My brief note of rebuttal to writer / publisher S. Anand's (Anand Navayana's) untenable rejoinder to my critique :

S. Anand quite conveniently, expediently and incredibly disowns the headline and blurb of the article he wrote and reported under the title “Dalits in reverse”, but he did nothing at the time or subsequently to ensure the publication of his disagreement with the headline, blurb or the premise of his report titled “Dalits in reverse”. But it is not just the title and the blurb of the report titled “Dalits in reverse”, but the report’s content of a series of reported statements attributed to a varied assortment of Brahmin individuals in order to give the false impression that Brahmins are being persecuted (like “Dalits” as the title  suggested). It was not just the title and the blurb, but the thrust of the entire report that uses a series of quotes from Brahmins of various walks of life to falsely claim that Brahmins are a persecuted lot. Contrary to S. Anand’s untenable claims, he has not “exposed”, condemned or critiqued Ashokamitran’s false claim of persecution of Brahmins like the Jews in the 1930s (in his report “We are like the Jews”) or his other Brahmin interviewees’ false claims of persecution on account of their Brahmin caste (in his report “Dalits in reverse”) since there is nothing in his aforementioned two reports to suggest that S.Anand condemned or critiqued the false claims of persecution made by Ashoka Mitran and an assortment of Brahmin interviewees on account of their Brahmin caste. Thus it is obvious that there was no gross misrepresentation on my part with regards to S. Anand’s reports titled “Dalits in reverse” and “We are like the Jews” since S. Anand simply denies that he ever wrote the title or the blurb of his report to untenably counter my critique nor does he deny that his aforementioned two reports sensationally showcased comments of Brahmin interviewees making false claims of persecution on account of their Brahmin caste. Contrary to S. Anand’s claims, his aforementioned two reports were not expressions of mocking some Tamil Brahmins for imagining that the tsunami was a result of the arrest of a Brahmin pontiff (Jayendra Sarwaswathi) nor was it a comedic treatise of the amusement S. Anand felt at Tamil Brahmins going into a sulk at the arrest of a Brahmin pontiff. There are no statements in his aforementioned two reports to suggest that S.Anand mocked or condemned the false claims of persecution made by his Brahmin interviewees on account of their Brahmin caste nor has S. Anand expressed his bemusement or disagreement towards the various false claims of persecution made by his Brahmin interviewees in these two aforementioned reports. These two journalistic reports of S. Anand were serious and pre-meditated journalistic reporting that used selective quotes of selected Brahmin interviewees who were selectively interviewed to feed the lie that Brahmins are being persecuted like Dalits and Jews in the 1930s as an apologia to Brahmin supremacy and to falsely portray the socially privileged supremacist class of Brahmins as a persecuted lot to an unsuspecting global readership in order to absolve Brahmins of any role in the social ills of the nation and society surrounding them. Moreover, the aforementioned two reports of S. Anand are based on interviews of an assortment of Brahmin individuals with the singular aim of getting the Brahmin interviewees to make various false claims of persecution of Brahmins and not for any other purpose. I never wrote that S. Anand has not filed other investigative reports regarding the criminal charges and other allegations against the Brahmin Pontiff Jayendra Saraswathi and the Mutt headed by the latter. I clearly mentioned in my original article rebutting S. Anand’s critique of Aamir Khan’s programme on untouchability that I was referring to the reportage of S. Anand by way of citing two of his aforementioned specific reports, and hence S. Anand’s claim that he was reporting what others (such as Ashoka Mitran) said and his claim of filing several other investigative reports on the criminal charges faced by the Brahmin Pontiff Jayendra Saraswathi does not justify or excuse the aforementioned two reports aimed at falsely portraying that Brahmins are a persecuted lot by selectively quoting a selected assortment of Brahmins, to the extent of ridiculously and delusionally claiming that Brahmins are being persecuted like Dalits and Jews in the 1930s. Kindly await my detailed and analytical refutation of S. Anand's rejoinder. 

WEB LINKS TO MY ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN COUNTERCURRENTS.ORG

KINDLY CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW:

http://www.countercurrents.org/elango201012.htm

Pot Calling The Kettle Black - A Rebuttal To S. Anand’s Criticism Of Aamir Khan's “Satyamev Jayate”

http://www.countercurrents.org/elango191012.htm

The Imperative Need Of Caste Based Reservation For Ensuring Social Equity

Why Dalits opposed a cartoon lampooning Dr.Ambedkar in a school text book - a perspective of a Dalit writer / journalist.

Why Dalits opposed a cartoon lampooning Dr.Ambedkar in a school text book - a perspective of a Dalit writer / journalist.

Written by Dr. Iniyan Elango, Correspondent; “Dalit Murasu” magazine.  

Most media perspectives and opinions on the controversy regarding the inclusion of a cartoon lampooning Dr.Ambedkar in a NCERT text book have been totally oblivious to the daily socially occurring reality of lampooning or defacing Dr.Ambedkar’s imagery as a bigoted act of oppression, stigmatization and humiliation heaped on Dalits.

In a period of nationwide Dalit resurgence, perpetration of vandalism and defacement on Dr. Ambedkar’s statutes and images is one of the most common and heinous ways by which caste Hindu bigots express their collective bigotry and hatred on Dalits. Thus, a caricature of a leader such as “Pandit” (Brahmin) Nehru holding a whip while standing beside a cartoon of Dr. Ambedkar with the latter depicted in a subordinate position to Nehru, which has been re-published in a text book six decades after its original publication - would only be seen as an act to hurt Dalit sensibilities at best and as an outright act of humiliating Dalits at worst. People who harp on freedom of expression fail to notice or ignore the bigoted tradition of defacing, vandalising or humiliating images and statutes of Dr.Ambedkar as an act of collective hatred, untouchability and bigotry against Dalits. Thus, if a caricature of Dr. Ambedkar such as the one that was published in a NCERT text book was drawn in the walls of a village or town, it would have been only perceived as an act of bigoted hatred and untouchability aimed at humiliating and oppressing Dalits, and would have led to caste violence. Why would the so called academics expect the situation to be any different if the same cartoon is published in a text book is beyond the cognition of those who have seen and experienced the subjective anger felt by most Dalits due to the humiliation, defacement and vandalism heaped on Dr. Ambedkar’s imagery as an act of collective hatred, violence and oppression against Dalits.

The fact that most high school students and college students of caste Hindu background are brought up on a heavy diet of bigotry and hatred against Dalits and the Dalit icon Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is evident from past instances such as the mass murderous violence unleashed by caste Hindu students against Dalit students in Maharashtra state in order to prevent the naming of the Marathwada university after Dr.B.R.Ambedkar which left dozens of Dalit students dead! In such a situation of rampant anti-Dalit and anti-Ambedkar bigotry amongst caste Hindu students, and given the total lack of curricular lessons advocating against the social realities of the bigoted and vertically graded caste system and untouchability practices for school students, and the total exclusion of Dr. Ambedkar’s writings against caste bigotry, untouchability and Hindu religion  from school curricula, and a total absence of a positive biographical account of Dr. Ambedkar’s academic, political, social and constitutional achievements in school text books, teaching students a prejudiced and biased cartoon that falsely portrays Dr. Ambedkar as an inefficient and ill treated subordinate to Nehru while the latter is illustrated as holding a whip besides Dr. Ambedkar, will only reinforce prejudiced stereotypes and bigoted perceptions of Dr. Ambedkar that is held by caste Hindu youth, and will only serve as a bigoted tool of humiliating and degrading Dr. Ambedkar’s image as an expression of hatred, humiliation and untouchability against Dalits. 

Why would anyone include a cartoon depicting Dr. Ambedkar in a negative and humiliating light in a school text book given the aforementioned bigoted social realities is something that is asked by all conscious and informed Dalits.  After all, political cartoons criticizing Hindu extremist fanaticism, Hindu religion, untouchability, Brahmin caste supremacy, caste bigotry or the caste system is not included in the school curricula for political science or sociology subjects and no cartoon lampooning Hindu superstitions, Hindu Godmen or Hindu Gods would be included in a text book. Certainly, no one would dare suggest that M.F.Hussain’s illustrations of Hindu Gods and Goddesses opposed by Hindutva fanatics should adorn a text book in the name of freedom of expression and “critical pedagogy”!

Freedom of expression is no justification to include bigoted cartoons that serve to perpetrate hatred, bigotry and humiliation against Dalits in a school text book through defacement or lampooning of Dr. Ambedkar’s imagery. This is why most Dalits oppose the teaching of a cartoon that lampoons Dr. Ambedkar by depicting him in the receiving end of a whip lashing caricature of Nehru – in a text book. Those who don’t see this point are ignorant or oblivious to the daily subjective realities of hatred and violence perpetrated on Dalits by way of defacing, vandalising and humiliating Dr. Ambedkar’s images and statutes! What seems humorous freedom of expression for the elitist pedagogues far removed from the oppressive social realities of Dalits is indeed hateful and bigoted defacement, humiliation and degradation of a Dalit icon’s image as an expression of murderous oppression and evil caste bigotry collectively strewn on Dalits!

I am sure that South Africans will not include a school lesson containing a cartoon lampooning Nelson Mandela as an inefficient subordinate beside a whip lashing caricature of a white Afrikaner leader! Then why would Indians want a school text book to carry a cartoon lampooning Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar by falsely accusing him of being responsible for the alleged slow drafting of the Indian constitution and caricaturising him as an ill treated subordinate to a whip holding caricature of a caste Hindu and Brahmin leader such as Nehru which only reinforces bigoted stereotypes against Dalits and Dr. Ambedkar amongst misinformed, non-informed and prejudiced caste Hindu youth? 

The cartoon incorrectly claims that it took an unduly long time to draft the constitution and unfairly holds Dr. Ambedkar responsible for the allegedly slow drafting of the constitution by depicting Dr. Ambedkar as a rider on a snail with the snail figuratively representing the allegedly slow drafting process of the constitution. In addition, the cartoon depicts a whip wielding Nehru who is shown as standing besides Dr. Ambedkar riding a snail, with the snail metaphorically representing the allegedly slow drafting process of the constitution. This by itself is a historically false picture that humiliates and insults Dr. Ambedkar. There was no undue delay in the drafting of the Indian constitution. It is only natural that sufficient time should be taken by the constituent assembly to deliberate and draft a comprehensive constitution for a diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and complex populace such as the people of India. The constituent assembly only met for 166 days for deliberating the drafting of the constitution which cannot be considered as any undue delay in the drafting of the constitution. The fact that India became a republic by adopting a new constitution within three years of attaining independence from British rule shows that there was no undue delay in the drafting of the constitution. The time duration of three years that passed after independence from British rule before India became a republic by adopting the new constitution only shows that sufficient, necessary and justifiable time was spent in drafting and adopting a comprehensive constitution for the Indian people without any undue and unnecessary delay. Hence, it can be fairly concluded that the cartoon conveys a historically incorrect information by falsely alleging undue delay in the drafting of the constitution, and the cartoon also falsely blames Dr. Ambedkar for the falsely alleged delay in the drafting of the constitution and in addition falsely suggests that Nehru was accelerating the process of drafting the constitution by depicting Nehru as cracking a whip on Dr. Ambedkar.

Nobody denies that the cartoonist had the freedom of expression to portray his partisan views critiquing Dr. Ambedkar, however untenable and false, in a cartoon six decades ago. But where is the wisdom, ethics and morality in re-publishing that cartoon as a lesson in a school text book six decades later, considering the questionable and false message of the cartoon which is seen as reinforcing bigoted attitudes against Dalits and Dr. Ambedkar by a resurgent and assertive Dalit populace seeking to destroy bigoted stereotypes and prejudiced attitudes that shackles Dalits to the clutches of caste bigotry, caste oppression and the evil of untouchability? 

The imperative need of caste based reservation for ensuring social equity, since affluence cannot be a rational criterion to deny caste based reservation.

The imperative need of caste based reservation for ensuring social equity, since affluence cannot be a rational criterion to deny caste based reservation.  

By Dr. Iniyan Elango, Correspondent : "Dalit Murasu" magazine. 

The Shudra must not acquire knowledge and it is a sin and a crime to give him education. - If the Shudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the Veda, then his ears should be filled with (molten) lead; if he utters the Veda, then his tongue should be cut off.

-          The Code of Manu (Manusmrithi - which is still one of the scriptural basis for contemporary Hindu civil law in India).

This essay analyses why caste based representation (reservation) for backward castes and scheduled castes in education and employment is imperative for establishing social equity in a society ridden with the vertically graded bigotry of the caste system and why affluence cannot be a criterion to deny caste based reservation.

Caste based reservation in government jobs and higher education was first introduced during the British rule of India as representation through affirmative action in government jobs and higher education for castes traditionally excluded from government jobs and education such as castes of the Shudra Varna (backward castes) and Dalits (scheduled castes). Affluence is not the criteria for affirmative action (reservation) but social exclusion (backwardness) from government jobs and education caused by the discriminatory dynamics of the caste system over the centuries that denied and disapproved of education for castes of the Shudra Varna (backward castes) and scheduled castes (Dalits) irrespective of their affluence or the lack of it. Hence, affluence is not the criteria for affirmative action (reservation), and therefore, using affluence or the lack of it to deny or affirm reservation in jobs and education will be fallacious. Including or excluding castes for reservation based on affluence will only push in the factor of financial (economic) status as the criteria for reservation which is illegal, anti-constitutional and irrelevant to the social dynamics of the bigoted caste system. 

Hindu religious and mythological lore is full of stories about even wealthy Shudras getting killed for trying to acquire knowledge through penance, the famous one being the killing of Sambhuka by the Hindu God Rama, since Sambhuka (who was a Shudra) defied the bigoted caste laws by doing penance through uttering chants from the scriptures, an activity that is restricted only to Brahmins as an expression of the latter’s supremacist bigotry in the caste system). All Hindu Gods and Goddesses are portrayed as guardians of the bigoted caste system and Brahmin supremacist bigotry in Hindu religious mythology, scriptures and religious lore.  

Even in the USA, affirmative action and equal opportunity policies in higher education and employment does not shut off candidates from relatively well off backgrounds because using economic criteria will only aggravate the under-representation of races and peoples who are already under-represented in education and employment, by shutting off middle – class and upper class African Americans and other socially disadvantaged races from equal opportunity and inclusion in academia and employment. The aim of affirmative action is to enable equal opportunity for races and peoples under-represented in education and employment due to factors of bigotry. In USA, race is a bigoted factor that may cause under-representation of black people and other non-white races, and hence affirmative action and equal opportunity policies uses race as a criteria in USA. In India, caste is a bigoted factor that denied education and social equality to peoples of backward castes and Dalits for centuries, and hence caste is used for affirmative action (reservation) to backward castes and Dalits (scheduled castes) who were traditionally denied access to education and still denied social equality and denied state funded mandatory and universal access to primary and secondary education, due to the bigoted system of vertically graded inequality of castes and the caste bigotry of the Brahmin led “twice born” ruling class of castes.

Processes such as affirmative action (reservation) enable representation in education and employment for social groups (races or castes) who have been traditionally excluded from education, employment and governance due to bigotry. Thus affirmative action (or reservation as it is called in India) provides representation for social groups (races and castes) who have been traditionally excluded from education, employment and governance.  For example, in USA, African Americans avail affirmative action in higher education and in Universities, but no one says in USA that the affluent amongst African Americans should be denied affirmative action. There are innumerable affluent American residents of Indian origin (Brahmins and upper castes included) who avail race based affirmative action in USA. This is because affirmative action is given on the basis of social disadvantage caused by race in the USA, (just as reservation in India is given on the basis of exclusion caused by caste bigotry and caste inequality) and not on the basis of economic class. In India, affirmative action (reservation) is given on the basis of exclusion caused by caste inequality. The aim is to make the student body in universities and employees in government more representative of castes traditionally excluded from education and government employment in India such as the backward castes and scheduled castes (Dalits). In such a situation, applying economic criteria to exclude the affluent amongst African Americans or other races (in USA), or the affluent among backward castes or scheduled castes (in India) from affirmative action (reservation) will destroy the aim of affirmative action (reservation) since the very poor may not be always able to study up to the academic level required for university admission or government employment, and restricting affirmative action (reservation) only to the poor amongst African Americans, backward castes or scheduled castes will leave no one amongst them eligible for affirmative action (reservation) for  university admission and government employment, which will destroy the very purpose of ending the exclusion of African Americans, backward castes and scheduled castes in higher education and government employment through affirmative action. Hence affirmative action in USA is given on the basis of the race of the candidate – irrespective of the economic class of the candidate, so that any African American, Native American, Hispanic American or any candidate of non-white socially disadvantaged races in USA from any economic class will find equal opportunity, and avail the representation accorded in higher education and employment. So affirmative action is about representation of excluded groups (races and castes) in employment, education and governance and NOT about economic upliftment. 

Economic upliftment of financially challenged students can be furthered only through financial help via financial scholarships, financial grants, student loans, part-time jobs and teaching assistantships and not by affirmative action. Hence, the use of affirmative action (reservation) to facilitate representation of socially disadvantaged castes and races in education and employment cannot use the economic criteria and cannot exclude candidates on the basis of their economic class. Therefore, the exclusion of the affluent in affirmative action for socially disadvantaged races and castes such as backward castes and scheduled castes is untenable and wrong, and beats the purpose of representation of socially disadvantaged and educationally backward castes in education and employment, not the least because affluence does not abolish the bigoted caste identity, caste inferiorization, graded caste inequality, social stigma associated with untouchability for Dalits and caste based stigma or discrimination of a person in India. This is simply because caste identity is determined by the birth of a person and not by the economic class of a person. 

Reservation is not a tool to eradicate poverty but a system of representation for backward castes and Dalits (scheduled castes) who are excluded from government employment and higher education in the absence of such an affirmative action.  Poverty can be eradicated only by a welfare regime as in Europe that guarantees state funded mandatory universal primary and secondary education, universal access to government funded medical care, state funded housing for the homeless and social security doles to all impoverished and unemployable people. The central government bureaucracy and planning commission mostly staffed by Brahmins and “twice born” upper castes have not spent a penny for such a welfare state while wasting thousands of crores of rupees in unnecessary arms imports and arms purchases and other unnecessary excursions such as buying the debt of USA and giving hundreds of billions as grants to crisis stricken EU (as Manmohan Singh led Government did recently) when the people of India impoverished and oppressed by caste bigotry and untouchability go without access to education, medical care, housing, sanitation and social security payments.

In the absence of a welfare state that guarantees primary and secondary education and free higher education to the poor amongst backward castes and Dalits, shutting off the rich amongst them from reservation will leave no one from backward castes and Dalits eligible for reservation in higher education and government employment, thus perpetuating their exclusion from higher education & government employment. Even the recent “right to education act” should be considered as an eye wash because the act does not make the provision of primary and secondary education as a fundamental and non-negotiable duty of the Government and does not make access to primary and secondary education as a fundamental right of every child citizen, and does not provide for large scale building and upgrading of Government schools in villages, slums and Dalit ghettos which have no schools while unrealistically shifting the provision of primary and secondary education to the private sector by reserving 25% of seats in urban private schools to students from impoverished backgrounds which is neither absolutely enforceable nor beneficiary to backward castes, Dalits or rural and slum dwelling children.

Excluding the affluent (or the so called “creamy layer”) from representation of socially disadvantaged races and castes in education and employment, or saying that only the poor can represent socially disadvantaged races and castes, is as ridiculous as saying Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Spike Lee, Barack Obama or for that matter artists and leaders who advocated the rights of those oppressed by the caste system such as Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, “Rettai malai” Srinivasan, M.C.Rajah, Ayothithasar, Thanthai Periyar, etc., cannot be leaders or representatives of their peoples because they had attained  relative affluence!! So if one applies the “creamy layer” (affluence) concept in enabling representation of castes and races by restricting representation in government, jobs and education only to the poor amongst socially disadvantaged races and castes, there will be no one to lead or represent those socially disadvantaged castes and races in education, employment and governance. This is what bigoted and reactionary interests in India want to happen by opposing affirmative action (reservation) based on caste (for backward castes and scheduled castes) by advocating “economic criteria” for affirmative action and exclusion of the affluent from caste based reservation while doing nothing to invest public finances for universal and mandatory access to government funded education, health care and housing for the poor.

Hence, any cap or restriction in the reservation for backward castes and scheduled castes in education and employment on the basis of the so called untenable and irrelevant “creamy layer” argument should be negated and nullified through appropriate and effective constitutional amendments.   

Actually, several statistics show that reservation in higher education and government employment for Dalits remain unfilled and incompletely implemented. In addition, the open unreserved category in employment and higher education in which candidates from all castes can compete was wrongly enforced and fraudulently misappropriated as reservation for Brahmins and upper castes (forward castes), thus nullifying the very purpose of reservation until it was effectively challenged and exposed in the courts of law.

Certainly, caste is not perpetrated or perpetuated by affirmative action (reservation) to backward castes and scheduled castes in government jobs and higher education, as it is evident from the fact that the bigoted practice and perpetuation of the graded inequality of the caste system and its allied oppressive practices continued unabated for centuries even before the advent of affirmative action (reservation) in modern times. Caste is perpetuated by the social practices of caste stigmatization due to the vertically graded inequality of castes, endogamous caste based marriages, caste based social association at the exclusion of people belonging to other castes, untouchability practices and segregation imposed on Dalits, atrocities and honour killings against those who transgress caste norms – particularly Dalits - which forces people to conform to bigoted caste norms out of fear, the Hindu religious sanctification of the caste system that reserves priesthood and religious sacramental performance to the caste at the summit of the caste system – namely the Brahmins, thrusting various forms of physical labour on backward castes and Dalits, forcing  degrading work on the basis of caste descent on Dalits,  and the lack of equal and universal access to education, social equality, skills and employment irrespective of caste. This being the case, there is a great need to extend caste based reservations for backward castes and scheduled castes to the private sector.

Reservation in Tamil Nadu is as high as 87% because the vast majority of the peoples come under the caste category of Shudras (backward castes) and scheduled castes (Dalits). Shudras are lower in the caste hierarchy to “twice born” castes such as Brahmins – Baniyas (Vysyas) and Kshatriyas. For centuries, education, commerce and governance in India were the preserve of the aforementioned three “twice born” castes, leaving the Shudras (backward castes) educationally backward despite some of them being land owning farmers.  The vast majority of the Shudras found themselves doing various forms of physical labour based on their caste descent and excluded from education while being considered inferior in birth to Brahmins and other “twice born” upper castes (even if the Shudra happens to attain more wealth than Brahmins).  But the Shudras (backward castes) were still higher than the untouchables (Dalits) in the bigoted and vertically graded inequality of castes, because Dalits are in the bottom rung of the caste system as outcasts and untouchables. The castes which are lower in the caste hierarchy amongst the Shudras and bonded to various occupations of physical labour and suffering a more severe exclusion from education are referred to as “most backward castes” in Tamil Nadu state. Since the backward castes, most backward castes and scheduled castes comprise of almost 90% of the population of Tamil Nadu, naturally – the reservation earmarked for them in higher education and government jobs reflects their proportion of the population and is hence 87% in Tamil Nadu.

Representation in government jobs and higher education for castes which have been made socially and educationally backward due to the bigotry of the caste system irrespective of their financial status (meaning socially inferiorized in the vertically graded inequality of the caste system and traditionally excluded from education) is the premise of the reservation system in Tamil Nadu. But since the vast majority of the peoples are socially and educationally backward due to the bigotry and exclusion caused by the caste system, reservation earmarked for backward castes, most backward castes and scheduled castes is high as 87% in Tamil Nadu. There is no point in blaming the Government of Tamil Nadu for the large percentage of backward castes in Tamil Nadu, when the Hindu caste system has inferiorized almost all of the population as “Shudras”, and hence naturally, almost all of the population would be considered as backward castes. If the Supreme Court has restricted the overall reservation (for both backward castes and scheduled castes) to 50% it is demographically and factually unjust and wrong, when the vast majority of the Indian peoples have been socially inferiorized as “Shudras” (backward castes), banned from education for centuries and divided by the bigoted and vertically graded caste inequalities that preaches superiority and inferiority by birth apart from being bonded to various forms of physical labour by caste descent. If one also includes the population of scheduled castes segregated, oppressed and exploited as “untouchables” (along with those backward castes inferiorized as “Shudras), almost all of the Indian populace (except for the Brahmins and “twice born” upper castes) would fall under the category of socially and educationally backward peoples. Hence the 50% cap on reservation for (backward castes and scheduled castes) in education and employment as dictated by a Supreme Court judgment should be negated and nullified through a constitutional amendment. 

The system of caste based reservation (representation) ensures that no one particular caste usurps and dominates most of the opportunities in Government employment and higher education. In the absence of caste based affirmative action (representation or reservation), the danger of Brahmins and “twice born” upper castes cornering all jobs in the Government and all opportunities in education did happen during the days before caste based reservation came into practice. Hence, in the land of the bigoted caste system, caste based reservation in education and employment is essential to ensure equitable representation of all castes in employment and education. Therefore, there is an acute need to extend caste based reservation to private sector corporate employment and private sector educational institutions of higher education.

But efforts for annihilating the bigoted caste identities (that sustains the division of society and nation through the bigoted and vertically graded inequality of castes) should go hand in hand with social justice measures such as caste based reservation for backward castes and scheduled castes in education and employment. Hence community certificates that are used to sanction affirmative action (reservation) for backward castes and scheduled castes - should not be issued with caste names and should carry only the general terminology of “backward communities” or “scheduled communities”. In addition, any kind of usage of individual caste identities of backward castes and scheduled castes should be banned, while community certificates and reservation can be continued to be accorded based on the general terms such as “backward communities and scheduled communities”. Off springs of marriages between Dalits and non-Dalits should not be thrust with their parents’ caste and should be declared “casteless” and reservation accorded to them accordingly. Bigoted preaching of superiority or inferiority of any caste should be criminalised and so should be the usage of any caste identity or caste name in any form including the use of caste surnames. Use of caste surnames has already been largely discontinued amongst most Tamils in Tamil Nadu due to Periyar’s self-respect movement, even though caste bigotry, graded caste inequalities, oppression and segregation of Dalits and untouchability practices continue to be alive and well amongst Tamils. All caste based advertisements including caste based matrimonial advertisements in all forms of media should be made illegal. Along with these measures, all caste hereditary and caste descent based menial and degrading labour should be banned, and segregation of Dalits in ghettos or slums or the so called "Cheris" should be ended by providing Dalits housing and land inside the towns and villages where caste Hindus live. Government schools, Government hospitals and Government offices should be built in segregated Dalit neighbourhoods so that caste Hindus who use them would have to visit segregated Dalit habitats thus socially integrating caste Hindus with Dalits and ending the segregation of Dalits. And in addition, all people irrespective of caste background should be allowed to train and work as Hindu temple priests to end the religiously sanctioned monopoly of Hindu priesthood held by the Brahmin caste and to end all other allied caste discrimination and untouchability practices in Hindu temples, rituals and sacraments.

Those who oppose caste based reservation in education and employment while wanting to preserve their bigoted caste identities and doing nothing for the annihilation of the caste system - are like those who want to have the cake and eat it too!  Before we can talk about ending caste based reservations, we need to bring in strict and strong laws to criminalise, proscribe and ban any and all expressions, rituals, manifestations, institutions, traditions, occupations, segregation and social practices associated with caste, caste identities or the caste system including the banning of any usage of caste names, encourage the culture of courtship and dating across castes to enable men and women to choose their own life partners across caste barriers instead of resorting to caste based arranged marriages, give incentives in employment and education for non-Dalits and Dalits who inter-marry and create a welfare state in the lines of western Europe that guarantees universal  access to education, universal access to health care, universal access to housing for the homeless and social security doles to the unemployed, thus creating social equality! Only after achieving such a casteless society and social welfare state can we talk about ending caste based reservations for backward castes and scheduled castes! Those who want to sustain the bigoted caste system and its associated regressive and oppressive social practices but oppose caste based reservations are hypocritical bigots!

The time has come to speed up the process for the annihilation of castes to create a nation that truly guarantees equality, fraternity and liberty to all her citizens. All Indian citizens who are committed to creating a modern, progressive and egalitarian India should contribute to this struggle for annihilation of castes.

Creating social equity through caste based reservation for backward castes and scheduled castes in education and employment is one of the primary and fundamental steps in the long drawn out process of annihilating the bigoted caste system!  

It is obvious that the central government bureaucracies, diplomatic services, IAS and IFS cadre, military officers’ corps, higher judiciary, elite academic institutions such as the IITs and AIIMS and various state government bureaucracies are still overwhelmingly staffed with Brahmins and upper castes. It is also lamentable that caste based reservation for backward castes and scheduled castes have not been extended to judiciary and military services. A few years ago, the “Outlook” magazine ran a cover story on the domination of Brahmins in central government bureaucracies (“The Durbar Hall Pundits”, Outlook, June 04, 2007). Thus it is obvious that the current reservation regimes in education and government employment for backward castes and scheduled castes have not made any dent on the Brahmins’ and “twice born” upper castes’ monopolistic control over the Indian state machinery as the ruling class of castes. This means that current reservation regimes for backward castes and scheduled castes are being insufficiently or improperly implemented, and the 50% cap imposed by the supreme court on reservation for backward castes and scheduled castes in education and employment should be done away with by way of a constitutional amendment, and the exclusion of the so called “creamy layer” from reservation should be scrapped through a constitutional amendment for all the reasons analysed and explained above and more. In addition, reservation in education and employment for backward castes and scheduled castes should be extended comprehensively to all private sector institutions. 

Reservation for backward castes and scheduled castes should be particularly extended to all printed media and visual media organs such as newspapers, magazines, journals and television news broadcast channels, since all these mainstream media organs are financially owned and / or editorially controlled or predominantly staffed by Brahmins - Baniyas and "twice born" upper castes. Even columnists are predominantly Brahmin and upper caste. Every journal and newspaper should be compelled by law to employ and publish the writings of columnists and journalists from Dalit and backward caste background, particularly opinion of those Dalit and backward caste writers who vehemently condemn and oppose the bigotry of Brahmins, caste, Hinduism and social segregation called "untouchability"!

When the Malay people are given reservation and prioritization in university education and private sector employment in Malaysia, and when admission to university, medical colleges and other professional colleges in Singapore are reserved on a racial basis according to the population numbers of a particular race with the Chinese applicants garnering the largest chunk of reservation in universities and colleges in Singapore since the Chinese are the largest demographic group in Singapore, followed by Malays and Indians (Tamils), one fails to understand the hypocritical hue and cry made by caste bigots and the Brahmin led upper caste Indian media against caste based reservation in Indian universities and colleges for those castes excluded from education for millennia and victimized by the caste system in manifold ways such as backward castes and scheduled castes.  It is high time reservation for backward castes and scheduled castes are extended to private sector employment in India just as the reservation enjoyed by Malays in the Malaysian private sector. And reservation for backward castes in university and professional colleges in India should be extended without the “creamy layer” prejudice, just as the reservation enjoyed by Chinese students in Singaporean universities and colleges. It is obvious that the academic standards and the society at large have not suffered in any manner by the reservation in education and employment for various races in Malaysia and Singapore, but in fact the economy, professional standards and society have benefited by the race based reservation practiced in Singapore and Malaysia with regards to both public and private sector employment and university and college admissions. 

Tamil Nadu has made relatively significant progress in public health care and in the standard of Government Hospitals (compared to their counterparts in Northern India), and Chennai has become a “medical city” and a nerve centre for “medical tourism” apart from becoming a citadel of scores of multispeciality corporate hospitals, mainly because of the reservation (affirmative action) in medical college admissions to backward castes and scheduled castes which produced a huge number of doctors specializing in various medical super-specialties over the past six decades, which has boosted up the standard of medical profession both in the private sector and the public sector.  This would not have been possible if a Brahmin and upper caste elitist monopoly was allowed in the medical profession as it was before the political ascendancy of the Dravidian movement in the late sixties and seventies which expanded reservation in university and college education to backward castes and scheduled castes, by extending reservation to various categories such as rural students from scheduled castes and backward castes and children of inter-caste marriages, all of which is in serious jeopardy because the Brahmin led central government bureaucracy and higher judiciary are trying to scuttle the reservation regime in state medical colleges for backward castes and scheduled castes by bringing in an "All India" entrance test, and just as all entrance tests this would also be a bigoted filtering mechanism to keep out students from backward caste and scheduled caste backgrounds from the annals of higher professional medical education, which will seriously impede the standards and progress made by Tamil Nadu in medical education. 

Rebuttal to S. Anand’s criticism of Aamir Khan and Satyamev Jayate:

Rebuttal to S. Anand’s criticism of Aamir Khan and “Satyamev Jayate”:

By Dr. Iniyan Elango, Correspondent: "Dalit Murasu" magazine.

S. Anand’s (a.k.a Anand Navayana's) criticism of Aamir Khan’s television programme “Satyamev Jayate” in his opinion piece “Silence Eva Jayate” (Outlook, July 23, 2012) is untenable and biased. A television programme with limitations of time and which focused on the particular issues of untouchability and manual scavenging may not be able to dwell in detail about other related issues such as reservations (affirmative action). In a time limited television programme focusing on the bigoted evil of untouchability practices for the first time in the history of popular Indian television, the absence of biographical accounts of Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar may be excused. A time limited singular episode of a television talk show programme cannot be expected to comprehensively pack together all facets and facts about the evil of untouchability and related issues. Technical and editorial necessity editing out or conjuring up visuals in a television talk show does not amount to any ethical transgressions. Aamir Khan needs to be congratulated for highlighting the evil practices of untouchability and manual scavenging in a popular programme on national television for the first time in the popular commercial television history of India!

S. Anand’s lamentation at the exclusion of the so called “Dalit capitalists” and members of the “Dalit Indian chamber of commerce” in a television programme that sought to highlight the evil practices of untouchability and manual scavenging is like lamenting the lack of black African businessmen in a television programme about the racism of the erstwhile apartheid regime and shanty towns of South Africa. Aamir Khan was justified in excluding the so called “Dalit capitalists” who only serve the purpose of vested interests wanting to hide the abject poverty, segregation, illiteracy, disease and atrocities forced on the vast majority of Dalits due to the social exclusion caused by untouchability, by advertising a few rich Dalit businessmen.

S. Anand lacks the moral locus standi to criticise Aamir Khan and his television talk show. It is natural that the past history and journalistic record of a writer would be called into question, when the writer puts himself on a pedestal to criticise a ground breaking television programme which exposes the evil of untouchability practices in popular Indian television. Past journalistic record shows that writer / journalist S. Anand himself is guilty of exactly what he accuses Justice (retired) C.S. Dharmadhikari of (in his opinion piece criticising Aamir Khan’s talk show), which is being an apologist for “Brahmanness” and bigoted Brahmin supremacism. S. Anand himself belittled the suffering and oppression unleashed on Dalits by ludicrously equating Brahmins (who are at the summit of the caste system) with Dalits in a report filed by him in Outlook magazine a few years ago (“Dalits in reverse”, Outlook, April 11, 2005). In this report S. Anand falsely claimed that Brahmins in Tamil Nadu are being persecuted like Dalits, by atrociously branding Brahmins as “Dalits in Reverse”, on the pretext of a Brahmin pontiff’s (Kanchi Sankaracharya’s) arrest on charges of murder under the rule of a very Brahmin chief minister (Ms. J. Jayalalitha). Another news report of S. Anand filed in the Outlook magazine again ludicrously claimed that Brahmins in Tamil Nadu are being persecuted like the Jews during World War II (“We are like the Jews”, Outlook, April 11, 2005), again on the pretext of the arrest of a Brahman pontiff on charges of murder. It seems that S.Anand believes in the dictums of the bigoted code of “Manu” since “Manu’s Code” states that no Brahmin should be punished for committing the offence of murder thus explaining S. Anand’s series of reportage and writing which bigotedly and maliciously attempt to falsely misrepresent the arrest of a lone Brahman seer on charges of murder as an (imagined and non-existent) oppression of the socially privileged and bigotedly supremacist caste of Brahmins. (“Manusmrithi” or “Manu’s Code” is the Brahmin racist Hindu scripture written many centuries ago which codified the bigoted caste system and is still one of the scriptural basis for Hindu law). Anand also conspicuously fails to mention that it was a Brahmin chief minister called Ms. J. Jayalalitha who ordered the arrest and prosecution of the Kanchi Sankaracharya on charges of murder and hence arresting the Brahmin Pontiff on charges of murder has nothing to do with activism against Brahmin supremacist bigotry but was a routine Governmental act of asserting law and order against a murderous criminal. But since arresting a Brahmin Pontiff on charges of murder is unheard of, and since Brahmins in general and Brahmin pontiffs in particular are considered above punishment in the bigoted societal values of the caste system as codified by “Manusmiruthi”, S. Anand goes over the top with his apologia for Brahmin supremacist bigotry by exaggerating and falsely portraying a routine police duty of arresting a man (Brahmin Pontiff) on charges of murder as oppression of Brahmins when in reality Brahmins are the oppressing caste supremacist class at the summit of the caste system and are certainly not the oppressed. It is obvious that S. Anand would not have portrayed the arrest of a non-Brahmin Hindu Godman as an act of oppressing the entire caste to which the non-Brahmin Godman belonged to. It is abjectly ridiculous that S. Anand made delusional and ludicrous false claims that Brahmins of Tamil Nadu are being oppressed like “Dalits and Jews during World War II” under the rule of a Brahmin chief minister who is known for appeasing Orthodox Hindu religious Brahmanism, Brahmin supremacist agenda and harbouring Hindu nationalist extreme right wing Brahmin supremacist advisors such as “Cho” Ramasamy.  

The situation of Brahmins being the elite and socially privileged upper class caste of India who practice the bigoted principle of ultimate supremacism of the Brahmin caste over the rest in the caste system is true for Tamil Nadu as much as it is true for all of India. This being the case, it is an atrocious lie, ludicrous falsehood and a travesty of truth to describe Brahmins as “Dalits in reverse” or to suggest that Brahmins are being oppressed like Dalits or like Jews during World War II, as S. Anand did in his reports and articles.

The vast majority of Dalits who are at the bottom of the bigoted caste system are bonded to inhumane and degrading labour, forced into insanitary segregated slums, and suffer from high levels of illiteracy, homelessness and ill health, along with being victims of various kinds of barbaric atrocities and killings unleashed on Dalits by all castes in Hindu religious society. Brahmins of Tamil Nadu (and India) have a critical and controlling presence in the mainstream media, government bureaucracy, corporate industry, computer software businesses, the arts, elite academia, higher judiciary, etc. I need not list all the media organs and corporate companies owned or controlled by Brahmins in Tamil Nadu and India. Similarly, it will be an unnecessary exercise to list the conspicuous presence of Brahmins in the bureaucracy, arts and the media in Tamil Nadu and India. Outlook magazine itself carried an article on the domination of Brahmins in the bureaucracy (“The Durbar Hall Pundits”, Outlook, June 04, 2007). In addition, Brahmins are also bigotedly feted as the “most superior caste” in the caste system while enjoying their bigoted monopoly in temple priesthood and sacramental performance of Hindu religious rituals to assert their Brahmin caste supremacy in socio-religious terms. Brahmins have never suffered any act of overt violence specifically directed against them in Tamil Nadu or India unlike the Dalit people who are victims of daily acts of violence, rapes, killings and atrocities due to caste bigotry, nor are Brahmins being persecuted or socio-economically discriminated against in India. On the contrary, some caste fanatic outfits associated with Brahmins such as the “Ranvir Sena” and other private armies of the “Bhumihars” (who are considered as Brahmins by caste) have been implicated in the whole sale mass murder, rapes and pillage of hundreds of Dalits in North Indian states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. 

It has to be also emphasized that the Brahmins are the ideological, intellectual and socio-political leaders, guardians and founders of the Hindu fascist RSS organization whose off shoots such as the BJP (Bharathiya Janatha Party) , Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, ABVP (Akhil Bharathiya Vidyarthi Parishad), Hindu Munnani, etc., actively recruit backward caste and Dalit street cadre with vitriolic, hateful and xenophobic demagoguery against Muslims and Christians, thus using the brainwashed and illiterate Dalit and backward caste street cadre to attack and pillage Muslims and Christians. Several pogroms and mass murders of Muslims and Christians have been thus executed by Hindu fascist outfits controlled by Brahmins and “twice born” upper castes, the notable of which were the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat during 2002 which subjected several thousands of Muslims to, arson attacks, mass murder and mass sexual assaults and the murderous carnage against Dalit Christians and indigenous tribal Christians of Orissa state in the year of 2008.  Brahmin leaders such as Rama. Gopalan of Hindu Munnani in Tamil Nadu state are in the forefront of such hateful and bigoted Hindu religious fanaticism that violently targets religious minorities such as Muslims and Christians. The aim of such violent and hateful Hindu nationalist – fascist violence is mainly to distract backward castes and Dalits from their own inferiorized, excluded, discriminated and oppressed status in Hindu religion and Hindu society, thus preventing backward castes and Dalits from any inclination to challenge the bigotry of the caste system and that of the ruling class of “twice born” supremacist castes led by the Brahmins and Baniyas, while using the brainwashed and illiterate Dalit and backward caste street cadre to attack and pillage Muslims and Christians.

This being the case, a journalist like S. Anand who belittled and trivialised the suffering, untouchability and violent oppression unleashed on Dalits through his apologia for Brahmin supremacy by peddling the blatant lie that Brahmins are being oppressed like Dalits and Jews during World War II, - has no moral standing to hypocritically criticise Aamir Khan for his talk show programme that highlighted the evil of untouchability in popular Indian television.

S. Anand’s critique of Aamir Khan and “Satyamev Jayate” is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black! S.Anand has acted against Dalit interests by attacking a movie star's show that specifically rallied public opinion against the bigotry of untouchability and manual scavenging by engaging mass television audiences.

My letter to "The Hindu" protesting an advertisement for flats which restricted the sale of flats to "ONLY BRAHMINS:

My letter to "The Hindu" protesting an advertisement for flats which restricted the sale of flats to "ONLY BRAHMINS" is given below and can also be read by clicking on the link below: (This letter was published only after a complaint to the Press Council of India, and the emailed letter of Honourable Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India is also given below): 

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article3555784.ece

Your ‘Property Plus’ supplement (April 7, 2012) carried an advertisement for the sale of flats with a caption stating “only Brahmins,” excluding non-Brahmin castes, Dalits and religious minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc., from buying or residing in the flats, thus discriminating against people on the basis of caste and religion, thereby violating the letter and spirit of Articles 15 and 17 of the Constitution. Excluding Dalits from buying the advertised flats can only be construed as an expression of untouchability against them.

Excluding people based on caste or religion from the sale, rental or residence of housing facilities is a blatant act of bigotry and oppression that causes great distress to the victims apart from leading to social balkanisation of our nation due to caste segregation and religious polarisation. Such advertisements and business practices which exclude people on the basis of caste or religion should be proscribed.

Iniyan Elango, Chennai

Emailed letter of Honourable Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India, in response to my complaint:

Dear Siddharth and Dr. Ilango, I have seen the complaint of Dr Ilango and Siddhartha's letter to him. I entirely agree with Dr. Ilango that the publication in The Hindu that certain flats are for sale to Brahmins only is totally unacceptable in the modern age.The caste system is a curse on our country, and the sooner it is destroyed the better. It is keeping us divided at a time when we must remain united to face the huge challenges before the nation (see in this connection my article on the caste system on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in and on the website kgfindia.com) Hence the aforesaid publication in The Hindu was in extremely bad taste. I request the editor to take care this does not happen again. Since Dr. Ilango's letter is being published in The Hindu I am allowing the matter to rest. However, I  request Siddharth to publish this email in the Hindu at the earliest.  Regards,   Justice Katju

My letter to "The Hindu" on caste segregated habitats:

My letter to "The Hindu" on caste segregated habitats is given below and can also be read by clicking on the following link: 


http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article3374716.ece

This refers to the article “Agraharam — time virtually stands still here” (April 29). “Agraharams” are exclusive dwellings of Brahmins where caste segregation and untouchability are practised. We cannot have a sense of nostalgia or respect for such segregated habitats if we want to foster social equality and fraternity.

The caste system is a vertically graded system in which one caste professes superiority over another. That is why thinkers like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar wanted the annihilation of all castes. Even non-Brahmin caste Hindus segregate themselves from Dalit habitats. This does not excuse the bigotry of those who segregate themselves in caste-based dwellings — Brahmins (who are at the summit of the caste system) or any other Hindu caste.

It is a shame that despite the passage of almost seven decades of independence, Dalits are forced to live in segregated and insanitary ghettos in every village and town. In their case, there is no self-segregation as in the case of Agraharams. Segregation is forced on them by the rest of the Hindu society due to the evil of untouchability. There is no place for caste-based segregation in a civilised and egalitarian society.

Iniyan Elango,

Chennai

My letter to "The Hindu" on the Racism of Caste:

May 31, 2012.

The Editor

The Hindu

Dear Madam / Sir,

This letter is with regards to the op-ed column titled “Let’s stop pretending there’s no racism in India” by Mr. Yengkhom Jilangamba (The Hindu, May 29, 2012). While I sympathise and agree with Mr. Jilangamba’s views, I have to emphasize that prejudice against Indians from north-eastern states is not the only form of racism in India. Mr. Yengkhom Jilangamba’s opinion piece overlooks the age old forms of prejudice, discrimination and oppression based on professing superiority or inferiority of endogamous caste descent in the vertically graded and bigoted system of castes which has been condemned as racism by no less a body than the United Nations Human Rights Council (formerly known as United Nations Commission on Human Rights) and the latter’s "Committee On The Elimination Of Racial Discrimination"(CERD) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has made it clear that caste falls within the ambit of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), ratified by India. General Recommendation 29 (2002) of CERD states as follows: “CERD strongly condemns descent-based discrimination, such as discrimination on the basis of caste and analogous systems of inherited status, as a violation of the Convention.” In addition, CERD reaffirmed through general recommendation 29 (2002) that CERD seeks to eliminate discrimination based on "descent" which includes discrimination against members of communities based on forms of social stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited status which nullify or impair their equal enjoyment of human rights. General Comment 20 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, also unequivocally prohibits discrimination on grounds of birth.

Thus it is amply clear that discrimination and bigotry based on caste is part and parcel of the legal discourse against racism under international human rights law.

Racism is not strictly limited to discrimination based on skin colour or physical racial features, but a belief system of bigotry that discriminates, inferiorizes or oppresses people based on their human (biological) descent. Anti-Semitism professed by Nazis against Jews is indeed considered as the most virulent form of racism human history has ever known, even though both Nazis and Jews were white skinned. Similarly, according to International Human Rights Law, any form of prejudice, bigotry, discrimination or oppression based on caste descent is indeed racism even though those who profess superiority of caste descent and suffer inferiority of caste descent (imposed on them) may not be physically very dissimilar to each other, but belong to different endogamous caste descent.

The vertically graded bigotry of castes where each caste is considered superior and inferior to castes below and above respectively, (except for Brahmins who are considered as the “most superior” caste and Dalits who are relegated as “most inferior” as outcasts – untouchables at the bottom of the caste system), is indeed the most virulent, long surviving and most resistant form of racism the World has ever known. But a state of silent acquiescence of the intellectual and media class of India to the bigoted, reactionary and regressive principles inherent in the practice of caste has so far prevented the genesis of a national fervour for ending all practices and manifestations of caste bigotry in India. 

The racism of caste bigotry and its off-shoot called “untouchability” are the causes for honour killings, atrocities against Dalits, bondage to inhumane labour, poverty, caste segregation, social exclusion from literacy, housing and health-care and discrimination against students in elite higher educational institutions such as IITs, AIIMS etc., which has pushed many students of IITs and AIIMS (from Dalit and OBC backgrounds) to commit suicide just as the reported murders and suicides of students from North Eastern India.

In addition, one has to also state that attitudes that foster discrimination against dark and black skinned people while associating beauty or attractiveness bigotedly with fair skin is rampant in Indian society, media, advertising and films, with a consequent flourishing of multi-crore industry in cosmetic creams that claim to bleach the skin to whitish fairness!

Prejudice against North Eastern students is only an extension of the entrenched racist attitudes that sustain caste bigotry and prejudice against dark skinned people in India. 

 Yours Sincerely, 

Dr. Iniyan Elango. 

THE ABBREVIATED VERSION OF THE ABOVE LETTER WHICH WAS PUBLISHED IN "THE HINDU" IS GIVEN BELOW AND CAN ALSO BE ACCESSED BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW: 

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article3477422.ece

Prejudice against north-easterners is not the only form of racism in India. The article overlooks the age-old forms of prejudice, discrimination and oppression based on caste. The vertically graded system, in which each caste is considered superior and inferior, is indeed the most virulent, long-surviving and resistant form of racism the world has ever known. But the silent acquiescence of the intellectuals and the middle class in the regressive principles inherent in the practice of caste has prevented the emergence of a national fervour for ending the system.

Iniyan Elango,

Chennai

On Lok Pal and Corruption:

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 of (non- "twice born") politicians and bureaucrats  and the fact that the Anna Hazare movement is propped up by the "twice born" upper castes belies the "twice born" upper caste led ruling class’ and media class’  bigoted supremacist agenda to persecute the political representatives and bureaucrats of backward caste and Dalit background by focusing on the financial corruption of backward caste and Dalit politicians and bureaucrats, while the caste system and Brahman led "twice born" upper caste ruling class’ bigotry which is the fountainhead of oppression of hundreds of millions of "Shudra" and Dalit masses by impoverishment, social exclusion, illiteracy, homelessness and atrocities, are  overlooked and hidden from the media’s agenda. 

To mention an analogy, focusing on the alleged financial corruption of backward caste and Dalit politicians and bureaucrats at the expense of ignoring varied manifestations of the bigoted caste system (such as the violent  oppression, social exclusion, birth based graded supremacist bigotry, illiteracy, bondage to caste descent based degrading labour, homelessness, atrocities, poverty and Brahmin supremacist and "twice born" castes' supremacist control over the state machinery and media as the ruling class of castes) is like advocating against the alleged financial corruption of black African politicians and bureaucrats while ignoring the bigotry, social exclusion and oppression of racist apartheid in the erstwhile apartheid South Africa. 

Current Indian laws are enough to tackle corruption and the Lok Pal Law advocated by the "twice born" upper caste coterie controlling Anna Hazare is nothing but a  law aimed at creating an extra-constitutional - dictatorial - anti-democratic super governmental body which can be controlled by the Brahmin led "twice born" supremacist caste elites without accountability to people or elections and which can over-ride the elected parliament of the people. Lok Pal is nothing but a Brahmin led upper caste project to create a extra-constitutional and dictatorial body that would over-ride the elected political representatives and their government, supersede elected parliament and serve as a dictatorial body that will serve the Brahmin led "twice born" elite of India. 

Hindu Law in India violates freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Corrected Version)

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