tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66439534127929132312024-03-05T09:32:30.702+05:30Hindu Caste RacismDESCENT-BASED DISCRIMINATION, SUCH AS DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF CASTE AND ANALOGOUS SYSTEMS OF INHERITED STATUS, IS A VIOLATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (ICERD)AS PER THE GENERAL RECOMMENDATION 29 (2002) OF COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (CERD)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-40957084822190418922014-08-08T19:55:00.001+05:302014-08-08T19:58:46.002+05:30Swstika as a symbol of Hindu extremist religiosity: <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: #f1f1f1; color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">The following is the comment I wrote regarding the Australian play "Ganesh Vs the Third Reich" which explores the use of the Swastika by the German Nazis and by Hindu religionists: Hindu ultra-nationalist ideologues drawn from the upper castes in India claim that Brahmins and upper caste Hindus are of "Aryan" (Indo-European) heritage despite their brown skin and celebrate the Indo-European language Sanskrit (which is no longer spoken except by Brahmin priests) as their linguistic heritage, while deriding, discriminating and oppressing against those who are in the lower echelons of the vertically graded caste system (lower castes) and those who are segregated from the caste system (outcast untouchables who assert themselves as "Dalits"). The lower castes (also referred to as "backward castes") and Dalits are considered to be of non-Aryan indigenous descent and are denied equal social status with the Brahmins (who are at the pinnacle of the vertically graded caste system) and other upper castes. Progressive minded Indians may consider "Swastika" in India very much as a symbol of Hindu fascist bigotry and Hindu religious extremism just as the "Swastika" of the Nazis was a symbol of German fascism. From this perspective, the above play is absurd because it excludes and ignores the use of Swastika as a symbol of religious extremism and fascism, or at the least as a symbol of reactionary bigotry in the social milieu of India.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-80193843422018011432014-08-07T11:06:00.002+05:302014-08-08T19:56:39.242+05:30Brahmin bureaucratic oligarchy: Amending a law to enable Nripendra Mishra to become Principal Secretary to the PM: <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The entrenchment and promotion of Brahmin bureaucratic oligarchy under the Hindu nationalist dispensation under Narendra Modi cannot be better exemplified than the atrocious introduction of the Telecom Regulatory Authority Amendment bill, which was done to particularly enable the former TRAI Chairman Nripendra Mishra to get appointed as the Principal Secretary of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all because he is seen as a Brahmin who has endeared himself to Hindu nationalists. Since a retired TRAI chairman was barred from holding a government position again by the TRAI Act, the Act was specially amended to enable Nripendra Mishra to be appointed as the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary! Such an amendment of a parliamentary legislation simply to enable a single person to gain an official position of power is unheard of in independent India, and if the same thing (amending an existing law) was done to enable a backward caste person or a scheduled caste bureaucrat to take up a new official Government position, the mainstream media controlled by Brahmins, Baniyas and their appeasers would have cried foul! But in the case of amending the TRAI law to enable Nripendra Mishra to work as the Prime Minister's principal secretary, the Brahmin - Baniya media is expectedly silent, since one of their own and a Hindu nationalist appeaser - is gaining the powerful office of the Prime Minister's principal secretary! The immorality and intellectual dishonesty of the Brahmin - Baniya run manistream media is matched only by their own bigotry!</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-35369752670871864622014-08-05T22:31:00.003+05:302014-08-05T22:31:26.193+05:30Appeasement of Zionist crimes against humanity by Hindu nationalist zealots:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">The Indian Government headed
by the Hindu nationalists under Narendra Modi has refused to allow any Parliamentary
discussion of the invasion of Gaza and the genocide perpetrated by Israeli
forces on Palestinian civilians and their children. The Israeli media has gone
gaga over Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj over her shameless stand of refusing
to issue even a banal statement on the situation in Gaza which smacks of
outright bigotry and bias against the Palestinians. Hindu fanatic
ultra-nationalists have always fawned over Zionists, and both of them are
strange bedfellows, with the RSS ideologues drawn from Brahmins and “twice born”
upper castes extolling their Aryan heritage and their Aryan (Indo-European)
Sanskrit language and related notions of bigoted superiority (despite their present
day brown skin), while Zionists claim to justify their racially and religiously
exclusivist apartheid colonialism over Palestinians in the name of victimhood
at the hands of those who extolled the same Aryan heritage! This only shows
that Zionists are in fact hypocritical and opportunistic racists who are
expediently using and exploiting Nazi crimes against humanity and Nazi
perpetrated genocide of the Jews to justify their own imperialist and colonial
enterprise which was exemplified by a recent essay by a Zionist columnist in
the Israeli times which openly advocated genocide of Palestinians (click on the
following two links here: </span><a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/8/1/5959635/heres-the-full-text-of-the-deleted-time-of-israel-post-backing" style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">http://www.vox.com/2014/8/1/5959635/heres-the-full-text-of-the-deleted-time-of-israel-post-backing</a><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">
; </span><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/01/the-blogger-who-offered-an-argument-for-palestinian-genocide.html" style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/01/the-blogger-who-offered-an-argument-for-palestinian-genocide.html</a><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">
). The Hindu fanatic ultranationalists may support Israelis because of their
shared hatred for anything Islamic, which only exposes the fact that both of
them (Hindu nationalists and Zionists) are swimming in the gutter of bigotry
and genocide. I am sure next time the Hindu nationalists organize a pogrom of
mass murder, pillage and rape against Muslims or Christians, Zionists will
return the favour by refusing to condemn it just as the Israelis never
condemned the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat under the stewardship of
Narendra Modi in which thousands of Muslims were gruesomely mass murdered,
raped and pillaged! </span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All right thinking and
objective Indian citizens should hang their heads in shame over the stand of
the current Indian Government headed by Hindu nationalist zealots which refuses to even address the current plight of
Palestinians in Gaza. As an Indian citizen, I say – not in my name!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-45122808852035919542014-08-05T22:27:00.001+05:302014-08-05T22:33:15.302+05:30Not democracy but Brahmin bureaucratic oligarchy:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Deccan Chronicle” and other
media organs reported recently that bureaucrats have greater power and
ministers have been marginalized, under Narendra Modi. Nothing can be more
undemocratic. Bureaucrats are unelected officials and have to be directed and
controlled by the elected representatives and not the other way around. The
central government bureaucracy which is predominantly populated by Brahmins and
upper castes will have a field day under Narendra Modi executing their own
agenda at the expense of the welfare and human rights of the working masses of
India derided bigotedly as “Shudras” and “Panchamas” in the Hindu religious scriptures,
and that is what the RSS and its Hindutva allies want anyways. Given a chance,
RSS and the Hindutva extremist brigade will turn India into a oligarchical
dictatorship run by Brahmin bureaucrats just as Brahmin ministers ruled and determined
the fate of various Indian Kingdoms in the past despite the presence of a
monarchy. Whether it is a monarchy or democracy, Brahmins and upper castes want
to rule by proxy, by controlling the higher bureaucracy, higher judiciary and
mainstream media, since they cannot get elected by the backward caste and scheduled
caste working masses of India in recent times, unless they get a backward caste
underling like Narendra Modi to enable Brahmins rule in his name (just as Kings
and Queens did in medieval India). It would not be a surprise that many of
these Brahmins in the Indian bureaucracy, judiciary, media or even the military
happen to be Hindu fanatic zealots (just as the Supreme Court judge Dave who
openly stated that he wanted to make teaching of the Hindu scripture “Bhagvad
Gita” compulsory in the schools of India), and one wonders how such a bigot who
has scant regard for the fundamental rights provided by the constitution of
India which ensures the secular nature of the Indian state can become a judge
in the first place! But with the Hindu nationalists busy with drafting the new
Judicial appointments bill that does away with the collegium system and allows
the Government to directly appoint Judges – one can see more naked Hindu
fanatics like Judge Dave getting appointed to the higher courts of India. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-22260661712964242812014-07-21T21:30:00.002+05:302014-08-03T14:16:41.810+05:30Another one of my letters to the editor of "The Hindu" which most probably will not be published:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">July 21, 2014, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Editor </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Hindu. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Dear Sir, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is with regards to your news article titled "From school drop out to crusader of 'free' education" by Vidya Venkat (July 15, 2014) about the late Tamil Nadu leader, the great Mr.K.Kamaraj. I feel that the term "free education" used in this article is a misnomer and belies a lack of understanding of the fundamental rights entitled to the citizenry of the nation by the collective use of the public exchequer contributed by the tax paying public. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Certainly your journalists will not refer to the provision of street lamps as "free lamps" or the construction of gutters for sanitation as "free gutters" because such services using tax payers' monies is considered as part of public safety and public health. Similarly, provision of primary and secondary education and even health care to all citizens is a fundamental right warranted by concepts of public education and public health, and cannot be termed as "free education" or "free health care" because these services are not free but public services paid by the public. Even in capitalist USA, public education up to high school diploma is fully subsidized by the tax payers by a nationwide public education system, and even technological stalwarts like Steve Jobs got their education only in this public education system and Steve Jobs in particular did not go to college after his public school because he could not afford college, and in a way we have to thank the public education system in USA for giving us a Steve Jobs and his apple products. In India on the other hand, someone who studied only up to high school will not be accepted or respected for his tech wizardry (unlike Steve Jobs) even if he is a proven genius, given the respect and status accorded to elite high tech educational institutions subsidized by tax payers' monies such as IITs which almost exclusively function as academic citadels of upper castes, and it is interesting that your newspaper will never describe students who study in IITs as users of "free" education!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Public education for all up to high school with no cost to the students is guaranteed by every state even in that so called capitalist paradise called USA, and hence the lack of a universal guarantee to primary and secondary education in India is inexcusable, (despite the unenforced directive principles of our constitution and inane ineffective laws like the Right to Education Act), and calling the provision of such public education as "free" may be seen as emanating from a patronizing attitude that sees private elementary education as superior, or which considers education only as a preserve of those who can pay for it, or worse, as in the expression of Brahmanical dictum that sees education as an exclusive preserve of Brahmins and "twice born" castes and derides the spread of education to the working masses defiled as "Shudras in Hindu scriptures". </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Hence, the title to your aforementioned article should have read as "crusader of public education" and not as "crusader of 'free' education". </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Yours truly, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Dr.Iniyan Elango </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-623251715194464912013-12-11T23:58:00.003+05:302014-07-04T05:50:47.983+05:30On Indian Supreme Court's Judgment Criminalizing Gay Sex:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Grande;"><span style="font-size: 19px; line-height: 19.97333335876465px;"><b>A nation where heterosexual people are yet to fully secure their sexual freedom will certainly criminalize homosexuals:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In a country were heterosexual
women are subjected to rape, torture and murder under the garb of "honour
killings" for having sexual relations outside of marriage or for having
sexual relationships across caste barriers, I would say that people of heterosexual
orientation themselves are yet to secure complete sexual rights and sexual
freedoms in India, and hence, gay people are in for a very long wait to secure
their rights in India. A heterosexual man's or a heterosexual woman's freedom
to sexually desire and cohabit with a person of his her choice outside of
marriage - irrespective of caste or religious barriers is still not accepted in
India. Then, how will Indian society accept gay people's freedom to sexually
cohabit when heterosexual people are denied the same freedom if they sexually
cohabit outside of marriage and across caste barriers? Indian women who freely
choose to desire, love and have sexual relationships with men based on their free
choice by defying caste barriers will be vilified as immoral women and killed,
particularly if they have sexual affairs with Dalit men, while sexual morality
is defined as a blind acceptance and subservience to pre-ordained arranged
marriages which coerces or forces women to subject themselves to marital rape
under the garb of an arranged marriage. Women are frequently subjected to rapes
in India since the concept of a woman freely consenting or freely desiring to
choose a sexual partner on her own free will, sexual desire and freedom is not
accepted in India. Conversely, a woman's parents and relatives believe that an
Indian woman can be coerced, cajoled, emotionally blackmailed or forced to
marry and forced to have marital sex with a man against her free will and
desire, which is nothing but rape. This thinking which assumes that a woman can
be forced or compelled to marry and have forced sex with a man under the garb
of an arranged marriage and thus subjecting her to rape, is the same thinking
which motivates rapists to believe that a woman can be forced or compelled to
have sex with them just as a woman can be forced or compelled to marry a man
against her free will in an arranged marriage. In other words, the
psychological premise behind an arranged marriage and rape are the same. Many
conservative Indian women, including educated parents, subscribe to such a
regressive attitude towards women's sexuality. A woman or a man who may choose
to love or live with a person of the opposite gender belonging to another caste
will be most probably pursued and killed by their own parents and relatives. In
many Indian cities, young Indian couples who smooch, kiss or hug in public (in
parks and beaches) are arrested and persecuted by the police under some
expedient legal pretext such as "causing public nuisance". Many colleges in several Indian towns
practice gender segregation and prevent boys and girls from even talking to
each other. Given this dire situation for heterosexual rights which is never
highlighted by the Brahmin and upper caste controlled Indian mainstream media
which has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo of the caste system
by controlling the sexuality of heterosexual women and heterosexual men,
homosexual rights are in for a long wait in India. The point I am trying to
make is that sexual rights and human rights are absent for unmarried
heterosexual couples who sexually cohabit across caste barriers and religious
divides in India just as they are absent for homosexual couples in India. Gay
people cannot win their rights in India unless they realize this situation and
fight for the sexual rights of all people in India, both heterosexual and
homosexual. But most Indian Gay activists are themselves elitist, urban and
upper caste who are happy to appease the status quo instead of fighting for a more
radical sexual rights agenda for both straight and gay people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-4056201245227476772013-09-17T19:51:00.002+05:302014-07-04T05:51:53.584+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGp5hmdqmIKSJB5Cz2mvyNilJGOZF0FNdCNLaWuEJ8MsuDVlPLKOSYohfP87CZn62J8MDqr8shXSttHL0EOTqZDt_FWQSUCAbAbFkQnaCoUrHj_tHKEX11R8rxhhgfFV3u5iWH5Z4DF_Yk/s1600/o-NINA-DAVULURI-facebook+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGp5hmdqmIKSJB5Cz2mvyNilJGOZF0FNdCNLaWuEJ8MsuDVlPLKOSYohfP87CZn62J8MDqr8shXSttHL0EOTqZDt_FWQSUCAbAbFkQnaCoUrHj_tHKEX11R8rxhhgfFV3u5iWH5Z4DF_Yk/s320/o-NINA-DAVULURI-facebook+(1).jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is Ms.Nina Davuluri, dark skinned "Dravidian" Shudra woman of Telugu speaking descent who won the Miss America pageant! The fact of the matter is that she would have never won even a college beauty contest in India, where "fair skin" has been psycho-socially instilled as a prerequisite for beauty by the supremacist and bigoted Brahmin and upper caste elites of "Indo-Aryan" (Persian) descent who control the Indian mainstream media apart from being the governing classes of India!</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDFapZGFydRrtsRjLGe9G68h-839eMXXo-UwzTXi6ZhLOLcIuvwKMpYcGF8KAVeW6JZizdNscjYT2hQiO5Yzbz1_lTChPpuY-Ds9pWhZXkBHyuYD7ekbchBIJ-4hxuolJ8EUbW515hB9g/s1600/nina3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDFapZGFydRrtsRjLGe9G68h-839eMXXo-UwzTXi6ZhLOLcIuvwKMpYcGF8KAVeW6JZizdNscjYT2hQiO5Yzbz1_lTChPpuY-Ds9pWhZXkBHyuYD7ekbchBIJ-4hxuolJ8EUbW515hB9g/s1600/nina3.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is hypocritical that the Brahmin and upper caste controlled Indian mainstream media are criticizing some Americans who tweeted racist comments against the crowning of a woman of Indian descent with the Miss America title, when the Indian mainstream media is complicit in perpetrating the racist myth of "fair is beautiful" through its preference for fair skinned women and men in advertisements, commercials, media imagery and feature films, and through the media's patronage of the massive multi-billion dollar "skin whitening cream industry" which floods television channels and journals with countless advertisements for skin whitening creams such as "fair and lovely" for both men and women! It is high time that a law was brought to ban skin whitening creams in India and advertisement of such creams should be banned in India on the basis of racism, and all kinds of discrimination based on skin color along with caste descent should be comprehensively outlawed in India (which is yet to happen)!</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-24068766392843713802013-06-27T13:31:00.002+05:302013-06-27T13:32:13.450+05:30UNTOUCHABILITY IS NOT SIMPLY DISCRIMINATION<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18.88888931274414px;">Another letter of mine to "The Hindu" : </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;">June 26, 2012,</span><span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;">The Editor</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;">The Hindu</span><span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;">Dear Sir,</span><span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;">This is regarding the news report "Dalit discrimination takes different forms in Vadugapatti" filed by D.Karthikeyan (The Hindu, June 12, 2013). The various forms of social segregation imposed on Dalits which are described in this news report cannot be diluted away under the generic and unspecific terminology of "discrimination" but should have been recorded as evidence of the continuation of the unique socio-religious institution of bigotry called "untouchability" which perpetrates various forms of social segregation on Dalits. It is interesting that the word "untouchability" cannot be found anywhere in the aforementioned news report, which can only be construed as a devious exercise in journalistic and intellectual dishonesty to hide or deny the existence of a unique form of social segregation perpetrated on Dalits called "untouchability" by clumping it under the generic and unspecific terminology of "discrimination".</span><span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;">Yours truly,</span><span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.88888931274414px;">Dr. Iniyan Elango, MBBS, Diploma in Counselling (UK), Diploma in Venereology and Genito Urinary Medicine (UK)</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-12965201901082731832013-06-27T13:14:00.001+05:302013-06-27T13:17:50.551+05:30PRESCRIPTION FOR MAKING ACCESS TO MEDICAL EDUCATION ELITIST AND BIGOTED.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Since, the Brahmin and Baniya led "twice born" upper caste controlled Indian mainstream media never publish opinion that is inimical to the interests of Hinduism and Brahmin bigotry, I will be publishing my letters to "The Hindu" and other </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">mainstream Indian newspapers which never get published due to this fiendish intellectual exclusion practiced by the bigoted Indian mainstream media. One such letter is given below: </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">This letter is with regards to the opinion article titled "Doctors by merit, not privilege" by Sujatha Rao (The Hindu, June 26, 2013).</span><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Ms.Rao advocates an "entry" and "exit" exam based on "third party certification" which sounds draconian and elitist in a country like India which suffers from acute shortage of doctors, a deplorable situation which demands facilitation and widening of access to medical education but not putting up more bars to accessing medical education through draconian entrances tests. Even in the UK, a country cited by Ms.Rao as an example in her essay, there is no "entry" or exit" exam to enter or leave medical colleges except the regular university examinations taken by medical students. Students are admitted to MBBS and its equivalent courses in the UK based on their grades in their higher secondary exams (which are referred to as "A" level exams in UK) just as it is done in states like Tamil Nadu in India which has refused to subscribe to the NEET test. When all medical graduates are subjected to rigorous written, oral and clinical examinations by the concerned University every year of their study and at the end of their studies in the final year, where is the need for “exit” exams through "third party certification" as suggested by Ms.Rao? Why is Ms.Rao advocating entry and entrances exams through "third party certification" when the teachers, lecturers and professors who teach the medical students (along with external examiners from other medical colleges) are well equipped to test the knowledge of the medical students? Ms.Rao's prescription will only end up making medical education as an elitist preserve of urban upper castes who can avail the expensive prep schools to crack the elitist and draconian entrance tests and indulge in nepotism amongst themselves to exclude the masses from medical education, which will have a deleterious effect in the advancement of public health care.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Without any "entrance" or "exit" tests but through rigorous affirmative action for backward caste and scheduled caste students, Tamil Nadu state has made relatively significant progress in public health care and in the standard of Government Hospitals (compared to other states) which has been lauded by no less an institution than the reputed international medical journal "Lancet" (as reported in "The Hindu" in the news report titled "The Lancet calls state's healthcare programme a success story", The Hindu, May 21, 2013). Scores of Tamil Nadu medical graduates are enjoying stellar careers in western nations and Chennai has also become a “medical city” and a nerve centre for “medical tourism” apart from becoming a citadel of scores of multi-speciality corporate hospitals, mainly because of the reservation (affirmative action) in medical college admissions to backward castes and scheduled castes which widened access to medical education and 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 education and medical profession both in the private sector and the public sector, which has led many westerners and foreigners from every corner of the World to choose hospitals in Tamil Nadu and Chennai for their medical or surgical treatment. This would not have been possible if an urban upper caste elitist monopoly was allowed in medical education through draconian, unnecessary and super-elitist entrance tests and exit tests as advocated by Ms.Sujatha Rao. The gains made by Tamil Nadu in public health care and private medical services are in serious jeopardy because the Brahmin and upper caste led central government bureaucracy and top judiciary are trying to scuttle social justice and the reservation (affirmative action) regime in state medical colleges for backward castes and scheduled castes by bringing in an "All India" entrance test, which would only serve as 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 public health care and medical education.</span><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Yours truly,</span><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Dr. Iniyan Elango, MBBS, LLM, Diploma in Counselling (UK), Diploma in Venereology and Genito Urinary Medicine (UK)</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-91068052780781395152013-05-08T23:22:00.001+05:302013-06-26T21:38:35.180+05:30Brahmin supremacy by intellectual sleight:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brahmin supremacy by intellectual sleight:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>This treatise analyses the issue of Brahmin columnists posing as opinion givers on issues related to Dalits </i><i><span lang="EN-US">and caste in the mainstream media </span></i><i>while excluding Dalit / OBC anti-caste activist writers who critique Brahmins and the Hindu religion from the mainstream media - which impedes the struggle against Brahmin supremacy and caste bigotry, misrepresents the truth about the caste system </i><i><span lang="EN-US">to the wider World </span></i><i>and defames</i><i> </i><i>leaders such as Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar who sought to vanquish Hindu religion and its caste system.</i><i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>This essay is written as my refutation of writer </i><i><span lang="EN-US">and publisher </span></i><i>S.Anand’s rejoinder to my earlier critique of his article in which he condemned Aamir Khan’s television programme against untouchability and manual scavenging. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>The Brahmins from the very beginning therefore were inclined to be a purely educated class, enlightened but selfish. The right of the Brahmins to rule and the grant of special privileges and immunities made them more selfish, and induced in them the desire to use their education not for the advancement of learning but for the use of their community and against the advancement of society.</i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="color: #000066; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>It is true that intellect by itself is no virtue. It is only a means and the use of means depends upon the ends which an intellectual person pursues. An intellectual man can be a good man but he can easily be a rogue. Similarly an intellectual class may be a band of high-souled persons, ready to help, ready to emancipate erring humanity or it may easily be a gang of crooks or a body of advocates of a narrow clique from which it draws its support. You may think it a pity that the intellectual class in India is simply another name for the Brahmin caste.</i><o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #000066; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>But this want of an intellectual class has been made good in other countries by the fact that in those countries each strata of society has its educated class. There is safety, if no definite guidance, in the multiplicity of views expressed by different educated classes drawn from different strata of society. In such a multiplicity of views there is no danger of society being misguided or misdirected by the views of one single educated class drawn from one single class of society which is naturally bound to place the interest of its class before the interests of the country.</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brahmins have to be eradicated as the intellectual class of India.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #000066;"> - </span><i>Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar</i><i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">“…Understand the “uniqueness of the genes” possessed by (Chithpavan Brahmins)……..We need to understand that there is some “speciality in the genes” (of Chithpavan Brahmins)…….We have the “genetic capacity”….”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">- </span><span lang="EN-US">Extracts from verbal statements alluding to Brahmin racist supremacism and Brahmin “genetic superiority” by Atul Ketkar, a spokesperson of Chithpavan Brahmins in a rally organized by the latter (as spoken in the acclaimed documentary film “Jai Bheem Comrade”, a documentary film on the atrocities and oppression unleashed on Dalits in Maharashtra, the native state of Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar)</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Six months ago writer – publisher S.Anand responded to my critique of his essayed condemnation of Aamir Khan’s television talk show on the bigotedly evil practices of untouchability and manual scavenging. My critique of S.Anand’s essay against Aamir Khan’s program on untouchability and manual scavenging can be read at the following web link: </span><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/elango201012.htm"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.countercurrents.org/elango201012.htm</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US"></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">S.Anand’s response to my critique can be read at the following link: </span><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/anand221012.htm"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.countercurrents.org/anand221012.htm</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> . S.Anand’s original essay condemning Aamir Khan’s program against untouchability and manual scavenging can be read at the following web link: </span><a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281646"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281646</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am ethically bound to respond to the views expressed by S.Anand criticizing me. Even though I wanted to write and publish a refutation of S.Anand’s critique of my views much earlier, the sudden and continuing grave illness of my mother and later my father, along with my struggles towards making a living as a doctor and my duties towards my patients who seek my help to alleviate their health problems, and my commitment to social activism and legal advocacy on issues of public interest and human rights, left me with severe time constraints in drafting a reply to S.Anand’s critique of my views. The delay in my writing and publication of this refutation to writer – publisher S.Anand’s critique of my views may be condoned, given the constraints imposed on my time by the aforementioned factors. Moreover, S.Anand’s critique of my views raised wider ethical issues such as Brahmin writers claiming to write on Dalit – Bahujan (SC-OBC) issues by high-jacking the mainstream media space that should be allocated to Dalit-Bahujan writers / activists who advocate against the bigotry of Hinduism, caste system and Brahmins, which needed a more elaborate analytical response that required longer application and time. I also take this opportunity to rebut and refute other falsehoods perpetrated by writer S.Anand in his other articles, journalistic reports, writings and translations which I see as sly attempts at Brahmanical reactionary dilution of Periyarist and Ambedkarite ideas by intellectual sleight. I also hope that this write up will also serve as an attempt to clarify some Periyarist and Ambedkarite ideas in the English language media, given that there are no authentic translations or correct expositions of Periyar’s views and writings in the English language or the English media, but plenty of false and defamatory articles on Periyar which distort Periyar’s social revolutionary ideas in the mainstream Indian media.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar famously opined, plurality of intellectual opinion and each strata of society having its own intellectual class (who speak out fearlessly) is imperative in order to prevent one particular caste or class from high jacking the intellectual and media discourse for its own benefit as it has happened with regards to Brahmin hegemony as the intellectual and media class of India, therefore a self-affirmed person of Brahmin caste (such as writer / publisher S.Anand) cannot be allowed to enjoy media hegemony and journalistic monopoly on opinion regarding issues concerning Dalits, caste system and social revolutionaries such as Dr.Ambedkar and Periyar in mainstream media organs, thus warranting this essayed exposition and explanatory treatise of various ideas and facts about the caste system and social revolutionaries such as Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar in refutation of the journalistic and intellectual falsehood perpetrated by S.Anand on printed record.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">First of all there was nothing “personal” in my critique of S.Anand’s writings. I have never met writer / publisher S.Anand and I have never made a comment regarding his personal - physical or psychological self. Nor did I comment on his personal behavior in the personal realms of his life. </span><span style="color: #222222;">There is nothing “personally attacking” in my critique of S. Anand. My critique of S. Anand was always based on what he wrote and said in the public domain. I have never attacked S.Anand’s behaviour in his personal realm. </span>Personal attacks pertain to attacking or mocking a person’s physical, sexual or psychological self, such as one's mental health, sexuality, bodily self or a person’s behaviour in his personal realm that has no implication to the society around him. I made no such personal attack on S.Anand's behaviour in his personal realm.<span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My criticism of S.Anand’s writings is motivated by my ideological goal of annihilation of castes along the ideas espoused by Thanthai Periyar and Babsaheb Dr.Ambedkar. I criticize those views, beliefs and writings of S.Anand or that of any other person which serve the purpose of undermining the ideological goal of annihilation of castes and untouchability along Periyarist and Ambedkarite thought, such as S.Anand’s writings that aim to blemish Periyar with falsehood or serve as an apologia to Brahmin supremacism or seek to scuttle popular mass media programs by popular stars (such as Aamir Khan) which raise public opinion and social action against untouchability and manual scavenging practices or for that matter S.Anand’s journalistic and editorial behavior that seeks to advertise the primarily anti-Hindu Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” in order to slyly help the Hindutva extremist fascist brigade to intellectually co-opt Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar or S.Anand’s essay that misrepresents and falsifies facts about the caste system such as his false claim that wealthy people do not come under the caste category of “Shudras”. I see this essay and my previous critique of S.Anand’s views as nothing but literary acts of advocacy to espouse various facts about the bigoted caste system and to advocate the ideas and principles of Thanthai Periyar (and that of Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar) towards the goal of annihilation of the vertically graded bigotry of the caste system which is sustained by Brahmin supremacism and a fabricated façade of a religion called Hinduism. So, I don’t see anything personal in my critique of some of S.Anand’s views which I deem to be inimical to the goal of annihilation of castes along the ideological lines and principles espoused by Thanthai Periyar and Babsaheb Dr.Ambedkar. Hence, mine is not a “personal” critique of S.Anand but an ideological and factual analysis of various truths, ideas and issues that impinge on the goal of annihilation of castes along the ideological lines espoused by Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar, which has been written under the pretext of refuting and critiquing the aforementioned false, incorrect and dubious intellectual and journalistic behavior of writer S.Anand. There is nothing personal about this literary exercise, but this is only an ideological and intellectual exercise in defense of the ideology for the annihilation of castes to counter the singularity and media hegemony of S.Anand’s status as an opinion giver on Dalit and caste issues in the mainstream media, since Dr.Ambedkar wanted multiplicity of intellectual opinion and intellectual activity by various strata of society (particularly by Dalits and Bahujans) to prevent the intellectual and media hegemony of one particular supremacist caste such as the Brahmins who have managed to become the intellectual and media class of India through bigotry. So this entire treatise can be considered as an expression of this Ambedkarite principle that enjoins Dalits to counter the intellectual and media hegemony of Brahmins, be that be of S.Anand or someone else, particularly with regards to intellectual views and ideas that impinge on Dalits and those oppressed by the caste system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">S.Anand’s absolutely false and untenable allegations of “gross misrepresentation” and “personal attacks” aimed at me - for scrutinizing his writing on the premise of “Brahmanness” and “Brahman supremacism” warrants a more descriptively resolute refutation and a broader ethical analysis of the intellectual immorality <span lang="EN-US">and bigotry </span>of Brahmin writers and columnists such as S.Anand high-jacking the mainstream English media space that should be reserved for Dalit and OBC writers who oppose the bigotry of Brahmin supremacism, Hindu religion and its caste system, given that writer S.Anand identifies himself openly as a Brahmin by caste in many of his own writings and columns, and when S.Anand himself has no qualms about attacking the “Brahmanness” of a person to discredit and attack actor Aamir Khan’s television programme against untouchability and manual scavenging. Moreover, in the socio-political milieu of India, critical analysis of the influence exerted by a person’s caste over his socio-political views is fully justified just as the racial and class background of a person is often considered and critiqued while critically analysing a person’s socio-political views in the West, particularly if those views directly or indirectly favour a highly condemnable reactionary agenda, particularly by intellectual sleight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Just as S.Anand attacks Aamir Khan’s programme on untouchability and manual scavenging by using the premise of his perceived “Brahmanness” of one of the participants in Aamir Khan’s programme, one may be justified in saying that it is S.Anand’s “Brahmanness” that is making him cite tepid and flimsy reasons to criticize and scuttle stars like Aamir Khan from hosting programmes against the bigoted practices of untouchability and manual scavenging in popular television to mass audiences. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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” in Outlook magazine (dated <span lang="EN-US">April 11</span>, 2005) but he did nothing at the time of the publication of the article 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 S.Anand’s 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 writer Ashokamitran’s false claim of persecution of Brahmins like the Jews of the 1930s (in S.Anand’s report of Ashokamitran’s views titled “We are like the Jews” in Outlook magazine dated <span lang="EN-US">April 11, 2005</span>) or his other Brahmin interviewees’ false claims of persecution on account of their Brahmin caste (in S.Anand’s report “Dalits in reverse” in Outlook magazine dated April 11, 2005) 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 and untenable 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. It may be relevant to describe and analyse an extract from S.Anand’s aforementioned report titled “Dalits in reverse” containing statements of an assorted group of Brahmin interviewees in order to sample and surmise the bigoted journalistic farce indulged in by S.Anand to create the false impression that the socially elite and supremacist Brahmins are “persecuted” like “Dalits in reverse” and Jews of 1930s” (!) in order to dishonestly deny and hide the supremacist and elitist social position enjoyed by Brahmins in the vertically graded Hindu caste society to an unsuspecting and uninformed global reader, which is nothing but a fraudulent journalistic exercise to defend Brahmin supremacism from attacks on the latter. In S.Anand’s report titled “Dalits in reverse”, he quotes Ms.Anita Ratnam - a Brahmin danseuse - as saying “My brother did not get an engineering seat despite scoring 98 per cent and had to study in a Madurai college. When they looked for marriage proposals for me in the '70s, all eligible Brahmin boys had gone abroad!” <span lang="EN-US">S.Anand incredibly wants his readers to believe that the non-availability of Brahmin suitors for Anita Ratnam way back in the seventies as evidence for “persecution of Brahmins” as “Dalits in reverse” in Tamil Nadu! Since S.Anand fancies himself as an “anti-caste activist” it is strange that he never thought of asking Ms.Anita Ratnam why should she look for potential suitors only in the Brahmin caste and why should she bigotedly exclude eligible and qualified men from other castes deemed to be “Hindu” by law, given that Brahmins consider themselves “Hindu”? Given the “Navayana”, “anti-caste activist” and “writer and publisher on Dalit issues” S.Anand fancies himself to be, one wonders what prevented S.Anand from asking Ms.Anita Ratnam whether she will marry an eligible Dalit or non-Brahmin man when she lamented the lack of Brahmin suitors for her! S.Anand wants to sell the farce that the educated and professional Tamil Brahmins’ penchant to leave India for USA and other foreign lands at the drop of the hat (apparently leaving Brahmins like Ms.Anita Ratnam with no “eligible” Brahmin boy back home to marry) is cause for concluding that Brahmins are being persecuted in India like “Dalits in reverse”! Similarly, S.Anand tamely accepts and reproduces Ms.Anita Ratnam’s allegation of lack of availability of engineering college seats (apparently in Chennai) for her academically high scoring brother (who had to eventually study in a Madurai College) as another evidence for “persecution of Brahmins!” One again wonders why S.Anand does not challenge Ms.Anita Ratnam by asking why studying in Madurai instead of Chennai should be cause of grievance for a Brahmin (given that Brahmins have no qualms to fly off to faraway USA to study at the expense of scholarships, grants and teaching assistantships provided by Uncle Sam)? And given the title of “anti-caste activist” with which S.Anand likes to adorn himself (particularly when he addresses forums abroad), how come S.Anand doesn’t counter Ms.Anita Ratnam’s farcical allegation of her brother’s inability to study in a Chennai college by challenging it as an untenable premise for the tall claim of “persecution of Brahmins” as “Dalits in reverse”, by asking what Ms.Anita Ratnam feels about the denial of literacy and education to “Shudras” for millennia and about the denial of primary and secondary education by the Government to rural and urban slum dwelling Dalit and OBC kids who are thrust into caste descent mandated physical child labour and about the discrimination and bigoted harassment that drove many Dalit and OBC students to suicide in state funded Brahmin supremacist and “twice born” caste supremacist citadels such as the various Indian Institutes of Technology, AIIMS, etc? Thus, S.Anand’s aforementioned two reports titled “Dalits in reverse” and “We are like the Jews” are full of ludicrous claims and false statements made by Brahmin interviewees which are journalistically showcased by S.Anand to sell the sensational but atrociously ludicrous allegation that the supremacist and socially elite Brahmins are persecuted like “Dalits in reverse and Jews of 1930s” which is a ludicrous lie to journalistically hide and deny the supremacist and elite social status of Brahmins to an unsuspecting and uninformed global reader which is nothing but a deviant exercise to intellectually and journalistically defend Brahmin supremacism from attacks by critiques of the caste system. It would be futile and unnecessary to list or describe all of such farcical claims and false statements made by Brahmin interviewees in S.Anand’s aforementioned two reports but the one attributed to Ms. Anita Ratnam serves as a good sample.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thus, S.Anand’s aforementioned two journalistic reports are replete with untenable and farcical claims by an assortment of Brahmin interviewees in order to sell the false and ludicrous allegation that Brahmins are persecuted like “Dalits in reverse and Jews (of 1930s)”! 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 (of the 1930s) as an apologia to Brahmin supremacy and to falsely portray the socially privileged supremacist class and caste of Brahmins as a persecuted lot to an unsuspecting global readership in order to dishonestly 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 and manual scavenging that I was referring to the reportage of S.Anand by way of citing two of his aforementioned specific reports titled “Dalits in reverse” and “We are like the Jews” (by properly referencing these reports by giving the complete titles of the reports and the correct dates of the “Outlook” issues in which these reports appeared which negated the need to give a direct web link), 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 of the 1930s, in order to provide a deviant and dishonest defence to the supremacist and socially elite caste of Brahmins who have enjoyed a virtual monopoly as the educated intellectual class of India for millennia, (apart from controlling the mainstream media, bureaucracy, elite academia, corporate business leadership, top judiciary and other annals of power) by virtue of their socio-religious placement at the summit of the caste system as the “most supremacist” caste who are considered to be mythically born out of the “mouth” of God, according to the bigoted Hindu scriptures codifying the caste system.<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The truth is that I sent my rebuttal to S.Anand’s critique of Aamir Khan’s programme on untouchability and manual scavenging to Outlook magazine first. But since Outlook chose not to publish my rebuttal (as they would in the case of any Dalit or OBC writer whose views does not appease the bigoted Brahmin supremacist sensibilities), I sent my rebuttal to <a href="http://countercurrents.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">countercurrents.org</span></a>. It is obvious that Brahmin writers like S.Anand have a ready and easy access to mainstream media organs such as “Outlook” magazine which they use to write opinion on Dalit and caste issues thus occupying the mainstream English media space that should be reserved for Dalit / OBC writers and columnists who advocate against Brahmin bigotry, caste bigotry and the Hindu religion. On the other hand, Dalit writers such as me are summarily excluded from mainstream English media organs and I had to fight in the Press Council of India to get even some of my brief letters published in some mainstream English newspapers controlled by Brahmins such as “The Hindu”. Brahmin writers and allied “twice born” supremacist caste writers enjoy a virtual monopoly as columnists and opinion givers in the Indian media by banning Dalit and OBC writers (who advocate against the bigotry of Brahmins, caste and Hinduism) from writing opinion columns in the mainstream media<span lang="EN-US">, newspapers and journals</span> (unless a Dalit or OBC writer appeases the Brahmin supremacist agenda, Hindutva agenda or a right wing agenda such as some writers who are handpicked and patronized by the Brahmin media such as Ravi Kumar (for blemishing Periyar) <span lang="EN-US">or Chandra Bhan Prasad for ludicrously and fantastically claiming (as Chandra Bhan Prasad often and repeatedly does) that the social stigma, bondage into caste descent based degrading labour and nationwide segregation of Dalit dwellings due to the evil of untouchability will all disappear into thin air if all Dalits became capitalist entrepreneurs (!</span>) which makes me wonder why Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King did not think of propagating capitalist enterprise as a way out for Blacks segregated by Jim Crow laws or apartheid (!!) instead of resorting to social action and political struggles to seek legislation, social reform, desegregation and socio-political empowerment to emancipate and defend Black people against segregation, exclusion and racist discrimination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Apart from Brahmin writers such as S.Anand <span lang="EN-US">enjoying a mainstream media hegemony as opinion givers on Dalit and caste issues, since </span>Brahmin appeasers and right wing apologists such as Chandra Bhan Prasad are given media space in the name of according some press columns to Dalits, I have to digress at this point to briefly counter the untenable advocacy of capitalist enterprise by Chandra Bhan Prasad as a wholesale panacea for the disease of caste bigotry and also stress on how Brahmin appeasers and right wing apologists such as Chandra Bhan Prasad are preferred by the mainstream media instead of anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindu liberal writers such as me. I am not against Dalits achieving success and wealth as capitalist entrepreneurs, but, when most rural and urban slum dwelling Dalits cannot even access literacy, sanitation and housing and when they cannot even escape the caste bondage to degrading labour, and when Dalit dwellings all over India are uniformly segregated and stigmatized by untouchability in all villages and towns, one wonders how Dalits can access the skills, education and capital to become capitalist entrepreneurs and multi-millionaires in the mainstream of society and socio-economic activity. Even if some educated Dalits manage to become rich by hiding their caste identity to escape bigotry, segregation, exclusion and discrimination, it is apparent that even a rich Dalit is not allowed to buy land or a house inside the village or town where caste Hindus live and it is amply apparent from caste atrocities that it is the land owning, educated and affluent Dalits who are more prone to atrocities and honour killings due to the bigoted envy of Hindus! Even becoming affluent or educated does not protect a Dalit from stigmatization, segregation, discrimination and atrocities in both rural and urban India. Even educated and wealthy Dalits are denied housing in urban city dwellings, flats and apartment complexes on account of their caste and due to the evil of untouchability. This being the case it is not capitalist enterprise or wealth alone that will annihilate caste and liberate Dalits, but only the following measures which hold some promise of destroying the segregation, caste bondage and exclusion perpetrated on Dalits in order to bring the latter into the mainstream of socio-economic life of the nation : measures such as desegregation of Dalit dwellings and integrating Dalit neighbourhoods with caste Hindu dwellings by providing public housing, flats and lands to Dalits inside all towns and villages where caste Hindus live and by building governmental offices, public buildings and public health facilities in Dalit neighbourhoods to end the segregation of the latter by compelling caste Hindus to enter Dalit neighbourhoods, abolishment of all forms of caste descent based labour, and proscribing all manifestations of caste by law and judicial enforcement of the same, governmental guarantees to health, housing, primary and secondary education and social security doles to all, and adoption of rationalist atheism or atheist – rationalist Ambedkarite Buddhism as alternative choices of thought, conscience and religion for Dalits (as advocated by Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar). But liberal and progressive Dalit writers who have this liberal and progressive vision for the emancipation of Dalits and annihilation of the caste system along Periyarist and Ambedkarite ideals of social action will not get any media space in the Brahmin – Baniya controlled mainstream media in India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But the Brahmin – Baniya controlled mainstream Indian media grants media space only to writers like Chandra Bhan Prasad who appease Brahmins by playing the Dalits against the OBCs and by propagating ludicrous canards such as untenably, illogically and irrationally claiming laissez-faire capitalism as the panacea for liberating Dalits from the segregation and enslavement entrenched by the Hindu socio-religious practices of caste and untouchability, while distancing the mainstream media away from Dalit (and OBC) writers who advocate against the bigotry of Brahmins, Hinduism and caste based on the socio-political perspectives propounded by Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar for annihilation of castes (such as myself).<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This bigoted and discriminatory exclusion of anti-Brahmin, anti-Hindu and anti-caste liberal and progressive Dalit / OBC writers and columnists from the mainstream media, newspapers, journals and television can be countered only by extending reservation for backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in private sector employment including the employment and commission of journalists, columnists, writers, anchors and opinion givers in the mainstream media, newspapers, journals and news television channels. This unwritten but blatant exclusion of Dalits and OBC writers (who advocate against the bigotry of caste, Brahmins and Hinduism) from writing columns, articles and opinion pieces in the mainstream media gives the false impression that Brahmin writers such as S.Anand (and right wing appeasers such as Chandra Bhan Prasad) represent the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media, and this hegemonic position enjoyed by Brahmin writers such as S.Anand is misused by him to write against the interests of Dalits such as criticizing a television programme against untouchability practices and manual scavenging by citing lame and tepid excuses and to indulge in other such Brahmanical mischief making such as to distort and defame anti-caste, anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin social revolutionaries such as Periyar in the mainstream English media organs in order to stem the spread of Periyar’s social revolutionary ideas outside of Tamil Nadu or to advertise the suggestion that Dr.Ambedkar is anti-Muslim or to file dubious journalistic reports that falsely claim that the supremacist and socially elite Brahmins are “persecuted” like “Dalits in reverse and Jews of 1930s”! If a Dalit or OBC writer (such as me) writes a rebuttal to such gross misuse of the media hegemony enjoyed by a Brahmin writer such as S.Anand on Dalit and caste issues, the rebuttal will never get published in the mainstream media organ just as my rebuttal to S.Anand’s criticism of Aamir Khan’s programme on untouchability and manual scavenging was ignored by Outlook magazine. On the other hand, if a Dalit writer such as myself manages to get my opinion published in alternate media organs such as “<a href="http://countercurrents.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">countercurrents.org</span></a>”, powerful Brahmin writers such as S.Anand readily browbeat Dalit writers such as myself by ensuring that even the alternate media organs publishes their dishonest rebuttals based on false premises with the aim of maligning and <span lang="EN-US">silencing</span> my voice. Thus Brahmin writers who claim to be writers on Dalit and caste issues such as S.Anand occupy the media and intellectual space that should be reserved for Dalits (and OBCs) while also enjoying ready and unquestionable access to both the mainstream media and alternate media, while the access to mainstream media is totally barred for anti-Brahmin, anti-caste and anti-Hindu Dalit writers such as myself and even alternate media organs are pressurized not to carry my opinion by media hegemonic Brahmin writers such as S.Anand. The truth is that the mainstream media in India would never publish articles or essays originally written by Thanthai Periyar or Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar which are critical of Brahmins, caste and Hinduism, but the Indian mainstream media will readily publish the opinion of Brahmin writers such as S.Anand on Dalit and caste issues. One needs to emphasize that S<span lang="EN-US">.Anand himself did not see the need to publish any one of Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar’s numerous essays which are critical of Brahmins and Hinduism in the special issue of Outlook magazine dated August 20, 2012 (officially edited by S.Anand) which was purportedly dedicated to Dr.Ambedkar on account of a poll that found Dr.Ambedkar to be the “Greatest Indian after Gandhi”. S.Anand is identified as the “issue editor” of this special edition of Outlook magazine, which means that S.Anand had editorial control over the issue, but he made no editorial attempt to showcase a prominent essay by Babsaheb Dr.Ambedkar criticizing Brahmins and Hinduism in this special issue of “Outlook” magazine purportedly dedicated to Dr.Ambedkar, while S.Anand has included an article which suggests that Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar was “anti-Muslim” in this special issue of “Outlook” dated August 20, 2012 (an article titled “Bias that wasn’t?” by Debarshi Dasgupta) which can only be seen as intellectually serving the Hindutva fascist agenda of co-opting Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar who was an uncompromising lifelong anti-Hindu. Why didn’t S.Anand commission an article analyzing Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar’s life long mission as an “anti-Hindu” instead of including an article that sought to portray him as “anti-Muslim”? Why didn’t S.Anand include any of Dr.Ambedkar’s essays which are critical and condemnatory of Brahmins and Hinduism in this special issue of Outlook magazine purportedly dedicated to Dr.Ambedkar which was edited by him instead of including an article that advertised the suggestion that Dr.Ambedkar was “anti-Muslim”?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It would be patronizingly racist and bigoted if anyone suggested that Dalits should blindly trust a Brahmin writer (S.Anand) who enjoys a privileged position as a preferred opinion giver and columnist on Dalit issues in the popular mainstream English media organs such as “Outlook” magazine by excluding other Dalit writers (who may oppose S.Anand’s views) from mainstream English media organs, and without scrutinizing the relationship between S.Anand’s Brahmin caste descent and his views that may be inimical to Dalit interests and the struggle for the annihilation of the caste system. This would be also against Dr.Ambedkar’s call for each strata of society – particularly Dalits – to build their own intellectual class and opinion givers to counter the intellectual hegemony of the Brahmin intellectual and media class as exemplified by S.Anand as an intellectual opinion giver on Dalit and caste issues. It is blatantly dishonest for a Brahmin writer (such as S.Anand) to become a cry baby and hide behind false accusations of “personal attacks” and “gross misrepresentation” when the relationship between his supremacist Brahmin caste descent and his views are analysed and questioned especially when some of his opinions and journalistic behaviour are seen as inimical or dilutive to the process of Dalit liberation and annihilation of the caste system, such as S.Anand’s attempts at using flimsy reasons to discourage and criticize Aamir Khan for producing a television programme that condemned the bigotry of untouchability and manual scavenging practices to mass television audiences, or S.Anand’s past reports that tried to sell the ludicrously false claim that the supremacist caste of Brahmins are being persecuted like Dalits and Jews of the 1930s or for that matter S.Anand’s own past writings or translations that shamelessly distorted and defamed Periyar with lies and falsehood in the mainstream English media such as ridiculously associating the vehemently anti-Hindu Periyar with Hindutva or S.Anand’s editorial decision to include an article that advertised the suggestion that Dr.Ambedkar was “anti-Muslim” in a special issue of “Outlook” magazine purportedly dedicated to Dr.Ambedkar and edited by S.Anand or S.Anand’s propagation of falsehood about the nature of caste bigotry through his criticism of Periyar for including the rich under the caste category of “Shudras” by insinuating the falsehood that rich Shudras do not come under the caste category of Shudras (!) which is as false as saying that poor Brahmins do not enjoy the supremacist caste status accorded to their birth in the Hindu caste system !<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If a racially white person claims to be an anti-racist activist and high-jacked or monopolized the media space and intellectual space meant for Black writers and Black intellectuals in cahoots with a conniving media controlled by white people by putting forth his views in the name of Black people, he would be called as a racist in the west, albeit an intellectually sophisticated one. Similarly in the society of the vertically graded bigotry of the caste system where the Brahmins are in the summit of the caste system as the supremacist caste, if a Brahmin (such as S.Anand - in cahoots with a conniving mainstream media controlled by Brahmins and “twice born” supremacist castes such as Baniyas) high-jacked and monopolized the mainstream English media space that should be reserved for Dalit writers and Dalit columnists, by putting forth his views in the name of Dalits by claiming to speak for Dalits, by banning any rebuttal to his views from other Dalit writers in the journal in which his writings are published, he may be legitimately perceived by some as a very sophisticated and intellectually sly Brahmin supremacist. The added danger is that a Brahmin writer / columnist posing as an anti-caste activist (such as S.Anand) who highjacks the mainstream English media space that should be reserved for Dalit and OBC writers may actually end up damaging the fight against the caste system by attacking even small attempts to rally opinion against untouchability practices and manual scavenging by popular stars in popular television (such as Aamir Khan’s program) and by defaming anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste social revolutionaries like Periyar with lies and distortions, and in addition by writing journalistic reports that serve as an apologia for Brahmin supremacism by falsely and dishonestly reporting that the supremacist and privileged caste of Brahmins at the summit of the vertically graded bigotry of the caste system are persecuted like “Dalits and Jews of the 1930s” or by giving journalistic space to advertise that Dr.Ambedkar was ant-Muslim or for making false claims about the caste system such as falsely claiming that the rich “Shudras” do not come under the caste category of “Shudras” just as S.Anand did and doing. I would say that going by this aforementioned journalistic record alone, any objective analyst would conclude that S.Anand is indeed a Brahmin supremacist by intellectual sleight, notwithstanding his public posturing and writings as an “anti-caste” writer and publisher.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">S.Anand may claim that he is not preventing other Dalit writers from writing or speaking, but the fact remains that a conniving Brahmin led “twice born” supremacist castes’ controlled mainstream media organs (such as “Outlook”) will readily publish whatever a Brahmin writer like S.Anand writes about issues related to Dalits and caste, but would not touch the writings of a Dalit writer (such as myself) unless the latter is subservient to Brahmin supremacist agenda (such as solely blaming individual castes in the lower echelons of the vertically graded and bigoted caste system (OBCs) for the plight of Dalits - by socio-politically pitting backward castes against Dalits and vice versa - that plays into the Brahmanical divide and rule of the working masses of India through the vertically graded caste system without fundamentally attacking the Hindu religion or Brahmin socio-religious-institutional-intellectual supremacism that guards the caste system and persistent social segregation of rural Dalits as a whole). Thus a Brahmin writer like S.Anand is indeed taking advantage of his privileged caste as a Brahmin and its allied perks such as his ready and easy access to the Brahmin led “twice born” supremacist castes’ controlled mainstream English media – to highjack the media space and intellectual space that should be accorded to and reserved for Dalit/OBC writers and Dalit/OBC intellectuals who advocate against the bigotry of Hinduism, caste and Brahmins, – which will only end up giving false and biased perceptions on issues related to the caste system and Dalits in the mainstream media while excluding anti-Hindu, anti-caste and anti-Brahmin Dalit perspectives of Dalit writers (such as me) from mainstream media organs, which will only impede the fight against the caste system and Brahmin supremacist bigotry. This also carries the danger of Brahmins (who claim to speak for Dalits in the mainstream media, such as S.Anand) expressing ideas that may actually endanger the fight against caste bigotry and untouchability, just as S.Anand’s writings which criticize Aamir Khan’s programme on untouchability and manual scavenging by citing lame and tepid reasons which may have only had the effect of snuffing out any future mass media efforts at condemning untouchability and manual scavenging practices in popular television by popular stars such as Aamir Khan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Brahmin writer such as S.Anand’s ready access to a Brahmin led “twice born” supremacist castes’ controlled mainstream media to speak and write on issues concerning Dalits and the caste system at the exclusion of radically anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin Dalit/OBC writers and Dalit/OBC commentators from the mainstream media is the sad social reality of India where radically anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste Dalit /OBC writers do not get media space in the mainstream media (unless they appease the Brahmin supremacist agenda and a right wing agenda like Chandra Bhan Prasad). Brahmin writers and columnists such as S.Anand who claim to speak and write on issues related to Dalits and the caste system only serve to highjack the mainstream media and intellectual space (that should be reserved for ideologically radical Dalit/OBC writers) in order to perpetuate the exclusion of rebellious anti-Brahmin, anti-caste and anti-Hindu Dalit/OBC writers from the mainstream English media. If this is not a sophisticated expression of Brahmin supremacism, what else is?<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">S. Anand may claim to be a writer against caste in the society of vertically graded bigotry of caste just as a white person may have been a writer against apartheid or racism in the erstwhile South African apartheid state or the erstwhile segregated American South. But still S.Anand cannot take the place of a Dalit writer to offer perspectives on Dalit issues just as a white writer cannot take the place of a Black writer to offer perspectives on Black issues, but unfortunately S. Anand and a conniving Brahmanical media to which he has ready and easy access are just doing that. If all Brahmin writers start doing a “S.Anand” by claiming to be anti-caste activists to highjack the intellectual and mainstream media space that should be reserved for Dalit and backward caste writers and columnists, Dr.Ambedkar’s dream of eradicating Brahmins as the intellectual class of India by replacing the Brahmin intellectual class with a Dalit-Bahujan intellectual class will only be a pipe-dream. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I would like to say that it may become dangerously easy, convenient and fashionable for Brahmin supremacists and closet caste bigots to make tall claims as anti-caste activists (in order to occupy the intellectual and mainstream media space that should be reserved for radically anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste Dalit and OBC writers) without challenging the fundamentally bigoted tenets of Brahmin supremacism which guards the caste system as enunciated by Babasheb Dr.Ambedkar, while excluding radically anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindu Dalit and OBC writers and columnists from the mainstream media.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Indian mainstream media readily carries articles, opinion and essays by Brahmin writers <span lang="EN-US">(such as S.Anand) </span>who condescendingly patronize Dalits by claiming to write for Dalits on Dalit issues in the mainstream media as if the mainstream media cannot find Dalit writers and columnists (while banning and excluding the views of anti-caste, anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindu Dalit writers such as me who may oppose or disagree with S.Anand’s views), which is nothing but a sophisticated and sly form of Brahmin supremacism. The Indian mainstream media will readily publish the writings of Brahmins or “twice born” supremacist writers or “non-twice born” writers who appease the Brahmanical agenda of securing the caste system, but the Indian mainstream media controlled by Brahmin and Baniya led “twice born” supremacist castes will never publish a single essay written by even Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar (or Periyar) which may be critical or condemnatory of the bigotry of Brahmins, caste and Hinduism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">S.Anand’s false accusation of “misrepresentation” shows that he has an enduring trait and tendency for being the pot calling the kettle black, since his reports and translations on Periyar and some of his other writings on Periyar are grouse examples of gross misrepresentation that only serve to hurt the cause of annihilation of castes, by misrepresenting and falsifying the truth about the caste system and by distorting and defaming [the anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste] revolutionaries such as Periyar and Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar. S.Anand accuses me of “exhuming” his past writing and he cites an assorted body of his other reports to rebut my critique, and in reply I have to assert that there is no “time limit” or “statute of limitations” for scrutinizing the views, writings or statements of a person while critiquing a person on an issue of public interest (just as S.Anand himself has done on Periyar’s writings several decades after the latter’s demise). S.Anand’s false accusations of gross misrepresentation and his untenable allegation that I have ignored his other reports only reminds me of the gross misrepresentation and distortion S.Anand himself heaped against the (anti-Brahmin, anti-caste and anti-Hindu) social revolutionary Periyar through his reports, essays and translations by ridiculously blemishing Periyar as an advocate of Hindutva and defaming Periyar with unfounded allegations of prejudice against Dalits. S.Anand himself cites an article written by me in which I have rebutted and exposed S.Anand’s lies and falsehood against Periyar [which can be read at the following link: </span><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/elango231011.htm">http://www.countercurrents.org/elango231011.htm</a><span style="color: #222222;">]. I feel that S.Anand’s own writings and translations which distort the ideas of Periyar and Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar and misrepresent the facts about the caste system serve as fine examples of how S.Anand is adept in the art of gross misrepresentation and falsification, which are further analysed in the columns below.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">S.Anand has written reports and translated articles blemishing Periyar (under the garb of critiquing the latter) more than half a century after Periyar’s death and almost a century after the writings of Periyar appeared, (to the extent of ridiculously defaming the vehemently anti-Hindu Periyar as an advocate of Hindutva in one of his translations for Outlook magazine), by falsely quoting or selectively misquoting improperly referenced Periyar’s statements out of context and by ignoring Periyar’s life long quest consisting of a vast body of innumerable writings, speeches, statements, prison sentences, campaigns, socio-political agitations and social action seeking the very destruction of Hinduism and annihilation of the caste system. Even though S.Anand grossly defamed and distorted Periyar, S.Anand does not consider his writings and translations defaming and distorting Periyar as “personal attacks” against Periyar. Then why should S.Anand consider my critique of S.Anand’s published reports, essays and translations as a “personal attack” against him by being intolerant to my critique of his writings, when I have used the same yardstick of critiquing specific past writings and reportage of S.Anand just as S.Anand did to Periyar’s writings, albeit dishonestly, maliciously and deceitfully (to Periyar), while my critique of S.Anand’s writings are neither dishonest nor malicious but sticks to critiquing those published views of S.Anand which I deem contrary to the goal of annihilation of castes based on the ideals of Thanthai Periyar and Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">It is justifiable, ethically correct and apt to critique particular reports, statements and articles of S. Anand without having to necessarily quote or reference all of his entire body of other writings and reports of his entire life time (just as Anand had critiqued selective and improperly referenced and misappropriated non contextual quotes / misquotes of Periyar in his past writings, reports and translations by ignoring Periyar’s life long socio-political struggle and innumerable writings and speeches for the annihilation of Hinduism and caste). Moreover, unlike Periyar’s entire life time of manifold speeches, writings, social struggles, prison sentences and sacrifices in the course of his fight against Brahmin supremacist bigotry, caste system and Hinduism which are summarily brushed aside by S.Anand in his reports and translations that defame and distort Periyar, there is nothing in S.Anand’s body of writings and reports to suggest that he is a revolutionary advocate for the annihilation of the supremacist Brahmin caste along with annihilation of all castes and Hinduism along the ideological lines enunciated by Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar and Thanthai Periyar. Moreover any critical reports S.Anand may have written about his fellow Brahmins does not excuse or justify some of his reports that serve as an apologia for Brahmin supremacism, just as the racism of a white person cannot be excused because he criticizes his fellow white men. Some Brahmin writers (such as S.Anand) may indulge in superficial and inane criticism of Brahmins such as criticizing Brahmin domination in the game of cricket and making anecdotal reminiscences on Brahmin caste nepotism without challenging Brahmin supremacy along the lines enunciated by Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar, in order to simply advertise their claim of criticizing fellow Brahmins as an intellectual license to defame anti-Brahmin, anti-caste and anti-Hindu social revolutionaries such as Periyar and to occupy the mainstream media space that should be reserved for Dalit and OBC writers in order to intellectually damage the struggle for annihilation of castes and to intellectually impede the empowerment of Dalit-Bahujan (SC/ST/OBC) peoples by writing against mass media programs of popular stars that may rally public opinion against untouchability and manual scavenging practices or by writings reports that serve as an apologia to Brahmin supremacism by making false and ludicrous claims of persecution against the supremacist and socially privileged caste of Brahmins or by writings articles that misrepresent the truth about the caste system such as ridiculously claiming that wealth can change the “Shudra” (“slave to Brahmins”) caste identity of a person or by enabling the journalistic advertisement of the suggestion that Dr.Ambedkar was anti-Muslim, just as S.Anand has done in his editorial and journalistic actions, writings, reports and articles. A true anti-Brahmin advocate would challenge the main expressions of Brahmanism and Brahmin supremacy that are enunciated along the following lines by Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar: </span>(1) enforcing graded inequality between the different castes; (2) complete disarmament of backward castes and Dalits (3) ban on the education of backward castes and Dalits (4) exclusion of backward castes and Dalits from places of power and authority; (5) prohibition against backward castes and Dalits acquiring property, and (6) complete subjugation and suppression of women. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">S.Anand may have undoubtedly written some reports on issues related to Dalits and he may have even written articles which are critical of Brahmins, and he may be a publisher of several books on Dalit issues and caste system written by others, but that does not justify some of his reports which serve as an apologia for Brahmin supremacy, nor does it sanction his quasi-monopolistic status as a preferred opinion giver on matters related to Dalits and caste in mainstream media organs controlled by Brahmins and “twice born” supremacist castes (such as Outlook magazine) by displacing radically anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste Dalit writers and Dalit columnists who may be opposed to his views and neither does it excuse S.Anand’s articles which defame Periyar and state falsehood about the caste system by falsely implying that wealth negates the “Shudra” caste status of a person and nothing can justify S.Anand’s editorial commissioning of an article to advertise the suggestion that Dr.Ambedkar is “anti-Muslim” in a mainstream media organ’s (Outlook) special issue edited by S.Anand which only helps the Hindutva extremist agenda to co-opt the perennially anti-Hindu Dr.Ambedkar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">S.Anand’s occupation of the mainstream English media space (as a self-anointed opinion giver on Dalit issues) that should be reserved for Dalit and OBC writers who advocate against Hindu religious bigotry, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">Brahmin bigotry, </span><span style="color: #222222;">caste bigotry and untouchability, by displacing the latter from the mainstream media space that should be earmarked for them, is nothing but another form of Brahmin supremacism. Given S.Anand’s position as a Brahmin writer who occupies the mainstream media space that should be reserved for Dalit writers and Dalit columnists, he cannot be intolerant to any scrutiny of his writings by making untenably false accusations of “personal attacks” and “misrepresentation”, particularly when his "Brahmanness" is called into question while critically analysing his views, when S.Anand has no qualms in criticising the “Brahmanness” of another person in order to criticize Aamir Khan's television show on untouchability and manual scavenging and when S.Anand subjects Periyar and Periyar's ideology to abject distortions and defamation in the mainstream English media with impunity while making other misrepresentations about the caste system and the ideas of Dr.Ambedkar which are described, scrutinized and analysed in the columns below. [And one should emphasize that defaming and distorting Periyar (in the mainstream English media) to people outside of Tamil Nadu has become vital for Brahmin supremacists and closet Hindutva apologists since they want to ensure that the anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste rationalist – atheist message of Periyar does not spread amongst the OBC people outside of Tamil Nadu since Dr.Ambedkar has been prejudicially bracketed strictly as a Dalit icon in the popular psyche nurtured by the Brahmin controlled mainstream media thus leaving only Periyar's anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste ideology as the only challenge to the spread of Hindutva fascist poison amongst the backward castes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">S.Anand should be ready to allow others to do unto him what he does unto others. It seems that S.Anand is intolerant to allow others to subject his own writings and media behaviour to the same scrutiny he journalistically and editorially applies to Periyar, Dr.Ambedkar, Aamir Khan or participants in Aamir Khan’s programme.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From an Ambedkarite – Periyarist perspective it is useless to call oneself as an anti-caste activist without being an assertive anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindu, since Brahmin supremacism and the delusional Hindu religious identity guards the bigoted caste system and all of its manifestations. It is for S.Anand to answer whether he has written, struggled, sacrificed or socially acted to oppose and negate various manifestations of the aforesaid six cardinal principles of Brahmin supremacy as enunciated by Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar which discriminates, excludes and oppresses backward castes and Dalits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">For me, the term “Brahmin” is akin to the term “Nazi” since both the terms stands for the bigotry of the ultimate supremacy of people of a particular biological descent over the rest of humanity, the only difference being that the term “Brahmin” is cloaked in a system of entrenched and sanctified racism behind a prurient excuse of a religion called Hinduism. Just as no one will consider opposing the “Nazi” identity as wrong or immoral, opposing the “Brahmin” identity and the supremacist bigotry it stands for is nothing but humane, moral, honourable and humanistic. If a person identifies himself as a Brahmin and lives and swears by his Brahmin identity, he is just as guilty of someone who calls himself a Nazi. If a person of Brahmin background truly wants to disown the bigotedly supremacist Brahmin identity and work against the bigotry of Brahmin supremacism and the vertically graded social inequality of the bigoted caste system, he should work to destroy Hinduism, all manifestations of Brahmin supremacism and the very Brahmin caste identity along the principles enunciated by Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar and Thanthai Periyar. If he doesn’t do that he has no right or moral high ground to occupy the mainstream media space that should be given to anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindu Dalit / OBC writers and he certainly has no moral right to call himself as an “anti-caste” activist!</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If one hypothetically suggests that a Caucasian writer should be feted as an anti-racist activist and given privileged access to mainstream media in the West as an opinion writer on racism, even if that particular white writer has defamed Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela as racists and criticized television programmes exposing racist practices, it would be considered as something insanely ridiculous that could never happen in the West. But on the other hand in India, a Brahmin writer such as S.Anand successfully passes off as an anti-caste activist despite using his privileged access to the mainstream media for criticizing television programmes by popular stars which expose the bigotry of untouchability and manual scavenging and for publishing his opinion that brazenly defames the anti-Brahmin, anti-caste and anti-Hindu social revolutionary Periyar, and for writing journalistic reports that makes false claims of persecution against the supremacist and socially elite caste of Brahmins in order to hide the role played by the latter as the bureaucratic, intellectual, governing and media class of India in sustaining the misery, deprivation, insanitation, illiteracy and ill health of the masses of India who are divided and ruled through the vertically graded bigotry of caste, and for editorially enabling the journalistic advertising of the suggestion that Dr.Ambedkar is anti-Muslim, and for making false statements about the caste system such as claiming that “rich” Shudras are not “Shudras” (!) all of which is a travesty that will never pass objective intellectual scrutiny in other parts of the World.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Furthermore, Brahmin writers posing as anti-caste activists who high-jack the mainstream media space that should be accorded to Dalit and OBC writers is as immoral as Brahmins using up the seats of employment and education reserved for Dalits. Saying that Brahmins posing as anti-caste activists can occupy the place of Dalit writers to offer perspectives on Dalit issues in the mainstream media is akin to saying that Brahmins who claim to “serve Dalits” or who claim to be anti-caste activists can use up the reservation meant for Dalits in education and employment which is a bigoted argument popularized in a bigoted Tamil movie of the eighties called “Ore oru Gramathile”, which drew the ire of Dalit activists in Tamil Nadu. S.Anand is a practical proponent of this bigoted argument of “Ore Oru Gramathile” in the mainstream media through his occupation of the intellectual and media space that should be accorded to anti-Hindu, anti-caste and anti-Brahmin radical Dalit writers for offering perspectives on Dalit and caste issues, and if S.Anand wants to stop being a poll bearer for this kind of nuanced Brahmin bigotry, he should stop offering views on Dalit and caste issues in the mainstream media and offer that opportunity to radical Dalit writers who advocate against the bigotry of Hinduism, Brahmins and caste, such as myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are thousands of Dalit and OBC men, women and children in Tamil Nadu who have sacrificed their lives to police bullets and batons, suffered torture and prison sentences, and lost their finances, properties, marriages and jobs, all because of their activism against the caste system, Hinduism and Brahmin bigotry. Crowning writer S.Anand as an “anti-caste activist” when he has made no such real sacrifices as other social activists against caste bigotry who have sacrificed their careers, finances, liberty, life and limb in the struggle for the annihilation of castes, does little justice to the latter. While S.Anand is making a successful living as a publisher and writer by high-jacking the mainstream media space that should be reserved for [but denied to] non-Brahmin Dalit and backward caste writers who advocate against the bigotry of Hinduism, Brahmins and caste, he cannot call himself as an “anti-caste” activist since he has no moral right to stake claim to the stature of thousands of real anti-caste and anti-Hindu activists who have sacrificed their liberty, life and limb for the sake of the annihilation of the bigotry of Brahmins and Hinduism that guards the caste system, such as dozens of followers of Periyar who were killed in police custody in the year of 1957 for their public protests of burning the Indian constitution to seek the constitutional abolition of caste or for that matter innumerable Dalits and Dalit activists who have fallen to police batons and bullets while agitating for their right to land, social equality and life without discrimination and segregation. (Periyar launched an agitation in 1957 seeking constitutional abolition of caste by way of a constitutional provision that provides for total proscription of all manifestations and expressions of caste and to legislate appropriate amendments to the constitutional provisions of religious freedom which served to guard the caste system and Brahmin socio-religious supremacy (of the Hindu religion) under the garb of religious freedom. Thousands of Periyar’s followers were arrested, imprisoned and tortured in police custody and scores were killed in police custody during Periyar’s agitation for the constitutional abolition of caste in 1957). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Instead of making unfounded allegations of “gross misrepresentation” and “personal attacks” directed at me, why doesn’t S.Anand choose to grant radically anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste Dalit writers (particularly those who oppose his views such as me) access to the mainstream media space he occupies as a self-anointed opinion giver on Dalit and caste issues despite being a Brahmin, thanks to a Brahmin led “twice born” supremacist castes’ controlled media that good humours him? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">S. Anand had the temerity to blemish a life-long militant who sought the destruction of the caste system and Hindu religion such as Periyar with false accusations, misquotes and half-truths in his writings, reports and translations with little knowledge about Periyar’s activism by ludicrously and ridiculously associating Periyar with Hindutva and prejudice against Dalits by ignoring the vast body of Periyar's writings, speeches, struggles, prison sentences, social action and other sacrifices seeking the destruction of Hinduism, untouchability and the caste system. S.Anand has a penchant for translating and writing opinion that defames the most vehement anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindu of all, namely Periyar, which belies his anger at Periyar’s anti-Brahmin advocacy (which one may fairly ascribe to S.Anand’s Brahmin caste descent). S.Anand defames, maligns and distorts Periyar as a "leader of intermediate castes" in one of his reports on account of Periyar’s caste descent by ignoring Periyar's life long and manifold struggle and sacrifices against all manifestations of the caste system, Hinduism and Brahmin supremacist bigotry. If S.Anand can subject Periyar to such an aggressive defamation with falsehood by ignoring Periyar's vast body of life-long social action against Hindu religion, Brahmin supremacy and caste bigotry, S.Anand should be ready and willing to take a more aggressive dissection and scrutiny of his writings, journalistic, editorial and literary behaviour – given that he has the temerity to pass of as an anti-caste activist in order to occupy the mainstream media space that should be reserved for Dalit/OBC writers and Dalit/OBC columnists (who advocate against the bigotry of caste, Brahmins and Hinduism), simply on the basis of S.Anand’s few reports and columns on Dalits issues out of several hundred reports he may have filed as a journalist and his successful commercial business as a publisher of books on Dalit and caste issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One can cite several examples of S.Anand’s writing which singularly misrepresents and distorts the ideology of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar with falsehood, and distorts the facts about the caste system, thus serving a covert intellectual agenda of damaging the struggle for the annihilation of the caste system. A few of such writings of S.Anand are analysed and critiqued below.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">One such example of S.Anand’s writing is a report titled “Iconoclast or Lost Idol” which defames and distorts Periyar’s life and work, to which I have written a rebuttal which can be read at the following link: </span><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/elango231011.htm">http://www.countercurrents.org/elango231011.htm</a><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being a “Shudra”: S.Anand’s distortion of the term “Shudra” which misrepresents the truth about the caste system:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ffffee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Shudra was created by the Self-existent (Svayambhu - God) to be the slave of the Brahmana. (Chapter 8, Verse 413 of Manusmrithi)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ffffee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Shudra, though emancipated by his master, is not released from servitude; since that is innate in him, who can set him free from it? (Chapter 8, Verse 414 of Manusmrithi)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffee;">A Brahmana may confidently seize the goods of (his) Shudra (slave); for, as that (slave) can have no property, his master may take his possessions. (Chapter 8, Verse 417 of Manusmrithi)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #ffffee;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffee;">A Shudra who has intercourse with a woman of a twice-born caste (Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vysyas), guarded or unguarded, (shall be punished in the following manner): if she was unguarded, he loses his “offending part” and all his property; if she was guarded, everything (even his life). (Chapter 8, Verse 374 of Manusmrithi).</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #ffffee;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">S.Anand claims in his essay </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">titled </span><span style="color: #222222;">“Resurrecting the radical Ambedkar” (which can be read at the following link : </span><a href="http://www.india-seminar.com/2009/601/601_s_anand.htm">http://www.india-seminar.com/2009/601/601_s_anand.htm</a><span style="color: #222222;">) that the bigoted, enslaving and inferiorized “Shudra”</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">social caste status in the Hindu caste system (scripturally meaning “slave to Brahmins” or “son of prostitutes (female slaves)” as “codified” and described by “Manusmrithi”) cannot be applied to the wealthy amongst the Shudras, by atrociously insinuating that wealth changes the “Shudra” social caste status when in reality the inferiorized “Shudra” caste social status is determined by birth (into a caste descent) and not by wealth. (S.Anand’s atrocious canard is akin to saying that racism does not affect affluent Black people and is as false as assuming that racism,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"> social segregation and bigotry</span><span style="color: #222222;"> did not apply to affluent Black people in the erstwhile Apartheid regime or the American South under Jim Crow laws). On the basis of this canard in his essay “Resurrecting the radical Ambedkar”, S.Anand criticizes Periyar for including the rich Shudras under the social caste category (Varna) of “Shudras” (slaves)! Thus, S.Anand grossly distorts and misrepresents the nature and meaning of caste in the Hindu religion (while also distorting and maligning Periyar’s ideas) in his essay titled “Resurrecting the radical Ambedkar”, by insinuating that wealth changes the “Shudra” caste status which is a total lie. This is not very different from blabbering that wealth can change the stigmatizing untouchable caste status of a person which is determined by birth and not by wealth, and hence wealth can neither change the “Shudra” caste identity of a person nor can it alter the “untouchable” caste status of a person.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“No collection of wealth be made by a Shudra even “though he be able to do it”, for a Shudra who have acquired wealth gives pain to the Brahmana” (Manusmrithi, Chapter 10, Verse 129 of Manusmrithi).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ffffee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let a Brahmin not dwell in a country where the rulers are Shudras (Manusmrithi, Chapter 8, and Verse 61 of Manusmrithi).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffee;">Thus it is quite evident even from Hindu scriptures such as Manusmrithi that Shudras could become wealthy and even political rulers, but even if they attain wealth and political power they are still deemed to be Shudras (slaves of Brahmins) despite being wealthy or political rulers, and are expected to serve the Brahmins and the Brahmin supremacist agenda</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #ffffee;"> as rich and politically empowered Shudras (slaves of Brahmins)</span><span style="background-color: #ffffee;">. Thus, we see even elected politicians from backward caste and Dalit background appeasing the Brahmins and Hindu Orthodoxy according to the role prescribed for rich and powerful Shudras by Manusmrithi, like many backward caste and Dalit leaders do in many states, such as Mayawathi who openly appeases the Brahmin constituency and Parliamentary speaker Meera Kumar who openly declares her allegiance to Hinduism by undertaking a pilgrimage to the Kumb Mela. Thus according to Brahmanism enunciated by the bigoted codes of Manusmrithi, Shudras can be rich and powerful, as long as the power and wealth of the Shudras serves the Brahmins and Brahmin supremacist agenda, since Shudras are slaves of Brahmins, even if they are rich and powerful! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ffffee;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brahmins are discouraged by Manusmrithi from accepting or allowing the political rule and acquisition of wealth by the Shudras in order to maintain Brahmin supremacy, which in modern times takes the form of Brahmin controlled bureaucratic apparatus, mainstream media, higher judiciary and the corporate class overriding the democratic will of the elected representatives in the parliament and state legislatures who are increasingly elected from backward castes (touchable Shudras) and Dalits (untouchable Shudras or Panchamas). For example, Brahmin supremacist and Hindu extremist nuts like Subramaniya Swamy in cahoots with Brahmin judges in the Supreme Court and the Brahmin mainstream media scuttled the developmental project of Sethu Canal which was legislated by the “Shudra” elected representatives from backward castes and scheduled castes (Dalits) of Tamil Nadu by harping over </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>concocted and superstitious claims that the mythological Hindu God character Rama built a bridge over the Palk Straits by branding the chain of naturally formed sandbanks, shoals and coral islands along the Palk Strait as “Rama’s Bridge” in order to deny socio-economic development to the “Shudra Tamils”! (The row of sandbanks and coral islands in Palk Straits were usually and secularly called as “Adam’s bridge” before the Hindu extremist fascist nutcase brigade started claiming that the row of naturally occurring sand banks as a mythical bridge “created” by the mythically imagined Hindu God Rama!)</i></b></span><span style="background-color: #fffbfc; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: #ffffee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another example of Brahmins seeking to negate democratic will of the Shudra political power is the spectacle of Brahmin led mainstream media propping up Anna Hazare and his concocted campaign for “Lok Pal” in order to bring in an anti-democratic, unelected and totalitarian supra-governmental body such as “Lok Pal” in order to negate the power of the Parliament and state legislatures and to blackmail the elected representatives from backward caste and Dalit background in order to scale back their power, since over-riding the democratic will of the people can be easily achieved by monopolising and controlling a totalitarian supra-parliamentary body such as “Lok Pal” by the Brahmins and “twice born” supremacist castes in order to prevent the Brahmins from accepting the parliamentary and state legislative political rule of the “Shudras”, as prescribed by the bigoted tenets of “Manusmrithi” which enjoins Brahmins to find ways to prevent or negate the power and wealth of the Shudras. Hence, the very identity of Brahmins and the Brahmin governing class rests on keeping the majority Shudra masses of India in powerlessness, impoverishment, illiteracy, disease and innumerable social divisions caused by caste and untouchability.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">In this aforementioned essay “Resurrecting the radical Ambedkar”, S.Anand states that “Periyar frequently uses the term “slavery” for Shudras rather casually to include non-Brahmin zamindars, rajas and other well-to-do castes”. By stating so, S.Anand mischievously and dishonestly attempts to make his readers falsely believe the canard that the bigoted caste identities (that profess inferiority and superiority of one’s birth into a vertically graded caste system of birth based bigotry) can be determined or altered by wealth. S.Anand does this through his criticism of Periyar for the latter’s inclusion of the wealthy amongst the “Shudra” castes under the caste category (“Varna”) of “Shudras”. The term “Shudras” literally means “slaves” or “slaves who serve Brahmins” apart from other degrading meanings ascribed to the term “Shudras” by Manusmrithi and other bigoted Hindu religious scriptures such as “sons of prostitutes (female slaves)”. S.Anand knows as well as anyone who understands Hindu caste system that acquiring wealth or education does not abolish the inferiorized and enslaved caste status of a person who is born into the caste category (Varna) of “Shudras” nor does wealth destroy the Hindu religious and Hindu scriptural “Shudra” (slave of Brahmins) status of a person born into a Shudra caste. Similarly, acquiring wealth or education does not negate the “untouchable” caste status of a person. This is because all people who live by physical labour or descended from castes bonded to physical labour are derided as “Shudras” (slaves) by the Hindu religion and bigoted Hindu scriptures such as “Mansumiruthi” which codify the caste system, even if they acquire wealth. (According to Hindu law, all people who do not belong to “twice born” trio of upper castes are “Shudras” including those belonging to “untouchable” castes). Even a wealthy “Shudra” still remains only a “Shudra” in the Hindu caste system – as codified and governed by the bigoted Hindu scriptures. According to the bigotry of the Hindu caste system codified by “Manu Smrithi”, a wealthy Shudra is still deemed and doomed to be a “Shudra” (“slave of the Brahmin”) who should use his wealth to serve the Brahmin as the latter’s slave and the Brahmins’ bigoted Brahmin supremacist agenda while wallowing in his inferiorized and enslaved “Shudra” status in the caste system. The Brahmins’ supremacy in the bigoted graded inequality of the vertically graded caste system is not determined by his wealth but by the Brahmins’ birth into a Brahmin caste. Thus even an utterly poor Brahmin is considered “most superior in birth” and “most superior in virtue” to a rich, wealthy and educated Shudra person of great skill and excellent character according to the bigoted tenets of the caste system. Similarly, the inferiority and “slave of Brahmin” social caste status ascribed to a “Shudra” is not abolished even if the latter acquires wealth, education, fame and power.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Thus acquiring wealth does not abolish the inferiorized, enslaved and degraded “Shudra” (slave of the Brahmin) caste status (Varna) and the allied caste identity of a person nor does it grant him a social status on par with Brahmins and “twice born” trio of supremacist castes (Brahmins, Baniya-Vysyas and Kshatriyas) in the caste system. A famous example of this was the refusal of Brahmins to coronate the Maratha warrior and leader Shivaji as “King” because he was born into a caste deemed to be “Shudra” by the Brahmins. C.N. Anna Durai, the founder of the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) party and a compatriot of Periyar, wrote a satirical political stage play titled “Shivaji kanda Hindu Rajyam” (“The Hindu Nation of Shivaji” - launching the career of the yesteryear Tamil thespian “Shivaji” Ganesan who played the role of “Shivaji”) which derided Shivaji’s and Marathas’ subservient slavery to Brahmins and satirised the bigotry of Brahmins who refused to crown Shivaji as King because of the latter’s inferiorized and enslaved caste status as a “Shudra” despite Shivaji’s wealth, political power and conquests as a warrior - king. Many of the early leaders of the Periyar’s self – respect movement such as Dr.T.M.Nayar and Dr.Natesan were indeed medical doctors and educated affluent men and women from various “Shudra” castes (and the so called “untouchable” castes) who could not escape the inferiorized “Shudra” status and discrimination perpetrated by Brahmins and the caste system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Shudras” were further profanely derided as “descendants of prostitutes (female slaves)” in the Hindu scripture “Manu Smiruthi”, and were entailed to serve the Brahmins as the latter’s slaves even if the “Shudra” acquires wealth and political power (just as “Shivaji” did as the warrior-king of the Maratha Empire.) Shudras were traditionally proscribed from education despite some of them being land owners. “Shudras” are further divided into hundreds of vertically graded endogamous castes depending on the physically laborious occupation thrust on the particular caste with each caste professing superiority over those below, with the so called “untouchable castes” (Dalits) at the bottom. “Shudras” were traditionally banned from literacy and education for millennia, until the advent of the British rule. Education was made available to “Shudras” and untouchables only after the advent of the British rule. So it is not Periyar but the Hindu religion (and its bigoted scriptures codifying the caste system such as the “Manu Smiruthi”) which imprisons a person to an inferiorized, degrading, demeaning, dehumanizing and enslaved caste identity and social status as a “Shudra” with no escape route, by shutting off, negating and preventing even acquisition of wealth or education from changing the “Shudra” (slave) caste status and caste identity of a person which is strictly determined by the biological birth of a person into a caste. So, S.Anand misrepresents Periyar and also distorts the meaning of caste in the Hindu religion by implying that the wealthy amongst the “Shudras” do not come under the inferiorized, enslaved and scripturally bastardized “Shudra” (slave of Brahmins) caste status accorded by Hindu religion when the truth is to the contrary. (Some Anthropologists claim that those amongst Shudras who embraced Buddhism and refused to give up Buddhism by opposing Brahmin supremacism were oppressed and segregated as “untouchables”). Thus, even a very wealthy person cannot escape his “Shudra” status and the allied inferiorized caste identity which are determined by birth and not by wealth. Even a financially poor Brahmin is considered “most” superior in birth and “most superior” in socio-religious caste status than a rich Shudra or a rich person from a so called “untouchable” caste. The wealthy amongst those belonging to various castes stigmatised and segregated as “untouchables” by the Hindu religion – do not escape their inferiorized, stigmatized and enslaved status in the Hindu society and religion, since acquiring wealth does not abolish the inferiorized and stigmatised “untouchable” caste identity or the “Shudra” social caste status of a person. This is why true advocates of social justice want affirmative action in jobs and education to be awarded to backward castes and scheduled castes (Dalits) irrespective of their economic status since wealth does not abolish the bigoted caste identities and does not make a dent on the bigoted caste system determined by birth and not by wealth. Thus the aforementioned statement of S.Anand which seeks to claim that the rich Shudras are not Shudras is aimed at maligning and misrepresenting Periyar and can only be seen as an attempt to grossly misrepresent the bigoted nature of the Hindu caste system to his readers (particularly those in non-Indian lands) to try and hide the discrimination, institutional exclusion, stigmatization and inferiorization imposed on even the wealthy and educated “Shudras” (backward castes and Dalits) by the governing class of Brahmin led trio of “twice born” supremacist castes and the Hindu caste system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Thus a “Shudra” does not lose his “inferiorized” “Shudra” (“slave to the Brahmin”) status in the Hindu caste system if he attains wealth and power, and a Brahmin does not lose his “supremacist” status at the summit of the bigoted caste system even if he is poor. The caste status and caste identity of a person in the Hindu religion and the vertically graded inequality of Hindu caste bigotry are determined by a person’s biological birth into a caste and are NOT altered by the acquisition of wealth or impoverishment. In his famous Tamil essay titled “If Brahmins become rich”, Periyar makes it clear that he is not against Brahmins getting richer by getting out of their caste mandated profession of priesthood, but only against the biological birth based supremacy and socio-religious power accorded to Brahmins by reason of their birth into the Brahmin caste in the bigoted caste system</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"> and its varied manifestations</span><span style="color: #222222;">. Periyar clarifies that he is against the bigotry of </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">oppressing and discriminating against people by </span><span style="color: #222222;">ascribing superiority and inferiority to the human condition of a human being based on his or her birth into a caste, and is not against any one becoming wealthier.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Moreover S.Anand is no exception to the Brahmin ploy to restrictively portray Periyar as a leader of backward castes by incorrectly and maliciously leaving out Dalits from the umbrella term of “Dravidians” used by Periyar to rally all non-Brahmin backward castes and scheduled castes against the caste system, Brahmin supremacy, untouchability, superstitions and Hindu religion, including Dalits. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Similarly S.Anand also attempts to portray Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar strictly as a leader of only Dalits by implying that the Babasaheb worked against the political empowerment of the “majority” (of backward castes) and struggled only for “minority empowerment” in his essay “Resurrecting the radical Ambedkar” which is a complete lie. </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar famously critiqued Brahmins in 1943 by saying that “A conscious and determined minority always creates conditions in their favour over an amorphous and ignorant majority,” while answering the question of a BBC journalist about what he considered was the crucial problem of India. This bigoted attitude of the ruling class of Brahmin – Baniya led “twice born’ supremacist minority in India is best exemplified in their creation and sustenance of the caste system that entrenches the majority of the working people of India in the vertically graded endogamous social divisions perpetrated by caste and untouchability, caste descent based hereditary forced physical labour, poverty, illiteracy, disease, atrocities, honour killings and violence against women. India is afflicted with this social plague called the caste system, which was created in India by the minority Persian migrants (a.k.a. Aryans a.k.a. Brahmin – Baniya led “twice born” supremacist castes) against the Dravidian Mulnivasi working people of India (backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes). One can even say that India’s governing institutions and the media are controlled by a governing class of a Persian elite whose ancestry dates back to the Proto-Indo-Iranian times of 2200 – 1600 B.C when the Vedas and other Hindu scriptures were purportedly written in Persian (Indo-Iranian) lands and when the ancestors of the present day Brahmins and “twice born” supremacist castes migrated as nomads from Persia to Dravidian India. This is evident from the fact that the Brahmin media, Brahmin governing class and Hindutva ideologues take a friendly stand towards Iran on geo-political issues (in contrary towards their inimical attitude towards Pakistan which comprises of Sunni Muslim converts from Shudra - backward caste - and Dalit ancestral backgrounds.) The Persian ancestry of Brahmins and “twice born” supremacist castes also explains their soft attitude towards Shia Muslims and Iran, and many Shia Muslims can also be seen as leaders in the Hindu extremist fascist BJP party. </i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #efefdd; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Apart from enunciating the crux of the social illness plaguing India as the oppression unleashed by the Brahmin supremacist minority by stating that “a conscious and determined minority always creates conditions in their favour over an amorphous and ignorant majority,” Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar further empowered the backward castes of India (at the behest of a movement launched by Periyar) by initiating, moving and ensuring the legislation of the first constitutional amendment in India that gave constitutional protection to reservation (affirmative action) in education and government employment to the “backward castes”. Thus Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar was fundamentally and constitutionally responsible for securing reservations (affirmative action) in higher education and government employment not only for scheduled castes (Dalits), but also for other backward castes. The constitutional foundation of the Mandal Commission award that recommended reservation in education and government employment for backward castes was laid down by Dr.Ambedkar when he successfully moved the legislation of the first constitutional amendment in independent India to secure reservation for backward castes in higher education and government employment. Thus Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar should be celebrated as the leader of all people derided, oppressed, discriminated, excluded and divided by caste as “Shudras” including backward castes and Dalits, and he should not be bracketed only as the leader of the people stigmatised as “untouchables”. </i></b></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Thus i</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">t is obvious that Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar worked for the empowerment, liberation and solidarity of the political and demographic majority comprising of both the backward castes and Dalits, just as Periyar who used the term “Dravidians” to describe and liberate all non-Brahmin (and non-“twice born”) peoples such as backward castes, scheduled castes, aboriginal tribes and religious minorities, who are all oppressed, inferiorized and stigmatized by Brahmin supremacism, while working to end the bigoted caste status quo of the Brahmanical ploy of pitting Dalits against the backward castes and vice versa through the vertically graded bigotry of the caste system and social segregation (untouchability) perpetrated on the Dalits.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">In his essay, “Resurrecting the radical Ambedkar”, S.Anand further distorts Periyar’s ideology by leaving out Dalits from the “oppressed majority” of non-Brahmins whose rights Periyar espoused in Tamil Nadu. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">S.Anand also falsely implies that the “oppressed majority” espoused by Periyar and his Dravidian “self-respect” movement does not include Dalits which is totally false. Periyar’s ideology, advocacy and struggle aimed at using the assertion of the “Dravidian identity” for liberating and empowering all people descending from castes bonded to physical labour and derided as “Shudras” and untouchables”, who were excluded from education, wealth and power while being divided by the vertically graded bigotry of caste. (The Hindu caste system as codified by the Hindu religious scriptures such as “Manu Smiruthi” considers all people who make a living by physical labour and all descendants of castes bonded to physical labour as “Shudras” including those derided as “untouchables”, even though the “untouchable Shudras” are also referred to as “Panchamas” or scheduled castes in common parlance, while the “touchable Shudras” are referred to as “backward castes” in governmental parlance.) The judgment in the legal case “Muthusami Mudaliar v Masilamani (1909), 33 Mad. 342”, established that all those who did not belong to the so called “twice born” trio of supremacist castes (Brahmins, Vysyas and Kshatriyas) are indeed “Shudras” including the untouchable castes according to Hindu religion and Hindu law. From a Hindu law and Hindu religious scriptural point of view based on the aforesaid judgment and case law, the term “Shudras” refers to all people who are not “twice born” supremacist castes, which includes backward castes, Dalits (scheduled castes), indigenous peoples (scheduled tribes), and all native religionists who are not Jews, Muslims, Christians and Parsis. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was Periyar who popularized (if not invented) the term “Adi Dravidars” (“Proto-Dravidians”) as a reference to Dalits of Tamil Nadu, a term that is still widely used by the Government of Tamil Nadu, Tamil media and all major Tamil Nadu political parties as a reference to Dalits. Thus, it is a gross attempt at falsification to insinuate that Periyar’s ideological use of the term “Dravidians” leaves out Dalits. The “Dravidar Kazhagam” (DK) organization enjoined a large cadre base amongst both backward castes and Dalits during Periyar’s life time and after, and there are many party functionaries and activists of Dalit background in the DK, even though it is the official policy of the DK to never refer or relate to members and functionaries of the DK based on their caste and all members of DK irrespective of caste are described as “Dravidians” by the DK organization in their publications and functions. This is because Periyar’s ideology seeks to unite backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes as one casteless “Dravidian” people to counter and oppose Brahmin – Baniya led hegemony of the “twice born” supremacist castes. This policy of DK to not identify the caste of its members and functionaries has emboldened the likes of S.Anand propagate the misperception that Dalits are not members or functionaries in the DK party founded by Periyar. S.Anand indulged in this kind of fraudulent exercise in his reported interview of the current DK leader Veeramani (which was published in the Outlook magazine’s issue dated September 10, 2004 under the title “Uma, Kalyan beneficiaries of Periyar’s legacy”) in which S.Anand questions the DK leader Veeramani on the number of Dalits in the DK’s executive committee fully knowing the ethos of the DK organization which bans any reference to the caste descent or caste identity of its members and functionaries, and S.Anand goes on to misuse the clarification given by the DK leader Veeramani that members and functionaries of the DK are not identified or referred by caste, to fraudulently insinuate and create the false impression that Dalits are excluded from the DK. I personally know many Dalits who are life-long members, activists, functionaries and office bearers of the DK party. Even the title of the interview of Veeramani (as reported by S.Anand) mischievously seeks to link Periyar’s anti-Hindu ideology with Hindutva extremism by advertising a singular statement of the DK leader Veeramani that sought to observe that even Hindu extremist parties controlled by supremacist Brahmin ideologues have been forced to accommodate leaders of backward caste background (such as Uma Bharathi and Kalyan Singh) as a result of Periyar’s ideology that seeks to accord representation to backward castes and scheduled castes, and this is done through the misleading headline of S.Anand’s reported interview of Veeramani (“Uma, Kalyan beneficiaries of Periyar’s legacy”) that ludicrously makes a false and malicious suggestion that Periyar’s anti-Hindu legacy benefited the Hindutva agenda of the Hindu extremist leaders (such as Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharathi) to confuse and prejudice an unsuspecting reader who is ignorant of Periyar’s anti-Hindu ideology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u><span style="color: #222222;">S.Anand’s sly intellectual apologia to the Hindutva extremist agenda by journalistically and editorially enabling the publication of articles that portray radical anti-Hindu leaders Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” in the mainstream English media. </span></u></b><b><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">The following analysis is a rebuttal to the article “Periyar’s Hindutva” which was translated and journalistically published by S.Anand in the “Outlook” magazine in its issue dated </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">September 10, 2004 (which can be read at the following link: </span><a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?225056">http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?225056</a>) <span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">, and the following treatise also includes a brief critique of the article “Bias that wasn’t?” (</span><a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281935">http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281935</a>) <span style="color: #222222;"> <span lang="EN-US">which was published in the “Outlook” magazine dated August 20, 2012 officially edited by S.Anand. The publication of both these articles was journalistically enabled by S.Anand, one as a translating journalist who translated and published the article (written originally in Tamil by Ravi Kumar) and the other as the journalistic editor of a special issue who editorially commissioned and published the article (written by Debarshi Dasgupta). Both these articles seek to present the anti-Hindu and anti-caste leaders Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” Muslim haters in the minds of unsuspecting and uninformed readers by way of a skewed misappropriation of critical comments Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar may have made against Muslims and Islam at various times. When mainstream Indian media organs such as “Outlook” never publish the anti-Hindu, anti-caste and anti-Brahmin views of the two great social revolutionaries (Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar) who were known for their life long struggle seeking the annihilation of Hinduism and liberation of their followers from the clutches of Hinduism, Brahmins and caste, S.Anand uses his access to a mainstream media organ (Outlook) as a journalist and editor of a special issue to enable sly journalistic attempts to help Hindu extremist fascist forces to ideologically appropriate Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar to the Hindutva agenda by enabling the publication of articles which scurrilously, maliciously and unfairly attempt to advertise the suggestion that the two anti-Hindu social revolutionary leaders as “anti-Muslim” (when both of them were primarily and vehemently “anti-Hindu” and were not anti-Muslim in their socio-political action), through a skewed misappropriation of critical comments the two leaders may have made regarding Islam and Muslims at various times (without making any journalistic attempts to publish any excerpts or essays critiquing Hindus, Hinduism and Brahmins from the entire body of the life-long work of both the leaders which was spent condemning and combating Hinduism, Hindus and Brahmins, and not Islam). This shows that S.Anand is actually very much guilty of indulging in “gross misrepresentation” of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar (given that he untenably accuses me of misrepresenting him), since S.Anand himself never had any qualms in enabling the gross and utterly dishonest journalistic misrepresentation of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” through his journalistic translations and editorial commission of articles to that effect, while consciously not exercising his power as a translating journalist or editor of a special issue of “Outlook” to publish even a single original essay written by Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar in condemnation of Brahmins, Hinduism and caste, while S.Anand has no qualms in enabling the publication of malicious and defamatory articles that attempt to portray Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” through defamatory, intellectually dishonest and skewed misappropriation of critical remarks that may have been made by Periyar or Dr.Ambedkar regarding Islam and Muslims. Just because Periyar or Dr.Ambedkar may have made critical remarks concerning Islam or Muslims, does not mean that they hated or harbored prejudice against Islam or Muslims, and to journalistically misappropriate the critical comments they may have made regarding Islam and Muslims at various times by quoting them out of context and misquoting them to advertise the atrocious claim that the radically anti-Hindu leaders Periyar and Babsaheb Dr.Ambedkar were anti-Muslim is nothing but a blatant intellectual and ideological apologia to Hindu extremist fascism to enable the latter to co-opt Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar. The fact that S.Anand has indulged in this intellectually fraudulent apologia for Hindu extremist fascism as a translating journalist and journalistic editor of a special issue of “Outlook” magazine, without making any attempt to publish, translate or excerpt a single anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin essay that may have been written by Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar in a mainstream media organ such as “Outlook” magazine (to which S.Anand seems to have easy access to), while enabling the publication of articles that attempt to showcase Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim”, only shows S.Anand’s intellectual penchant to appease the Hindu extremist agenda that seeks to co-opt the vehemently anti-Hindu leaders Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar into the Hindu extremist ideological agenda.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">Stating criticism of Islam or Muslims from a progressive reformist perspective or to state a historical record, does not amount to being “anti-Muslim”, and to enable such journalistic exploitation, misappropriation and advertisement of such sparse and rare criticism of Islam by Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar without journalistically emphasizing and highlighting the essential, seminal and fundamental message of both the leaders’ work against Hinduism, Hindus and Brahmins is nothing but a sly and intellectually dishonest apologia for Hindu extremist fascism, of which S.Anand is very much guilty of - as a translating journalist and an editor.</span><b><u><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">S.Anand may want to wash his hands off the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">articles commissioned by him as an editor and disown </span><span style="color: #222222;">translations written and published by him in various mainstream media organs such as “Outlook” magazine as a translating journalist by dishonestly passing the buck to the original author, but S.Anand’s penchant for restrictively choosing to translate essays or write articles which maliciously defame Periyar with falsehood (such as S.Anand’s translation and publication of the article titled “Periyar’s Hindutva” in the Outlook magazine dated September 10, 2004</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"> which can be read at the following link: </span><a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?225056">http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?225056</a><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">) just as his editorial decision to editorially commission and include an article (titled “Bias That Wasn’t?” at the following web link : </span><a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281935">http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281935</a><span style="color: #222222;">) which suggested that Babsaheb Dr.Ambedkar was “anti-Muslim” in a special issue of “Outlook” magazine (dated</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"> August 20, 2012</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">specially edited by S.Anand and </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"> purportedly “dedicated” to Dr.Ambedkar)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">just as his other distortional reports that defame and belittle Periyar with falsehood, all of which collectively belies S.Anand’s urge to grossly misrepresent and defame the anti-Brahmin, anti-Hindu and anti-caste revolutionaries Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar, and also misrepresent the facts about the caste system to the gullible and uninformed reader by misusing his ready access to the mainstream media, all of which only has the net effect of eroding the ideological foundations of the struggle against the caste system. This only makes me suspect that S.Anand is a journalistic or intellectual “sleeper cell fighter for Brahmins and Hinduism” who has infiltrated the so called “anti-caste intellectual movement” to dilute, erode, misrepresent and liquidate the ideology and integrity of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar through sly journalistic guerrilla tactics that seeks to misrepresent or smear Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar through sly and subtle journalistic methods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">A glaring example of such S.Anand’s gross misrepresentation and defamation of Periyar can be seen in his English translation and publication of Tamil writer Ravi Kumar’s views in the “Outlook” magazine which was oxymoronically and ridiculously titled as “Periyar’s Hindutva” (given that Periyar spent his life time indulging in all kinds of social action and advocacy to destroy Hinduism and to extricate the non-Brahmin working castes of Tamil Nadu (backward castes and scheduled castes) from Hinduism and the caste system by advocating the unity of backward castes and Dalits under the umbrella term of “Dravidians”, and by asserting the irreligious and pre-Hindu Dravidian heritage of the Tamil speaking peoples of the sub-continent. Periyar collectively called the non-Brahmin Shudras (backward caste and Dalits) as “Dravidians” to counter Brahmins who claimed an “Aryan” (Indo-European – Persian) ethnic, linguistic and cultural heritage based on the Vedas, Sanskrit language and their central Asian (Persian) and Indo-European descent. Brahmin supremacist and Hindu fascist ideologue Balagangadhar Tilak famously said that Europe is his “Pitru Bhoomi” (Fatherland) and India is his “Mathru Bhoomi” (Motherland) to denote the “Aryan” paternal ancestry of Brahmins and “twice born” supremacist trio of upper castes in contrast </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">to the non-Aryan (Dravidian) Shudras (backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes). Even though no one in India can be considered as racially “pure” due to the “Aryans” taking on “Dravidian” wives and concubines (based on bigoted Hindu caste laws that traditionally allowed sexual relationships between “twice born” supremacist caste men and “Shudra” lower caste women, but not between “Shudra” men and “twice born” supremacist caste women), thus explaining the inferiorized and enslaved status of women in Hindu religion, society and scriptures. The mythological and mythical bigotry ascribed to descent of the Brahmin caste from the “head of God” which sustained notions of “Aryan descent” and related beliefs of Brahmin supremacy based on the Vedas and other Hindu scriptures such as “Manusmrithi”, has enabled the propagation and sustenance of Brahmin supremacism and the bigoted supremacism of “twice born” trio of supremacist castes and allied upper castes over the rest of the populace who are derided, excluded, oppressed and vertically divided as Shudras and untouchables (backward castes and scheduled castes).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To suggest that Periyar advocated Hindutva is like saying Che Guevara advocated laissez faire free market capitalism. Periyar’s ideas are the anti-thesis of Hindutva and in fact - seeks to summarily wipe out all traces of Hinduism from India and the face of the World. It is obvious that the writer (Ravi Kumar) and his translator (S.Anand) have singularly attempted to misrepresent Periyar and distort his ideology to readers outside of Tamil Nadu by taking advantage of S.Anand’s access to a mainstream English media organ such as “Outlook” magazine, in order to help prevent the spread of Periyar’s anti-Hindu, anti-caste, anti-untouchability and anti-Brahmin rationalist and atheist ideas outside of Tamil Nadu. This is because such defamatory and distortionary writings against Periyar were soundly rebutted and exposed by various Dalit and Periyarist writers when they appeared in the Tamil media of Tamil Nadu, but the publication of such scurrilous writings against Periyar in the national mainstream English language media organs such as “Outlook” magazine has gone unchallenged until now. Such distortional and defamatory writings against Periyar only help in the spread of the venomous religious extremist and political fascist ideology of Hindutva, particularly because Periyar’s writings and speeches are unavailable in English and Periyar’s biography of his life-long activism against the bigotry of Hinduism, Brahmins and caste has not been chronicled in English. When people are made to falsely believe that the anti-dote to a lethal venom is itself poisonous, they will hesitate to take the anti-dote for the poison, thereby putting themselves in harm’s way. Similarly, if people are made to believe in a distorted, false and defamatory picture of Periyar and his ideas by maliciously and scurrilously associating Periyar with Hindutva, they will remain oblivious to the revolutionary ideas of Periyar which actually seeks the destruction of Hinduism and all manifestations of the caste system, thus aiding in the spread of the venomous and fascist ideas of Hindu extremism. Thus, one has to conclude that the writer of this aforementioned article titled “Periyar’s Hindutva” (Ravi Kumar) and his translator (S.Anand) are only using S.Anand’s access to a mainstream English media organ to indirectly aid the spread of Hindu extremist fascism by defaming and distorting Periyar by scurrilously associating the Periyar with Hindutva (and defaming Periyar as “anti-Muslim”) when Periyar single handedly managed to instil an anti-Hindu, anti-caste and pro-Muslim social psyche in the popular imagination of the progressive Tamil speaking youth of his life and times, which has managed to endure in a sizeable section of Tamil Nadu society even after his life time, thus posing a continuous existential threat to the spread of Hindu religious extremist fascism, caste bigotry, untouchability, misogyny and all kinds of superstitions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is also apt to emphasize and recall again that when the same writer – journalist (S.Anand) edited a “special issue” of the Outlook magazine (dated August 20, 2002) purportedly dedicated to Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar, he chose to include an article that sought to portray Babsaheb Dr. Ambedkar as an “anti-Muslim”, while S.Anand did not bother to publish a single original essay written by Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar which criticizes and condemns Brahmins, caste and Hinduism in that particular issue of “Outlook” magazine specially edited by S.Anand and supposedly dedicated to Dr. Ambedkar. (One has to contrast this with S.Anand’s accusation that Amir Khan failed to mention Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar in his television talk show on untouchability and manual scavenging, when S.Anand himself has never made any attempt to ensure the publication of anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindu essays or passages of Dr.Ambedkar (and Periyar) in the mainstream media organ (Outlook) to which he has ready and easy access. This only shows that Dr.Ambedkar’s and Periyar’s anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin writings still remain excluded from the mainstream media of India, just as those of Dalit / Bahujan writers who are radically anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste. This is evident from the fact that even a self-proclaimed Brahmin and self-styled “anti-caste” writer such as S.Anand does not bother about publishing <span lang="EN-US">an original essay written by Dr.Ambedkar or Periyar in criticism of Hinduism, Brahmins and caste even in a special issue of a magazine (Outlook) purportedly dedicated to Dr.Ambedkar and edited by S.Anand, while S.Anand does not hesitate to use his editorial powers to include an article that seeks to maliciously and dishonestly suggest that Dr.Ambedkar was “anti-Muslim” through a skewed misappropriation of Dr.Ambedkar’s progressive, reformist and liberal critique of Islam from a sociologically analytical perspective which cannot be construed as being “anti-Muslim” prejudice. Even though, the article in question (“</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">Bias that wasn’t?” by Debarshi Dasgupta</span><span lang="EN-US"> – Outlook Magazine – August 20, 2012) tamely tries to include perspectives of certain academics that challenges the notion that Dr.Ambedkar was anti-Muslim, the entire article only serves the purpose of advertising the claim that Dr.Ambedkar was anti-Muslim in a popular mainstream media organ such as “Outlook” by excerpting and publicizing the critical comments Dr.Ambedkar may have made regarding Islam or Muslims in various socio-political contexts, thereby ensuring a flawed misrepresentation of Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” to the urban “Outlook” reading Indian readers and global readers who may not have read Dr.Ambedkar’s views against Brahmins and Hinduism (and who will not be able read such anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin views of Dr.Ambedkar from the pages of “Outlook” or mainstream Indian press since Outlook, S.Anand or the mainstream Indian media will not publish them.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is thus obvious that S.Anand wants his readers to perceive Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” and not as an “anti-Hindu” or “anti-Brahmin” by using his powers as the editor of a special issue of “Outlook” magazine to selectively include an article that seeks to suggest that Dr.Ambedkar was “anti-Muslim” (while not bothering to publish any of the original essays by Dr.Ambedkar which condemn and criticize Brahmins, caste and Hinduism in a “special issue” purportedly dedicated to Dr.Ambedkar) and S.Anand further uses his access to a mainstream media organ (“Outlook” magazine) by selectively translating and publishing an article that scurrilously and falsely claims that the life-long anti-Hindu Periyar as an advocate of Hindutva without publishing any of Periyar’s original essays which criticizes and condemns Hinduism, Brahmins and caste. Thus it is clear that S.Anand uses his access to a mainstream media organ such as the “Outlook” magazine to enable the publication of scurrilous opinion against both Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar, to maliciously smear both of the great anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste leaders as also “anti-Muslim” which only serves the Brahmin supremacist agenda that propagates Hindutva fascist extremism by peddling hatred against Muslims. There cannot be more journalistic evidence to prove that S.Anand is a deviant and intellectually dishonest closet Hindutva apologist which is more dangerous than being an open, direct and honest Hindutva extremist. S.Anand is the only writer – journalist who has used his media power and access to a mainstream media organ as an editor, journalist and translator to enable the publication of opinion that sought to portray both the anti-Hindu social revolutionaries Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as anti-Muslim in a mainstream media organ (while doing nothing to publish the anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and ant-caste writings of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar in a mainstream media organ such as “Outlook” magazine - which is at the beck and call of S.Anand by readily publishing S.Anand’s opinion in its pages and allows S.Anand to edit its “special issue” on Dr.Ambedkar while sending my rebuttals to S.Anand’s views to the dustbin!) And nothing could be a more journalistically and intellectually dishonest apologia for Hindu extremist fascism than to enable the publishing of opinion in the mainstream media that seeks to portray Dr.Ambedkar and Periyar as “anti-Muslim” (which S.Anand has done as a writer, translator and editor in the mainstream Indian media), given that the ideas of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar serves as a bulwark against Hindu religious and political extremist fascism in India. It is interesting and important to note that Brahmin media mandarins such as S.Anand do not want to highlight or popularize the description of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar with adjective tags such as “anti-Hindu” in the mainstream media (in accordance with Periyar’s and Dr.Ambedkar’s advocacy for the destruction of Hinduism due to its bigotry of the caste system) but instead S.Anand chooses to misuse his access to a mainstream media organ such as “Outlook” magazine and his discretional powers as the editor of the magazine’s special issue to publish translations of scurrilous articles or commission journalistic reports that seeks to defame and smear Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” by misusing, advertising and exploiting objective and progressive critique of Islam by Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar in the context of annihilation of castes, history of India and rationalist humanism, when there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Dr.Ambedkar and Periyar advocated partisan hatred against Muslims or Islam as Hindu extremists do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Both Dr. Ambedkar and Thanthai Periyar were primarily intellectual and socio-political advocates against the bigotry of Hinduism, Brahmins and caste. Thus, both Dr.Ambedkar and Periyar were fundamentally and seminally anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste if anything, and to hide this elementary truth by not publishing any of the original anti-Hindu<span lang="EN-US">,</span> anti-Brahmin and anti-caste writings of Periyar or Dr.Ambedkar in the mainstream English language media, but seeking to portray Dr.Ambedkar and Periyar as Muslim haters is nothing but an intellectually fraudulent apologia to Hindutva extremist fascism. No doubt that given the secular, rationalist and progressive credentials of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar, they would have criticized regressive and misogynist aspects and practices of Islam or any other religion, and may have also made certain negative historical observations regarding Islam, but Dr. Ambedkar and Periyar never peddled hatred and prejudice against their Muslim brothers and sisters. Hence, for S.Anand to misuse his stature as an editor of a special issue of “Outlook” magazine purportedly dedicated to Dr.Ambedkar to commission and include an article which suggests that Babsaheb Dr.Ambedkar was “anti-Muslim, and for S.Anand to selectively translate and publish scurrilous writings that defame and distort the life -long anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin ideologue Periyar by associating the latter with Hindutva, is nothing but a literarily deviant and journalistically stealthy but an intellectually corrupt exercise to aid Hindutva fascist extremism ideologically, by dishonestly trying to portray the two intellectual and socio-political doyens of anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste activism (Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar) as Muslim haters. Thus it is quite evident that S.Anand is a sly and stealthy intellectual and journalistic apologist for Hindutva who seeks to undermine the ideological basis of the struggle against Hinduism and its caste system from within by posing as an “anti-caste activist” while enabling the sly journalistic smearing of the anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste leaders and ideologues such as Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” thereby undermining the ideological stature and integrity of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as opponents of all things that stand for Hinduism, which is more dangerous than being an open and honest supporter of Hindutva extremism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The aforementioned article translated and published by S.Anand under the atrocious title “Periyar’s Hindutva” (in “Outlook” magazine dated <span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">September 10, 2004</span>) uses some unsubstantiated and misquoted statements falsely attributed to Periyar to malign and misrepresent Periyar. The above article does not properly reference <span lang="EN-US">all of </span>the quotes attributed to Periyar. [My emails to S.Anand requesting page numbers and names of book titles and publishers for every quote attributed to Periyar in this scurrilous article remains unanswered until now, despite emailing my request to S.Anand (and copying it to Ravi Kumar) several times]. The article does not give page numbers and titles of the books for referencing most of the quotes which are falsely attributed to Periyar. Most of the quotes attributed to Periyar are misquotes or have been quoted out of context to malign Periyar. It is malicious, fraudulent and dishonest to misuse a few quotes of Periyar out of their chronological and socio-political context or to misquote him in order to ascribe a false and scurrilous image of Periyar by ludicrous associating him with Hindutva or anti-Muslim agenda by ignoring almost all of Periyar’s life long activism, writings, statements, struggles, sacrifices, prison sentences and civil disobedience actions which were all singularly dedicated to the destruction of the very existence of Hinduism and the caste system and propagation of (reformist) Islam amongst Dalits on the other hand. This is the same kind of intellectual fraud that has been used by S.Anand and his acolytes to smear Dr.Ambedkar as “possessing an anti-Muslim streak” in another article (titled “Bias that wasn’t?” by Debarshi Dasgupta – Outlook Magazine – August 20, 2012) which was apparently editorially commissioned and published by S.Anand in his capacity, power and editorial discretion as the editor of the “special issue” of “Outlook” magazine (dated August 20, 2012) purportedly dedicated to Dr.Ambedkar, by adversely and lopsidedly highlighting some critical comments Dr.Ambedkar may have made to criticize Islam and Muslims in certain socio-political contexts, in order to paint a biased and prejudiced picture of Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim”. Thus S.Anand has a proven and well evidenced journalistic track record of misusing his access to the mainstream media to defame the anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste ideologues Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar as “anti-Muslim” by journalistically publishing scurrilous translations or editorially commissioning articles to that effect, in order to aid the ideological appropriation of Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar by Hindu extremist fascist fanatics who peddle hatred against Muslims.<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is ridiculously false to state that Periyar advocated Hindutva. The title of this article commissioned, translated and published by S.Anand from an original write-up by Ravi Kumar (“Periyar’s Hindutva”, Outlook - <span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">September 10, 2004</span>) is ludicrously false, ridiculous and defamatory of Periyar just as the content of this article. Periyar called for the very destruction of Hinduism and called on his Dalit followers to embrace Islam. Periyar also wrote a book on the progressive and egalitarian aspects of Islam and called on Dalits to convert to a progressive and modernized school of Islam as an act of rebellion against untouchability, caste bigotry and Hinduism. Hence it is grossly false to say that Periyar propagated Hindutva and it is also totally wrong to say that Periyar was not supportive of religious minorities such as Muslims. Periyar considered Indian Muslims (including Tamil Muslims) as descendants of backward castes and Dalits who converted to Islam in order to escape the bigotry, oppression and divisions of the <span lang="EN-US">Hindu </span>caste system perpetrated and sustained by the Brahmin led “twice born” supremacist castes and called upon his followers (who were almost entirely from Tamil Nadu’s non-Brahmin Dalits and backward castes) to build bridges with Indian Muslims and to defend Muslims and other religious minorities against the persecution and violence of Hindu extremist terrorist fanatics led by their rabid Brahmin ideologues belonging to the Hindu fascist and Hindu terrorist RSS organization.<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Periyar (just like Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar) criticized the Brahmin supremacist caste at the summit of the caste system for dividing and ruling the majority populace of working masses through the caste system. Empowering the majority of the Indian working masses (backward castes and Dalits) who are divided by the vertically graded bigotry of caste and deprived of education, power, equality and wealth cannot automatically amount to “Hindutva majoritarianism”. The author of this article ludicrously titled “Periyar’s Hindutva” (as translated and published by S.Anand in Outlook magazine dated <span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">September 10, 2004) </span><span lang="EN-US"> </span>seems to falsely and ridiculously equate Hindutva extremism with the socio-political and economic empowerment, solidarity and liberation of the majority of Indians (backward castes and Dalits) who are oppressed by the caste system! From the struggle of black south Africans against the racist apartheid of the minority white Afrikaners and the sputter of the “occupy wall street” protesters for the 99% majority working people against the minority 1% who control the wealth of the world, to the struggle of the majority Dravidian working caste people of India (backward castes and Dalits) who are divided by the vertically graded caste system, impoverished, denied literacy and education and excluded from the institutional, judicial, bureaucratic, corporate and media power held by the minority ruling class of “twice born” supremacist castes consisting of Brahmins, Baniyas (Vysyas), Kshatriyas and allied supremacist castes, the process of empowering and defending the oppressed and divided majority from an oppressing and bigoted minority has been the substance of people’s struggle the World over. Empowering the majority is also the essence of liberal democracy. Hence empowering the majority people of India (backward castes and scheduled castes) by liberating them from the yoke of the caste system and the apartheid power of the ruling class of “twice born” supremacist castes led by Brahmin and Baniyas - does not automatically become Hindu majoritarianism or Hindu nationalism. Hence Periyar’s call for empowering the majority populace comprising of backward caste and Dalit people of India (while protecting the rights of religious minorities) has nothing to do with bigoted majoritarianism or Hindutva nationalism, while being everything about liberating and uniting an impoverished and illiterate majority working people who are divided, inferiorized and oppressed by the bigoted principles of the caste system that guides India’s governing “twice born” trio of supremacist elite castes comprising of Brahmins, Baniyas and Kshatriyas (and allied supremacist castes) who control the bureaucracy, top judiciary, business corporations, mainstream media, elite academia, military officers corps and other annals of power !<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Periyar wanted to unite the majority working caste people of India who were bonded to physical labour on account of their caste descent, derided as “Shudras” by the Hindu religious scriptures, divided by the vertically graded caste identities and untouchability and excluded from governance, education and wealth for millennia, and he tried to forge this unity of the working caste people of India and their descendants under the label of “Dravidians” by calling on his Dravidian followers (backward castes, Dalits – scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) to discard Hinduism and its bigoted baggage consisting of the caste system, untouchability, superstitions and misogyny. The Hindu scriptural meaning of the word “Shudra” is “descendants of prostitutes” and “slaves of Brahmins” among other degrading and dehumanizing descriptions such as “bastards” and “slaves” which are used in Hindu caste scriptures to degrade all people who make a living by physical labour and all people who are descendants of castes bonded to physical labour as “Shudras” even if they attain wealth and political power. Under the Hindu caste system, “Shudras” are further divided into hundreds of vertically graded castes based on the physically laborious occupation thrust on them by the caste system, and are further divided into castes classified as “untouchables” who are subjected to the segregation of untouchability, violent atrocities and thrust into the most degrading physical labour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the other hand, Hindutva nationalism has nothing to do with empowering the majority (backward caste and Dalit) working caste people divided and oppressed by the caste system. Hindu extremist parties such as the BJP, RSS, ABVP, Bajrang Dal, VHP, Hindu Munnani, etc., actually oppose affirmative action (reservation) in education and jobs for the backward castes and Dalits who constitute the majority of the Indian populace and who were deprived of education for millennia. Hindutva nationalists vehemently oppose reservation (affirmative action) for the majority people of this country who were made socially and educationally backward and divided by caste due to the vertically graded bigotry of the caste system because Hindutva nationalism is not about empowering the majority working caste “Shudra” people (backward castes and Dalits) of this country, but it is all about making the backward castes and Dalits to wallow in the delusional Hindu religious identity in order to entrench the caste divisions, labour exploitation, impoverishment, illiteracy, disease and exclusion of working caste people of India (Dalits and backward castes) from various annals of power by pitting the working caste people of India against Muslim working people and Christian working people through rabid Hindu extremist fanatical and fascist politics, and by keeping the backward castes and Dalits in conflict by keeping the latter in nationwide physical segregation in villages and towns, and by dividing the backward castes and Dalits amongst themselves with the vertically graded caste identities. On the contrary, Periyar wanted the majority working populace (comprising of backward castes, Dalits (scheduled castes) and scheduled tribes) to extricate themselves from the Hindu religion by becoming rationalist atheists (or by adopting a modernised and reformist version of Islam) and by uniting under the anthropological and cultural identity of “Dravidians” by annihilating their caste identities. Periyar did not consider the majority working caste people of India comprising of backward castes and Dalits as Hindus at all, and he believed that all of the physically labouring and working caste people of India belonging to (backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) to be descendants of the aboriginal races of India termed as “Dravidians” who spoke an ancient form of Tamil all over India dating back to the Indus valley civilisation. The so called “twice born” trio of supremacist castes comprising of the trio of Brahmins, Vysyas (Baniyas) and Kshatriyas exerted monopoly over education, commerce and governance for centuries under the pretext of their scripturally professed “Aryan” (Persian – Indo-European) cultural, religious, linguistic and caste superiority, while excluding the “Dravidian” working caste people of India (backward castes and Dalits) from education, power, wealth and governance for millennia and degrading the proto-Dravidian language of Tamil as “Neecha Basha” (“language of inferior people”),and by creating new languages through destroying Tamil by mixing Tamil with various admixtures of Sanskrit and other languages over the centuries – thus making the Dravidians of North India (backward castes and Dalits) to totally lose their Tamil (Dravidian) linguistic heritage and usage while dividing the Dravidians of South India with newer languages created by mixing ancient Proto-Tamil with various admixtures of Sanskrit (such as Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tulu, etc.,) while also dividing the Dravidian people of India by caste and untouchability, deriding them as “Shudras” and bonding them to various kinds of physically laborious work on account of their caste descent. Hence Periyar’s quest to liberate the majority working populace of India from the very religion and label of Hinduism through propagation of rationalist atheism and conversion to reformed and modernist Islam, and his quest to destroy all rituals, superstitions, Brahmin priesthood and subjugation of women enshrined in Hinduism and his advocacy of the umbrella term of “Dravidians” to socio-politically empower the majority of the populace (backward castes, Dalits and scheduled tribes) who are divided and subjugated by the Hindu caste system cannot be equated with the bigotry of Hindutva and to do so would be grossly ludicrous and abjectly false.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The religious extremist and fascist ultra-nationalism of “Hindutva” is a Brahmin led “twice born” supremacist castes’ ideological agenda which believes in keeping the majority working caste Dravidian Mulnivasi people of this country (backward castes and Dalits) divided by caste and untouchability under the illusive label of “Hinduism” in order to prevent them from annihilating the caste system by leaving the Hindu religious fold, and to deny socio-economic rights to the majority working caste people of this nation divided and oppressed by the caste system. In order to distract the majority working caste people of this country (backward castes and Dalits) from issues that will empower and extricate them from the vertically graded caste divisions, untouchability, illiteracy, poverty and oppression due to the caste system, Hindutva fanatics instigate the majority working caste people of this country to hate and attack religious minorities such as Muslims and Christians by preaching hatred against Muslims and Christians and by peddling mob violence and Hindu religious fanaticism to the majority working caste people of the country (backward castes and Dalits), to ensure, entrench and secure the power and position of the elite Brahmin – Baniya – Kshatriya led “twice born” ruling class of supremacist castes who control the government bureaucracy, mainstream media, top professions, computer and tech industries, top judiciary, elite academia, arts, corporate leadership and the military officers corps amongst other annals of power. The Hindutva fascist agenda also believes in establishing a Hindu religious state by suspending the present secular constitution of India and by making the Hindu religious identity compulsory for all Indians (thereby destroying minority non-Hindu religionists and minority non-Hindu religions which have already been usurped by the blanket legal imposition of the Hindu religious label on all religions in India except the three Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism) and by making regressive and caste bigoted Hindu scriptures as the legal basis of this totalitarian Hindu state envisioned by Hindu extremist terrorists in order to secure the caste system for eternity and to entrench the apartheid power of the Brahmin – Baniya led “twice born” ruling classes of supremacist castes for posterity !<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But Periyar was the very anti-thesis of this aforementioned Hindutva fascist agenda. Periyar believed in liberating the majority working caste Dravidian people (backward castes and Dalits) from the very religious label of Hinduism by calling on them to become rationalist atheists and reject Hinduism, and to destroy all castes, rituals, superstitions, traditions, the bigotry of untouchability and related beliefs associated with the so called Hindu religion, while asking Dalits to opt for a progressive and modernised version of Islam to escape the segregation, stigmatization, bigotry and atrocities of untouchability and the caste system! Periyar believed in extricating the majority working caste people of India divided by caste and untouchability and derided as “Shudras” (backward castes and Dalits) from the religion and label of Hinduism and to unite them under the “Dravidian” umbrella by annihilating the caste divisions amongst them, by calling on them to build bridges and solidarity with religious minorities such as Muslims and Christians, and to summarily reject Hinduism and oppose the supremacist Brahmin governing class caste of India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hence while Hindutva aims at entrenching the majority working people of India in Hinduism and its caste system, Periyar believed in destroying Hinduism and liberating the majority working caste people of India (backward castes and Dalits) from the religion and the caste system of Hinduism. Periyar believed in destroying all traditions, rituals, superstitions, practices, and beliefs associated with Hinduism including the caste system, untouchability and Brahmin supremacism. He called on his followers to embrace atheism and rationalism, while calling on Dalits to embrace a modernised and progressive form of Islam! He broke and burnt images and idols of Hindu Gods such as Rama and Vinayak (Ganesa or Pillaiyar) in public. While Hindu fanatics conducted the ceremonial “Ram Lila” in the North of India to celebrate the slaying of the Dravidian “Shudra” Ravana by the “Aryan” God Rama by burning the effigy of Ravana, Periyar and his followers conducted “Ravana Lila” in Chennai to celebrate the slaying of Rama and Lakshmana by Ravana by publicly burning the idols / effigies of Rama and Lakshmana! While Hindutva spreads hatred against Muslims and Christians, Periyar asked his followers amongst the majority working caste people (backward castes and Dalits) to work in solidarity with Muslims and Christians and in fact called on Dalits to convert to a modernized school of Islam Periyar experienced when he visited Turkey! Periyar also called on backward castes and Dalits to refrain from hating Muslims and other religious minorities by stating that Indian Muslims and Indian Christians are indeed descendants of backward castes and Dalits who converted to Islam and Christianity in order to escape the bigotry, oppression, exclusion and misogyny of the caste system! Periyar also preached Tamil nationalism and Tamil separatism based on the irreligious, casteless and non-Hindu heritage of the pre-Hindu Sangam Tamil age and the Indus valley civilisation of the ancient Tamil speaking Dravidians whom he considered to be the ancestors of the present day backward castes (Bahujans) and Dalits of India, (a view supported by Babasaheb. Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, which can be read at the following link: <a href="http://hinducasteracism.blogspot.in/2011/11/babasaheb-dr-ambedkar-states-that.html">http://hinducasteracism.blogspot.in/2011/11/babasaheb-dr-ambedkar-states-that.html</a> ). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; line-height: 18px;">In Periyarist lexicon, the term “Dravidian” does not simply mean “South Indian” but it refers to all working caste people of India derided as “Shudras” by Hindu scriptures on account of their descent from castes bonded to physical labour (backward castes) including people descending from castes stigmatized as untouchables (Dalits). Periyar considered all people descending from castes bonded to physical labour and derided as “Shudras” or untouchables as “Dravidians” who descended from the aboriginal peoples of India who spoke an ancient form of Tamil language, as opposed to the Brahmins and Baniyas and Kshatriyas – the trio of the so called “twice born” supremacist castes whose scriptural, socio-cultural, ethnic and political assertion stems from a proclamation of their cultural and linguistic “Aryan” (Persian) heritage associated with the “Indo-European” language of Sanskrit which is linguistically linked to Persian and many European languages. Even though no caste is racially pure, the cultural, socio-religious, linguistic and ethnological assertion of an “Aryan” heritage and the “genetic superiority” and “superiority of biological descent” asserted by “twice born” supremacist castes led by Brahmins was countered by Periyar through asserting the Dravidian heritage of the working caste people of India who are derided as “Shudras”, divided by caste and untouchability, bonded to physical labour, excluded from power, wealth and education, with a section of them further segregated, stigmatized and oppressed as untouchables. Periyar used the term “Dravidian” to unite the working caste people of India who are derided as “Shudras” and divided by the bigoted and vertically graded caste identities based on the physically laborious occupations thrust on them, and who are further divided by the bigotry of untouchability while being excluded from education, governance and wealth.</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thus it is obvious that Periyar was the destroyer of Hinduism itself, and to associate him with the religious extremist and fascist ultra-nationalism of Hindutva is ridiculously false, maliciously wrong and mischievously dishonest, which has been done by this article (“Periyar’s Hindutva”, Outlook – September 10, 2004) translated and published by S.Anand in his capacity as a journalist of “Outlook” magazine, in order to mislead and misrepresent Periyar to those outside of Tamil Nadu who do not know about Periyar’s teachings, ideas and struggles due to the dearth of Periyar’s writings and speeches in non-Tamil languages. This malicious and dishonest exercise in falsehood aimed at misrepresenting and distorting Periyar has been done to prevent the spread of atheist and rationalist anti-caste, anti-Brahmin, anti-untouchability and anti-Hindu Periyarist ideas outside of Tamil Nadu, because Periyar’s ideas appeals to the majority people of India comprising of the backward castes just as much as to Dalits by calling on both backward castes and Dalits to extricate themselves from Hinduism and to destroy Hinduism and its caste identities, Brahmin supremacism, misogyny, superstitions and rituals by uniting under their common “Dravidian” heritage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To claim that Periyar was not supportive of religious minorities such as Muslims or that he was anti-Dalit are grossly false claims that have been made by misinterpreting and misquoting Periyar out of the socio-political context of his statements and by making false allegations. Periyar called on Dalits to convert to Islam and called on all non-Brahmin masses and Dalits to summarily reject Hinduism and embrace atheism or a modern and progressive form of Islam. He also called on backward castes and Dalits to find common cause and solidarity with religious minorities such as Muslims and Christians and defend all religious minorities against Hindu extremist terrorist violence. Periyar’s followers are in the fore-front of campaigning against Hindu religious extremist terrorist fascism that violently targets religious minorities such as Muslims and Christians, and in working for camaraderie between Muslims, Christians and the Dravidian working caste masses comprising of backward castes and Dalits. Periyar also worked, wrote and campaigned extensively for the liberation of Dalits and Dalit rights. A selective and small collection of his translated and abridged statements regarding his work and views on Dalit liberation and Dalit rights, including his call for Dalits to convert to Islam and his call on his followers to express solidarity with religious minorities such as Muslims can be read from pages 113 to 334 in the pdf file that can be accessed by clicking on the following link: <a href="http://fs.gallup.unm.edu/Periyar.pdf">http://fs.gallup.unm.edu//Periyar.pdf</a> (which contains the book titled “Fuzzy and Neutrosophic Analysis Of Periyar’s Views On Untouchability” by Professor.W.B.Vasantha Kandasamy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Periyar also wrote a book on the social egalitarian aspects of Islam and used that book as a manifesto to call on Dalits to convert to a progressive and modern form of Islam. Hence it is totally wrong to say that Periyar was not supportive of religious minorities such as Muslims. And it is totally false, ridiculous and malicious to associate Periyar with Hindutva. Periyar’s ideas are the anti-thesis of Hindutva and in fact seek to absolutely destroy Hinduism.<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Hence it is obvious that the aforementioned article translated and journalistically published by S.Anand portrays Periyar falsely and maligns Periyar. Periyar never advocated Hindutva and Periyar never hated Muslims. Periyar actually sought the destruction of Hinduism itself. In fact, Periyar was an advocate of a modernised form of Islam and called on Dalits to convert to Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Even though Periyar advocated conversion to Islam as one of the ways out for Dalits to escape the bigotry and oppression of the caste system and untouchability imposed by Hinduism, the brand of Islam Periyar wanted Dalits to embrace was more akin to the modern and reformist version of Islam advocated by the Turkish social reformer and leader Kemal Ataturk, since Periyar refers to the modernised Muslim society he witnessed when he travelled to Turkey in some of his writings. Being a rationalist atheist and humanist, Periyar was also critical of regressive and misogynistic practices in all religions including Islam. Periyar has criticized the subjugation of women in all religions including Islam. Periyar advocated education of Muslims girls and Muslim women and criticized the practice of “burqa”. Periyar has also been critical of reactionary political positions of Muslim political parties and organizations on a few occasions, when he perceived such political positions on the part of Muslim leaders as being inimical to the rights of those oppressed by the caste system. But such progressive critique of Islam and reactionary socio-political positions of Muslim leaders did not negate Periyar’s fundamental ideas of camaraderie between Muslims and Dravidians (backward castes and Dalits) and the defence of Muslims against the violence and hatred of Hindu terrorist fanatics, and protection of the rights of Muslims. Therefore it is malicious and dishonest to misquote Periyar or to misuse his statements out of the socio-political context in which they were actually made, in order to paint a false, dishonest and distorted picture of Periyar by atrociously associating Periyar with Hindutva.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">So it is evident that Periyar sought the destruction of Hinduism itself and never propagated Hindutva. Empowering the majority people of India divided by caste and untouchability, impoverished, bonded to physical labour and excluded from education, power and wealth due to the caste system (such as the backward castes and Dalits) does not automatically amount to Hindu nationalism or majoritarianism. Periyar called for educationally, materially, and socially empowering the majority people of India who are bonded to physical labour, degraded as “Shudras” and divided by the bigoted and vertically graded caste system and untouchability (such as the backward castes and Dalits) by advocating annihilation of castes and advocating affirmative action in education and employment for people of backward castes and Dalits. This does not mean Periyar advocated fascist majoritarianism or Hindutva. Periyar also called on backward caste and Dalit people (who are degraded as “Shudras” and divided by the caste system) to totally reject Hinduism, discard all Hindu rituals and superstitions, give up all Hindu caste identities, and destroy all practices that stand for Hinduism, Brahmin supremacy, untouchability and caste bigotry. Periyar also called on his followers to build solidarity with Muslims and called on Dalits to convert to a progressive and modern form of Islam. As mentioned above, Periyar also wrote a famous book which praised the social egalitarian aspects of Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Therefore, Periyar was a fervent defender of Muslims from the violence and oppression of Hindu extremist terrorist and Hindu fascist fanaticism which he saw as the handiwork of Brahmin supremacists who are the ideological founders of Hindutva fascist ultra-nationalist politics of hatred and mass murder. He consistently treated Indian Muslims and Indian Christians as descendants of backward castes and Dalits who converted to Islam and Christianity to escape the bigoted caste system and the social segregation of untouchability. Periyar called on his backward caste and Dalit followers to build bridges and solidarity with Muslims and Christians and to defend the latter from Hindu extremist terrorist violence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Therefore, the aforementioned article titled “Periyar’s Hindutva” translated into English and journalistically published by S.Anand (and written in original by S.Anand’s friend and publishing partner Ravi Kumar with whom S.Anand cofounded the publishing house “Navayana”) totally distorts, defames and misrepresents Periyar with falsehood and lies, in order to prevent the spread of Periyar’s anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin and anti-caste message outside of Tamil Nadu. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">It is also apt to mention that the “Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Party” (“Liberation Panthers party”) of which Ravi Kumar is a general secretary - consistently use Periyar’s imagery and ideas in their official meetings, publications, journals and posters, and also give out annual awards in the name of “Periyar” to various political leaders including the former chief minister Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi. Thus it goes without saying that if Ravi Kumar (and his translator and publishing partner S.Anand) truly believed in the defamatory and distortional lies they have written about Periyar, Ravi Kumar would not continue to be part of a party (Viduthalai Chiruthaigal a.k.a. Liberation Panthers) which celebrates the memory, legacy and ideology of Periyar. In addition, Ravi Kumar also holds a position of membership in the committee organized by the Periyar founded Dravidar Kazhagam Organization to protect and implement the “Sethu Canal Project” from the fundamentalist onslaught of Hindu extremists and Brahmin supremacists. One wonders how and why Ravi Kumar accepted to be a part of a committee organized by the socio-political organization founded by Periyar, if Ravi Kumar considers Periyar and his ideas as antithetical to himself. This only shows abject intellectual hypocrisy and political expediency on Ravi Kumar’s part, which only aids Brahmin writers and translators like S.Anand who seek to use Dalit writers to defame and distort Periyar’s ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; line-height: 18px;">I challenge S.Anand to translate and publish an original essay by Periyar (and Babsaheb Dr.Ambedkar) which is critical of Brahmins and Hinduism in a mainstream magazine such as Outlook magazine</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; line-height: 18px;"> to which he has easy and ready access to</span><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; line-height: 18px;">, instead of indulging in fraudulent and intellectually corrupt exercises to defame and distort Periyar and Dr.Ambedkar in manifold ways as described and analysed in the above write-up. </span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-22106852613952859292013-04-30T18:43:00.002+05:302013-04-30T19:19:29.594+05:30GOURAVAM - FILM <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-align: left;"><b>I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE RECENTLY RELEASED FILM "GOURAVAM" . </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-align: left;">THE RECENTLY RELEASED FILM "GOURAVAM" ABLY DEPICTS THE OPPRESSION, VIOLENCE, ATROCITIES AND SEGREGATION FORCED ON THE DALIT PEOPLE AND ALSO HIGHLIGHTS THE EVIL OF THE SO CALLED "HONOUR KILLING" THAT MURDERS COUPLES WHO LOVE ACROSS BARRIERS OF CASTE PARTICULARLY WHEN A NON-DALIT WOMAN GETS INTO A RELATIONSHIP OR MARRIAGE WITH A DALIT MAN. THE FILM EFFECTIVELY ADVOCATES AGAINST THE BIGOTRY OF CASTE IN AN ENTERTAINING AND GRIPPING NARRATIVE OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE THRILLER. A MUST WATCH! MY THANKS TO PRODUCER PRAKASH RAJ AND DIRECTOR RADHA MOHAN! </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-align: left;">I REQUEST ONE AND ALL TO PLEASE GO AND WATCH THIS FILM!</span> A MUST WATCH! </b></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-61295043463963270812013-04-22T03:01:00.000+05:302014-08-01T20:26:57.344+05:30The Fraud of Hinduism. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Fraud of Hinduism. </div>
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<strong>By Dr. Iniyan Elango, M.B.B.S., LLM.</strong></div>
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(This essay was published earlier under the title "What is Hinduism?" in the web magazine www.countercurrents.org) </div>
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<em>Dr. Iniyan Elango argues that "Hinduism" is a colonial and post colonial contruct which was institutionalised in the 'modern' India against the wishes of the lower castes , and therefore the religious labels of “Hindu and Hinduism” should not be imposed on backward castes (Shudras), scheduled castes (Dalits) and scheduled tribes (aboriginal Adivasis)</em></div>
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<em>Religion is man-made. Even the men who made it cannot agree on what their prophets or redeemers or gurus actually said or did. </em>-<strong>Antitheist activist and writer Christopher Hitchens </strong><br />
<em><br />All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.</em> - <strong>American writer Edgar Allan Poe </strong></div>
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<span class="style4" style="font-weight: bold;">T</span>he ancient Persians invented the term “Hindu” to describe all peoples who lived in the Indian sub-continent beyond the Indus River. The word “Hindu” cannot be found anywhere in any of the Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures which form the theological basis of Hinduism nor was the term “Hindu” ever used to denote members of a singular religion until the British and post-British Indian laws legally instituted the term “Hindu” to classify and lump together all inhabitants of India (except Jews, Muslims, Christians and Zoroastrians) as “Hindu” by disregarding and negating the diverse and varied religions of the Indian peoples, particularly those of Dalits (untouchables or scheduled castes), Adivasis (aboriginal scheduled tribes) and backward castes (Shudras) which have nothing to do with the Hindu religion as codified by Hindu law based on Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Shruthis and Smrithis which is followed only by the “twice born” (Dwija) supremacist upper caste trio of Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vysyas (Baniyas). Thus, Hinduism as a singular religious identity and terminology - is solely a colonial and post-colonial socio-legal construct that never existed in the past history of India. And in particular, backward castes (Shudras), Dalits and aboriginal Adivasis were neither considered as co-religionists by the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio led by the Brahmins nor did the peoples oppressed as Shudras or untouchables and Adivasis call themselves as “Hindus” at any time, until the British and post-British Indian legal statutes legally instituted the term “Hindu” as a blanket religious identity that is mandatorily and legally applied on “all” Indian peoples who are not following Zoroastrianism or the three Semitic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.</div>
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Various Hindu civil legal statutory regimes make a blanket legal imposition of the Hindu religious identity on “any” person domiciled in India who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi (Zoroastrian) or Jew by religion. The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, The Hindu Marriage Act 1955, Hindu succession Act, 30 of 1956 and The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956 are some of the Hindu civil legal statutory legislations that summarily forces the “Hindu” religious identity on everybody domiciled in India except for Jews, Muslims, Christians and Parsis (Zoroastrians) in the aforementioned manner. A provision of the Hindu Marriage Act further states that the expression “Hindu” is to be construed as if it included a person who, “though not a Hindu by religion” is nevertheless a person to whom this legislation considers as “Hindu” in blatant violation of an individual’s right and freedom to choose his or her religion (or lack of it as atheists or antitheists) without being forced with a religious identity by law.<br />
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In addition, article 25 (2) (b) Explanation II of the Indian constitution states as follows: In sub-clause (b) of clause (2), the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly. Thus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists have also been constitutionally deemed to be “Hindus”.</div>
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In the case titled “Surajmani Stella Kujur Vs Durga Charan Hansdah” (AIR 2001 SC 938: (2001) 3 SCC 13), while determining “who is a “Hindu” for the purposes of the applicability of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (“the Act”), the members of scheduled tribes were deemed to be Hindus by the Supreme Court of India. In this case, the Supreme Court further noted that in the absence of a notification or order under Article 342 of the Constitution members of various Scheduled Tribes are deemed to be Hindus. The Supreme Court judgment in this case further observed that even if a notification is issued under the Constitution, the Hindu Marriage Act can be applied to Scheduled Tribes and the latter deemed to be Hindus under the Act by a further notification in terms of sub-section (2) of Section 2 of the Act.</div>
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Therefore, by way of the various aforementioned Hindu civil law statutes, related court judgments and constitutional provisions, the Hindu religious identity is summarily imposed on all people domiciled in India who are not Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians (Parsis), thus legally imposing the Hindu religious identity on Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, atheists and followers of other non-Hindu religions, thus creating a legally fabricated Hindu majority in violation of the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of an individual to freely choose his or her religion without religious imposition by law, thus negating a fundamental human right of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed by International human rights law.</div>
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Due to the aforementioned Hindu law statutes, related court judgments and constitutional provisions, all people belonging to backward castes, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and even atheists, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and any other people asserting a non-Hindu religious denomination are legally forced with the Hindu religious identity under law, except for Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. Thus under the present Hindu law statues and related court judgments and constitutional provisions, it can be reasonably concluded that any kind of census (whether caste based or not) will demographically conclude and record the religion of backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes only as Hindu, even if any of them follow atheism or any non-Hindu religious denomination (except for Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism). Even scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are legally imposed with the Hindu religious identity by the aforesaid Hindu civil law statutes and related court judgments, and hence are demographically labelled only as Hindu under law in order to reinforce the delusional and false Hindu majority fabricated by law. Hence, it is wrong for some to say that the census of backward castes alone will contribute to a (fabricated) Hindu demographic majoritarianism, since scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are also legally forced with the Hindu religious identity just as backward castes are, even if they are atheists, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs or any other non-Hindu religionists (except for those professing Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism).</div>
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The establishment of a mythical, fabricated and false demographic Hindu majority lies in the various aforementioned Hindu civil law statutes and related court judgments and constitutional provisions that constitute the legal status quo which legally and summarily imposes the Hindu religious identity on all people domiciled in India who are not Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, thus legally forcing the Hindu religious identity on all backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes even if they assert non-Hindu religious identities or atheism (except for Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism), while also legally imposing the Hindu religious identity on atheists, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and any other people asserting a non-Hindu religious denomination except for Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. This is a blatant violation of the individual human right and freedom of thought, conscience and religion accorded under international human rights law.</div>
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In the Supreme Court judgment delivered in the case called “Shastri Yagnapurushdasji and Others Vs Muldas Bhundardas Vaishya and Another” (AIR 1996 SC 1119), the Supreme Court ruled as follows in paragraphs 40 and 43 with regards to the definition and distinguishing features of the Hindu religion and Hindus: "Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and realisation of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large”. The Supreme Court further ruled that this aforementioned definition brings out succinctly the broad distinctive features of Hindu religion.</div>
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But a vast majority of Indian peoples who do not subscribe (in part or fully) to this aforementioned legal and judicial definition (of the Hindu religion and “Hindus”) laid down by the Supreme Court have nevertheless been contradictorily and forcibly imposed with the Hindu religious identity by the Hindu civil law statutes and related judicial case law regimes and constitutional provisions described above. This is a legally contradictory situation where the individual freedom to choose one’s thought, conscience and religion is violated. Adivasis (indigenous peoples), Dalits (scheduled castes) and OBCs (backward castes) do not generally subscribe to any reverential acceptance of the “Vedas” and are all scripturally and theologically banned by the Hindu religious law (based on Brahmanical Sanskrit Hindu scriptures) from any priesthood training or religious study of the Brahmanical Sanskrit Hindu scriptures (such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Shruthis and Smrithis) in Hindu seminaries monopolized by Brahmins and are also summarily banned from Hindu religious priesthood, but despite this situation, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward castes are contradictorily laden with the Hindu religious identity by the aforesaid Hindu law regimes thus violating their human right to freedom of religion and contravening the definition of Hindus and the Hindu religion as outlined in the aforementioned Supreme Court judgment (AIR 1996 SC 1119) which lays down the “acceptance of the Vedas with reverence” as one of the cardinal features of a “Hindu”. How can those who are banned from religious study and religious training for priesthood in the seminaries of a religion be called as members of the same religion and forced with the label of the same religion? But, backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have suffered this indignation and oppression under the current Hindu law regimes which summarily forces the Hindu religious identity on them while banning them all from Hindu religious priesthood and Hindu temple priesthood. In addition Adivasis, Dalits and OBCs (backward castes) are all proscribed from being “scriptural and sacramental membership of Hinduism” by Hindu Law, and this “scriptural and sacramental” membership of Hindu religion is exclusively reserved “only” for the so called “twice born” supremacist trio of upper castes [Brahmins, Vysyas (Baniyas) and Kshatriyas] by Hindu religious law (Hindu law based on Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures such as Vedas, Upanishads, Shruthis and Smrithis), and thus Adivasis, Dalits and OBCs (backward castes) are also theologically banned from Hindu priesthood, but nevertheless - the Hindu religious identity is contradictorily imposed on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis by the aforesaid Hindu civil legal statutes when they are all theologically excluded from “scriptural and sacramental” membership of Hinduism and banned from Hindu priesthood by the Hindu law based on Brahmanical Sanskrit Hindu scriptures.</div>
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The religious school of thought followed by Lingayats, Jains, Buddhists, indigenous tribal people, Sikhs, atheists and followers of various other non-Hindu Indian religions of Dalits and backward castes (which either negate Brahmanical scriptures such as the “Vedas” or preach monotheism, atheism or rural folk deity worship), do not subscribe to the aforementioned legal and judicial definition of “Hindu religion” as laid down by the Supreme Court, but still these various non-Hindu religions of Indian origin and atheism (and antitheists) have been legally clumped under the Hindu religious identity by the various Hindu civil legal statutes in violation of their human right for thought, conscience and religion.</div>
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Thus, due to Hindu civil legal statutes and constitutional provisions that summarily impose the Hindu religious identity on one and all (except Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis), various religions and schools of thought which are not Hindu and which do not satisfy the aforementioned Supreme Court definition of “Hinduism” have all been forced to come under the blanket imposition of Hindu religious identity. Some of the religions or schools of thought which have been thus brought under the blanket Hindu religious identity are Lingayatism, Jainism, Buddhism, indigenous aboriginal religions (of scheduled tribes), Sikhism, atheism, rural indigenous religions of Dalits and backward castes, etc. This is in violation of the fundamental human right to freely choose one’s thought, conscience and religion, and is also in violation of the aforementioned Supreme Court Judgment that propounds the legal definition of Hindu religion.</div>
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One especially wonders how the followers of Buddhism, a religion that negates any belief in God and irreligious rationalist atheists and antitheists professing atheism can be brought under the legal label of the “Hindu” religion by the aforementioned constitutional provisions and various other Hindu civil legal statutes, thus contradicting the aforementioned Supreme Court Judgmental definition of “Hinduism” that deems belief in Vedas and many Gods as one of the fundamental legal markers of being a Hindu.</div>
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Most Adivasi indigenous peoples (scheduled tribes) are animists whose spiritual traditions and religious forms of animist and indigenous worship have nothing to do with the Hinduism religion of “Sanathan Dharma” as codified by Hindu law based on Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures such as Vedas, Upanishads, Smrithis and Shruthis. Similarly, people of scheduled castes’ descent (Dalits) were long considered as outcasts and segregated as untouchables and were also traditionally banned from Hindu temple entry by Orthodox Hinduism. The cow slaughtering, beef eating and rural folk deity worshipping life style of rural Dalits has nothing to with the Sanathan Dharma (Hinduism) as codified by the Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures of Hindu law which proscribe beef eating and cow slaughtering. Most of the other backward castes (OBCs) (in the vertically graded bigotry of the caste system) are also animal sacrificing worshippers of indigenous and rural folk deities whose rural and indigenous forms of worshipping folk deities has no scriptural and theological relationship with the vegan emphasizing Sanathan Dharma (Hinduism) of “twice born” supremacist trio of upper castes as codified by the Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures of Hindu law. It is also obvious that the rural and indigenous religious traditions of Scheduled Tribes (Adivasi aborigines), Scheduled Castes (Dalits) and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) have nothing to do with the “Vedas”, and it is also obvious that Dalits, Backward Castes and Scheduled Tribes neither follow the “Vedas” nor are they allowed to study the Vedas and other Hindu religious scriptures in Hindu religious seminaries monopolized by Brahmins. Thus the backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are summarily banned from studying, training and working as Hindu religious priests by the Brahmins and the bigoted Hindu law. It is obvious that the Dalits, Other Backward Castes and Scheduled Tribes do not subscribe to any belief in the Vedas, thus failing the definition of “Hindu” and “Hinduism” established by the aforementioned Supreme Court Judgment which deems that a belief in the “Vedas” to be one of the defining features of Hinduism. Thus there is a strong theological, legal and factual basis to consider the religious traditions of Dalits (scheduled castes), Adivasis (scheduled tribes) and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) as non-Hindu, rural, animist or indigenous religions of folk deity worship which need to be legally and theologically recognised as being separate and distinct from the Sanathan Dharma (Hinduism) religion based on the Hindu law drawn from Brahmins’ Sanskrit scriptures such as Vedas, Upanishads, Smrithis and Shruthis. In this light, one should emphasize the declaration of Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar that Dalit people are not Hindus, and the assertion of Periyar that Dravidian people (non-Brahmin backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) are of non-Hindu (and ethno-linguo-culturally of non-Aryan) origin, and the assertion of intellectuals of OBC background like Professor Kancha Ilaiah that OBC people (backward castes) are not Hindus. It is also obvious that the lifestyle and rural worshipping traditions of Adivasis (scheduled tribes), Dalits and backward castes have nothing to do with Hinduism as codified by the Hindu Law based on Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures.</div>
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According to Hindu Law, the members of the first three upper castes of Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas (kings) and Vaisyas (traders) [in the vertically graded caste system] are considered as “twice born” or “regenerate”. The second birth or regeneration consists in the study of the Vedas or sacred literature and in the performance of "samskaras" or sacraments (such as “Upanayanam” in which the Brahmin and “twice born” supremacist upper caste males are initiated into a “second birth” by wearing the “sacred thread” across their chest – and hence become “twice born”). All these are religiously and scripturally denied to the Shudras except for the "Samskara" of marriage. Thus it is obvious that those who are legally considered as Shudras (by Hindu law) are denied the religious right to the study and practice of religious priesthood and (Brahmanical Sanskrit) religious scriptures of Hinduism. Moreover, it is also obvious that those who are legally considered as Shudras by Hindu law [and judicial case law based on Hindu law such as Muthusami Mudaliar Vs Masilamani (1909), 33 Mad. 342] are all those who don’t belong to the trio of “regenerate or twice born” supremacist castes, and this includes all of the various castes who are lower to “twice born” supremacist trio of upper castes in the vertically graded caste hierarchy such as backward castes, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and members of other social groups, religions and castes who are forced with the “Hindu” religious identity by the aforesaid Hindu civil legal statutes such as Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Lingayats, etc.</div>
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(Note: But the caste system has also pervaded the Sikh religion with the result that some Sikhs of “twice born” Kshatriya origins call themselves as “Khatri” Sikhs, while Sikhs descending from castes bonded to physically labouring vocations (Shudras) are Jat Sikhs, Ramgharia Sikhs, etc., (with Jats tending to be landholding farmers) while Dalit Sikhs go by names such as Ravidasia, Valmiki, etc. Such dilution of the Sikh spiritual ethos with the caste system has been the direct result of Sikhs being brought under the dominant legal, cultural and religious identity of Hinduism (in which the various Hindu civil legal statutes and Hindu law regimes played a considerable role), thus negating the “Khalsa” oath of unadulterated Sikhism that negates the caste system and assures social equality of all Sikhs.</div>
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The Hindu law based on various Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures such as Vedas, Upanishads, Smrithis and Shruthis, recognises only the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio of Brahmins, Vysyas (Baniyas) and Kshatriyas as the “only scriptural and sacramental members of Hinduism”, thus excluding all the other people bonded to physically labouring vocations and derided as “Shudras” by the Hindu religious scriptures (such as backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) from “scriptural and sacramental” membership of Hinduism. This legal premise sanctified by the bigoted scriptures of Hindu Law (such as “Manu Smrithi”) was used as one of the judicial reasons to successfully challenge and abrogate the Tamil Nadu legislation (of 1974) enacted by the DMK party led state government - that sought to end the Brahmin monopoly on Hindu religious priesthood by allowing people from all castes (including Dalits) to train and work as Hindu religious priests. (The Tamil Nadu state Government led by the DMK party re-enacted the state legislation in 2008 to allow people of all castes to train and work as Hindu religious and temple priests, which has again been stayed by the Supreme Court due to litigations by Brahmin led Orthodox Hindu outfits which are currently pending at the Supreme Court of India). But backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes who are banned from “scriptural and sacramental” membership of Hinduism by Hindu law and thus excluded from Hindu religious priesthood by Hindu law are nevertheless contradictorily imposed with the Hindu religious identity by various Hindu civil legal statutes in violation of their individual freedom to freely choose a non-Hindu religious denomination or atheism, which only serves to entrench the legally fabricated and falsely projected mythical Hindu majority.</div>
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In this legal situation, the demographic conclusions of any kind of census in India, whether caste based or not, will label the religion of all people (excepting those belonging to the four religions of Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism) only as Hindu, thus enforcing a mythical, delusional and false Hindu majoritarianism fabricated by law which negates the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of individual citizens.</div>
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This legal situation which creates a false, fabricated and mythical Hindu majority by legally imposing the Hindu religious identity on various non-Hindu peoples can only be ended by introducing secular civil law regimes for people who choose not to be identified as Hindus (while exempting Jews, Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians and “twice born” supremacist trio of upper castes from such a secular civil law), by abrogating various provisions in Hindu civil legal statutes that legally enforces a blanket imposition of the Hindu religious identity on all people except Jews, Muslims, Christians and Zoroastrians, by legally abrogating and removing all repugnant Hindu scriptures that codify the bigoted caste system such as “Manu Smrithi” from the legal body of Hindu law, completely abrogating Hindu law in its current form, by extending affirmative action (reservation) in education and employment to people belonging to backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes irrespective of their religion and even if they identify themselves with any non-Hindu religious identities or as atheists, and by legally recognizing the spiritual and religious traditions of animism and indigenous rural religions of folk deity worship practiced by Dalits (Scheduled Castes), Adivasis (Scheduled Tribes) and OBCs (Backward Castes) as being distinct and separate from Hinduism with legal terminology such as “indigenous Dravidian religions” or simply as “scheduled caste, backward caste or scheduled tribe religions”.</div>
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Today, any person domiciled in India (except for Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis) has to legally identify himself or herself as a “Hindu” in any legal document or court proceedings, even if the person believes that he or she is not a Hindu. This false, oppressive, violative and theologically untenable socio-legal imposition of the Hindu religious identity on Dalits (scheduled castes), OBCs (backward castes), Adivasis (scheduled tribes), atheists, antitheists and other non-Hindu religionists should be ended through various legislative reforms suggested above.</div>
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The fanatical elements of Hindutva fascist parties who make untenable and false accusations of “forced conversion” against Islamic and Christian missionaries and who unleashed mass murderous and pillaging violence and sexual attacks against Muslims in Gujarat and Christian missionaries, Dalit Christians and Adivasi Christians in Orissa, and who murderously target religious minorities in various other parts of India, should ponder over this “legally forced conversion” of millions of non-Hindu peoples to Hinduism in order to project a false, fabricated and mythical Hindu majority.</div>
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The Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures of Sanathan Dharma that constitute the Hindu law which legally codifies Hinduism recognizes only the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio (Brahmins, Vysyas [Baniyas] and Kshatriyas) as the real and only members of Sanathan Dharma (Hinduism) who were given exclusive monopoly over education, trade and governance for millennia, while the rest of the populace who did not belong to the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio were derided as “Shudras”, excluded from the “scriptural and sacramental” membership of Sanathan Dharma (Hinduism), banned from education, governance and wealth, thrust into various occupations involving physical labour, forced to marry amongst only those who were thrust into a particular occupation of physical labour thus creating vertically graded endogamous caste divisions based on various occupations of physical labour, and a section of the Shudras were further divided and segregated as “untouchables” and thrust into the most degrading physical labour. The “untouchables” were further divided into vertically graded castes based on the degrading physical labour thrust on them. Thus it is evident that only the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio led by the Brahmins are the “real” Hindus while the Shudras (backward castes), Dalits (untouchables – scheduled castes) and Adivasis (scheduled tribes) are not Hindus, but are actually peoples subjugated, oppressed, divided and ruled by the Hindus (the “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes led by Brahmins).</div>
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Some theologists say that even the religious schools of worshipping Siva known as “Saivism” and Vishnu (or “Thirumaal” in Tamil) known as “Vaishnavism” have been co-opted by Brahmins and instituted with the caste system, (just as any religion or cult which challenged Brahmins and the caste system was), since there is no mention of Siva, Vishnu (or any other deity worshipped by backward castes, scheduled castes or scheduled tribes) in the Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures such as Vedas, Upanishads, Shruthis and Smrithis which constitute the scriptural, legal and religious basis of Hindu religion and Hindu law. There is also no tradition of idol worship (but only a form of fire worship known as “Yagas” or “Yagnas”) in the Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures of Sanathan Dharma (such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Shruthis and Smrithis) that constitute the Hindu law which legally codifies Hinduism based on the Vedic religion of Sanathan Dharma and allows only the “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes led by Brahmins as “scriptural and sacramental” members. Brahmins have usurped the monopoly to officiate as priests in the temples of idol worship which are essentially temples of Shudras (backward castes and Dalits) built by the physical labour of Shudras (backward castes and Dalits) even though Brahmins’ Vedic religious texts which codify Hinduism (such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Shruthis and Smrithis) do not contain idol worship but only fire worship (“Yagas” or “Yagnas”) and prurient traditions such as “Aswamedha Yaga” which was a form of fire worship (“Yaga”) accompanied by inhumane rituals forcing women to indulge in bestial acts with horses. Tamil scholars pin point to millennia old Tamil literary works (of the “Sangam” and “Pre-Sangam” age) that refer to temples of idol worship of Siva (“Seyon” in Tamil) and Vishnu (“Thirumaal” in Tamil) in which Brahmins were not the officiating priests, but people drawn from the native Tamil population were trained as priests, until this changed after the Brahmins migrated to Tamil speaking lands. The Tamil monarchs (Cholas, Pandiyas and Cheras) were attracted by the mystic imagery of Brahmin rituals and Yagas and superstitiously believed that patronising Brahmins and conducting “Yagas” will lead to success in battle, longevity and prosperity. Thus, in their strong mystical interest to patronize the Brahmins, the Tamil (and other Dravidian) monarchs in India instituted the caste system, untouchability and Brahmin hegemony as the law (based on “Manu Smrithi” and other Brahmanical Scriptures), even though the Tamil monarchs were considered only as “Shudras” by Brahmins because they were “non-Aryan” ethnically, linguistically and culturally. Thus the non-Hindu Tamil (Dravidian) religions were co-opted by Brahmins and instituted with the caste system and Sanskrit rituals. Other socio-religious evils allied with the caste system were also enforced by Brahmins with the concurrence of the deluded Tamil kings such as segregating working people as “untouchables”, forcibly trafficking and enslaving Tamil women as temple prostitutes (Devadasis) who were sexually exploited by the Brahmins and other powerful males, and the derision of physically labouring people as “Shudras” and their division into hundreds of vertically graded endogamous castes based on the physically laborious occupations thrust on them, and their (Shudras’ and untouchables’) exclusion from education, governance and trade. This happened all over India where Brahmins imposed their socio-cultural and religious hegemony just as it happened in Tamil speaking lands. Until the invention and blanket imposition of the Hindu religious label on the Shudras and untouchables during and after the British rule of India, Brahmins never considered Shudras and untouchables as their fellow religionists but only as peoples oppressed and excluded by Brahmins from the latter’s religion of Sanathan Dharma based on Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures (such as Vedas, Upanishads, Shruthis and Smrithis) in which only the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio of Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vysyas (Baniyas) can be the scriptural and sacramental members.</div>
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Thus it is evident that backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, all of whom cannot be “scriptural and sacramental” members of Sanathan Dharma (Hinduism) were co-opted and deluded into accepting the blanket religious label of “Hindu” and “Hinduism”, which was aided by the Brahmin co-option of Shudra religious temples by way of giving monopoly on temple priesthood to Brahmins, in order to allow the sustenance of the caste system and its division and oppression of the backward castes and scheduled castes, and to sustain the hegemony of the Brahmin led “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio and the latter’s monopolistic hold on the intellectual, trading and governing classes and to allow the infiltration of Brahmins and the caste system into any new religion Shudras may create to resist the caste system by imposing the new religion with the “Hindu” religious label. Thus it is clear that the twice born supremacist upper caste trio led by the Brahmins are an apartheid class akin to the Afrikaners in the erstwhile South African apartheid state, who excluded the physically labouring working populace and native people derided as Shudras and untouchables from education, trade and governance, and further divided, oppressed, segregated and exploited the Shudras and untouchables through the caste system, which was effectively challenged by social reformers in various parts of India like Periyar, Mahatma Phule, Narayana Guru and Dr.Ambedkar only after the advent of the British rule. But unlike the Afrikaners, the “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes led by the Brahmins cloaked their apartheid under a religious label (of “Hindu”) and made the very people (Shudras and untouchables) who were victimized, divided, exploited, oppressed and excluded by the caste system to accept the caste system by deluding the working people derided as “Shudras” and untouchables to falsely believe that they belonged to the same religion as the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio, while in the scriptural, legal and theological reality – Shudras and untouchables cannot become “scriptural and sacramental members” of the legally codified Hinduism religion based on the Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures, which is affirmed by Supreme Court judgments which overthrow and negate state legislations (such as the 1974 Tamil Nadu law) that allowed Shudras and untouchables the right to train and work as temple priests. Even allowing backward castes and scheduled castes to work as Hindu temple priests will not change the theological reality of Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures of “Sanathan Dharma” (Hinduism) which consider only the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio led by Brahmins as the “only” scriptural and sacramental members of “Sanathan Dharma” (Hinduism).</div>
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Thus “Hinduism” is nothing but a fabricated religious cloak and a lie created to hide the apartheid system of caste and the hegemony of “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio led by the Brahmins, which is as ludicrous and bizarre as a hypothetical situation such as white Afrikaners of the erstwhile apartheid South Africa attempting to fool the Black South Africans into accepting the apartheid system by selling the lie that both the Afrikaners and Black South Africans belonged to the same religion called “Apartheid”! But the only difference is that the Black South Africans would have never been as foolish, divided, irrational, superstitious and delusional as the Shudras (backward castes) and untouchables (Dalits – scheduled castes) into accepting the bigotry of an apartheid system such as the caste system under the false cloak of a fabricated religious label, in which the oppressed could never be equal religionists with the oppressing supremacist elite of “twice born” supremacist castes led by the Brahmins.</div>
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The cultural, religious and linguistic exclusivism and supremacy practiced by the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio led by the Brahmins based on their Indo-European linguistic Sanskrit heritage led social reformers like Periyar to conclude that the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio led by the Brahmins are “Aryan” culturally, linguistically, religiously and ethnically (if not in terms of “racial purity” because the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio took “non-twice born” women as wives, concubines and sexual slaves because of which all women including Brahmin women are considered as “Shudras” scripturally and subjected to gruesome misogyny by the Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures and bigoted scriptures such as “Manu Smiruthi” which codify Hinduism and the caste system in the body of Hindu law). On the other hand if any Shudra or untouchable male consorted with a “twice born” supremacist caste woman, he should be castrated according to the bigoted Hindu religious laws of Manu. The vertically graded caste divisions of Shudras and untouchables were further entrenched by the Hindu religious, scriptural and Brahmanical prescription of murdering any romantic couple who loved or married across caste barriers. The theological derision, oppression, division, exclusion and exploitation of Shudras and untouchables sanctioned by Hindu scriptures on the pretext of their “Dravidian” heritage (as mentioned in the Hindu religious scripture “Manu Smrithi”), and the defilement of the proto-Dravidian language of Tamil as a “Neecha Basha” (language of “inferior” people) by Sanskrit Brahmanical Hindu scriptures and Brahmin traditions, led social thinkers like Periyar to conclude that Shudras and untouchables were descendants of non-Aryan peoples whom he called as “Dravidians”, a view echoed by Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar.</div>
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The complete and total exclusion of Shudras and untouchables from education, wealth and governance started to decrease only after the advent of the British rule of India, when the British opened up government schools and official jobs to people of all castes. The truth is that almost a millennia of rule by the Muslim Moghul empire left the caste system unscathed and the “twice born” supremacist upper caste hegemony led by Brahmins intact, since the Moghuls mostly appointed Brahmins and “twice born” supremacist upper caste men as their ministers and bureaucrats and did not seek to reform the caste system, even though countless Shudras and untouchables embraced Islam to escape the bigotry of the caste system. Even today, the “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes led by Brahmins comprise of and control the mainstream media, government bureaucracy, diplomatic corps, top judiciary, elite academia and corporate leadership, while universal access to education, health care, housing, sanitation and social security is denied to the masses of Shudras and untouchables by a ruling establishment comprising of the bureaucracy, media, top judiciary and intellectual elite controlled by “twice born” supremacist upper castes led by the Brahmins. Even though considerable numbers of Shudras and untouchables have become regional political leaders, ministers, MPs, MLAs, and many amongst backward castes and Dalits have become bureaucrats and professionals thanks to an improperly and incompletely implemented system of affirmative action called “reservation”, the core of the ruling establishment comprising of the bureaucracy, mainstream media, top supreme court judiciary, corporate elite, intellectual elite and other pillars of state power are still controlled by and comprises of the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio led by the Brahmins. This ruling establishment comprising of and controlled by the “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes led by the Brahmins is in logger heads with the parliamentary and legislative democracy represented by the MPs and MLAs who are increasingly drawn from Shudras and Dalits, which has resulted in the mainstream media controlled by the Brahmins and “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes to demonize and smear Shudra and Dalit political leaders and their elected representatives with media concocted campaigns such as the “Anna Hazare campaign against political corruption” and other media abetted propaganda, while ignoring the millennia old socio-religious, intellectual and economic corruption of the “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes led by Brahmins who oppressed, exploited and excluded the working masses derided as Shudras and untouchables (backward castes and scheduled castes) from education, governance and wealth, thus entrenching the working masses of India in poverty, illiteracy, disempowerment and caste divisions. Other political expressions of this “Aryan” Brahmin bigotry takes the form of Hindu extremist nationalists and Brahmin politicians such as Subramaniya Samy and Jayalalitha scuttling developmental projects that may benefit the Dravidian Shudra and Dalit masses such as opposing the “Sethu Canal Project” by making mythological, irrational, religious and scientifically untrue claims of “Rama Bridge”, or for example, the Brahmin bureaucratic, diplomatic and media establishment demonizing the Sri Lankan Tamils to aid and abet war crimes and genocide against the Tamils of Sri Lanka or the Brahmins’ opposition to use Tamil as the language of worship in temples of Tamil Nadu.</div>
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The mainstream media controlled by the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio led by the Brahmins do not seek the destruction of the caste system and never critique or publish the true facts about the caste system. Hence, the mainstream media in India can be hardly expected to annihilate the fabricated religious label of Hinduism that is thrust on millions of non-Hindu backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, thus serving as a cloak to hide and sustain the bigotry of the caste system and hegemony of the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio led by the Brahmins.</div>
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Thus it is obvious that the so called “Hindu” religion and a legally fabricated Hindu majority are essentially fraudulent in nature and that India is not a land of a majority singular religion called Hinduism, but is indeed the land of a multitude of diverse and varied schools of religions followed by scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward castes and others, which have all been unjustly and fraudulently usurped and negated by the summary and blanket imposition of the Hindu religious label on “any” person domiciled in India who is not a Jew, Muslim, Christian or a Parsi (Zoroastrian).</div>
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Keeping the backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes under the delusional and fraudulent Hindu religious identity is a pre-requisite for Brahmins and “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio to sustain the caste system and their power as the governing and intellectual classes of India lording over the mainstream media, bureaucracy, higher judiciary, corporate leadership, elite academia and other institutions of power. To prevent backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes from rebelling against the caste system and the fabricated Hindu religious fold, and to preserve the power of the Brahmins and the “twice born” supremacist upper caste trio, Brahmin ideologues have founded the Hindutva (Hindu fascist) movement to whip up mass frenzy amongst backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes through demagoguery that spreads hatred and instigation of murderous violence against Muslims and Christians to enable the political party of the Hindu fascists (BJP) to seize political power through the demonization of Indian Muslims and Indian Christians, who are essentially descendants of those backward castes, Dalits and scheduled tribes who converted to Islam and Christianity to escape the caste system.</div>
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Informed and intellectually conscious citizens hailing from backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, (particularly those who assert atheism and non-Hindu religions usurped by the Hindu religious label) should strongly assert that they are “not Hindus” and launch a political, intellectual, social and legal struggle to overthrow this summary socio-legal imposition of the Hindu religious identity on them. The dictum of Babasaheb Dr.Ambedkar that Dalits are not Hindus and the call of Periyar to backward castes and Dalits to unite as rationalist and atheist “Dravidians” by foregoing the Hindu religious identity and caste system would be apt to recall in this regard.</div>
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The theologically, legally and socio-culturally fraudulent construct of Hinduism should be legally and socially dismantled by way of aforementioned legislative reforms to enshrine and secure India as a nation of umpteen religious groups and not as a nation of a fabricated and fraudulent singular religious majority, while also giving constitutional and legal rights to irreligious rationalist atheists, antitheists and other non-Hindu religionists of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward castes - who have been farcically and legally thrust with the “Hindu “ religious identity by the legal status quo in India.<br />
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Educating the masses belonging to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward castes about the fraudulent socio-legal construct of Hinduism in the aforementioned manner is imperative for challenging the rise of Hindu religious extremist fascism which is ideologically spearheaded by the Brahmins, since backward castes and Dalits who are brainwashed and deluded into the fraudulent “Hindu” religious identity are used as foot soldiers to unleash murderous mayhem against Muslims and Christians. The rise of the Hindu religious fascist totalitarian politics is itself a reactionary reaction to the socio-political challenge thrown on the fraudulent Hindu religious construct by the assertion of people belonging to backward castes and scheduled castes who are struggling against the exclusion caused by Hindu caste bigotry through social justice movements (such as the “Mandal” movement), which made the Brahmin led “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes to unleash the “Hindutva” fascist movement through violence and demagoguery against Muslims and Christians, in order to consolidate the backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes under the Hindu umbrella to secure the fraudulent Hindu religious identity which cloaks the bigoted caste system and the elitist power of the “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes led by the Brahmins.</div>
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In view of the aforementioned theological and legal facts in this essay, the religious labels of “Hindu and Hinduism” should not be imposed on backward castes (Shudras), scheduled castes (Dalits) and scheduled tribes (aboriginal Adivasis). As mentioned earlier, scheduled tribes, scheduled castes and backward castes should be given the legal right and freedom to choose any non-Hindu religious label they want to use to describe their religions without the mandatory legal thrusting of the Hindu religious label on them against their freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Atheists and antitheists should have the legal freedom to legally call themselves as atheists or antitheists without the “Hindu” religious label summarily thrust on them against their will. Similarly, the legal thrusting of the Hindu religious identity on various non-Hindu religions (apart from Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism) such as Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Lingayatism, or any other non-Hindu religion should be ended through legislative reforms such as the aforementioned ones suggested in this essay. The rural and indigenous folk religions of backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes should be recognized as distinct and separate from the Hindu religion based on the Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures of “Sanathan Dharma”, and should be called as “indigenous Dravidian religions” or as “religions of backward castes, scheduled castes or scheduled tribes” as the individual’s case may be. Other religious schools of idol worship should be called as Saivism, Vaishnavism, etc., according to their original names before the “Hindu” label was re-invented and legally instituted by the British. Even the religion of the “twice born” supremacist trio of upper castes should be called by the real Sanskrit name of their religion as mentioned in their Brahmanical Sanskrit religious scriptures which is “Sanathan Dharma” and not Hinduism. The fraudulent use of the words “Hindu or Hinduism” to denote a singular fabricated religion should be discontinued, discouraged and legally proscribed. And affirmative action in education and employment should be given to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward castes irrespective of their religion and even if they choose to identify themselves with a non-Hindu religious label of any kind or as atheists or antitheists.</div>
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<span class="style1"><strong>Epilogue: </strong></span></div>
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There is a large body of agreement amongst historians and anthropologists that the Vedas are Iranian (Persian) in origin. Hence the theologically and legally codified Hindu religion based on the Vedas is more Iranian (Persian) than Indian.</div>
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The wikipedia position on the origin of the Vedas is as follows: There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities between the Rig Veda and the early Iranian Avesta, deriving from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times, often associated with the early Andronovo and Sintashta-Petrovka cultures of circa. 2200–1600 BC. Being composed in an early Indo-Aryan language, the Vedic hymns must post-date the Indo-Iranian separation, dated to roughly 2000 BC. A reasonable date close to that of the composition of the core of the Rigveda is that of the Indo-Aryan Mitanni documents of c. 1400 BC. Other evidence also points to a composition close to 1400 BC.</div>
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All evidence points to the fact that the Vedas and the Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures that theologically codify Hinduism are Iranian (Persian - Aryan) in its origins, which has nothing to do with the BC/SC/ST people of India. <span style="line-height: 28.792612075805664px;">This means that the Vedas and related Brahmanical Sanskrit scriptures on which Hinduism is theologically based are not Indian at all but of Persian (Iranian) origins, and hence Hinduism is unrelated to the proletariat of India defamed and defiled as Shudras (BC/SC/ST people). The term "Aryan" has generally been used historically to denote the Indo-Iranians because “Arya” is the self designation of the Indo-Iranian languages and their speakers, specifically the Iranian and the Indo-Aryan peoples, collectively known as the Indo-Iranians.</span><span style="line-height: 28.792612075805664px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="style1"><br />The Rig Veda is primarily an invocation to Indra, Agni and other Vedic Gods who are not worshipped by the working people of India derided as “Shudras” (BC/SC/ST) people. It is indeed true that Gods, Goddesses and other folk deities worshipped in the various native and rural indigenous religions of backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are totally absent in the Vedas and other Sanskritic Brahmanical texts such as Upanishads, Shruthis and Smrithis which form the theological and legal basis of Hinduism as codified by Hindu law. Similarly there is no reference to "Siva" in these Sanskritic Hindu texts which codify Hinduism. My earlier reference to the absence of "Visnu" in the Sanskritic texts codifying Hinduism should be clarified and understood in the following light: Though the Rig Veda is primarily an invocation to Indra, Agni and other Vedic Gods, the “Visnu” mentioned in the Rig Veda bears no resemblance to the God “Thirumaal” of Tamil Vaishnavite texts. “Thirumaal” worship by Shudras has been co-opted by Brahmins by giving the Vedic God “Visnu's” name to “Thirumaal” and other such Shudra schools of worship such as Saivism [worshipping “Seyon” (Siva)] and Kaumaram [worshipping “Muruga”] have been co-opted by Brahmins and instituted with the caste system, with the manufacture of mythological stories linking the Gods of BC/SC/ST people with Vedic Gods and the monopolistic domination of Brahmins as priests in the temples of Shudra religions (of BC/SC/ST people) in order to institute the caste system in the latter. </span></div>
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(The writer is a physician, counselling psychotherapist and a human rights legal advocate. He is also a correspondent of the “Dalit Murasu” magazine and an atheist Ambedkarite Buddhist who is totally devoid of any strand of Hinduism in him. He successfully applied for asylum in the UK in 2001 as an act of legal protest (based on international human rights law) against the legal imposition of the Hindu religious identity on him by the various Hindu law regimes and constitutional provisions of India in violation of his freedom of thought, conscience and religion. He blogs at http://hinducasteracism.blogspot.in/ and he can be reached at iniyanelango@gmail.com). </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-15985790758358830112013-03-14T00:24:00.003+05:302013-04-22T03:02:57.470+05:30Double Standards for Italy and Sri Lanka by the Indian Government and the Indian mainstream media : <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Why should the alleged killing of two fishermen off the Kerala coast by two Italian marines be treated any differently from the killing of Tamil fishermen from Tamil Nadu state by the Sri Lankan armed forces? While the Indian Government and the media are vehemently calling for the return and eventual prosecution of the two Italian marines ensconced in Italy, (after the previous arrest and imprisonment of the two Italian marines in Kerala), the Indian mainstream media and the Indian Government never call for the extradition, arrest, imprisonment and prosecution of Sri Lankan soldiers and Sri Lankan army personnel who routinely kill Tamil fishermen from Tamil Nadu in mid sea, and several hundreds of such Tamil fishermen have been killed by the Sri Lankan navy and Sri Lankan army personnel in mid sea over the past decades. Is this because the Indian Government has double standards - one for Italy and another for Sri Lanka? Or is public opinion in Kerala more important to the Indian Government than the public opinion of Tamils in Tamil Nadu? Or, is killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government an approved and unstated foreign policy of the Indian Government, which also extends to condoning the killing of Tamil citizens of India by the Sri Lankan armed forces? Since the Indian Government thinks that the killing of several hundred Indian Tamil fishermen by Sri Lankan soldiers and members of the Sri Lankan armed forces need not be punished, why should the Italian marines be punished? </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-91365216354498913112013-01-11T02:18:00.000+05:302013-01-11T02:23:33.438+05:30MY TALK IN TAMIL ON CAPTAIN NEWS TV CHANNEL DISCUSSING VARIOUS ASPECTS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><b>PLEASE WATCH MY TALK IN TAMIL ON CAPTAIN NEWS TV CHANNEL DISCUSSING VARIOUS ASPECTS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA WHILE ALSO CRITICIZING THE REGRESSIVE VIEWS OF HINDU RELIGIOUS FASCIST EXTREMISTS SUCH AS THE RSS PARTY CHIEF AND CONDEMNING SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST DALIT WOMEN.</b></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oo5mGni5kzs?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-45483759300999233322012-10-29T02:20:00.001+05:302012-10-29T11:44:57.891+05:30My brief note of rebuttal to writer / publisher S. Anand's (Anand Navayana's) untenable rejoinder to my critique :<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">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 </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21px;">subsequently </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">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. </span><b style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">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.</b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> 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. </span><b style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Kindly await my detailed and analytical refutation of S.
Anand's rejoinder. </b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-74482660757760507402012-10-23T11:33:00.003+05:302012-10-23T11:33:37.696+05:30WEB LINKS TO MY ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN COUNTERCURRENTS.ORGKINDLY CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/elango201012.htm"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.countercurrents.org/elango201012.htm</span></b></a><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/elango201012.htm"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pot Calling The Kettle Black - A Rebuttal To S. Anand’s Criticism Of Aamir Khan's “Satyamev Jayate”</span></b></a><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/elango191012.htm"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.countercurrents.org/elango191012.htm</span></b></a><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<strong style="background-color: white; line-height: 28.78333282470703px;"><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/elango191012.htm"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Imperative Need Of Caste Based Reservation For Ensuring Social Equity</span></a></strong><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-90306490127993673652012-10-18T09:50:00.002+05:302012-10-18T09:50:50.967+05:30Why Dalits opposed a cartoon lampooning Dr.Ambedkar in a school text book - a perspective of a Dalit writer / journalist.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why Dalits opposed a cartoon lampooning Dr.Ambedkar in a school text book - a perspective of a Dalit writer / journalist.</span></u></b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Written by Dr. Iniyan Elango, Correspondent; “Dalit Murasu” magazine. </span></u></b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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 </span><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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”!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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? </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-77567563982006887112012-10-18T08:28:00.001+05:302013-06-23T00:34:12.370+05:30The imperative need of caste based reservation for ensuring social equity, since affluence cannot be a rational criterion to deny caste based reservation. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The imperative need of caste based reservation for ensuring social equity, since affluence cannot be a rational criterion to deny caste based reservation. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">By Dr. Iniyan Elango, Correspondent : "Dalit Murasu" magazine. </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Shudra must not acquire knowledge and it is a sin and a crime to give him education. -</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <i>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.</i></span></b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">-</span></b><b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Code of Manu (Manusmrithi - which is still one of the scriptural basis for contemporary Hindu civil law in India).</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">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! </span> </div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">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 (</span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The Durbar Hall Pundits”,
Outlook, June 04, 2007</span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Lucida Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">). 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. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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"!</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-35983598380447183242012-10-08T20:14:00.000+05:302012-10-31T10:43:58.365+05:30Rebuttal to S. Anand’s criticism of Aamir Khan and Satyamev Jayate:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">Rebuttal
to S. Anand’s criticism of Aamir Khan and “Satyamev Jayate”:</span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">By Dr. Iniyan
Elango, Correspondent: "Dalit Murasu" magazine.<br />
<br />
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!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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 </span><span style="background: #F7F7F7; color: black;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">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.<br />
<br />
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. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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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.<br />
<br />
S. Anand’s critique of Aamir Khan and “Satyamev Jayate” is a classic case of
the pot calling the kettle black! <o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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.</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-84047052174360634422012-07-24T18:30:00.005+05:302012-10-31T08:48:17.334+05:30My letter to "The Hindu" protesting an advertisement for flats which restricted the sale of flats to "ONLY BRAHMINS:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">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): </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article3555784.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article3555784.ece</a></span>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
<div class="body" style="color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: none;">
<b style="outline: none;">Iniyan Elango,</b><i style="outline: none;"> Chennai</i></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Emailed letter of Honourable Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India, in response to my complaint:</span><br />
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Dear Siddharth and Dr. Ilango,</div>
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I have seen the complaint of Dr Ilango and Siddhartha's letter to him.</div>
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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 <a href="http://justicekatju.blogspot.in/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">justicekatju.blogspot.in</a> and on the website <a href="http://kgfindia.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">kgfindia.com</a>) Hence the aforesaid publication in The Hindu was in extremely bad taste. I request the editor to take care this does not happen again.</div>
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<br /></div>
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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.</div>
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Regards, Justice Katju</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-87051999783516790552012-07-24T18:17:00.005+05:302012-07-24T18:17:42.530+05:30My letter to "The Hindu" on caste segregated habitats:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">My letter to "The Hindu" on caste segregated habitats is given below and can also be read by clicking on the following link: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article3374716.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article3374716.ece</a></span>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
<div class="body" style="color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: none;">
<b style="outline: none;">Iniyan Elango,</b></div>
<div class="body" style="color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: none;">
Chennai</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-15898715255043480232012-07-24T18:14:00.001+05:302012-10-31T11:28:01.885+05:30My letter to "The Hindu" on the Racism of Caste:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">May 31, 2012.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">The Editor</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">The Hindu</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">Dear Madam / Sir,</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">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). </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has made it clear that caste falls within the ambit of the </span><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(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 </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">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. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">General Comment 20 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, also unequivocally prohibits discrimination on grounds of birth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">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.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">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!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">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. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;"> Yours Sincerely, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;">Dr. Iniyan Elango. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21px;">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: </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article3477422.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article3477422.ece</a>
</div>
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<div class="body" style="color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: none; text-align: left;">
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.</div>
<div class="body" style="color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: none; text-align: left;">
Iniyan Elango,</div>
<div class="body" style="color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: none; text-align: left;">
<i style="outline: none;">Chennai</i></div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-85803597110896963112012-02-23T01:56:00.003+05:302012-10-22T18:42:41.169+05:30On Lok Pal and Corruption:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To mention an analogy, focusing on the alleged financial corruption of backward caste and Dalit politicians and bureaucrats at the expense of ignoring </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">varied manifestations of the bigoted caste system (such as </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the violent oppression, social exclusion, birth based graded supremacist bigotry, illiteracy, bondage to caste descent based degrading labour, homelessness, atrocities, poverty and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brahmin supremacist and "twice born" castes' supremacist control over the state machinery and media as the ruling class</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 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. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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. </span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-70676095822994862462012-02-06T06:10:00.003+05:302014-08-08T20:03:25.992+05:30Hindu Law in India violates freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Corrected Version)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Hindu Law in India violates freedom
of thought, conscience and religion</span></b></div>
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By Dr. Iniyan Elango, MBBS., LLM.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
(This is a thesis that was written several years ago) </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><b><i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Abstract.</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Legally established Hindu religious
identity violates freedom of thought, conscience and religion as legislated in
International Human Rights Law. The Hindu identity denotes the identity given
to the peoples of the Indian sub-continent and not a singular religion. A
system of preordained and descent based socio-economic hierarchical standing
(such as the caste system) was legally instituted by the British as a religion
(Hinduism) with an enforceable religious civil law, which violated the
fundamental principle of allowing people to freely choose a religious identity
based on a particular school of thought, conscience and religion, which
affected the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of a wide variety of
peoples in the lower echelons (and outside) of the hierarchical descent based
socio-occupational bondage system of caste, apart from others who professed
diverse schools of thought, conscience and religion. The legally defined Hindu
religious identity actually denotes a system of descent based hierarchical
social standing coupled with a preordained descent based occupational system,
but is not a school of singular religion, thought or conscience for all those
peoples who live in this system. The British (and Indian) legal codification,
statues and judgments that define Hindu religion as law are fundamentally based
on the scriptures that propound theological tenets and the caste system of the
“Sanathana Dharma” religion, and only the so called "twice born"
upper castes [Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vysyas (Baniyas)] have exclusive
scriptural and religious rights for study, membership and practice of these
scriptures. </span></i><b><i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">This imposes a
religious identity on peoples who do not have the basic right to be
scriptural or sacramental members of the very religious label that is
imposed on them, while negating their own independent right for a religious
identity</span></i></b><i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">, and these peoples are namely, the
"non-twice born" lower castes (Shudras or backward castes), atheists,
Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, indigenous peoples, various native (non-Hindu)
religionists and Dalits (who are peoples segregated as outcasts and
untouchables from the Hindu religious society of vertically graded and
hierarchical castes). The legal violation of freedom of thought, conscience and
religion of Buddhists by way of imposing the Hindu identity and the Hindu civil
law on Buddhists contravenes British case law as established by the Privy
Council. Incidents of overt usurpation and violation of Buddhist places of
worship by Hindu theologians and Hindu legal regimes further aggravates the
freedom of religion of Buddhists. Remedy to this situation can only be by way
of a secular civil law regime, (while preserving religion based civil law for
those members of religious minorities who want to invoke them), and this
secular civil law regime should be accessible to the various peoples whose
freedom of thought, conscience and religion is violated by the legal and
constitutional imposition of Hindu religious identity and the Hindu Law on
them.</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
</span></i><b><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Methodology:</span></b><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> Literature review and qualitative
analysis. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">A detailed literature review and
collection of qualitative data by way of journals, media, case law, internet,
books and other published sources to identify, document, research and
qualitatively analyse the various factors that are cause for persecution in
India by violating the freedom of thought, conscience and religion was
undertaken. The sociological, psychological, cultural, religious, political and
economic implications will be emphasized in the overall qualitative analysis,
apart from the human rights legal connotations and violations.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter 1<br />
<br />
<br />
What is freedom of thought, conscience and religion under International Human
Rights Law and British Law?</b><br />
<br />
It is important to emphasize the context in which the freedom of thought,
conscience and religion is denoted legally for the purposes of establishing the
violation of such a freedom in India. To claim that a freedom is violated in
void is to make a tall claim, and therefore, clearly establishing the legal
parameters for the expression of a specific freedom becomes essential for
establishing the violation of those parameters in a particular legal or
constitutional situation. For the purposes of this dissertation, the freedom of
thought, conscience and religion is to mean the freedoms that is enshrined and
enacted in the body of International human rights and humanitarian law. The
freedom of religion, which apart from other rights related to freedom of
religion, should also include the right to freely manifest one's own religion
in worship, observance, practice and teaching, and is accorded by the main
international conventional instruments on human rights such as follows:<br />
<br />
Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref1"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn1" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[1]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> states as follows</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref2"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn2" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[2]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:<br />
<br />
1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or
belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with
others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship,
observance, practice and teaching.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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2. No one shall be subject to coercion, which would impair his freedom to have
or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.<br />
<br />
3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such
limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public
safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of
others.<br />
<br />
4. The States Parties to the present covenant undertake to have respect for the
liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the
religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own
convictions.<br />
<br />
Article 9(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights and fundamental
freedoms of 1950</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref3"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn3" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[3]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> states as follows</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref4"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn4" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[4]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:<br />
<br />
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this
right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either
alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his
religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Freedom to manifest one's religion or
beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and
are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for
the protection of public order, health or morals, or the protection of the
rights and freedoms of others.<br />
<br />
Article 12 of the American Convention on Human Rights 1969</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref5"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn5" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[5]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> states as follows</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref6"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn6" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[6]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:<br />
<br />
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of conscience and of religion. This right
includes freedom to maintain or to change one's religion or beliefs, and
freedom to profess or disseminate one's religion or beliefs, either
individually or together with others, in public or in private.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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2. No one shall be subject to restrictions that might impair his freedom to
maintain or to change his religion or beliefs.<br />
<br />
3. Freedom to manifest one's religion and beliefs may be subject only to the
limitations prescribed by law that are necessary to protect public safety,
order, health, or morals, or the rights or freedoms of others.<br />
<br />
4. Parents or guardians, as the case may be, have the right to provide for the
religious and moral education of their children or wards that is in accord with
their own convictions.<br />
<br />
Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref7"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn7" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[7]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> states as follows</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref8"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn8" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[8]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:<br />
<br />
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this
right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either
alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his
religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.<br />
<br />
UN Declaration</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref9"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn9" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[9]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> on the Elimination of All Forms of
Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion and Belief is based on
General Assembly resolution No. 36/55 of 25 November 1981, which again
accentuates the freedom of religion under International Human Rights Law.<br />
<br />
Under British Law, freedom of religion is legally entrenched under Article 9 of
the Human Rights Act of 1998, which nationally legislates the same article of
the European Convention on Human Rights and fundamental freedoms. This freedom
can be enunciated as follows</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref10"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn10" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[10]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">: </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this
right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either
alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his
religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.<br />
<br />
Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such
limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society
in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health
or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.<br />
<br />
Thus for the purposes of this dissertation, the freedom of thought, conscience
and religion will include all the freedoms and rights enshrined in
International human rights conventions, treaties and body of law as elaborated
above.<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter 2<br />
<br />
What is meant by the term “Hindu”?</b><br />
<br />
The history and background of Hindu Law and the Hindu religious identity is
described and analysed here only with the stated aim of enabling the reader to
understand the violation of the freedom of thought, conscience and religion
caused by the imposition of the Hindu Law on a wide variety of non-Hindu
peoples in India, including the Buddhists. This situation cannot be understood
without stating, analyzing and establishing how the modern Hindu Law was
constituted and how the legally codified Hindu religious identity came into
being, and eventually came to be imposed on a wide variety of peoples whose
freedom of thought, conscience and religion was usurped (including that of the
Buddhists) in India.<br />
<br />
Before the advent of the British, the term “Hindu” was not a religious term but
a term that denoted all inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent. The word
“Hindu” was never denoted or used in a legal, social and factual sense to
describe any singular religion, until the British instituted the term to give a
legal meaning of a singular religion. The word “Hindu” was first used</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref11"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn11" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[11]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> by Muslim invaders for “all Indian creeds” in
which the uncompromising Unitarianism of the followers of the Prophet detected
signs of the worship of idols. Hence the term “Hindu” was originally a generic
term that referred to all inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent (just as the
term “British” is used to refer to all inhabitants of the British Isles), but
the term "Hindu" never constituted a particular reference to any
singular religion, until the term was chosen by the British to describe the new
religion that was legally institutionalized by the British led colonial
administration and colonial Government for all inhabitants of India who did not
apparently follow a Semitic religion. This was more of a negative
classification for administrative purposes of the colonial administration than
a positive assertion of a truthful religious identity.<br />
<br />
It is evident</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref12"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn12" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[12]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> that those outside the Indian sub-continent
used the term Hindu to basically refer to the designation of a (Indian)
nationality. The inhabitants of the Indus valley were called “Indoi” by the
Greeks</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref13"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn13" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[13]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">, and the name was extended to comprehend all the
dark people who lived beyond the Indus. The religion(s) of Hindus were called
as Hinduism by foreigners for want of another word</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref14"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn14" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[14]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">. The fact that Hinduism was used as a term of
reference for more than one religion should be noted, which ceased to be the
case when the British legally usurped the term to the single religion that was
created, codified, legalized and institutionalized by the British colonial
administration of the East India Company and later by the British Indian
Government.<br />
<br />
Thus it is obvious that the words “Hindu” or “Hinduism” never referred to a
single religion, but were terms that referred to all the peoples in the Indian
sub-continent and their many religions in the Indian sub continent. It is
evident that Hinduism was a collective term used to refer to all the diverse
religions of the peoples living in India, before it was legally
institutionalized to denote a single religion.<br />
<br />
The British colonial administration certainly did not use the words “Hindu” and
“Hinduism” in a pluralistic meaning as referred above. The British rulers of
India systematically set about to legally create a single religious legal
identity based on an all encompassing singular religious civil law founded on
the body of scriptures of a singular scriptural religion ("Sanathan Dharma")
that was studied and practiced only by the so called "twice born"
upper castes, and by actually equating the social system of caste as a
religion, which was patently a dishonest exercise, to put it mildly. This is
was more so, considering the fact that the diverse populace of India who
belonged to different castes and tribes (outside of the "twice born"
upper castes) practiced different schools of thought, conscience and religion
and it was dishonest and false to clump all of them as “one” Hindu religion,
instead of honestly using the term “Hinduism” as a pluralistic
"umbrella" term to refer to many religions of India, (such as the
word Semitic that makes a pluralistic reference to the three Semitic
religions).<br />
<br />
The original name given to the singular religion that was legally instituted by
the British for all those Indian inhabitants who did not follow a Semitic
religion was actually “Gentoo” (with its origin in the word “Gentiles”). The
first English book that translated and compiled all the relevant Sanskrit language
scriptures of “Sanathana Dharma” (the scriptural religion of the "twice
born" upper castes) was actually a book titled “A Code of Gentoo Laws</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref15"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn15" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[15]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">”. The latter book was translated from the original
Sanskrit text to Persian and then to English, at the behest of British Viceroy
Warren Hastings who ruled British Indian colonies held by the East India
Company. The book was actually titled “A Code of Gentoo Laws” or “Ordination of
the Pundits” and was printed in 1776, reprinted in 1777 and 1781. Hence
“Gentoo” (and eventually “Hindoo)” was a religious terminology that was
manufactured by the imagination of the British, but none who lived in India
ever used the term “Gentoo”, “Hindu” or “Hinduism” to denote a single religion
or refer to themselves, until the British invented and instituted the Hindu
identity along with the Hindu law as a legal personality of a singular
religion.<br />
<br />
Hence for starters, to invent, institute, codify, legalize and use the words
“Hindu” and “Hinduism” as a reference to a single religion (while negating the
pluralistic meaning of the term that refers to diverse religions and peoples),
was by itself a false and fraudulent exercise that violated the fundamental
principle of thought, conscience and religion.<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter 3<br />
<br />
What is Hindu Law?</b><br />
<br />
Hindu Law is the civil law that is applied to all people who are legally
considered as members of the Hindu religion. The erstwhile British Government
in India legally instituted the Hindu Civil law as the civil law for all Indian
peoples who are considered Hindu by religion.<br />
<br />
The Hindu Law is currently applied to the following peoples</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref16"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn16" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[16]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">The Brahmans or the priestly caste.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">The Kshatriyas or the warrior caste.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">The Vaisyas or the trading castes</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">The Sudras (as an expression that includes
“all” Hindus who do not belong to either of the aforementioned superior
classes).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Vesyas a fifth division that follow the
professions of dancing and prostitution.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Hindus who made a declaration that they were
“not” Hindus for the purpose of the “special marriage act” of 1872.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">And in the absence of a special custom the
Hindu Law is applied to: Jains, Sikhs, Nambudri Brahmans, Lingayats (who
are considered as Shudras)<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref17"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn17" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[17]</span></a>,
Arya Samajists, etc., among various other castes (the complete list of
which is beyond the scope of this analysis).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Many aboriginal tribes come under the sway of
Hindu Law, such as the Rajgonds who are not Hindus, but the presumption is
that Hindu law governs them unless the contrary is shown<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref18"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn18" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[18]</span></a>.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Scheduled castes who are social groups
declared by the Government in the “scheduled” list, who are considered as
outcast and untouchable by the Hindu society of vertically graded
hierarchical castes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
The Hindu civil law or the Hindu religious identity as a socio-legal
terminology never existed as a legal tool that applied to a singular religious
identity, until the British East India Company (and later) the British Crown
instituted and legalised them as such.<br />
<br />
The powers of the courts of India to apply the Hindu Law to the Hindus is
derived from</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref19"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn19" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[19]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> and regulated by certain statutes of the
British parliament and by imperial and provincial legislation passed during the
British rule, which unless altered or repealed are continued in force under the
express provisions of Article 372 of the Indian constitution. <i>Thus the
Hindu religious identity is nothing but a legislation of the British parliament.</i><br />
<br />
According to Hindu Law</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref20"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn20" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[20]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> the members of the first three castes of
Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors) and Vaisyas (traders) are “twice
born” or “regenerate”. The second birth</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref21"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn21" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[21]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> or regeneration consists in the study of the
Vedas or sacred literature and in the performance of "samskaras" or
sacraments. All these are denied</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref22"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn22" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[22]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> to the Sudras except for the
"Samskara" of marriage. Thus it is obvious that those who are legally
considered as Sudras are denied study and practice of religious literature of
Hinduism which itself is a serious violation of thought, conscience and
religion, which will be analysed later in this dissertation. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
It is also obvious that those who are legally considered as Shudras (by case
law</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref23"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn23" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[23]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">) are all those who don’t belong to the “regenerate
or twice born” castes, which includes all the various castes lower to the
"twice born" upper castes in the vertically graded caste hierarchy,
scheduled castes who are social groups considered as untouchable and outcast by
all the vertically graded castes in the caste hierarchy, indigenous peoples
(aborigines) and other social groups, religions and castes who are considered
as “Hindus” for legal purposes as listed above, which includes Sikhs, Jains,
Buddhists, Lingayats, etc</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref24"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn24" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[24]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Chapter 4<br />
<br />
Sources of Hindu Civil Law:</span></b><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
Hindu Civil law and the Hindu religious identity were based on the religious
scriptures of the Brahmins and "twice born" upper castes written in
the Sanskrit language, including the scriptures that codified the caste system.
The Sanathana Dharma religion was actually the exclusive preserve of the three
"twice born" upper castes in the vertically graded hierarchical
caste system of social descent and descent-based occupations. The "twice
born" upper castes called their religion as “Sanathana Dharma” and
referred to the caste system imposed (by the "twice born" upper
castes) on lower castes and outcasts (Dalits) as “Varnashrama Dharma”. The
twice born or regenerate upper castes followed religious and sacred scriptures
that codified “Varnashrama Dharma” and “Sanadhana Dharma”, all of which was
combined and made as the basis for the Hindu Law Hindu religion legally
codified by the British Government in India. This is evident from the following
analysis of the sources of the Hindu Civil Law.<br />
<br />
Thus the British institution of a new singular Hindu religion transformed a
vertically graded social hierarchical system such as the Varnashrama Dharma
into a religion, since the Hindu identity and the Hindu Civil law were based on
the religious scriptures of the "twice born" upper castes, which
included both the scriptures of the caste system and the religious philosophy
of the "twice born" upper castes.<br />
<br />
The Sources of Hindu Law are</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref25"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn25" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[25]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> said to be as follows:<br />
<br />
Primarily the sources of Hindu Law are “<i>Sruthi</i>” (things heard) and “<i>Smiruthi</i>”
(things remembered). The former were said to be the actual utterings of the
“creator”. The latter, although of divine origin, were couched in the language
of the “<i>rishis</i>” (sages) and sages of antiquity, the <i>Sruthi</i> were
in words that would be recited and sung. They comprised of the four Vedas, the
six <i>Vedangas</i>, or appendages to the Vedas, and the Upanishads. There
are a few passages in the Vedas which incidentally allude to a rule of law, or
which gave an instance from which a rule of law may be inferred. Codes of <i>Sastras</i> or <i>Smiritis</i> were
based on older <i>Smritis</i> and on what are called <i>Sutras</i>.
Although in theory Hindu law is based on the Vedas, which are said to be of
divine origin, in matters of the law the Vedas are of no great authority than
the Smiritis (things heard by the Rishis or sages of antiquity), or codes of
revealed law. For all practical purposes it is unnecessary to trace the law
earlier than the <i>Dharma Sastras</i>.<br />
<br />
The principle codes or “<i>Sanhitas</i>” constituting the <i>Dharma
Sastras</i> are as follows</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref26"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn26" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[26]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:<br />
<br />
The Code of Institutes of Manu (which contains much of the legal codification
of the caste system and caste descent based socio-economic and political laws).
It was translated by Sir William Jones, who considered that it was written in
the thirteenth century B.C, but modern investigations places it much later.<br />
<br />
The codes or Institutes of Yajnavalkya<br />
<br />
The code or Institutes of Narada<br />
<br />
Commentaries and digests based upon the Shastras which led to two principles
schools of Hindu Law:<br />
<br />
(a) The Mitakshara School, which prevails through out India except where the
Bengal school prevails. This school is further sub divided into the following
schools:<br />
(1) Benares school<br />
(2) Dravida or Dravira school<br />
(3) The Maharashtra School<br />
(4) The Mithila school<br />
<br />
(b) The Bengal or the Daya-Bhaga school, which prevails where the inhabitants
of the country speak the Bengali language.<br />
<br />
Even though further study of the religious sources of Hindu Law are beyond the
scope of this dissertation, it suffices to say that the Hindu law is based on
various religious scriptures that codify the vertically graded caste descent based
society and vertically graded caste descent based occupational economy, apart
from the philosophical belief systems of Hindu religion, but the study,
understanding and practice of these scriptures has been proscribed to all
except the "twice born" or <i>regenerated</i> upper castes,
even though all of these peoples excluded from studying these religious
scriptures (by law), have been legally labelled as belonging to the same
religion as the "twice born" or <i>regenerated</i> "twice
born" upper caste peoples. This is akin to be legally called as a
Christian while being legally banned from studying or reading the Bible. (And
this Hindu scriptural ban on those who are not "twice born" upper
castes from the study and practice of the Hindu scriptures is the factor which enabled
the Indian supreme court to negate progressive measures aimed at liquidating
the caste system such as nullifying statutory laws enacted by states such as
Tamil Nadu to enable people of all castes (including Dalits) who train and work
as Hindu temple priests). In addition to suffering the hierarchical and
vertically graded descent based socio-economic exploitation based on the forced
"Hindu" religious identity, the scriptures of which are banned for
the study or observance of those who suffer the twin humiliations of (being
forced to) carry the very religious identity that denies them study and the
scriptural and sacramental practice of the same religion while also imposing a
system of bigotry such as the vertically graded system in the name of the same
religion (Hinduism) on them.<br />
<br />
It is clearly stated by law that, only the twice born or<i> regenerated</i> peoples
(namely the three) "twice born" upper castes have the legal and
religious scriptural right to study the various “sacred” religious scriptures
of Hinduism which forms the basis of Hindu Civil Law as described above. This
can be reiterated as follows: According to Hindu Law</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref27"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn27" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[27]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> the members of the first three castes of
Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors) and Vaisyas (traders) are “twice
born” or “regenerate”. The second birth</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref28"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn28" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[28]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> or regeneration consists in the study of the
Vedas or sacred literature and in the performance of “samskaras” or sacraments.
All these are denied</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref29"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn29" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[29]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> to the Sudras except for the “Samskara” of
marriage. T<i>hus, Hindu Law is enforced on a vast populace who are legally
considered as Shudras, who do not have any legal right to even scripturally or
sacramentally study or observe the religious scriptures of the religion that is
imposed on them by way of a religious identity and religious law, namely the
Hindu Law.</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<b>Chapter 5.<br />
<br />
How did the Hindu Civil Law and the legalised Hindu identity develop?</b><br />
<br />
A brief account of the development of the body of the Hindu Law is warranted,
to understand how the British created the legal basis for imparting justice
according to Hindu Law that warranted the creation of a legal Hindu religion
and legally codified Hindu religious identity.<br />
<br />
In 1757</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref30"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn30" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[30]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">, on account of the British victory at </span><a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/Plassey.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Plassey</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">,
where a military force led by </span><a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/Clive.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Robert Clive</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> defeated
the forces of the Nawab of Bengal </span><a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/Siraj.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Siraj-ud-daulah</span></a><a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/Siraj.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">,</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> the
East India Company found itself transformed from an association of traders to
rulers exercising political sovereignty over a largely unknown land and people.<br />
<br />
Less than ten years later</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref31"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn31" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[31]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">, in 1765, the Company acquired the Diwani of
Bengal, or the right to collect revenues on behalf of the Mughal Emperor, in
Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. The consolidation of British rule after the initial
military victories fell to </span><a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/Hastings.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Warren Hastings</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">,
who did much to dispense with the fiction that the Mughal Emperor was still the
sovereign to whom the Company was responsible</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref32"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn32" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[32]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">. When the British East India Company held sway
over the peoples of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, the company felt a need to have a
legal code to administer civil justice to the people. It was obvious that a
uniform code of civil justice did not exist for all peoples who lived under the
administration of the company. Warren Hastings, who was the first Governor
General of India from 1773 to 1784, was committed to the prescription of “Hindu
Law for Hindus and the Muslim Law for Muslims”.<br />
<br />
It is obvious the word “Hindus” as a term was used by alien peoples to refer to
various peoples and religions of India, but the British used the same word as a
legal term to refer to a single religion that could be “applied” to peoples who
did not subscribe to the Semitic perception of religion (as in Judaism,
Christianity, Islam apart from the Persian Zoroastrianism), even though Hindus
were not one people practicing one religion, but diverse peoples following
different schools of thought, conscience and religion. Even though a singular
uniform Hindu Law did not exist for all peoples who were considered as Hindus,
the British went on to codify and enforce such a law that was primarily based
on the religious and caste scriptures of the "twice born" upper
castes, even though, local customs were given primary consideration. But as far
as the matter of religion and religious law was concerned the “<i>Shastras”</i> or
the Sanskrit language scriptures of the “twice born” <i>regenerated</i> upper
castes was considered as the basis of the newly established Hindu Law. This was
despite the fact that few of the inhabitants of India knew anything of
these <i>Shastras</i></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref33"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn33" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[33]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">, which were the preserve of the "twice
born" upper caste Brahmans, and it was obvious none of the vast majority
of Indian peoples had any access to the study of these <i>Shastras</i> except
the "twice born" upper castes. “Inheritance, marriage, caste and
other religious institutions were to be administered to the Hindus according to
the laws of the <i>Shaster</i></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref34"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn34" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[34]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">. Thus the Hindu identity as a religion and its
legal enforcement for civil matters became a matter of the <i>“Shastras”,</i> the
sacramental and scriptural study of which was an exclusive and monopolistic
privilege of the "twice born" upper castes, even though the legal
Hindu identity and Hindu law based on the Shastras were enforced upon a vast
majority of peoples who were not socially, religiously or legally allowed to
sacramentally or scripturally study the Shastras as a matter of law.<br />
<br />
Warren Hastings’ Plan of 1772</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref35"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn35" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[35]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">, which closely connected with the plan of March
28th 1780 became the administration of Justice regulation of April 11th, 1780,
which stated that the responsibility of the <i>Shastris</i> (Brahman
caste exponents of the <i>Shastras</i>), for the law they reported and for
the sentence depending there from.<br />
<br />
Native law officers</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref36"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn36" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[36]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> who were drawn from the Brahman caste and
known as <i>“Pundits”</i> were made available to British judges to
advise them on the <i>“Shastras” </i>to enable the British justice
system for “Hindus” to work. (A similar system of law officers was made
available for advising on Islamic law who were referred to as <i>“Kazis”)</i>.
In time this system of native law officers was extended to all those areas
where the British justice system was introduced, including the Supreme courts
of the Presidency towns. But British Judges soon lost trust in their native law
officers. The Judges had a distrust, a lack of confidence in the integrity and
honesty of the Pandits (and the Kazis), who were being regarded as being
susceptible to bribery and corruption. Moreover Justice William Jones observed</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref37"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn37" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[37]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> that this “simply led to a system that simply
pronounced Judgment on the reports of other men”. Thus it was argued that the
decisions were in fact the decisions of the native law officers rather than of
the Judges</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref38"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn38" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[38]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">, thus leaving very little room for independent and
objective Justice. All this made the British to decide that some Judges must be
guided without the help of the Kazis and the Pundits, by “translating into
English the Hindu and Muslim Laws”. (Since this dissertation is concerned only
with the Hindu Law it will not dwell into the Muslim Law situation).<br />
<br />
Thus the only effective curative for the unsatisfactory state of affairs that
prevailed was deemed to be a preparation of books explaining the principles of
these laws. “Nothing but an ascertainment of the law can prove a corrective of
this evil” was the verdict of Sir Francis Macnaghten. Thus various English
books were compiled by the British Government of the East India Company and
later by the Royal British Government, which were translations of various
Sanskrit texts of the religious scriptures of those considered as “twice born”
or “regenerated”, namely those who are referred to as "twice born"
upper castes in the vertically graded hierarchical descent based system of
social standing and occupation.<br />
<br />
In the preamble of regulation III of 1793, Lord Cornwallis declared that the
aim of the Government was to preserve the Indian laws of the<i> “Shastras”</i> and
the Koran in the matters to which they have been invariably applied”.
Previously, Warren Hastings had ordered</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref39"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn39" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[39]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> “the laws of the Koran with respect to
Mohammedans and those of the <i>Shaster</i> with respect to the <i>Gentoos</i> shall
invariably be adhered to”.<br />
<br />
The following can be considered as various milestones in the development of the
legal body of Hindu Law in India in terms of legal literature</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref40"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn40" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[40]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:<br />
<br />
Eleven of the most learned and eminent Pundits were invited to Calcutta from
different parts of Bengal. The most authentic books on Hindu Law, both ancient
and modern were collected. The original text of the Hindu code was prepared in
the Sanskrit language under the title of <i>“Vivadarnava Setu”</i> or
the <i>“bridge across the ocean of litigation”.</i> The <i>Pandits</i> started
their work in May 1773 and completed it in February 1775. The text was
translated into the Persian language, and, from the Persian version an English
version was prepared by Nathaniel Brassey Halheid under the title “A code of
Gentoo laws” or “Ordination of Pundits”. The work was more popularly known as
“Halheid’s Code of Gentoo Laws”. It was published in London in 1776.<br />
<br />
Justice Jones of the Calcutta Supreme Court published his I<i>nstitutes of
Hindu Law</i> or the <i>Ordinances of Manu</i> early in 1794.<br />
<br />
The digest of Hindu Law projected by Justice William Jones was ultimately
prepared after his death by Pandit Jagannath that was later translated into English
by H.T.Colebrooke. This digest deals with Law of contract and succession for
members of the legally designated Hindu religion and ran into four volumes that
was published in Calcutta inn 1797 and in London in 1801.<br />
<br />
But Governor Elphinstone of Bombay rang a discordant note</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref41"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn41" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[41]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> by saying that “<i>what we call as Hindu Law
applied to the Brahmans only</i>”. Elphinstone wanted to research and codify
the religions and laws of each and every group in India based on a diverse and
honest fashion, but his endeavour was never really accomplished and the law
that was applied only to the Brahmans (and "twice born" upper castes)
was applied to all in the sub-continent by way of a legally designated civil
law and religion, which violated the freedom of thought, conscience and
religion of the masses who lived (and live) in the Indian sub-continent.<br />
<br />
Other British works on “Hindu Law” in the English language are as follows</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref42"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn42" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[42]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:<br />
<br />
<i>Considerations of Hindu Law</i> by Sir Francis Macnaghten, a judge of
the Calcutta Supreme Court, which was published in 1824.<br />
<br />
<i>Elements of Hindu Law</i> by Sir Thomas Strange who was the Chief
Justice of the Madras Supreme Court, and was published in 1825.<br />
<br />
<i>Principles and precedents of Hindu Law</i> by Sir William Hay
Macnaghten, which was published in 1829.<br />
<br />
<i>Mayne’s Treatise on Hindu Law and usage</i>, which was published in 1878.<br />
<br />
With increasing availability of English language texts on what the British
considered and codified as the religious civil law for all those who were
considered as Hindus, the British Judges no longer needed the help of “native
law officers” called “Pandits” to dispense Hindu Law, (and “Kazis” for Muslim
Law). Thus in 1864, the Government came to the conclusion that it was no longer
necessary to continue the offices of the Hindu and Muslim Law officers and Act
XI of 1864 put an end to this situation. Thereafter the obligation to find the
principles of Hindu Law as applied to all those who were legally considered as
members of the Hindu religion devolved on the Judge himself</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref43"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn43" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[43]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">. Thus Hindu Law as applied to members of the
legally codified Hindu religion largely became a matter of case law</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref44"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn44" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[44]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Chapter 6<br />
<br />
What was the situation before the British came to India?</span></b><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
The situation that existed with regards to religion and civil law matters
before the advent of the British can be summarised as below based on the
observations and research of Mr. J. Duncan M. Derrett</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref45"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn45" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[45]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:<br />
<br />
When the British East India Company acquired the Diwani (i.e., became the
Diwan) of the Mughal emperor in respect of the provinces of Bengal, Bihar and
Orissa, the fundamental law was Islamic Law. The Islamic law however explicitly
recognized the jurisdiction of “Hindu” referees and arbitrators to settle
disputes amongst Hindus according to their own laws and customs, reserving to
itself the exclusive jurisdiction in matters of crime and the constitutional
and fiscal administration. The greater part of the litigation was never brought
before Muslim officials, but was settled by recourse to traditional methods of
resolving disputes, which differed according to the caste, status in society
and the locality of the parties.<br />
<br />
And there was a powerful opinion voiced in the early British period that though
the <i>Shastras</i> ought to be consulted, few of the inhabitants
knew anything about it</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref46"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn46" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[46]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">, (and hence it cannot be basis for a law of a
collective singular religion or religious law).<br />
<br />
In the above description the author (Mr. Derrett) obviously refers to Hindus in
terms of being members of a society who practiced diverse customs, religions
and traditions, but were not members of a single religion. Moreover the fact
that most of the populace belonging to these diverse groups and castes never
practiced or enforced the laws of the “<i>Shastras</i>” (religious scriptures
of those legally considered as “twice born and regenerated” upper castes) is
also evident. The fact that diverse castes, religious groups and tribes had
their own traditional methods of resolving disputes such as “caste assemblies”
or “village councils” should also be noted. Mr. Derrett mentions</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref47"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn47" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[47]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> the role played by tribal governments,
hierarchy of political governors among agriculturalists, “panchayat” or ad-hoc
committee of castes, etc., in the administration of civil justice, which should
have been obviously based on tribal and caste religions and customs of
individual castes and tribes. Moreover, the higher the standing of the parties
the greater was the likelihood that the “Sastra” would be consulted and applied</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref48"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn48" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[48]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> in civil justice, meaning that lower castes
and outcasts had no use for the “Shastric” law of the "twice born"
upper castes, which was codified by the British as Hindu religion and Hindu
Law, and applied on the same lower castes who never followed <i>Shastric </i>Law.
Therefore, to create a singular legal religion (Hinduism) and Hindu religious
law on the basis of the <i>Shastras</i> for all Indian people and to
enforce that religion in terms of a civil law regime for all Indian peoples was
patently oppressive, legally false and violative of the freedom of thought,
conscience and religion of these religiously diverse peoples.<br />
<br />
The situation pertaining to civil legal matters that existed before the British
invented the Hindu religious identity and the Hindu law can be further observed
as follows based on passages from the same book by Mr. Derrett</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref49"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn49" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[49]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">:<br />
<br />
· The capacity to legislate irrespective of <i>Shastric</i> authority
undoubtedly existed, and was utilized in countless precedents before the coming
of the British. In these circumstances, the suggestion that Hindu Law, as left
by legislation up to the year 1947, for example, was a “religious law”, (and
that its amendment would place religion in jeopardy) was a novelty.<br />
<br />
· Records of the period of Buddhist ascendancy</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref50"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn50" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[50]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> also show that the public were not so welded
to <i>Shastric </i>rules.<br />
<br />
· There were also territories</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref51"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn51" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">[51]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> in India, like Punjab, Oudh, Kumaon Hills,
Central Provinces, called the non-regulation provinces, where the sacred books
of the Hindus had not penetrated and had not much impact on rural life.<br />
<br />
Thus it is obvious that there was no uniform or single religious law or indeed
a religion that governed all of the peoples of India on civil, religious and
personal matters, before the British created the Hindu legal religion and the
Hindu Law, based on the scriptures of the "twice born" upper castes'
religion which was not allowed to be (sacramentally or scripturally) studied or
practiced by the lower castes, outcasts, indigenous peoples or any of the other
native religionists in India, who were all nevertheless wrongly and unjustly
bought under the legal purview of the Hindu religion and the Hindu Law.<br />
<br />
Therefore it can be argued that the British legal institution of a singular
religion for all Indian peoples and a singular religious law for all Indian
peoples by way of Hindu religion and Hindu Law, was an attempt to make it easier
for the British to administer civil legal justice for the entire sub-continent
in a manner that was easier and suitable for the convenience of British
imperial interests, rather than to undergo the laborious process of recognizing
the traditional methods and laws of resolving disputes which differed according
to caste, religion of each caste, status and locality, which would have
certainly thrown open the fact that different peoples and castes in India
practiced different religions, thought and conscience based on diverse
theological schools of thought and did NOT subscribe to a single concocted
religious label termed as "Hinduism".<br />
<br />
Therefore a singular religion ((Hinduism) as legally instituted by the British
colonial government was unfortunately a religion from which most Indian peoples
(except the "twice born" upper castes) were banned from participating
or studying (sacramentally or scripturallly) because of the caste system, even
though they were fraudulently declared as belonging to the same religion (as
the "twice born" upper castes) by way of legal institution of the
Hindu religion and Hindu civil law, which only had the effect of robbing the
freedom of religion of castes which were lower to the "twice born"
upper castes in the vertically graded caste hierarchy (backward castes),
outcasts (Dalits), indigenous peoples and other native Indian religionists,
while entrenching the caste system in the garb of a legally codified (Hindu)
religion.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Chapter 7<br />
<br />
How do Indian legal constitution, case law and statutory instruments violate
freedom of thought, conscience and religion?</b><br />
<br />
Fundamentally in India, the Hindu religious identity is not a matter of free
and independent expression of the freedom to thought, conscience and religion,
but a mandatory religious label imposed by law. In other words one is
considered as a Hindu by religion according to law even if that person denies
being a Hindu by faith or belief. This by itself is a vagrant violation of the
freedom to thought, conscience and religion.<br />
<br />
All those who are not Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis are automatically
considered as “Hindus” by religion under Indian law (even if they deny being
Hindus) and the religious personal law of Hindus (Hindu Civil Law) is
automatically imposed on all of them.<br />
<br />
This is a situation that is enabled by Indian legal statutes and the
constitution. All those who are banned from the (sacramental and scriptural)
study or practice of the Sanathan Dharma religion of the "twice born"
upper castes (such as all those who are lower to the "twice born"
upper castes in the vertically grade caste system) and all those who are not
members of the Hindu religious society and hence are not in a position to
practice or accept scriptural Hinduism of the "twice born" upper
castes (and the hierarchical caste system sanctioned by scriptural Hinduism)
are nevertheless legally, judicially and governmentally considered as “Hindus”
and their freedom of thought, conscience and religion thus violated. Schools of
thought, conscience and religion thus violated are as follows: atheism,
Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, indigenous religions, native religions which are
separate and independent of Hindu scriptural religion, religions of Dalits who
are physically outcast and segregated from the Hindu caste society as
untouchables and various schools of religion followed by various castes,
including various caste groups in the vertically graded caste hierarchy which
are lower to the "twice born" upper castes (backward castes).<br />
<br />
The constitutional and legal statutes that enable these violations are as
follows:<br />
<br />
<b>Article 25 of the constitution of India:</b><br />
<br />
25. Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of
religion. -<br />
(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of
this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the
right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.<br />
<br />
(2) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or
prevent the State from making any law-<br />
(a) Regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other
secular activity which may be associated with religious practice;<br />
(b) Providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu
religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of
Hindus. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Explanation I. - The wearing and
carrying of kirpans shall be deemed to be included in the profession of the
Sikh religion.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
</span><b><i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Explanation II. - In sub-clause (b)
of clause (2), the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a
reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the
reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly.</span></i></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">It is obvious from the above that
Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs have been constitutionally stripped of their
religious identity and freedom of religion by the constitutional imposition of
Hinduism on them. Mr. J.D.M. Derrett comments on the above situation as follows
[</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref52"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn52" title=""><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">52]</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">: “From this it was evident that ‘social welfare
and reform’ could be operate as a justification for any attack upon the
profession, practice and propagation of any religion". </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Other statutes and legislation in
India that similarly violates the freedom of religion by clumping “all” who are
not Jews, Muslims, Parsis and Christians as being “Hindus” are as
follows: </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1<b>. Hindu Marriage Act 25 of 1955<br />
2. Hindu succession Act, 30 of 1956<br />
3. Hindu Minority and guardianship act, 32 of 1956<br />
4. Hindu adoptions and maintenance act, 78 of 1956.</b><br />
<br />
<b>Hindu Marriage act of 1955 states as follows:</b><br />
<br />
This Act may be called the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.<br />
(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and
applies also to Hindus domiciled in the territories to which this Act extends
who are outside the said territories.<br />
<br />
2. Application of Act. - (1) This Act applies, -<br />
(a) To any person who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms or
developments, including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or a follower of the Brahmo,
Prarthana or Arya Samaj;<br />
(b) To any person who is a Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion, and<br />
(c) <b>To any other person domiciled in the territories to which this Act
extends who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion,</b> unless
it is proved that any such person would not have been governed by the Hindu law
or by any custom or usage as part of that law in respect of any of the matters
dealt with herein if this Act had not been passed.<br />
<br />
Thus it is obvious that the religious identity of Hinduism as defined by law in
India is more of a negative demographic classification, than a true reference
to a school of thought, conscience and religion. It is obvious to anybody that
these constitutional provisions and statutes in India do not just violate
International human rights law defining freedom of thought, conscience and
religion, but makes an absolute mockery of the tenet of the freedom of thought,
conscience and religion, as enshrined in International Human Rights Law.<br />
<br />
Thus all peoples in India, who are not Jews, Muslims, Christians and Parsis are
automatically (by default) and legally deemed to be members of the Hindu
religion on whom the Hindu Law and the Hindu religious label is applied, thus
making them all constitutionally and legally <i>“Shudras”</i> because
according to case law, all those Indians who are not "twice born"
upper castes are Shudras [53]. (It is a different matter that <i>“Shudras”</i> are
referred and described in profane terms such as “bastards” in various Hindu
scriptures, thus theologically and legally bastardizing these peoples apart
from robbing their right to thought, conscience and religion.)<br />
<br />
From a legal point of view, the term “Sudras” refers to all who are not
"twice born" upper castes <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref53"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn53" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[53]</span></a>,
which includes (apart from those scripturally considered as “Sudras” or lower
castes), Dalits, indigenous peoples and all native Indian religionists who are
not Jews, Muslims, Christians and Parsis. This shows that even though the
castes lower to the "twice born" upper castes consider themselves to
be superior to outcasts and untouchables (Dalits) in the caste hierarchy, for
the purposes of Hindu Civil Law and from the perspective of "twice
born" upper castes, lower castes belong to the same group (Sudras) that is
excluded from the study and practice of the "twice born" upper caste
religion, along with the outcasts (Panchamas), indigenous peoples and other native
religionists who are all considered as those who are inherently, legally and
religiously excluded from the (sacramental and scriptural) study and practice
of the religious scriptures of the "twice born" upper castes which
forms the scriptural and legal basis for the Hindu religion and Hindu civil
law, while being audaciously and simultaneously legally imposed with the Hindu
religious label due to the legal situation in India. Similarly Jains, Sikhs and
Buddhists also become “Shudras” based on the case law and the legal situation
as mentioned above. As told before, this is akin to legally calling a billion
people as Christian after banning them from scripturally or sacramentally
practicing or studying Christianity, while also subjecting them to bigotry in
the name of Christianity. Of course Christianity does no such thing and does
not find itself as a perpetrator of such a fraudulent bigotry in the name of
religion or law, but if one replaces the word “Christianity” with the word
“Hinduism”, the audaciousness and gall of this legalized fraud will be more
perceptible.<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter 8<br />
<br />
A Legal definition of Hindu belief that is negated by the imposition of Hindu
religious identity on peoples who do not subscribe to this belief:</b><br />
<br />
A legal and judicial basis exists in India to describe what constitutes as a
belief in Hinduism as a religion (and not as a system of social standing). This
is based on a judgment delivered in a case by the Supreme Court of India, which
was widely known as the “Sastangi” case. But Indian legal regimes (and Hindu
Law) impose the Hindu religious identity on peoples and religions who do not
subscribe to this belief system which has been judicially validated as a legal
definition for the belief in a “Hindu” religion. Thus the laws in India and
Hindu law continue to violate the freedom of thought, conscience and religion,
by imposing the Hindu religious identity on peoples who follow religions that
negate this philosophical belief which has been decreed as the “legal”
philosophy of the Hindu religion. This philosophical definition of the belief
in the Hindu religion based on the “Sastang” case, is described as follows by
Mr.Derrett [<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref54"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn54" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">54]</span></a>:<br />
<br />
<b><i>“Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the
means or ways to salvation are diverse; and realisation of the truth is that
the number of Gods to be worshipped is large, that is indeed is the feature of
the Hindu religion”.</i></b><br />
<br />
This definition according to J.D.M. Derrett (based on the Indian Supreme court
judgment in the "Sastang' case) brings out the broad distinctive features
of the Hindu religion. But the legal reality in India is that very many schools
of thought, conscience and religion which negate this fundamental belief (that
is legally and judicially ascribed to be a “belief” in the Hindu religion),
have been legally imposed with the Hindu religious label and the followers of
these religions have been legally declared as “Hindus”, in abject violation of
their thought, conscience and religion. Some examples of this situation are as
follows:<br />
<br />
The religion and school of thought followed by Lingayats, Jains, Buddhists,
indigenous tribal peoples, Sikhs, atheists and members of various other
non-Hindu native Indian religions (which either negate the “Vedas” or preach
monotheism or atheism), have nothing to do with the aforementioned legal
(judicial) definition of “Hindu religious philosophy” but never-the-less, they
have all been legally imposed with the Hindu religious label in violation of
the above Indian supreme court case law which propounds this legal definition
of a fundamental belief in the Hindu religion. One especially wonders how
Buddhism, a religion that negates God can be declared as a “Hindu” religion by
constitutional and other legal statutory means in India, and also in violation
of the Indian Supreme Court decision in “Sastang” case that deems belief in
many Gods as one of the legal definitions of being a Hindu by philosophical
religious belief.<br />
<br />
Thus the only available legal definition of a Hindu belief system (on the basis
of case law as found in the "Sastang" judgment of the Indian supreme
court) is indeed violated by the various legal and constitutional regimes in
India which forces legal membership of the Hindu religion on peoples who do not
share this legally and judicially defined belief in the religion, but who are
never-the-less, brought under the purview of the Hindu religious identity and
Hindu religious civil law based on the Hindu religious scriptures (of the
"twice born" upper castes), in violation of their freedom of thought,
conscience and religion.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Chapter 9<br />
<br />
The legally codified Hindu religious identity stands for a system of descent
based social hierarchy and not for a free choice of religious belief:</b><br />
<br />
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion according to various tools of
International human rights law were seen at the outset of this dissertation.<br />
<br />
Mr. Duncan Derrett, who is a legendary authority on Hindu Law, describes (in
his own words) the nature of the Hindu religion, which negates any system of
belief but only social standing as follows<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref55"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn55" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[55]</span></a>:<br />
<br />
<i>“One is free to have any and every belief or no beliefs at all without
forfeiting one’s religious denomination and affiliation. But on the other hand,
if one’s social status is disturbed, it would follow that one’s religion is
likewise in doubt”<br />
<br />
“Religious affiliation is not a question of an individual’s belief, for on that
footing he is free to believe or not believe in anything he likes, but of a
social belonging”<br />
<br />
“Change in personal belief does not mean a change in social belonging”</i><br />
<br />
Thus it is obvious that what is considered as Hindu religion actually negates
the fundamental right to define one’s religious belief in terms of freely
exercising one’s freedom of thought, conscience and belief (as defined in
International human rights law), but is rather a situation of social standing
(which in Hindu terms is one’s caste descent), which cannot be altered by the
exercise of one’s will, freedom, thought, conscience or belief in a faith. Thus
the very basis for Hinduism as a religion negates the premise of freedom of
thought, conscience and religion as defined in International Human Rights Law.
That the Hindu religion (as backed up by Hindu Law) which was legally
constituted by the British fails the test of religion as defined by meanings
and definitions of conventionality and international human rights law
instruments is obvious.<br />
<br />
The British appropriated the societal caste system as a religion by ascribing
the religious term “Hindu” to this vertically graded system of hierarchical
descent based social standing. What the British called as a singular religion
of Hinduism was not at all a religion in which all the people were equal
members by way of a common belief system of thought, conscience and religion,
like for example, members of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism or Christianity are. What
the British called as a Hindu religion actually referred to a vertically graded
system of caste descent based social standing and hierarchical caste descent
based socio-economic occupational system. This British manufactured religious
label (Hinduism) was legally imposed on all the tribes, castes and native
religions that existed in India, who were all brought under the scriptural and
legal authority of the "twice born" upper castes' religious
scriptures - when ironically all these peoples were scripturally and
customorily excluded from the (sacramental and scriptural) study, practice and
membership of the religion of the "twice born" upper castes, despite
being imposed with the mandatory Hindu religious identity which negated the
individual expressions of thought, conscience and religion of all these
peoples.<br />
<br />
This was indeed a deviant scheme that had nothing to do with a conventional
practice of a religion. This socio-cultural system based on a vertically graded
hierarchical social standing and descent based bondage to an occupation is a
system that was not based on the freedom of thought, conscience and religion,
but a bigoted system of material economic exploitation and descent based
bigotry (such as a society based on social segregation, slavery and bonded
labour).<br />
<br />
The British colonialists who came to India before the French revolution, ended
up administering an imperial state and colonial holdings, and invented the
socio-legal Hindu identity and the Hindu civil law (as described above),
without realizing (or indeed realizing) that they were equating an hierarchical
and vertically graded descent based bigoted system of social standing and
pre-ordained vertically graded descent based occupational system as a
“religion”. May be the British did this consciously in order to secure the
vertically graded caste hierarchical bigoted system for the advantage of the
British colonial economy and industry, so that the "twice born" upper
castes served the interests of British imperialism.<br />
<br />
The truth is that each and every caste at any level of the vertically graded
and bigoted caste system (including those outside the caste system such as
Dalits and indigenous peoples) were free to believe in any form of religion or
religious worship they wanted to, which had nothing to do with the "twice
born" upper caste religious scriptures that were deemed as the legal basis
for the Hindu religion and Hindu Law as codified by the British. Thus all
individual rights to thought, conscience and religion of lower caste groups
(Other Backward Castes), Dalits (scheduled castes), indigenous peoples and
other native religionists were lost, and all of these peoples' religions’ lost
the right to their independent socio-legal recognition as a religion under
Indian law, because of their usurpation by the legal codified Hindu religious label
by way of the institution of a Hindu legal identity as a religion based on
Hindu Law, as described above.The religious and scriptural authority of the
"twice born" upper caste religion as codified by the British in Hindu
law - further subverted these rights, which was not the case before the British
institution of the Hindu Law and the Hindu religion.<br />
<br />
This violated the freedom of thought, conscience and religion on the following
counts:<br />
<br />
(1) Imposing a (Hindu) religious label on a people [Shudras - backward castes,
Dalits - scheduled castes, indigenous peoples - scheduled tribes and other
native Indian religionists] who did not have the sacramental or scriptural
right to the study and practice of the sacred scriptures of that (Hindu)
religion and who did not have the sacramental and scriptural right of
membership in that (Hindu) religion, which <i>per se</i> is a gross
violation of the freedom to thought, conscience and religion. For example, from
a subjective standpoint, even though I am legally considered to be a Hindu in
India, I was (and am) not allowed to study in a Hindu seminary when I expressed
interest to study the Hindu religion to be a Hindu theologian or priest,
because only Brahmins and "twice born" upper castes are allowed the
sacramental and scriptural study, practice and membership of the Hindu religion
in Hindu religious seminaries.<br />
<br />
(2) Negating any and all individual schools of thought, conscience and religion
(except for Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism) by denying the
legal recognition to these independent religious schools [of lower castes
(backward castes), Dalits (scheduled castes), indigenous peoples (scheduled
tribes) and other Indian religions) by legally subverting and usurping them by
way of the legal imposition of the Hindu religious identity and Hindu law on
one and all in India (as described above), and legally instituted subservience
to the scriptures codifying the Hindu religious identity and the caste system
(as in the British codified Hindu civil law), on all of these individual and
diverse schools of religions and religionists in India.<br />
<br />
(3) Legally instituting a system of vertically graded and bigoted caste descent
based social standing (and not independent and free choice of belief in a
faith) as a religion, which violates the international legal definition of what
a religion should be (based on International Human Rights and Humanitarian
Law).<br />
<br />
As it was established above, the scriptural religion (“Sanathana Dharma”) of
what is considered today as “legal” Hinduism under Hindu (civil) law is
actually the religious preserve of only the "twice born" upper castes
belonging to the “twice born”, "regenerate" and “superior”
hierarchical divisions of the caste system, namely the priests (Brahmans),
warriors (Kshatriyas) and the merchants (Vysyas).<br />
<br />
Indeed, (as it was seen from above) those at the lower levels of the vertically
graded bigotry of the caste system (Shudras- the so called backward castes),
and those outside the caste system (outcasts or Panchamas who are referred to
as “Dalits” or “scheduled castes”), were never given the theological, religious
or legal right to learn, practice, observe, preach or believe in the “religion”
of the "twice born" upper castes, while they were all free to follow
their own forms of thought, conscience and religion. Thus this collective
system of vertically graded caste descent based hierarchical and segregationist
system of economic and occupational exploitation and bigotry was falsely
ascribed as a religion, while any individual free choices and free expressions
of thought, conscience and religion by any individual member or individual
caste of the caste system was never accorded the status of an independent
religion, but was subverted and usurped by the legally instituted Hindu religious
identity which simply applied the Hindu religious label to all those who were
considered as members of the caste system, with the religious scriptures of the
"twice born" upper castes (including the scriptures that codified the
caste system) forming the legal basis for such a legally instituted Hindu
religion.<br />
<br />
To give a comparative (hypothetical) example for this situation is to ascribe
(hypothetically and metaphorically) a religious identity for the erstwhile
Apartheid system practiced by the South African Afrikaners as the “Afrikaan”
religion, with the Afrikaners as the "twice born" upper castes, mixed
races as lower castes and South African indigenous populations as outcasts and
untouchables! (Please remember that this is just an hypothetical analogy!) And
in addition, calling all those peoples oppressed by the apartheid system as
“Afrikaan” by religion and also branding the religions of those oppressed by
this apartheid system as a “part” of the “Afrikaan” religion, while also
considering white Afrikaners as members of the "Afrikaan" religion,
thereby denying and negating the independent freedom of thought, conscience and
religion of those peoples oppressed and segregated by the Apartheid system! I
hope this hypothetical and metaphorical example brought out the essence of the
socio-legal fabrication of the Hindu religion by British colonialists (who did
not have the patience, intellectual honesty, liberalism or the tolerance to
recognize and record the manifold diverse religions of India which they negated
by clumping all peoples of India who exercised diverse thoughts of conscience
and religion as members of one singular religion invented and codified by
British Law.<br />
<br />
As a matter of fact, the British went onto give the backing and force of the
British Indian state for the enforcement of every bigoted tenet of the caste
system by way of the Hindu civil law that was instituted and enforced by the
courts of British India. Marriages between couples belonging to different
castes were declared as illegal by British Indian courts on the basis of the
Hindu Law that legalized the religious scriptures of the "twice born"
upper castes that codified the caste system. Inter-caste marriages were made
legal only after independence from British rule when Dr.B.R.Ambedkar was the
law minister. This further proves that Hindu religion and Hindu Law only served
the purpose of protecting and securing the hierarchical and vertically graded
stratification of the descent based occupational and socio-economic system of
bigoted and vertically graded social caste standing - by penalising marriages
across caste barriers and by recognizing only arranged marriages based on caste
identities, for which the full force of British Law and state machinery was
accorded, in the name of “religion”! This situation did not change until the
year 1949, which was after the end of British rule in India. Mr. Derrett<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref56"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn56" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[56]</span></a> says
“marriages between persons of different castes was void until 1949 (Act No.21
of that year), and this reform was continued in sections 5 and 29 of the Hindu
Marriage Act. Thus the British played a major role in saving and securing the
caste system for modern and post-modern times by legally institutionalizing and
enforcing caste based forced marriages and the scriptures that codified the
caste system in the name of a colonially invented religious label and religion
based law that was singularly based on British parliamentary legislation and
British case law!<br />
<br />
The same Hindu Law deemed that an adoption was illegal if an adopted son hailed
from a caste that was different from that of the adopting father, which was
also enforced by British and Indian courts <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref57"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn57" title="">[57]</a> until this was reformed just a few
years ago ! Any act that resulted in the “loss of caste” of an individual
was also challenged under the purview of the Hindu Law, which was dutifully
enforced by British and Indian courts based on the Hindu Civil Law<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref58"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn58" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[58]</span></a>.
Similarly, divorce of any married “Hindu” woman was illegal<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref59"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn59" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[59]</span></a> until
a law was legislated (after the British left India) to legalize the right of
divorce of “Hindu” women under the stewardship of Dr.B.R.Ambedkar. It is
needless to add that denying the right of divorce to Hindu women and denying
their right of remarriage to any man of their choice, further strengthened the
stratification of society based on the vertically graded and hierarchical caste
system - by way of the caste based system of arranged marriages which could not
be defied or threatened even by divorce, because divorce may lead to
"twice born" upper caste Hindu women or any woman in the vertically
graded bigoted system (possibly) marrying any man of their liking (including
men belonging to a lower caste in the vertically graded system or outcast
background), thus weakening the caste system, which cannot be allowed to
happen. While “Hindu” women were denied the right to divorce by Hindu Law, the
same religious Hindu Law gave “Hindu” men the right to polygamy, which was
abolished by way of legislation only after independence from British rule.
Based on the same Hindu Law “Hindu” women were denied equal inheritance rights
to property on par with men, in order to deny material power to women who may
damage the material basis of the upper castes in the vertically graded caste
system by marrying outside their caste. Until to this day “Hindu” women do not
have absolute equal rights to inheritance of property on par with men and this
has still not been fully rectified by legislation, due to unstated (but
apparent) fears that materially empowered women may marry outside their caste
and damage the material basis of the caste of their descent and the caste
system, which also motivates the killing of couples who marry across caste
barriers.<br />
<br />
Thus it is evident that the Hindu law and the Hindu religion were seen and
enforced by the British and Indian legal establishments as an institution of
the vertically graded, hierarchical and bigoted caste system than as a system
of free choice of belief in thought, conscience and religion.
Essentially, the legalized Hindu religious identity (as enforced by the Hindu
Law) was nothing but an apartheid law that sanctioned and enforced all the
tenets of the bigoted caste system under the garb of a religion.<br />
<br />
Various other (but not all) bigoted tenets of the caste system which were
legally packaged as a (Hindu) religion by way of Hindu law (by the British
colonialists in cahoots with the only literate non-British Indian peoples at
that time, namely the Brahmans and "twice born" upper castes), was
marginally negated by specific legislations initiated by few idealist leaders
during the early stages of post-colonial India, (and those idealists such as
Dalit leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar mysteriously died quite early too, before they
could complete their task).<br />
<br />
By equating a vertically graded bigoted system of hierarchical social standing,
social segregation and pre-ordained caste descent based labour as a “religion”,
the real and practical expressions of thought, conscience and religion of those
castes and peoples (who were denied access to the practice, observance and
learning of the religion of “twice born” upper castes), such as the religions
of lower caste groups (backward castes), outcast Dalits (scheduled castes),
indigenous peoples (scheduled castes) and other native Indian religionists
which had nothing to do with Vedic Hinduism of the “twice born” upper castes,
were all denied the legal recognition of a religion independent of Hinduism,
while they were legally branded as “Hindus” and forcibly brought under the
theological, socio-cultural and legal authority of the Hindu religious identity
and the Hindu Civil Law, which should count as the most blatant and audacious
violation of the fundamental freedom to thought, conscience and religion which
ever occurred in the history of humanity. Hence, the “Hindu” religious identity
is actually a caste descent based vertically graded system of social standing,
but not a system of universal and singular religious belief based on the
freedom to thought, conscience and religion.<br />
<br />
This vertically graded and hierarchical social and occupational system of
social standing, which the British wrongly called as a (Hindu) religion, was
inherently a system that enforced a caste descent based labour and occupational
system, but it never prescribed a uniform and singular study, observance and
practice of a scriptural religion for all who lived in that vertically graded
and bigoted system of hierarchical descent based social standing. As a matter
of fact, (as it was seen from the statements and analysis above), one has to
reiterate that those in the lower levels of this hierarchical and vertically
graded system of bigotry (backward castes) and outside this system (scheduled
castes) were excluded from the study, practice and observance of the
scriptural, sacramental and ritual religion of the three "twice born"
upper and superior castes, whose scriptural religion was usurped by the British
for codifying their new religion called “Hinduism”.<br />
<br />
The fact that Hinduism does not stand for a school of religion, thought or
conscience as known to conventional usage of the word “religion” should be very
obvious. Personal belief, which is the cornerstone of any school of thought,
conscience and religion, is rendered unnecessary in Hinduism, which is more
about social standing in the vertically graded caste system than any belief
system. Thus the practice of (the legally defined religion of) Hinduism fails
the conventional test for a religion (based on international human rights law)
but passes the test for a system of hierarchical and vertically graded caste
descent based social standing and caste descent-based occupation.<br />
<br />
“Varnashrama Dharma” was the bigoted caste system followed by the twice born
upper castes, while “Sanathana Dharma” was the religion of the "twice
born" upper castes. The social and occupational duties imposed by this
system of hierarchical and vertically graded social standing and caste descent
based forced occupation was given the status of a (Hindu) religious code and
(Hindu) religious identity, thus legally concretizing the social and economic
bondage of those in lower echelons of the caste system (backward castes) and
outside the caste system (Dalits) in the form of a modern, but colonially
invented religion. The tenets of the caste system were enforced by way of Hindu
Law (and are still enforceable under Hindu Law in India) except for certain
post-colonial Indian legislations that outlaws overt atrocities against Dalits
and makes allowances such as inter-caste marriages. This in fact proves that
the vertically graded system of caste has not been banned in India legally or
otherwise, because in order to ban the system of caste in India one has to ban
Hindu Law, since the latter is based on the scriptures codifying caste. Any
real ban on the caste system has to ban the legally codified Hindu religion,
thus exposing the fact that the legally codified Hindu religion actually stands
for the caste system and not for a free expression of thought, conscience and
religion.<br />
<br />
To the credit of the three "superior" and "twice born"
upper castes, they never pretended that Shudras (lower castes or backward
castes) and Panchamas (outcasts – Dalits or scheduled castes) or indigenous
peoples (scheduled tribes) can study, practice or observe the scriptural or
sacramental religion of the three "twice born" upper castes called
Sanathana Dharma, which they differentiated from the system of hierarchical and
vertically graded social standing and caste descent based occupation that was
called “Varnashrama Dharma”. But the British did not make this differentiation
and clumped the victims of Varnashrama Dharma (caste system) as members of
“Sanathana Dharma” (in connivance with the "twice born" upper castes),
even though the Shudras and Panchamas never had any access to the study,
practice and observance of the scriptural and sacramental religion of Sanathana
Dharma except for the three "twice born" superior castes of the
vertically graded caste system, who are bigotedly considered by the scriptures
of Sanathana Dharma (and Hindu law based on the latter) as being “twice born”
and regenerates”.<br />
<br />
If the British had made the effort to differentiate the religious and
scriptural belief systems of the "twice born" upper castes from that
of the thoughts, conscience and religion expressed by the castes and peoples
bonded by the "twice born" upper castes and the caste system, they
would have applied the new religion (Hinduism) based on the scriptures of
Varnashrama Dharma and Sanathana Dharma on only the "twice born"
upper castes and not on all peoples of India who did not have the right of
access to the study or practice of the religion of the "twice born"
upper castes.<br />
<br />
By legalizing a bigoted system of hierarchical and vertically graded social
standing as a (Hindu) religion without enabling the victims of Varnashrama
Dharma (caste system) to gain equal membership in the scriptural and
sacramental practice of the (Hindu) religion of the "twice born"
upper castes, which effectively destroyed the freedom of thought, conscience
and religion of all the peoples subjugated by the "twice born" upper
castes (such as backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes), apart
from negating the independent religious identities of various schools of
thought, conscience and religion that existed among the lower castes, Dalits
and indigenous peoples, the British did a great injustice (in cahoots with the
Brahmans and the "twice born" upper castes).<br />
<br />
Some of the schools of thought, conscience and religion of lower castes, Dalits
and indigenous peoples which were clumped with the religion of Sanathana Dharma
by way of the legally instituted Hindu civil law and Hindu religion, never
gained access to legal recognition of their freedom of thought, conscience and
religion independent of Hinduism. The practitioners of these non-Hindu
religions never had any access to the study, observance and practice of the
Sanathana Dharma religion of the "twice born" upper castes. Hinduism
legally sanctified the bigoted system of hierarchical and vertically graded
social standing and descent based occupational system as a religion, while
denying these non-Hindu (non- "twice born") religionists any access
to independent legal recognition of their freedom of thought, conscience and
religion independent of Hinduism. Thus the independent schools of thought,
conscience and religion that existed among lower castes, Dalits and indigenous
peoples were legally destroyed and made subservient to the scriptural religion
of the three superior "twice born" upper castes (who were bigotedly
considered as “twice born” by their religion), while the hierarchical and
vertically graded bigoted system of caste social standing was legally
recognized as the part of the newly instituted Hindu religion by the British.<br />
<br />
Thus the lower castes, Dalits and indigenous peoples saw their freedom of
religion being negated but their (lower) social and occupational standing in
the caste descent based hierarchical and vertically graded caste system strengthened
by the institution of the Hindu religious identity and Hindu civil law by the
British. No wonder some commentators say that the British were responsible for
entrenching the caste system in India by way of codifying the Hindu religion by
way of colonial Hindu law (which is still in vogue in India).<br />
<br />
Some of the religions of the lower castes, Dalits, indigenous peoples and
native religionists which were denied their freedom of thought, conscience and
religion and a legal religious identity independent of Hinduism because of the
institution of the Hindu religion and Hindu Law (which is based on the religion
of the "twice born" upper castes), are described in the following
chapter.<br />
<br />
Even today the Hindu civil law is based on the scriptures that codify the caste
system and all matters pertaining to the civil rights of all those who are not
Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis (Zoroastrians) is determined by the body
of Hindu Civil Law. This situation entrenches various bigoted tenets and
practices of the hierarchical, vertically graded and bigoted system of descent
based social standing and forced occupational status on those who are in the
various receiving ends of this bigotry (except for a few bigoted tenets such as
the legal ban on inter-caste marriages that has been reformed or corrected by
subsequent parliamentary legislation of “independent” India which were appended
to the Hindu Civil Law).<br />
<br />
It is obvious that Hindu civil law was based on scriptures that preached an
oppressive and exploitative civil, behavioural, hierarchical and descent based
occupational system of vertically graded social standing and labour, which was
imposed by the three hierarchically superior ("twice born" upper
castes) on the Shudras (backward castes) and the Panchamas (scheduled castes),
and this is certainly not a law or system based on the assertion of the freedom
of thought, conscience and religion on the part of the Shudras and the
Panchamas. This system was given the force of British Law by the legal and
colonial institution of the Hindu religion and Hindu Law, which negated the
individual religions of those oppressed by the caste system by bringing them
under the purview of the religious scriptures and religious authority of the
"twice born" upper castes, particularly the Brahmins.<br />
<br />
As a result of this, Shudras (backward castes) and Dalits (scheduled castes)
had to fight (and are still fighting) to make inroads into the study, practice
and observance of the scriptural and sacramental religion of the "twice
born" upper castes imposed on them by way of the British institution of
the Hindu religious identity (for no avail), even though they won the right to
enter and worship in the temples meant for the "twice born" upper
caste (Sanathana Dharma) religion during the early part of the twentieth
century and in post-independent India.<br />
<br />
But in many parts of India, Dalits (outcasts or scheduled castes) are
disallowed from entering both the temples of Shudras (lower castes) and also
the temples consecrated by the upper three superior "twice born"
castes in the Hindu system of vertically graded social standing. Shudras are
generally allowed to enter the temples consecrated by the upper three
"twice born" castes but not allowed to study, practice or observe the
scriptural and sacramental religion of the upper three “regenerate” or
"twice born" castes, and are also banned from priesthood which is the
hierarchical descent based preserve of the “most superior” Brahman caste. And
all the native religions (independent of the "twice born" upper caste
religion of Sanathan Dharma) that may be practiced by the lower castes,
outcasts and indigenous tribes still continue to be referred to as “Hinduism”
as a matter of law in India.<br />
<br />
In the words of Mr. J.D.M. Derrett<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref60"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn60" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[60]</span></a> it
can be summarised as follows: “The Hindu system gave everyone his place in
every possible contingency; individuality was not prized, disobedience was
anathema; functions were fixed by the caste system; and sources of pressure
(outside the wild and barely Hinduised tribes) were many".</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
Chapter 10<br />
<br />
Religions of those peoples who were not upper castes, which were legally
negated by Hindu law and Indian laws:</span></b><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
Since the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of those oppressed by the
caste system at various levels has been violated and denied by the legalised
religious institution of a vertically graded caste descent based hierarchical
and bigoted system of social standing under the false garb of a religion,
various religionists belonging to lower caste, Dalit, indigenous and other
native religious backgrounds started fighting for "equal rights" in
the newly constituted and legally fabricated Hindu religion, (such as gaining
various forms of access to learning, observance, practice and membership of the
"real" scriptural religion of the twice born upper castes, but in
vain, except for gaining “rights to temple entry” and (to a lesser extent) to
work as “priests” in temples patronized by their respective castes which are
not consecrated by the "twice born" upper castes. This they had to do
because, having lost any access to an independent legal status to their own
religion and with the imposition of the new religious identity of Hinduism on
them, the only other choice they had was to gain equal access to all aspects of
the study and practice of the religious scriptures of the "twice
born" upper castes which formed the basis of the new religion that was
imposed on them. But this was no easy task and is still a non-starter for most
of them. For example, a law enabling men and women of all castes to train and
work as Hindu temple priests in the state of Tamil Nadu was abrogated by the
Indian supreme court by citing the bigoted tenets of the caste system codified
and sanctified by Hindu (civil) law.<br />
<br />
But the legal institutionalization of the Hindu religious identity is so strong
and the constitutional validity for such a religion so great, that those lower
castes, Dalits, indigenous peoples and other native Indian religionists who
find their expressions of thought, conscience and religion being subverted by
the legal Hindu religious identity can do nothing except to turn their
religious identity into another “caste” in the legally recognized Hindu
religion and the social milieu sustained by it. This was already happening in
various parts of India<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref61"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn61" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[61]</span></a> where
the hegemony of the “twice born” religion denied the freedom of thought,
conscience and religion of those subjugated by the caste system.<br />
<br />
We saw that independent religious identity (if any), of lower castes (and
outcasts) in this hierarchical, vertically graded and bigoted system of social
standing was negated and violated by the British institution of the Hindu
religion and Hindu law that legally recognized only the scriptural religion of
the upper three "twice born" upper castes while also legally equating
the system of hierarchical and vertically graded social standing with that of
the Hindu religion. As it is evident, the British instituted Hindu religion was
primarily based on the religious scriptures of the twice born upper castes and
those scriptures that codified the caste system which were referred to as the
“Shastras”, (from the study and practice of which most of those oppressed by
the caste system such as backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
were excluded and banned). Even though the local customs was given importance
in the interpretation of the Hindu law, the primacy of the “scriptures” or the
“Shastras” of the "twice born" upper castes as the basic codification
of the Hindu Civil law prevailed.<br />
<br />
As a matter of fact, the British Indian Government (followed by the Indian
Government independent of the British) applied the Hindu Civil law and the
Hindu identity on all those who were not following Islam, Christianity, Judaism
and Zoroastrianism. This was based on the false and willfully wrong assumption
that all those who did not profess the aforesaid four religions belonged to a
“single” religion called Hinduism. The truth is that before the British
codified the Hindu religion and Hindu Civil law and legally instituted the
“Hindu” religion, there was no single religion (least of all a religion called
“Hinduism”) that was followed by all of the Indian peoples who were not
Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis. But there was one religion which was
exempted by the British from the legal imposition of the Hindu identity and
that religion was Buddhism, but this situation was reversed by the Indian
Government after independence when the Buddhist religion was also brought under
the purview of the Hindu civil law and the Hindu religious identity legally and
constitutionally, thus violating the fundamental premise of the freedom to
thought, conscience and religion of the Buddhists in India. This situation with
regard to Buddhism will be further analysed in an ensuing chapter.<br />
<br />
Before the legal institution and invention of Hinduism by the British, various
Indian peoples followed various native religions based on their tribal and
caste status.<br />
<br />
Most of the peoples who occupied a lower social standing in this hierarchical
and vertically graded descent based system of social standing (Shudras) and the
peoples who were outcast from this system of social standing as untouchables
(Dalits) apart from the indigenous peoples and atheists, indeed followed their
own (but many) schools of thought, conscience and religion in terms of worship
and belief, while appeasing this bigoted system of hierarchical and vertically
graded social standing and forced occupational status. Thus for these peoples,
the system of hierarchical and vertically graded social standing and descent
based occupation was independent of the system of thought, conscience and
religion they believed in.<br />
<br />
The so-called “Shudras” (backward castes), Dalits (scheduled castes) and
indigenous peoples (scheduled tribes) did not follow the religious belief
system of the three superior "twice born" upper castes whose
scriptural religion formed the basis of the British codified Hindu religion.
This was simply because they (Shudras, Dalits and indigenous peoples) were
explicitly excluded from the study, practice and observance of the Hindu
scriptural and sacramental religion of the "twice born" upper castes.
Thus, while appeasing the bigoted system of vertically graded social standing
that was imposed on them, various Shudra (sub) castes and Dalit groups created
or formed their own religions and spiritual belief systems which had nothing to
do with the scriptural belief systems of the religion (Sanathana Dharma”)
followed by the three "twice born" upper castes in the upper echelons
of the caste system.<br />
<br />
Thus, when the British codified a singular socio-legal Hindu religion based on
the scriptures of the three hierarchically superior ("twice born"
upper) castes as the new “Gentoo” (Hindu) religion, a bigoted system of
vertically graded social standing was falsely (equated with) and (audaciously)
converted into a system of thought, conscience and religious belief, thus
robbing the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of those in the lower
levels (and outside) of this system of social standing. As a result, the
religion, thought and conscience of the lower castes (backward castes) and
outcasts (scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) in this system of hierarchical
social standing was (falsely) determined to be the same as that of the
"twice born" upper castes in the upper (three hierarchical) levels of
this vertically graded descent based and bigoted system of social standing,
thus legally entrenching the caste system of social standing as a matter of
socio-legal religious belief, while also destroying the independent identities
of various schools of thought, conscience and religion followed and founded by
the lower castes (Shudras) and outcasts who were forced with this bigoted
system of caste based and vertically graded social standing. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Most of the “Shudras” did indulge in many expressions of thought, conscience
and religion apart from dutifully serving the caste system while also being
excluded from the religion of the "twice born" upper castes. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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“Shudra” (lower caste) and “Panchama” (outcast) peoples who may fall under the
category of agnostics or atheists were also “Hinduised” by the British
instituted Hindu religion and Hindu Law.<br />
<br />
Thus any schools of thought, conscience and religion that were founded and
followed by the peoples of Shudra and Dalit background were legally “Hinduised”
by the institution and imposition of the Hindu religion and Hindu civil law,
thus forever preventing the liberation of these peoples from the bigotry of the
vertically graded, societal, economic and legal system of hierarchical social
standing by way of professing a new religion, because the bigoted system of
vertically graded social standing was itself legally instituted as a religion.
This development permanently destroyed the opportunity of liberation (from the
caste system) that was offered to these peoples through an expression of
thought, conscience and religion that was independent of the religion of the
"twice born" upper castes.<br />
<br />
Because of this situation, the only way of using freedom of thought, conscience
and religion to escape from the yoke of the bigoted caste system is by
conversion to Islam and Christianity, (because these are the only two
proselytising religions whose right to thought, conscience and religion has not
been violated by the Hindu Law). But before the institution of Hindu Law and
the Hindu religion by the British, expression of various native forms of
religion, thought and conscience was a powerful way to assert the peoples’
rejection of the "twice born" upper caste religion based on the caste
system, until all these diverse forms of thought, conscience and religion of
backward castes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were subverted by the
very religious scriptures and the caste system codified by the upper caste
religion, by way of the British instituted Hindu law and Hindu religion.<br />
<br />
Some of the religions professed by various peoples in the caste system which
were thus negated by the legal institution of the caste system and the
religious scriptures of the "twice born" upper castes as the new
Hindu religion, thus turning these religions as castes or sects of the British
instituted Hindu religion under the Anglo-Hindu law are as follows<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref62"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn62" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[62]</span></a>:<br />
<br />
The Lingayat religion<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref63"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn63" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[63]</span></a>:
this is a religion that negated every aspect of the scriptural basis of the
"twice born" upper caste religion but was nevertheless brought under
the legal umbrella of the Hindu religion by the British. A person called
“Basweswara”, who was himself from an upper caste background but disowned his
caste and religion, founded this religion. His message negated all aspects of
"twice born" upper caste scriptural religion and was casteless. But
tragically, members of this religion have been turned into a “Shudra” caste and
have been legally brought under the umbrella of the Hindu religion, based on
the various legal regimes that violates freedom of thought, conscience and
religion as described above.<br />
<br />
The indigenous tribal religions of aborigines<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref64"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn64" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[64]</span></a>:
It is needless to say that aborigine peoples’ religions have nothing to do with
the scriptures of the "twice born" upper caste religion, but they
(too) have been victims of the legal regimes that forces the “Hindu” religious
identity and Hindu religious Law on “all” peoples of India who are not Muslims,
Christians, Jews or Parsis, thus legally forcing them under the Hindu religious
identity.<br />
<br />
The native religions of Shudra (lower) castes (backward castes) and Panchama
(Dalit) outcasts, which were exclusive and independent of the scriptural
religion of Sanadhana Dharma (which is the Sanskrit name for the
"Hindu" religion of the "twice born" upper castes), were
again “Hinduised” in the manner described and analysed in the preceding
chapters and passages.<br />
<br />
"Native indigenous religions" founded and followed by Dalits
(outcasts), Bahujans (backward classes or those in the lower levels of the
caste hierarchy), and indigenous tribal people that involve animal sacrifices,
tribal pagan worship, non-Sanskrit and non-"twice born" rituals,
non-Vedic and non-Upanishad scriptures, use of non-Sanskrit languages and
indigenous traditions, should all be classified under "indigenous
Dravidian religions" and not as "Hinduism", but identified by
their specific names. But the legal imposition of the Hindu religious identity
and the Hindu Law on all of such non-Hindu religions makes this impossible.
Those lower caste (backward caste) Hindus who have accepted Sanskritic Hindu
"twice born" scriptures and rituals along with their inferiorized
socio-religious status in the Hindu religion, can feel free to call themselves
as "Hindus" and worship in “Hindu temples of those who are legally
designated as “twice born” peoples. But those of the so called
"Shudra", "Panchama" or "indigenous tribal"
background who follow indigenous Dravidian religions which have nothing to do
with the Sanskritic and hierarchical and vertically graded caste based religion
of the "twice born" Hindus, should be identified as belonging to
"Dravidian indigenous religions" and their respective spiritual
school of thought, conscience and religion should be described by their
specified name. But the generic and false "Hindu" identity should
never be forced on them in any form. But that is not the case currently and the
Hindu religion and Hindu law is forced on all of such non-Hindu religions in
various ways as described above. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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But whenever a non-Hindu Indian religion is founded or followed by a person of
Shudra, Panchama or a indigenous tribal background in India, the Brahman and
other "twice born" individuals come to the place of worship and
co-opt the new religion into Hinduism ("Hinduisation") by doing the
following<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref65"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn65" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[65]</span></a>: </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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** Installation of a Brahman priest and Sanskrit rituals, by theologically
"Hinduising" the non-Hindu temple. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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** "Hinduisation" of the temple or place of worship of a particular
"indigenous Dravidian religion", by bringing the non-Hindu place of
worship under the Government department or legal regimes which administers or
oversees Hindu temples. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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** Invention of a mythological story to connect the new non-Hindu religion with
the Hindu pantheon of pagan Indo-Aryan Gods and their mythological
stories. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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** Enforcing the ever present Indian legal regimes that declares all who are
"not" Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis as being “automatically”
Hindus, thereby legally branding the followers and founders of any particular
non-Hindu "indigenous Dravidian religion" or non-Hindu Indian
religion as "Hindus" for all practical legal, social, cultural and
political purposes. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Examples of such indigenous (non-Hindu) Dravidian religions are<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref66"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn66" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[66]</span></a>: </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Dravidian Saivism (worship of the symbolic representation of the phallic and
vaginal sexual union in the form of the "Lingam and the Yoni"), which
has been radically and thoroughly "Hinduised" with the forcing of the
Hindu identity on Saivism culturally, socially, theologically and
legally. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Lingayatism: (Religion founded in the Karnataka state which dissociates from
Brahmanic Sanskritic Hindu religion while expounding a facet of Dravidian
Saivism). </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Tribal Muruganism: (Worship of the Tamil tribal deity Murugan) whose
temples are predominantly found on hills. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Vadalur Vallalarism: (Religion of Light worship),</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Madurai Veeranism: (Worship of “Madurai Veeran” by Dalits and other
backward castes. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ayyanarism: Worship of a rural indigenous God (termed “Ayyanar”) with
animal sacrifices and liquor by backward castes and Dalits. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Naga religion: snake worship. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Mari worship: Worship of the trunkless head of Goddess "Mari" which
is common among coastal fishing folk in Tamil Nadu state. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Muniaandism: (Worship of tribal God “Muni Aandi”). </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Tree worship: (Worship of certain trees is very much a indigenous religion
among indigenous tribal people, Dalits and lower (backward) castes in
India). </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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And this list may go on. But unfortunately almost all of these indigenous and
non-Hindu native (or Dravidian) religions have been llegally and socially
"Hinduised" by the "twice born" upper caste Sanskritic
Sanathana Dharmists (Hindus) to perpetuate the false sociological mirage of a
majoritarian society of a singular religion, which could be usurped for
sustaining the power, elitism and perks enjoyed by the "twice born"
upper castes as the ruling classes of India in all aspects of the state
bureaucracy, military, media, culture and politics with the connivance of those
representing the so called "Shudra" and "Panchama" classes.
For this very purpose, even Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism have been
constitutionally Hinduised in India, as it is evident from the above analysis.<br />
<br />
Thus non-Hindu Indian religions that challenged the caste system ended up as a
part of the caste system and under the socio-legal label of Hinduism, due to
the legal and social negation of their independent non-Hindu religious identity
by the British legal institution of the Hindu religion, since the latter
legally recognized and codified only the scriptural religion (Hinduism) of the
"twice born" upper three castes that which imposed on peoples
(backward castes, Dalits and indigenous tribal peoples) who were not allowed to
scripturally study or ritually practice the Hindu religion of the "twice
born" upper castes, while also legally equating the system of hierarchical
and vertically graded social descent with that of the new Hindu religion. And
over time, these non-Hindu religions were reduced to castes under the
socio-legal umbrellaa of Hinduism and followers of these religions were also
reduced to practitioners of the caste system (as it did happen in the case of
Sikhs, Jains, Lingayats, etc).</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Chapter 11<br />
<br />
How is the freedom of religion of Buddhists violated?</b><br />
<br />
One need not again go into the various constitutional and legal regimes in
India that forces the Hindu religious identity on Buddhists, by declaring
Buddhists as being “Hindus”, which is a situation that is imposed on “all” who
are not Jews, Muslims, Christians and Parsis (Zoroastrians). But in the case of
Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs, they are “Hinduised” also constitutionally by way
of article 25 of the Indian constitution. A religion such as Buddhism that
negates God has been illegally brought under the legal identity of Hinduism, in
contravention and contradiction of the tenets of Hindu religious belief as codified
by the judgment of the Supreme Court of India in the "Sastang" case
(Shastri Yagnapurushadji Vs Muldas Brudards Vaishya 1966 SC 119) which states
as follows: "<i>Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence, recognition of the
fact that means and ways of salvation are diverse and realization of the truth
that the number of Gods to be worshipped is large, that indeed is the
distinguishing feature of Hindu religion</i>". Thus the vast number of
non-Hindu Indian religions which does not accept the Vedas with reverence and
which does not believe in plurality of Gods or ways of salvation, have ended up
as being legally and socially part of "Hindu" religion, due to the
legal regimes described above in contravention of the judgment in (Shastri
Yagnapurushadji Vs Muldas Brudards Vaishya 1966 SC 119) which propounds the
aforementioned legal and judicial definition of a belief in the Hindu
religion.<br />
<br />
It is obvious from the above statements and analysis that the Hindu religious
identity is imposed on the Buddhists of India by way of constitutional and
legal means that forces the Hindu religious identity under Hindu civil law on
all those who are “not” Muslims, Jews, Christians and Parsis, apart from the
specific provision of article 25 of the Indian constitution that clearly imposes
the Hindu religion and Hindu Law on Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains. This situation,
coupled with campaigns of Hindu fascist zealots that propagates and falsifies
Buddha as a Hindu God and usurpation of Buddhist temple management by Hindus
(including the medieval Bodh Gaya Temple<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref67"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftn67" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[67]</span></a> in
which Buddha was supposed to have attained enlightenment), has made it legally
and theologically impossible for Buddhists to practise their religion
independent of the legal and constitutional tag of Hinduism and Hindu applied
to Buddhism and Buddhists in India.<br />
<br />
Moreover the legal and constitutional regimes in India that declares Buddhists
as being actually “Hindu” by religion, and thereby bringing all Buddhists under
the purview of Hindu Law, is a development that took place after the
independence of India from Britain. This is because case law exists in terms of
British Privy Council judgments (during the period of British rule in India),
that clearly decrees that Hindu law in civil matters (especially in matters of
inheritance) should not be imposed on Buddhists. An example of such case law
can be found in the privy council Judgment in Tan Ma Shwe Zin and Others v Khoo
Soo Chong and Others Privy Council [1939] 4 All ER 4, where it has been clearly
decreed that Hindu Law cannot be applied on Buddhists in matters of
inheritance, which exactly is the case in India currently. This is because all
(Indian) Buddhists have been decreed as Hindus in India and brought under the
purview of the Hindu civil law and various legislation that pertains to Hindus,
including the Hindu laws on inheritance. Therefore the violation of freedom of
thought, conscience and religion imposed on Buddhists in India, contravenes
even the judicial precedence set by British case law during the colonial
period, when Buddhists were not subjected to Hindu Law, but only to Buddhist
customary Law.<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter 12<br />
<br />
Conclusion and Solution.</b><br />
<br />
Hence it is obvious from the above that the legal violation of the freedom to
thought, conscience and religion in India is manifold which need not be
reiterated or restated. But they can be briefly summarised as follows:<br />
<br />
§ Fundamentally sustaining a legal and constitutional regime which “forces” a
religious identity on all peoples by legal statutes and constitution, (that
declares all people resident in India as members of the Hindu religion except
Jews, Muslims, Christians and Parsis), by negating the basis of individual free
choice of thought, conscience and religion. This situation violates the
thought, conscience and religion of all those who do not subscribe to the
philosophy of Hinduism, including the Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Lingayats,
atheists and various others who follow native non-Hindu indigenous religions
and non-Hindu religious schools of thoughts which are theologically independent
of legal Hinduism as codified by the "twice born" upper caste
scriptures of Hindu Law.<br />
<br />
A system of vertically graded bigotry of social descent is legally codified as
a religion, by imposing the religion of the "twice born" upper castes
on other lower castes and social groups in the caste system and also on those
outside the caste system (such as Dalits and indigenous tribal peoples),
thereby violating the freedom of religion of these peoples who do not have the
legal right of access to the religious or seminary study of the scriptures or
observance of sacred rites of the "twice born" upper caste religion,
by causing the following two effects:<br />
<br />
§ Legally forcing the Hindu religious label on any non-Hindu religion, thought
and conscience practised by those lower castes (backward castes), outcasts
(Dalits), indigenous tribal people and groups (who have no legal right of
access to the scriptural study or sacramental observance of the
"twice born" upper caste religion), even though the non-Hindu
religion does not subscribe to the belief system that has been legally codified
as the fundamental tenets of Hindu religion under Indian case law by way of
legal precedence and in Hindu law, thereby denying those who follow these
non-Hindu schools of thought, conscience and religion an identity that is
independent of Hinduism.<br />
<br />
§ Imposing a religion on various peoples derided as Shudras and Panchamas
(backward castes, Dalits and indigenous tribal peoples) who do not have the
legal right to scriptural study or the sacramental observance of the religion
of the "twice born" upper castes which was codified as the
"Hindu" religion. This situation has led to the farcical oppression
of trained priests from backward castes and scheduled castes (Dalits) who have
been restrained from working as priests in Hindu temples by the supreme court
despite being legally considered as "Hindus", because they are
bigotedly excluded from the scriptural study and sacramental observance of the
"twice born" upper caste religion by the Hindu law based on Hindu
scriptures.<br />
<br />
India is a nation of very many non-Hindu religious minorities, but in reality a
concocted and fabricated legal (Hindu) religion is imposed on billions of
(non-Hindu) peoples - drawn from backward castes, scheduuled castes and
indigenous tribes - professing various non-Hindu schools of thought, conscience
and religion, who do not even have the legal right to scripturally study or sacramentally
observe the religion of the "twice born" upper castes (Sanathana
Dharma) which was christened and codified as “Hinduism” by the British.<br />
<br />
The only solution to this situation in India which violates religious freedom
by way of coerced socio-legal imposition of the Hindu religious identity on
billions of non-Hindu peoples, is the codification of a secular civil law in
India (based on international human rights and humanitarian law), while
preserving the religion based Hindu civil law only for the real Hindus (namely
the "twice born" upper castes). This secular civil law should apply
to all those who do not have a religion based civil law in India, which will
cover the entire population who are not "twice born" upper castes, Muslims,
Jews, Christians and Parsis. All atheists, indigenous peoples, native non-Hindu
Indian religionists, backward castes, Dalits and all those who profess a school
of thought, conscience and religion that is independent of the religion of the
"twice born" upper castes (including Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs)
should be able to access this secular civil law. This secular civil law will
also right many current wrongs (and injustices), such as the denial of
unequivocal and absolute rights for “Hindu” women to inherit all property on
par with men. This is especially vital because lack of material empowerment of
women by way of material inheritance is the cornerstone of the foundation that
sustains (and sustained) the hierarchical and vertically graded structure of
the caste system.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
And all citizens will have the right to access the proposed secular civil law,
including those who have access to a religious civil law based on their
religion, if they renounce their religion for all practical and legal purposes
and declare themselves atheist, irreligious or as being members of any religion
that is not "twice born" upper caste religion (Hinduism), Islam,
Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism.<br />
<br />
Adoption of a secular civil law should be voluntary on the part of citizens and
should not be "imposed". This dissertation does not wish to advocate
a uniform civil code for all citizens of India. A forcibly imposed uniform
civil code will still "maintain" the false religious identity of
Hinduism, but a secular civil code that co-exists with other religious codes of
civil law will allow citizens to be liberated from religion based civil legal
strictures and also overthrow the Hindu legal identity, Hindu law and Hindu
religious identity that is legally forced on those (non-Hindu and non- twice
born peoples such as backward castes, scheduled castes and indigenous tribes)
who have no legal right to scripturally study the Hindu religion in a Hindu
seminary and are also denied the legal right to sacramentally observe or
practice the Hindu religion, such as all those who are legally considered as
"Shudras" under Indian Law, (which includes lower castes, outcasts,
indigenous peoples and native religionists), all of whom are still denied the
right to work as priests as Hindu temples despite getting trained as priests
under a progressive law enacted by the Government of Tamil Nadu, thus proving
these non-Hindu peoples though legally labelled as Hindus by the aforementioned
legal regimes, are still not accepted as co-religionists by the "twice
born" upper castes (Hindus). </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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Footnotes: </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn1"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref1" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[1]</span></a> UNTS,
vol. 999, at 171 ff.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn2"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref2" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[2]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-covenant/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-covenant/</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn3"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref3" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[3]</span></a> Goodwin-Gill,
Guy S. <i>Basic Documents in Human Rights</i> Oxford University Press
(2002) Fourth edition<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn4"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref4" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[4]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn5"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref5" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[5]</span></a> O.A.S.
Treaty Series No. 36.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn6"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref6" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[6]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/Treaties/b-32.htm"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/Treaties/b-32.htm</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn7"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref7" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[7]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.unhchr.ch/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.unhchr.ch</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn8"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref8" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[8]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn9"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref9" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[9]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu/3/b/d_intole.htm"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.unhchr.ch/html/menu/3/b/d_intole.htm</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn10"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref10" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[10]</span></a> </span><a href="http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:0iGddN5ZtUYJ:www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/80042--d.htm+Human+rights+act+article+9&hl=en"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:0iGddN5ZtUYJ:www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/80042--d.htm+Human+rights+act+article+9&amp;hl=en</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn11"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref11" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[11]</span></a> Sir
Ernest John Trevelyan, D.C.L., <i>Hindu Law</i> Thacker, Spinck and
Co., (1929) Third edition. p23<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn12"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref12" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[12]</span></a> Nirad
C. Chaudhri <i>The Continent of Circle</i> Cahhtoo and Windus, London
(1965) p35.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn13"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref13" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[13]</span></a> J.D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p43<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn14"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref14" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[14]</span></a> J.D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p43<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn15"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref15" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[15]</span></a> M.P.Jain <i>Outlines
of Indian Legal History</i> M.M.Tripathi Private Limited (1990) Fifth
edition p585.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn16"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref16" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[16]</span></a> Sir
Ernest John Trevelyan, D.C.L., <i>Hindu Law</i> Thacker, Spinck and
Co., (1929) Third edition. p23<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn17"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref17" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[17]</span></a> Tirkangauda
v Shivappa (1943) Bom. 706, 45 Bombay Law review. 992, (’44) A.B. 40<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn18"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref18" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[18]</span></a> Dashrath
Prasad v Lallosingh (’51) A.N. 343 (1951) Nag. 873.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn19"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref19" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[19]</span></a> Sunderlal
T. Desai <i>Mulla's Principles of Hindu Law</i> N.M. Tripathi Private
Limited, Bombay (1982) p80<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn20"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref20" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[20]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn21"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref21" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[21]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn22"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref22" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[22]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn23"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref23" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[23]</span></a> Muthusami
Mudaliar v Masilamani (1909), 33 Mad. 342.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn24"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref24" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[24]</span></a> But
one has to differentiate the legal definition (by case law) of “Shudras” which
refers to all of the peoples except "twice born" upper castes who are
legally considered as “Hindus” (which means all those who are not upper castes,
Jews, Muslims, Christians and Parsis), from the scriptural definition of
Shudras which refers only to those lower castes within the caste system.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn25"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref25" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[25]</span></a> Sir
Ernest John Trevelyan, D.C.L., <i>Hindu Law</i> Thacker, Spinck and
Co., (1929) Third edition. P10<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn26"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref26" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[26]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn27"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref27" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[27]</span></a> Sunderlal
T. Desai <i>Mulla's Principles of Hindu Law</i> N.M. Tripathi Private
Limited, Bombay (1982) p79.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn28"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref28" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[28]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn29"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref29" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[29]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn30"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref30" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[30]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/BrIndia.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/BrIndia.html</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn31"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref31" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[31]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn32"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref32" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[32]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn33"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref33" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[33]</span></a> J.D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p230.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn34"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref34" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[34]</span></a> The
British East India Company Administration of Justice regulation, April 11,
1780.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn35"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref35" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[35]</span></a> Plan
for the administration of Justice extracted from the proceedings of the
committee for circuit (Cossimbazar) 15 Aug., 1772 being pp. 13-15 of Extract of
a letter from the Governor and Council at Fort William to the court of
directors, 3 Nov. 1772. Forrest, Warren Hastings, II, App. B, p.290.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn36"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref36" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[36]</span></a> M.P.Jain <i>Outlines
of Indian Legal History</i> M.M.Tripathi Private Limited (1990) Fifth
edition p581.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn37"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref37" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[37]</span></a> Ibid
p583<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn38"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref38" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[38]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn39"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref39" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[39]</span></a> J.D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p289<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn40"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref40" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[40]</span></a> M.P.Jain <i>Outlines
of Indian Legal History</i> M.M.Tripathi Private Limited (1990) Fifth
edition p583-590.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn41"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref41" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[41]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn42"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref42" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[42]</span></a> ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn43"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref43" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[43]</span></a> Masjid
Shahid Gunj Mosque v Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, 67, I.A.
260.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn44"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref44" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[44]</span></a> M.P.Jain <i>Outlines
of Indian Legal History</i> M.M.Tripathi Private Limited (1990) Fifth
edition p583-590.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn45"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref45" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[45]</span></a> J.D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p229.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn46"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref46" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[46]</span></a> Ibid,
p230.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn47"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref47" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[47]</span></a> Ibid,
p278.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn48"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref48" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[48]</span></a> Ibid,
p278<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn49"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref49" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[49]</span></a> Ibid,
p96<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn50"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref50" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[50]</span></a> ibid,
p102.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn51"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref51" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[51]</span></a> M.P.Jain <i>Outlines
of Indian Legal History</i> M.M.Tripathi Private Limited (1990) Fifth
edition p614.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn52"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref52" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[52]</span></a> D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p444<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn53"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref53" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[53]</span></a> Muthusami
Mudaliar v Masilamani (1909), 33 Mad. 342.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn54"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref54" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[54]</span></a> J.D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p51.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn55"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref55" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[55]</span></a> J.D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p57-58.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn56"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref56" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[56]</span></a> D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p331.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn57"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref57" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[57]</span></a> Ibid,
p332.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn58"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref58" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[58]</span></a> Ibid<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn59"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref59" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[59]</span></a> ibid,
p333.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn60"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref60" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[60]</span></a> D.M.Derrett <i>Religion,
Law and the state in India</i> Faber and Faber (1968) p278.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn61"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref61" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[61]</span></a> Ibid,
p178.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn62"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref62" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[62]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.iniyan.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.iniyan.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn63"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref63" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[63]</span></a> ibid
and J.D.M.Derrett <i>Religion, Law and the state in India</i> Faber
and Faber (1968), p178.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn64"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref64" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[64]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.indianchild.com/indian_religions_tribal.htm"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.indianchild.com/indian_religions_tribal.htm</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn65"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref65" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[65]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.iniyan.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.iniyan.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn66"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref66" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[66]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.iniyan.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.iniyan.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn67"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=3883499#_ftnref67" title=""><span style="color: #000099;">[67]</span></a> </span><a href="http://www.ambedkar.org/News/letter.htm"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.ambedkar.org/News/letter.htm</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
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</span><a href="http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.homeoffice.gov.uk</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-covenant/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-covenant/</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/Treaties/b-32.htm"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/Treaties/b-32.htm</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.unhchr.ch/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.unhchr.ch</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
</span><a href="http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu/3/b/d_intole.htm"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.unhchr.ch/html/menu/3/b/d_intole.htm</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:0iGddN5ZtUYJ:www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/80042--d.htm+Human+rights+act+article+9&hl=en"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:0iGddN5ZtUYJ:www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/80042--d.htm+Human+rights+act+article+9&amp;hl=en</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/BrIndia.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/BrIndia.html</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.iniyan.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.iniyan.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.hrw.org</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.unhchr.ch/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.unhchr.ch</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.amnesty.org/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.amnesty.org</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.dalits.org/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">www.dalits.org</span></a><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643953412792913231.post-76086349258296186672011-12-25T07:29:00.027+05:302012-01-06T03:32:24.023+05:30Unedited long version of my complaint rebuttal against an article on a Dalit entrepreneur in the New York Times<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Dear Madam / Sir,</span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">This letter is with regards to </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">both the print and web versions of the article </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">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).</span></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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 “<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">connection between caste and occupation loosened long ago</span>”), 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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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).</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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</span><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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”. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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!</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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 "</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">physical untouchability has virtually disappeared”, and “<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">connection between caste and occupation loosened long ago</span>”, which rank in the same level of severity as subverting the truth by denying the holocaust. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">“Backward castes” are lower castes below the </span>“twice born” supremacist Hindus such as Brahmans but backward castes are above Dalits (outcast – untouchables) in the caste hierarchy. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">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!</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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”!</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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!</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #fafafa; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> 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! </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> 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.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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. </span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">who have worked on Dalit issues. </span></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">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 </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">by clicking on the following web link: </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.chrgj.org/docs/IndiaCERDShadowReport.pdf">http://www.chrgj.org/docs/IndiaCERDShadowReport.pdf</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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). </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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 <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> monopoly over governance, commerce, education and academia for centuries has converted them into the modern ruling class of India lording over the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">government, bureaucracy, army, judiciary, business corporations, academia, arts and the media</span><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; background-image: initial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yours truly,</span></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0