attacking each other. With regards to the Mullai Periyaru dam, both the Central Water Commission and the Supreme Court have confirmed the safety of the dam and allowed for the water level to be raised to 142 feet. This  conclusion was arrived at by additionally considering the extensive reconstruction and strengthening measured undertaken on the Mullai Periyaru dam using state of the art technology. This being the case - the Brahman leadership of "national" parties such as Congress, BJP and CPI (M), along with their appeasing castes such as the Nayars who constitute the ruling class of Kerala are fanning a mass mysteria and fear psychosis by falsely claiming that the dam is unsafe.   As a matter of fact both Tamil speaking Brahmans (such as V.R.Krishna Iyer) and Kerala based Brahmans (and Brahmans from outside of Tamil Nadu) have all been supporting Kerala’s stand over the dam through their media organs. 


Other "twice born" castes such as Kayasthas and Baidyas of Bengal aid in this aforesaid agenda of  the Brahman and allied "twice born" ruling classes to divide and rule the Indian masses through various methods as described above, just as some Kerala non-twice born castes such as Nayars, Menons and Syrian Christians who consider themselves as descendants of Brahmans and are appeasers of Brahmans and Brahmanism, and some other dominant castes amongst Shudras who appease Brahmans and allied "twice born" agenda in various states. 

Lok Pal seeks to target Bahujans (backward castes) and Dalits!

Oskar Schindler was a corrupt businessman but he saved thousands of Jews from certain murder. Adolf Hitler may not have received a bribe but he was a totalitarian mass murderer. Therefore, being corrupt does not make someone automatically a bad human being. The Brahman led upper caste media’s obsession with financial corruption and the Anna Hazare movement propped up by the upper castes belies the upper caste ruling class’ and media class’  bigoted supremacist agenda to persecute the political representatives and bureaucrats of backward caste and Dalit background by focusing on financial corruption of backward caste and Dalit politicians and bureaucrats, while the the caste system and Brahman led upper caste ruling class’ bigotry which are the fountainhead of oppression of hundreds of millions by impoverishment, social exclusion, illiteracy, homelessness and atrocities, are  overlooked and hidden from the media’s agenda. 


The major problem that India faces is caste bigotry and not corruption, since caste bigotry is the primary cause for social inequality, denial of literacy, enforced poverty, child labour, gender prejudice, caste bondage to degrading and inhumane labour, and manifold forms of discrimination against Dalits and most backward castes which entrenches them as an underclass. Caste bigotry is the primary cause for keeping the Bahujan (backward caste) and Dalit masses of India in illiteracy, disease, insanitation, homelessness and poverty, since the "twice born" Hindu supremacist ruling class of Brahman - Baniya - Kshatriyas have prevented state investment in a social welfare state in order to permanently consign backward castes and Dalits to illiteracy, disease, homelessness and insanitation. On the other hand, the worst form of financial corruption that is defrauding the nation is not the petty corruption of government officials or legislators, but the Brahman - Baniya - Kshatriya led "twice born" ruling castes' hold on power, bureaucracy and big business that is looting thousands of billions of dollars from the treasury of India, through unwanted arms purchases, cosy corporate deals and waiver of income tax to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars that benefits corporate houses controlled by Brahman - Baniya led "twice born" supremacist ruling class. The Brahman led "twice born" supremacist castes who control the Indian media have concealed this defrauding and impoverishment of Indian masses that has been going for centuries ever since the caste system took hold on India. 

This is not a blog that condones financial corruption, but it only condemns the selective application of anti-corruption institutions against Dalit and backward caste legislators and government staff. The need of the hour is reformation of a colonial police system that will enforce existing laws against corruption and strong laws against corporate corruption, but not a supra-governmental and unelected body such as Lok Pal that will hold the elected government to ransom by selectively bullying and victimizing legislators and government staff of Dalit and backward caste background. Lok Pal will be misused for partisan purposes against prime minister and ministers if they happen to be of backward caste or Dalit descent. 

India is a society where corruption is the basis for existence due to the racism of graded inequality of castes and the bigotry of the Brahman-Baniya "twice born" supremacists who are at the top of the bigoted Hindu caste system as the governing class of India who immensely enriched themselves with a monopoly on corruption and power for centuries. Now the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" governing class want to prevent the enrichment of backward castes and Dalits through the same processes of corruption that enriched (and is still enriching) the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" castes for centuries. This is being done by the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" classes through championing a new law called Lok Pal (and the Anna Hazare campaign) which primarily targets backward castes and Dalits who gain employment with the government through reservation (affirmative action). 

The Brahman - Baniya "twice born" bigots know fully well that the entire social system in India is corrupt and is based on caste nepotism and corruption. The Brahman - Baniya led "twice born" castes benefited immensely from their monopoly on power, corruption and caste nepotism for centuries, during British rule and after independence, and the Brahman led "twice born" castes never organised any movement against corruption when there was no threat to their power from the backward castes and Dalits. Due to their centuries of corruption, the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" castes are entrenched as the governing apartheid class (castes) of India, controlling the government, bureaucracy, army, judiciary, business corporations, academia, arts and the media. 

But after the advent of "Mandal" politics and reservation for backward castes and Dalits in education and government employment, the Brahman - Baniya  "twice born" castes resented the spread of wealth amongst the backward castes and Dalits, and particularly disliked the rise of political leaders who represented backward castes and Dalits. Hence, the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" castes are using the Anna Hazare campaign and the Lok Pal Law to prevent the spread of wealth and power amongst backward castes and Dalits, knowing fully well that in a society where corruption is the norm, backward castes and Dalits who are new entrants to education, employment and political power - cannot be immune to corruption. Thus the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" elite who benefited from their monopoly on power and corruption for centuries, want to prevent the enrichment and empowerment of backward castes and Dalits through the same processes of corruption that hitherto benefited only the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" castes. 

Now, after economic liberalisation and globalisation, the corruption of the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" castes has taken a different form and is mostly corporate in nature, and hence the new Lok Pal law does not target corporate corruption, but only targets petty corruption of government officials who may be from backward caste and Dalit background since the advent of affirmative action (reservation) for backward castes and Dalits in government jobs. 

Just as Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar denounced, the fundamental aims of Brahman - Baniya "twice born" ruling classes (castes) is to deny education, wealth, power and equality to the "Shudras" (backward castes) and Dalits, by securing a monopoly for the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" castes as the chief authorities controlling power and immense wealth (big business) as the governing class (castes) of India. Hence, the so called "anti-corruption" movement using Anna Hazare is actually a movement sponsored and controlled by Brahman - Baniya "twice born" castes to target and prevent politicians, government officials and government employees from backward castes and Dalit background from enriching and empowering themselves with the same processes of corruption which hitherto enriched and empowered the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" castes. This is being done by the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" ruling class (castes) to selectively target politicians, elected representatives and government officials belonging to backward caste and Dalit background who do not toe the line of "twice born" ruling classes, and to prevent the backward castes and Dalits from acquiring the financial base that would threaten the bigoted monopoly of the Brahman - Baniya "twice born" ruling class (castes) on power, big business and corruption. 

It is this same selective application of prosecution for corruption on backward castes and Dalits that ensured the arrest of the Dalit politician Raja for the alleged crime of inappropriate allocation of spectrum to mobile phone operators, while letting scot free all the previous ministers of telecommunication who were guilty of the same practice because the previous ministers were of Brahman - Baniya - Kshatriya "twice born" "origin" or in marital relations with Brahman or "twice born" Hindus.

For the same reasons stated above, powerful government officials, businessmen, politicians and movie stars from backward caste, Dalit or Muslim background who “do not” appease the Brahman – Baniya “twice born” upper castes (and their “Hindu” agenda) will find themselves encountering problems such as income tax raids, accusations and prosecutions for corruption or various other obstacles to run them out of their careers, businesses or jobs. This is why many movie actors (who don’t belong to Brahman – Baniya – Kshatriya “twice born” Hindu background) marry Brahman women. This explains why many famous Muslim actors have Brahmin wives. This is why politicians from backward caste or Dalit background face accusations and prosecutions for corruption while Brahman – Baniya - Kshatriya “twice born” political and corporate classes have never been even accused or seriously prosecuted for their entrenched corruption that impoverished India for centuries,  particularly since independence. While the Brahman – Baniya – Kshatriya “twice born” Hindu ruling class has waived income tax monies owed by business houses controlled or benefited by “twice born” Hindus to the tune of 83 billion dollars in six years from 2005 to 2011, businesses owned by Shudras or Dalits will not get such bailouts from the Government of India.