Caste – Page 3

From the pages of Dr. Ambedkar's Mook Nayak

April 14, 2015 by Nasheman

The following is the first editorial (translated from Marathi) written by Babasaheb Ambedkar for the very first issue of Mook Nayak published in January 1920! This translation was first published in July 2010 by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research Institute in Social Growth, Kolhapur. Translated by Dr. B.R. Kamble.

Dr. Ambedkar addressing a conference at Ambedkar Bhawan, Delhi, 20 May 1951.

Mumbai, Saturday 31st January 1920 [Issue No.1].

If anyone throws his glance on the Indian physical and social world as a spectator he will undoubtedly find this country a home of glaring inequality. Despite the blessings of nature and the things produced in abundance the growing inequality of poverty is so much in existence among the Indian masses that it can be easily noticed by anybody even in his unmindfulness. But no sooner he notices the inequality of poverty among the masses he does not fail to notice the social inequality that exists among the people and this inequality is like the elder sister of the former making the younger one ashamed of it.

Inequality that exists among Indians is of many forms. Inequality due to physical differences and also due to racial differences which is quite common everywhere is also found here. Black-White, tall-dwarf, straight nosed and snub-nosed.Arya- Anarya, Gon=Knod, Yavani-Dravid, Arab, Irani etc. are the differences that surface clearly in some places and though not as clearly defined but they exist in other places in latent form and in some other places in stable form. Religious inequality exists in more severe form than physical and racial inequality. The quarrels and struggles emerging out of religious inequality in several instances go to the extent of blood shedding. No doubt that Hindu, Parsi, Yahudi, Musalman, Chrisitan etc. stand as the walls of religious inequality but more than this if we see with our own subtle eyes the existing inequality among the Hindus we find its form much beyond our imagination and also worth condemning.

The Mang, the Brahmin, the Shenvi, the Maratha, the Mahar, the Chambhar, the Kayastha, the Parsi, the Kori, the Vaishya etc. are the different castes that exist in Hinduism and these are mentioned as this is a Mahar, this is a Brahmin etc.

One need not tell the Hindus how caste feelings among them are more deep-rooted than the feelings of religious oneness. If a European is asked who is he? On his answer that he is an Englishman, a German, a French or and Italian we are satisfied. But this is not so with the Hindus. If one says that I am a Hindu, no one will be satisfied. He must reveal his caste. This means to reveal their humanity the Hindus have to reveal their inequality at every step.

This inequality among the Hindus is as incomparable as it is hateful. Mutual dealing among the Hindus based on their inequality does not suit the character of Hinduism. It is clear that the castes that exist in Hinduism are inspired by the feelings of high and low. Hindus society is just like a tower which has several stories without a ladder or entrance. The man who is born in the lower storey cannot enter the upper story however worthy he may be and the man who is born in the upper storey cannot be driven out into the lower storey however unworthy he may be.

This means it is clear that the feelings of inequality among the castes are not based on the merit or demerit of individuals. The man born in a high caste, however unmeritorious he may be is always regarded as high whereas the man born in a low caste, however meritorious he may be, must always remain low. Another thing is that due to the prohibition of inter-dining and inter-caste marriages each caste has remained aloof from the growth of mutual intimate love. Even if the question of their mutual intimacy is kept aside they are also not free in their mutual dealing even in external matters. Some people’s dealing is only up to their doors. Some castes are regarded as untouchables which means that their touch pollutes other castes. Because of this notion of pollution the untouchables rarely come in contact with other castes. The alienation produced by the absence of inter-dining and inter caste marriages has fostered the feelings of touchables and untouchables so much that these touchable and untouchable castes, though a part of the Hindu society, are in reality living in worlds apart.

Because of this existing Hindu social system the Hindus form in them the three social classes namely the Brahmins, non-brahmins and the depressed classes. Similarly, if attention is paid to the effects that this inequality has produced it will be seen that it has produced different effects on different castes. Of course the Brahmins who are the highest in social grade feel that they are gods on earth. Therefore, this inequality is advantageous to these gods on earth who think that all other castes are born only to serve them. Therefore, by their self-created privileges they are enjoying the fruits of their social position exacting the services of all other castes. If they have any work to their credit, it is only the collection of knowledge and the writing of religious scriptures. But scriptures are full of contradictions and inconsistencies in matters of thought and practice. The writers of these scriptures seem to have been under the influence of intoxication while writing these works otherwise they would not have tied the high thinking and bad practices together. Because on one hand the philosophies in their scriptures preach that both living and non-living are the forms of the same god but on the other hand there is seen an extraordinary inequality in their practices. This is not a sign of them being in their senses.

Right or wrong these Shastras have made enormous impact on the minds of the innocent masses. That the masses are worshipping their enemies as gods on earth, who will accept this? It is easy to understand why the masses have clung to the harmful slavish religious practices worshipping their enemies as their benefactors.

The Brahmins, thinking that if the masses are kept ignorant they can be driven out to any direction, have kept the knowledge confined to them alone making it as their sole monopoly, and the masses thinking that this is their own real religion are following it. There are enough examples of Brahmins during their rule punishing those non-brahmins who inspite of the Brahmins warning that acquiring the scriptural knowledge is not their profession, tried to acquire that knowledge either openly or secretly.

It is clear that in the absence of authority and knowledge non-brahmins remained backward and their progress was arrested but at least poverty was not their lot. Because it was not difficult for them to earn their livelihood throughagriculture, by trade and commerce or by state services. But the effect of social inequality on the people called untouchables has been devastating. The vast masses of untouchables are undoubtedly sunk deep into the confluence of feebleness (helplessness), poverty and ignorance.

Meanness produced by their slavery with which they have been used to for many years is keeping them backward. They think that the wretched condition in which they are placed is their lot and it is god ordained. This thinking can be removed from their mind only by imparting knowledge (education) to them. But the costly education is a purchasable commodity and the untouchables because of their poverty are unable to purchase it and even if few of them are able to purchase it they are not allowed to enter the schools because the stigma of untouchablilty is permanently attached to them.

The stigma of untouchability has restricted their freedom of profession and therefore, their efforts to remove their poverty are not fructifying. In professions like trade and commerce they are very rarely found. As they can find no place to try for their fortune they are constrained to remain as manual labourers. Seeing these untouchables, nay the out-castes, who are living in wretched conditions, the 33 crores of gods but again these are Hindu gods, at least Allah maybe be taking pity of them. Even the people other than the Hindus will also condemn these out-castes because even when their whole humanity has been deprived of them they are not rising against their suppression. They are not human beings, they are just insects.

There are people even among the untouchable communities who say that the untouchables are sandwiched from all corners and there is no way out to escape from their existing insect like living. The untouchables have no knowledge (education) because they are poor and they are powerless because they have no knowledge. This is a correct logic but it should not be forgotten that it reduces the importance of those who are fighting against the practice of untouchability. The real humanity lies in breaking the barriers. It is a good sign that the sense of humanity (self-respect) is growing among the untouchable communities. Because of the evil practices in Hinduism the crores of high caste people who are irrational, obstinate and are not even god fearing are treating our people as untouchables. As long as these people treating us as untouchables are there, our people are bound to remain in a miserable condition. It is a happy augury that our people have realized this whole social dilemma.

The untouchable communities have also realized that now the upper caste Hindus taking advantage of their easy access to the British Government in India misrepresent the case of the untouchables to the Government. The untouchable communities have demanded that since casteism and caste hatred prevail in this country in highest degree in practice, for the realisation of genuine Swarajya (self-rule) the untouchables must have a share in country’s political power through their independently (separately) chosen representatives. Therefore, the untouchables have complained to the government over the stand taken by the upper caste Hindus who in their stand have opposed the demand made by the untouchable communities. The untouchables have now understood the tactics of caste Hindus who by gaining political power, it is likely, would use that power to perpetuate the social inequality. This agitation of the untouchables against the design of the caste Hindus is a sign of growing awakening among the untouchables.

There is no better source than the newspaper to suggest the remedy against the injustice that is being done to our people at present and will be done in future, and also to discus the ways and means for our progress in future. If we throw even a cursory glance over the newspapers that are published in Bombay Presidency it will be found that many among these papers take care in protecting the interest only of some (upper) castes. And these have no interest in caring for the interest of other castes. Not only this but sometimes they go against the interest of other castes. Our warning to these newspapers is that if any one caste remains degraded it will have it shocking effects on other castes too. Society is like a boat. Suppose a sailor in the boat, with the intent of causing some damage to other sailors or for making fun of them to see that they are frightened, strikes a hole in others’compartment because of his destructive mentality, the result will be that along with other sailors he will also sink sooner or later. Similarly, a caste which makes other castes suffer will also undoubtedly suffer directly or indirectly. Newspapers, therefore, interested in their own selfish interests should not follow the examples of a clever fool who deceives others and protects his own interests.

Fortunately, there are some newspapers, which appreciate the rationality of our argument. The papers like Din-Mitra, Jagruk, Deccan Rayat, Vijayi Maratha, Dnyan-Prakash, Subodh-Patrika etc. often discuss the problems of the untouchables in their columns. But it is also clear that these papers are occupied with the problems of non-brahmins, whose population is big enough in number. Therefore, devoting sufficient space for untoucahbles problems is not possible for them. Anybody will admit that there is a need of an independent newspaper to discuss especially the problems arising out of the miserable condition of the so-called untouchables. This newspaper is born to meet this need.

To devote to the discussion mainly on untouchables’ problems the newspaper such has Somwamshiya Mitra, Hindu Nagarik and Vittal Vidvamsak, were born but hey did not live long. The paper Bahishkrit Bharat is somehow continuing with difficulty. I end this matter with assurance that if the subscribers extend their proper co-operation the paper Mook Nayak will courageously work for the great cause of our people to show them the right path and their experience will show them that our assurance was not wrong.

This English translation by Dr. B.R. Kamble was first published in July 2010 by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research Institute in Social Growth, Kohlapur.

Remembering Babasaheb: Dr. Ambedkar and The Annihilation of Caste

April 14, 2015 by Nasheman

by Sukumaran C. V.

There is no code of laws more infamous regarding social rights than the Laws of Manu. Any instance from anywhere of social injustice must pale before it. Why have the mass of people tolerated the social evils to which they have been subjected? There have been social revolutions in other countries of the world. Why have there not been social revolutions in India is a question which has incessantly troubled me. There is only one answer and it is that the lower classes of Hindus have been completely disabled for direct action on account of this wretched system of Chaturvarnya.—B. R. Ambedkar.

April 14th 2015 is the 125th birthday of Ambedkar, the man who was the greatest crusader against the inhuman caste system of India, the man who sincerely wished to annihilate the monster called caste. I have often and again felt that, in the history of the whole humankind, the two most draconian human ‘inventions’ are the slavery that was prevalent in the U.S. and the caste system of India. As slavery was abolished and it doesn’t exist now, caste system of India is the only draconian human invention that exists today.

It was while I was in the 9th standard I happened to know about Ambedkar. The Malayalam Supplementary Reader for class 9th was a short biography of Ambedkar and the portion which described that the people who belong to Ambedkar’s caste have had to wear a small pot around their neck to spit in order not to defile the path they walk on by spiting on the path really disturbed me. And when I hear that even today there are people in our country who are not allowed to drink tea in glasses and tea shops reserve coconut shells for them, I am not only disturbed but also ashamed!

In his ‘Annihilation of Caste’ which was published in 1936, Ambedkar said: “…turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.” (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter III)

Still, nearly 80 years after, we have not been able to kill the monster and the monster continues to kill and maim and insult the people. Even in Kerala, the most ‘educated’ and the most ‘progressed’ state, people subscribe to caste prejudices and bias. The ‘forward’ class colleagues of a government department head, the day after his retirement, applied cow-dung water inside his cabin and on the chair he used to sit to ‘purify’ them as he belonged to a scheduled caste! It happened in Kerala four years ago. Mentally it happens every day. The ‘forward’ caste people who are down in the official hierarchy of the government civil service machinery, are irritated when their superior belongs to SC/ST category. Even OBCs join hands with the ‘forward’ class in sharing this prejudice.

One of my Dalit friends recently told me that he didn’t vote for the Dalit candidate who was fielded by the Left in the 2014 Loksabha election. The Dalit candidate, who won, is a highly qualified one and the Constituency in which he was fielded was one that was reserved for SCs. My friend’s question is: Why does even the Left field well qualified SC candidates in the reservation seats? Why can’t even the so called progressive parties field educated and qualified SC/STs in the general seats and make them win?

The irony is that even those who are supposed to fight the monster called caste don’t want to kill it. The question Ambedkar asked 80 years ago—‘Can you have economic reform without first bringing about a reform of the social order?’—is still relevant, but conveniently forgotten by every political party.

In the following words of Ambedkar, we can see the reason why secular democracy failed in this country and the religious fundamentalism of RSS and BJP thrives: “Why do millionaires in India obey penniless Sadhus and Fakirs? Why do millions of paupers in India sell their trifling trinkets which constitute their only wealth and go to Benares and Mecca? That, religion is the source of power is illustrated by the history of India where the priest holds a sway over the common man often greater than the magistrate and where everything, even such things as strikes and elections, so easily take a religious turn and can so easily be given a religious twist.” (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter III)

The struggle against caste has not come forward even a step further from where Ambedkar has led it. After Ambedkar nobody is as serious and dedicated as he has been in annihilating the caste system, the most draconian social set up in the world. Therefore caste and caste bias still thrive in our country and the humans and humanity fail.

And the most pathetic development in our country today is the competition between Congress which has never tried to annihilate the caste system and the BJP which doesn’t even dare to question caste system, to ‘own’ Ambedkar in relation with his 125th birth anniversary! Both the BJP and Congress should do justice to Ambedkar’s legacy if they can assimilate his spirit against caste system which still drags India back as far as social progress and equality are concerned. How can the Congress ‘own’ Ambedkar who said that ‘every Congressman who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is not fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class’? (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter II)

And how can the BJP ‘own’ Ambedkar who said that ‘the Hindus criticize the Mohammadans for having spread their religion by the use of their sword. …But really speaking who is better and more worthy of our respect—the Mohammadans and Christians who attempted to thrust down the throats of unwilling persons what they regarded as necessary for their salvation or the Hindu who would not spread the light, who would endeavour to keep others in darkness? I have no hesitation in saying that if the Mohammedan has been cruel, the Hindu has been mean and meanness is worse than cruelty’? (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter IX)

Both the BJP and Congress don’t want the Ambedkar who fought the most draconian system in the world—the caste system. Both want Ambedkar as bait to garner Dalit votes. They want to ‘own’ the form of Ambedkar sans the spirit. They know full well that the spirit of Ambedkar will annihilate the very base and foundation of such parties— religion and caste.

As Ambedkar says, ‘…Hindu Society is a myth. The name Hindu is itself a foreign name. It was given by the Mohammedans to the natives for the purpose of distinguishing themselves. It doesn’t occur in any Sanskrit work prior to the Mohammedan invasion. …Hindu society as such does not exist. It is only a collection of castes. … Castes don’t even form a federation. A caste has no feeling that it is affiliated to other castes except when there is a Hindu-Muslim riot.’ (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter VI). The BJP used this ‘feeling of affiliation’ in the Gujarat riots, in the Muzafarnagar riots and in almost all communal riots. People who are in the bottom of caste hierarchy are turned against the Muslims and both the caste oppression and religious fundamentalism which don’t allow the people to annihilate castes and religions thrive oppressing the very people who help religious fundamentalism to grow and rule the country. (Minority fundamentalism, the other side of the same coin, and the so called ‘secular’ politics of the Congress and other parties for whom secularism has always been a meaningless word only to catch the votes of the minorities, provided sufficient fuels for the majority fundamentalism to spread over the country and swallow the entire nation.)

Caste oppression in India is as worst as the European slave trade and the slavery prevalent in the United States. We can only read with horror the details about the slave trade of the people who were ‘burdened’ with the duty of ‘civilising’ the world. Howard Zinn writes in ‘A People’s History of the United States’:

“The conditions of capture and sale were crushing affirmations to the black African of his helplessness in the face of superior force. The marches to the cost, sometimes for 1,000 miles, with people shackled around the neck, under whip and gun, were death marches, in which two of every five blacks died. On the cost they were kept in cages until they were picked and sold. …Then they were packed aboard the slave ships, in spaces not much bigger than coffins, chained together in the dark, wet slime of the ship’s bottom, choking in the stench of their own excrement….The height, sometimes, between decks was only eighteen inches; so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides, the elevation being less than the breadth of their shoulders; and here they are usually chained to the decks by the neck and legs.”

This cruelty and meanness towards the humans by the humans was abolished, but in India the oppression and discrimination in the name of caste still continue and when will we the Indians be free from the oppressive and denigrating caste system which applies cow-dung water to ‘purify’ the official seat of an educated human being on account of his ‘lower’ caste origin? Will Ambedkar’s 200th birth anniversary see an India in which caste is annihilated totally?

Sukumaran C. V is a former JNU student now working as clerk in the Kerala State Government service. Emai: lscvsuku@gmail.com

Exclusion and untouchability remain widespread and only 5% marry out of their caste: Survey

December 24, 2014 by Nasheman

by International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN)

Report findings recently released from the India Human Development Survey, the India Exclusion Report and the Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusion Index, document that caste discrimination is very far from being history. In almost all aspects of every-day life statistics indicate that caste discrimination is deep-rooted and widespread.

Merely five percent of Indians said they had married a person from a different caste, and 27 percent of households self-reported engaging in untouchability practices, according to the pre-released findings of The India Human Development Survey, conducted by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and Maryland University. When Brahmins (dominant caste) were asked, 52% self-reported to not allow a Dalit to use their kitchen utensils, a common practice of untouchability.

The survey also found that only 5% marry outside their caste, which is a clear indicator of the perseverance of caste segregation. The survey found that there had been no increase in this number since the survey was last conducted 10 years ago. In Madhya Pradesh state less than 1% reported marrying outside their caste.

The survey findings on untouchability were particularly stark in some states where untouchability across castes was found to be almost 50% in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Bihar and just over 40% in Uttar Pradesh. As the survey only documents self-declared practices of untouchability, the true figures are thought to be even higher.

These findings will not come as a surprise to the authors of the comprehensive and highly collaborative India Exclusion Report 2013-2014, by the Centre for Equity Studies. The report analyses discrimination across labour, education and housing in India. Within all these areas Dalits, and particularly Dalit women, come out at the bottom of the tables.

“India is inherently prone to exclusion practices that make large quantities of people extremely vulnerable to a sliding path towards destitution. The excluded almost exclusively belong to the suppressed castes, religious minorities and tribal groups. Within these categories, women are perhaps the worst off.”

In relation to discrimination in the labour market the report states,

“Caste remains a key determinant of a person’s future. This is perfectly reflected in India’s labour market, which is more governed by laws of social origin than by statutory legislation. Moreover, violation of caste rules by Dalits seeking to break caste-related employment barriers is prone to severe punishment from dominant castes, including economic boycotts and even physical violence.”

Findings on bonded labour also echo clear links to the caste system,

“Traditional caste rules mandate forced labour from certain communities. Caste is one of the foundations of the bonded labour system and remains a key feature of bondage even in non-agricultural industries today. The lack of access to their own land, combined with this expectation to perform free labour and the threat of violence and economic boycott against those who challenge their expected social roles, keeps many Dalit families in bondage and a perpetual state of poverty.”

According to the India Exclusion report the Musahar Dalits are among one of the most vulnerable groups with less than 10% of Musahar Dalit children studying, a female literacy rate of just 2% and a school drop-out rate of nearly 100%.

Across the border in Nepal, Dalits also reign at the bottom of all tables in the recently published Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusion Index, by Tribhuvan University’s Central Department of Sociology and Anthropology. The Index attempts to encompass all aspects of life and is a composite derived from six other indices: social, economic, political, cultural, gender, and social cohesion.

Across all counts Dalits are faring very poorly in Nepal and gender discrimination is also high across castes. There is a glaring gap between especially Tarai Dalits, and their dominant caste countrymen from the same region when it comes to all dimensions of the index. Muslims and other ethnic minorities are also represented at the bottom of the ranks.

The findings of these three recent reports counter popular assertions that caste discrimination is a thing of the past, or on the retreat, and beckon that all those with an interest in equality and inclusion take the caste dimension very seriously when engaging with caste-affected countries.

More information

Read caste-related selected extracts from the India Exclusion Report or download the full report

Read about the pre-released statistics from the India Human Development Survey

See the Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusion Index and an article on the Index

Abuse, insult of Backward Castes may soon attract penal action

December 2, 2014 by Nasheman

Karnataka Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya

Bengaluru: The State Government is considering a proposal to enact legislation aimed at preventing abuse of the backward classes on the basis of their caste, according to Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya.

A proposal to this effect has been made to the Law Department. “We are keen on it and we will take a call based on the department’s opinion,” the minister said on Monday.

A meeting of leaders from backward communities, intellectuals and writers, chaired by Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya, resounded with vehement demands for a law to end abuse and insult of people belonging to the backward castes.

The meeting, on Monday, was held ahead of the launch of a caste-based census covering all of Karnataka. “Even today, seeing people of certain communities when setting out for important work is considered a bad omen. People engaged in some traditional vocations are insulted and abused by their caste names,” Anjaneya said, explaining the need for a new law.

“We are also considering banning the use of words that insult people belonging to certain castes. This is affirmative action to prevent caste discrimination,” the Social Welfare Minister added.

Remembering MSS Pandian, the Mentor and Teacher Extraordinaire

November 12, 2014 by Nasheman

Noted scholar and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Professor M.S.S. Pandian, considered an authority on the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu, passed away on 10th November 14, following a cardiac arrest. Pandian, 57, died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, where he was rushed following a cardiac arrest. He is survived by his wife S. Anandhi and a daughter.

by Aakshi Magazine

For those of us who were taught by him, MSS Pandian left an indelible mark, and his sudden death is hard to process.

There was nothing intimidating about Pandian, despite his scholarship. He was that rare academic whose academics was never isolated from his politics, it actually stemmed from it. He brought his politics to the classroom, which made his classes unique.

His work on caste in Tamil politics ( Brahmin and Non-Brahmin: Genealogies of the Tamil Political), and the lens with which he looked at history and politics, is subversive in a society (and academia) where caste is always masked and never discussed directly for what it is. So was his non-nationalistic worldview. This could not have been easy to do. Apart from being a supporter of the Tamil Eelam struggle, in recent years, he also became a keen follower and supporter of the Kashmir struggle for azadi. Pandian could take these stands and discuss them with students, and not be worried that he was being “simplistic” as academics tend to be. For him, complexity of ideas did not mean cynicism, especially towards movements for justice and equality. Yet his academics was never activist jargon either.

I was taught by him during my Master’s degree in JNU. He had also joined the same year, and his two classes in which he taught us the ideas of Phule, Periyar, Ambedkar as well as Nationalism and Regional movements, were revelatory. He made us question and think, and made History relevant in a way nothing else did. During my Master’s I questioned a lot of things about academics, and it was Pandian’s classes which made me feel understood, even as they taught me so much.

It wasn’t just what he taught, but also how he taught, and I think we should talk about this so that we do not forget it. Pandian never intimidated anyone and made academic ideas accessible. No jargon, so much depth, but also respecting the fact that each student’s intelligence (and interest) is different. We had to write a seminar paper in our final semester and I remember how tense he was because all of us were struggling with writing a long paper for the first time. I remember one particular discussion in which a very unsure and nervous student told Pandian what his seminar paper would be on. Pandian was gentle with him, asking him questions in accordance with his idea, which helped make his paper clearer. By the end of the semester, his seminar paper had grown and developed, but in his own way. I don’t think any other teacher would have had this patience, or this understanding. This was his gift. I know of a friend who he mentored and guided through her M.Phil thesis even though he had never even met her then, nor was she even from the University where he taught. I know there must be more stories like this.

To me too, he has been a mentor. He was always helpful and encouraging, writing recommendations when I needed them, helping me get an internship, or even helping in “breaking” a news story. He edited the draft of my PhD proposal with keen interest, and was always an email away even though we had never actually met again since my Master’s 3 years ago. I also remember a draft of a work on films that he had once talked about and then shared with me, and also mentioned something on Kashmir, work which we would not get to see.

Sometimes, Pandian would send out emails about his daughter to his students, and we could sense he was perhaps alone staying in Delhi. It must have been hard for him. The last email he sent was about a drawing his daughter had made in class about equality and justice. There were parts of his personality which perhaps we will never understand. There was a phase when he would write un-thought out comments on student’s walls on facebook, which he would later apologize for.

Once when I hadn’t got admission to a PhD programme I had applied to, he wrote- “some we win, most we lose”. For us shocked by his sudden death, perhaps he would say- “take it easy”. My thoughts are with his wife and his daughter. Maybe knowing so many mourn with them will give them strength.

The author is a research scholar at University of St Andrews, Scotland and independent film critic.

Doctoring history for political goals: Origin of Caste system in India

November 4, 2014 by Ram Puniyani

Photo: Carol Mitchell

Caste hierarchy is the major obstacle to the goal of social justice and it continues to be a major obstacle to social progress even today. There are many a theories, which have tried to understand its origin. The latest in the series is the attempt of RSS to show its genesis due to invasion of Muslim kings. Three books written by RSS ideologues argue that Islamic atrocities during medieval period resulted in emergence of untouchables and low castes. The books are “Hindu Charmakar Jati”, “Hindu Khatik Jati” and “Hindu Valmiki Jati”.

The Sangh leaders claimed that these castes had come into existence due to atrocities by foreign invaders and did not exist in Hindu religion earlier. According to Bhaiyyaji Joshi, number two in RSS hierarchy, ’shudras’ were never untouchables in Hindu scriptures. ’Islamic atrocities’ during the medieval age resulted in the emergence of untouchables, Dalits. Joshi further elaborated, “To violate Hindu swabhiman (dignity) of Chanwarvanshiya Kshatriyas, foreign invaders from Arab, Muslim rulers and beef-eaters, forced them to do abominable works like killing cows, skinning them and throwing their carcasses in deserted places. Foreign invaders thus created a caste of charma-karma (dealing with skin) by giving such works as punishment to proud Hindu prisoners.”

The truth is contrary to this. The foundations of the caste system are very old and untouchability came as an accompaniment of the caste system. The Aryans considered themselves superior, they called non-Aryans krshna varnya (dark skinned), anasa (those with no nose), and since non-Aryans worshipped the phallus, they were considered non-human or amanushya. (Rig Veda: X.22.9) There are quotes in the Rig Veda and Manusmriti to show that low castes were prohibited from coming close to the high castes and they were to live outside the village. While this does not imply that a full-fledged caste system had come into being in Rig Vedic times, the four-fold division of society into varnas did exist, which became a fairly rigid caste system by the time of the Manusmriti.

Untouchability became the accompaniment of the caste system sometime around the first century ad. The Manusmriti, written in the second–third centuries ad, codifies the existing practices which show with utmost clarity the type of despicable social practices that the oppressor castes were imposing upon the oppressed castes. The first major incursions of Muslim invaders into India began around the eleventh century ad, and the European conquests of India began in the seventeenth–eighteenth centuries.

Over time, the caste system became hereditary. The rules for social intercourse as well as establishing marriage relations were laid down by the caste system. Caste hierarchies also became rigid over time. The shudras began to be excluded from caste society, and ‘upper’ castes were barred from inter-dining or inter-marrying with them. Notions of ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’ were enforced strictly to maintain caste boundaries. Shudras became ‘untouchables’. It is this rigid social division that Manu’s Manav Dharmashastra (Human Law Code) codified.

Golwalkar, the major ideologue of RSS ideology defended it in a different way, ‘If a developed society realizes that the existing differences are due to the scientific social structure and that they indicate the different limbs of body social, the diversity (i.e. caste system, added) would not be construed as a blemish.’ (Organiser, 1 December 1952, p. 7) Deendayal Upadhyaya, another major ideologue of Sangh Parivar stated, ‘In our concept of four castes (varnas), they are thought of as different limbs of virat purush (the primeval man)… These limbs are not only complimentary to one another but even further there is individuality, unity. There is a complete identity of interests, identity, belonging… If this idea is not kept alive, the caste; instead of being complimentary can produce conflict. But then that is a distortion.’ (D. Upadhyaya, Integral Humanism, New Delhi, Bharatiya Jansangh, 1965, p. 43)

Social struggles to oppose this system and the struggles to escape the tyrannies of caste system are presented by Ambedkar as revolution and counter-revolution. He divides the ‘pre-Muslim’ period into three stages: (a) Brahmanism (the Vedic period); (b) Buddhism, connected with rise of first Magadh-Maurya states and representing the revolutionary denial of caste inequalities; and (c) ‘Hinduism’, or the counter revolution which consolidated brahman dominance and the caste hierarchy.

Much before the invasion of Muslim kings, shudras were treated as untouchables and were the most oppressed and exploited sections of society. The rigidity and cruelty of the caste system and untouchability became very intense from the post-Vedic to Gupta period. Later, new social movements like Bhakti, directly, and Sufi, indirectly, partly reduced the intensity of the caste oppression and untouchability. This doctoring of the history by Sangh ideologues is motivated by their political agenda and tries to hide the truth.

Modi Sarkar: Politics through Culture

October 29, 2014 by Ram Puniyani

The change in the ruling dispensation (May 2014) has more than one aspect which is likely to affect the very social-cultural-political map of India. Narendra Modi won the last elections with an electoral success, 282 seats for BJP, with 31% of votes polled, which is a landmark for a party. There was a meticulous planning to come to power and there were many factors bringing them to power. One was the communal polarization carried forward from the Gujarat carnage of 2002, to the one witnessed in Muzzafarnagar in 2013. The unrestrained support of Corporate World was another, as Modi had given all the facilities to the Corporate World. Corporate in 2007 declared that they will like to see Modi as the future Prime Minister of India. The backbone of the campaign was seven lakh RSS volunteers, who acted as the steel frame of the campaign. The projected factors helping BJP win was the myth of Gujarat’s development. The media management and the discrediting of the ruling Congress was the effective tool for swinging the votes in BJP’s favor. RSS-BJP-Modi want to bring in Hindu nation trampling upon the values of Indian Constitution., which have laid the foundation of democratic ethos, which have provided the ground for social transformation of caste-gender.

Pattern of Power

The previous time, 1999, BJP came to power at the head of a NDA it did not have the simple majority so it suspended its “Hindutva’ agenda. Hindutva agenda stands for abolition of article 370, Uniform Civil Codes and building of Ram Temple on the site where Babri Masjid stood. Now with the majority in parliament, the march towards this Hindutva agenda has been unleashed. Modi has already instilled the authoritarian streak in the new Government. Secretaries of different departments have been asked to directly report to him, and he has not permitted the meeting of the Cabinet in his absence, which was the norm with previous Governments. Though there is a Cabinet, the major power is being centralized around the prime minister.

Acche Din

The major plank of winning the elections was the slogan of Acche din (Good Times). The people at large, who are victims of the rising prices and inflation, were sold the dream of better days in the offing with victory of Modi. The relentless rise of prices despite Modi coming to power has created a sense of disillusion amongst the people, as high hopes were created through propaganda. Some say it is a bit too early to comment on this, as it is a honeymoon period, while others point to the pattern of policies, which do not give a hopeful picture for times to come. FDA in retail has been raised from 26% to 49% in a single swoop. While in opposition; BJP was opposing it. This is an opportunist turn around. The fear of privatization of public sector is very much there in the air. The amendments to Land Acquisition bill are going to affect the interests of the farmers in a very adverse way. What is being proposed is to dilute the consent of majority of the farmers for acquiring land.

Changed Dispensation: Sectarian mindset

Many times we express more by keeping silence than by speaking, so to say. The Pune techie Mohsin Sheikh’s murder allegedly by the Hindu Jagran Sena was part of the well designed communalization process. The violence in Saharanpur, Rampur and other parts of UP and some parts of MP are part of the process to communalize the assembly areas, which are going to face the polls soon. The silence of Prime Minister on these issues is more than eloquent. Rather it gives signal of sorts, which are not very healthy. There are scattered incidents which give us the glimpse of the Modi Sarkar. The shrewdest part of the new Government is that it has solid backing of vast Sangh Parivar to speak in different languages; these different tongues make the whole picture of their agenda. In case of the tennis star Sania Mirza being appointed as the brand ambassador of the newly formed Telangana state, the BJP leaders on TV openly opposed this saying that she is the daughter-in-law of Pakistan, while the top level functionary of the Government said that she is pride of the nation.

Education

All said and done the major problem of the present rule is going to be the changes in education, which will alter the thinking pattern of the coming generations. The goal is to instill a pattern in consonance with the Brahminical norms, to promote orthodox medieval mind set and to undermine the scientific temper. One recalls that in the previous BJP led NDA regime apart from other things, its major impact was the changes in the history and social science books, where the divisive history taught in the RSS shakhas, the communal history, the history where the kings are looked at through the prism of religion, was introduced. One knows that the communal historiography introduced by British was their main tool in implementing the ‘divide and rule’ policy which formed the ideology of the communal streams of Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha-RSS. This type of history; by focusing on the glories of ‘our’ kings also promotes the feudal values of caste and gender hierarchy. Mercifully the BJP led NDA lost in 2004 and the rational, national historiography was brought back.

Now already there are signs that RSS volunteers are out to change the total education system and the content of history, social science and other books. Even before this Government came to power, with the rise of Modi on political firmament, with the perception that he is likely to come to power, the Right wing organizations intensified their offensive against genuine scholarship. Dinanath Batra, by now is a well known name, he has been heading the RSS outfits, Shiksha Bachao Abhiyan Samiti and RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN) from many decades. He succeeded in pressuring Penguin, the World’s largest publisher, to pulp Wendy Doniger’s scholarly book ‘The Hindus: An Alternate History’. This book brings out through the interpretation of mythology the need to understand the caste and gender aspects in a sensitive manner. The history she has focused on goes against the hierarchical mind set of RSS combine and so pressure was put to pulp it. Now Mr. Batra emerges as a writer himself and a set of nine books written by him have been translated in to Gujarati and introduced in 42000 schools in Gujarat. This may be a trial run before doing similar things at larger scale. Former BJP president and present union minister M Venkaiah Naidu explicitly stated as early as last year (June 23, 2013) that “it (the BJP) will change textbook syllabi, if it returns to power”. Batra is also quoted as saying that a nationalistic education system has to be developed to address the requirements and through this we have to develop a young generation that is committed to Hindutva and nationalism”.

The sampling of Batra’s books gives a good idea of what is in store for us. A quote from one of the set of books, ‘Tejonmaya Bharat’, (Radiant Bharat) tells us “America wants to take the credit for invention of stem cell research, but the truth is that India’s Dr Balkrishna Ganpat Matapurkar has already got a patent for regenerating body parts…You would be surprised to know that this research is not new and that Dr Matapurkar was inspired by the Mahabharata. Kunti had a bright son like the Sun itself. When Gandhari, who had not been able to conceive for two years, learnt of this, she underwent an abortion. From her womb a huge mass of flesh came out. (Rishi) Dwaipayan Vyas was called. He observed this hard mass of flesh and then he preserved it in a cold tank with specific medicines. He then divided the mass of flesh into 100 parts and kept them separately in 100 tanks full of ghee for two years. After two years, 100 Kauravas were born of it. On reading this, he (Matapurkar) realized that stem cell was not his invention. This was found in India thousands of years ago. (Page 92-93)

Indian rishis using their yog vidya would attain divya drishti (divine vision). There is no doubt that the invention of television goes back to this… In Mahabharata, Sanjaya sitting inside a palace in Hastinapur and using his divya shakti would give a live telecast of the battle of Mahabharata… to the blind Dhritarashtra. (Page 64) What we know today as the motorcar existed during the Vedic period. It was called anashva rath. Usually a rath (chariot) is pulled by horses but an anashva rath means the one that runs without horses or yantra-rath, what is today a motorcar. The Rig Veda refers to this. (Page 60)

RSS has already set up a consultative body called Bharatiya Shiksha Niti Ayog (BSNA) to put pressure on Modi’s government to “correct or Indianize” the national education system. In the new syllabus “The passages in the textbooks which pointed out to any unsavory aspect of the Hindu faith like the oppressive caste system in ancient Hindu society, untouchability of the low-caste people and consumption of beef during Vedic ages were scrapped, and anyone who resisted or opposed the changes was dubbed as ‘anti-national’.(1)

Caste and Gender

While these changes in the text books give us a full idea of the agenda of this Government, which will have to follow the guidelines set by its parent organization, its already manifest in the appointment of Prof Y.Sudarshan Rao as the chief of ICHR. This national body guides the research into the Indian history. Prof Rao is not much known in the circles of Academic history, as he has hardly written any academic, peer reviewed papers or books. He has been engaged with writing few blogs on his understanding of history, which is more of a fiction suiting the agenda of Hindu Rashtra, reinstating the caste system in particular. In one of his blogs he emphasis that caste system served the society very well and there are no complaints against it. As per him “Most of the questionable social customs in the Indian society as pointed out by the English educated Indian intellectuals and the Western scholars could be traced to this period of Muslim rule in north India spanning over seven centuries.” He argues that “The (caste) system was working well in ancient times and we do not find any complaint from any quarters against it.” This is a distortion. The customs related to caste oppression were integral to the so called Hindu scriptures Vedas (Rig Veda, Purush Sukta) Upanishad, (2) the scriptures which were written in the Pre Historic BC period. Even in Manu smiriti the caste division is well articulated. Manu Smriti was written around 1-2 and Century AD. Contrary to this Prof Rao states that distortion in caste system came with the coming of Muslim Kings. He had so far been working on proving the historicity of our mythological Mahabharat as a part of History. Interestingly RSS combine presents only one version of Ramayan but there are nearly 400 versions of Ramayan. The scholarly essay by A.K. Ramanujam on the diversity of Ramayan telling again was withdrawn from Delhi University curriculum, and the publisher forced to withdraw the book.

With the coming of this Government the peripheral elements have started talking about making these scriptures as a part of our curriculum. Justice Dave talks of bringing in Gita and others are talking of Ramayana. Both these holy tomes have heavy projections of caste. In Gita, Lord talks of taking birth whenever Dharma is in danger. And this Dharma is Varnashram Dharma (Varna system). In Ramayan Lord Ram kills Shambuk, as Shambuk a Shudra is doing penance and this is something not permitted by Caste system.

Fringe Elements or Division of Labor

VHP supremo and RSS member Ashok Singhal has also called Modi “an ideal swayamsevak” and emphatically declared that Muslims must respect the sentiments of the Hindu culture, threatening that “they cannot survive for long by opposing Hindus”. He has also asked Muslims to give up their claims on Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi. The idea is to reduce Muslims to second class citizens with no privileges and rights. Another firebrand VHP leader Pravin Togadia, known for his ‘hate speeches’, has endorsed these views by issuing a warning to the Muslims, saying they may have forgotten the 2002 Gujarat riots but would remember the Muzaffarnagar riots of last year. (3)

Goa’s deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza apologized for his comment that India was already a Hindu nation. This was a tactical retreat. He was the one who said that all Indians are Hindus. Christians are Christian Hindus for example. Deepak Dhavalikar another BJP member stated that under Modi India will become a Hindu Rashtra. This is what the deeper part of RSS-BJP-Modi agenda, to see that the religious minorities adopt the Brahminical Hindu norms. That’s why they want that to use terms like Christian Hindus or Ahmadiya Hindus. Gradually, the assertion will be that since you are a Hindu you must practice Hindu norms.

On the long term agenda of RSS-BJP-Modi one needs to see the statement of RSS worker Joshi, “During a question-and-answer session, a volunteer asked Yadavrao Joshi, then the head of Sangh workers across all of south India, “We say RSS is a Hindu organisation. We say we are a Hindu nation, India belongs to Hindus. We also say in the same breath that Muslims and Christians are welcome to follow their faith and that they are welcome to remain as they are so long as they love this country. Why do we have to give this concession? Why don’t we be very clear that they have no place if we are a Hindu country?” Joshi replied “As of now, RSS and Hindu society are not strong enough to say clearly to Muslims and Christians that if you want to live in India, convert to Hinduism. Either convert or perish. But when the Hindu society and RSS will become strong enough we will tell them that if you want to live in India and if you love this country, you accept that some generations earlier you were Hindus and come back to the Hindu fold.” (4)

So where are we heading to becomes clear in the last few weeks of Modi Sarkar. The government will be trying to stick to the language which will be subtle while undertaking steps in Hinduization. Its associates, VHP-RSS will tell us bluntly about their agenda. Needless to repeat that this agenda, being unfolded is that of Hindu nation, where religious minorities will be relegated to secondary position and the Chaturvarnya system will be slipped in a subtle manner.

References

Janwadi Lekhak Sangh condemns police raid on FORWARD Press

October 12, 2014 by Nasheman

New Delhi: The Janwadi Lekhak Sangh, the city based writer’s forum, the Forum for Freedom of Expression and other organisations came in support of the ‘Bahujan- Shraman’ issue of FORWARD Press, and condemned the police raids against it today.

On the evening of October 9, the special branch of the Delhi police had raided the office of FORWARD Press on the basis of a complaint made in the Vasant Kunj police station which claims that FORWARD Press had published objectionable material about the Hindu deity Durga, on the basis of which students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were organising ‘Mahishasur Martyrdom Day’.

Terming the raid by Delhi police as a “matter of deep concern”, the forum said that the police took these actions without order of any court or competent authority and said it deserves outright condemnation.

The latest issue of FORWARD Press, an independent Delhi based anti-caste magazine is focussed on Bahujan-Shraman tradition. The issue carries articles that interpret the Puranic story of the killing of Mahishasur by Durga as a struggle between the Aryans and the non-Aryans. “This may have angered the Hindutvadis, who have been routinely indulging in vandalism in the name of hurting religious sentiments,” the forum claimed.

The October 2014 issue of FORWARD Press. Photo: FORWARD Press

“The Janwadi Lekhak Sangh strongly condemns the action against the magazine without any proper court order and views it as a violation of the fundamental right of freedom of expression. We also condemn the violence indulged in by the ABVP activists during the observance of ‘Mahishasur Martyrdom Day’ at JNU.”

“The Delhi police action and the ABVP vandalism are closely interlinked and manifest the growing assertiveness of the reactionary, communal-fascist forces since the Modi government coming to power and the aid being extended to them by the government machinery,” alleged the Forum in its press address.

The Forum demanded that action should be taken against police officials who ordered and conducted the illegal raid on FORWARD Press. It also called for “action” against those who do not “believe in expression of dissent while sticking to democratic norms.”

“VHP leader Praveen Togadia’s recent statement that history books written by Romila Thapar and Bipin Chandra should be burnt is an example of such tendencies.”

Om Sudha, the Convenor of ‘Forum for Freedom of Expression’, has asked the Home Ministry to immediately withdraw the FIR lodged against FORWARD Press.

Delhi Police raids Dalit magazine FORWARD Press for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments

October 11, 2014 by Nasheman

Photo: FORWARD Press

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Thursday raided the offices of FORWARD Press, the independent city based anti-caste magazine focusing on issues concerning the Dalit and other ‘backward class’ communities and reportedly confiscated copies of its October issue on grounds that it carried objectionable material about Hindu deity Durga.

Pramod Ranjan, the Consulting Editor of FORWARD Press said, “We strongly condemn the vandalism indulged in at the Nehru Place, New Delhi office of FORWARD Press on Oct 9 by Delhi Police. He said that the Delhi police illegally detained four staffers of the magazine on Thursday and now it is confiscating copies of the magazine from stalls in Delhi without any order of any court or competent authority. He claimed that the action was being taken ‘at the instance of fundamentalist forces, which is not only a blatant violation of the Freedom of Expression granted by the Constitution but also an attempt to stifle any logical-intellectual discourse”.

It may be mentioned here that two groups of students had clashed on Thursday on JNU campus over the observance of ‘Mahishasur Martyrdom Day’. Earlier, the police had raided the office of FORWARD Press on the basis of a complaint made in the Vasant Kunj police station of East Delhi. In the complaint, it has been claimed that FORWARD Press had published objectionable material about Goddess Durga, on the basis of which students of the JNU were organising ‘Mahishasur Martyrdom Day’.

Ranjan said in this regard that “The October 2014 issue of FORWARD Press was a special number devoted to ‘Bahujan-Shraman tradition’ and carries well-researched articles of leading writers and professors of prestigious universities. The Bahujan rendition of the story of ‘Mahishasur and Durga’ has been presented in words and through sketches and paintings.

“There is absolutely nothing in the issue that can be described as objectionable under the Indian Constitution. Our objective was not to humiliate or hurt the sentiments of any community or group. We are only trying to identify and rejuvenate the symbols of Bahujan culture and civilization. Anyway, Bahujan renditions of popular texts have a long tradition, starting from Jotiba Phule and going up to Ambedkar and Periyar.”

While condemning the raid as an attack on freedom of expression the magazine issued a press release claiming, “the action has been taken at the behest of the Brahamanical forces in the BJP,” the press note said. “Forward Press – a magazine of Dalits, OBCs and Tribals – has always been an eyesore for these forces. In the last couple of years, Forward Press has faced many attacks from these forces. The attacks have only strengthened our moral force. We are hopeful that we will be able to emerge with our head held high from this latest crisis too.”

Both the Editor-in-Chief and Consulting Editor of the magazine, have reportedly gone underground since the raid.

Silencing Caste, Sanitising Oppression – Understanding ’Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’

October 10, 2014 by Nasheman

– by Subhash Gatade

What is important to note that the Conference of the Untouchables which met in Mahad resolved that no untouchable shall skin the dead animals of the Hindus, shall carry it or eat the carrion. The object of these resolutions was twofold. The one object was to foster among the Untouchables self respect and self esteem. This was a minor object. The major object was to strike a blow at the Hindu Social Order.

The Hindu Social Order is based upon a division of labour which reserves for the Hindus clean and respectable jobs and assigns to the untouchables dirty and mean jobs and thereby clothes the Hindus with dignity and heaps ignominy upon the untouchables.

(The Revolt of the Untouchables, Excerpted from Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability : Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol 5 (Mumbai : Govt of Maharashtra, 1989, 256-58)

The inauguration of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, (Clean India Campaign) with much fanfare, with ministers, bureaucrats and others holding Jhadoos evoked an interesting reaction from a ragpicker Sanjay who lives in Mehrauli with his parents. “These are the same people from whose houses we pick up garbage every day. This is part of our life. We don’t really understand why they are making it such a big deal,” (PM’s Swachch Bharat Abhiyan has no place for Delhi’s 3 lakh rag pickers,Mallica Joshi , Hindustan Times New Delhi, October 03, 2014))

Sanjay happens to be one among a population of around 3,00,000 rag pickers (according to rough estimates) in Delhi, who are largely invisible and as expected live on the margins of society. It is a different matter that they play a major role in garbage management – right from collecting waste to segregating it for recycling. NGOs working with them feel that the city can easily come to a halt without them because they are the one ’who perform the basic task of taking garbage from people’s houses to dumps in most parts of the city.’ At the time of Commonwealth Games held in Delhi few years back, the then state government had even provided few hundred ragpickers with dress and safety equipment etc ’acknowledging’ the services they rendered to keep the city clean.

Time seems to have changed now. As the above mentioned report further adds :

’The government seems to be in complete denial of their presence even as they reap the benefits of their hard work.’ (-do-)

The complete marginalisation of the ragpickers from the much tommed tommed Swachh Bharat Abhiyan does not appear surprising. It is rather symptomatic of the many other ’silences’, ’erasures’ which accompanied its launching. While analysts have rightly pointed out the manner in which legacy of the Mahatma is being ’reduced’ to cleanliness obliterating his lifelong struggle against colonialism and communalisms of every kind and for an inclusive polity not much attention has been paid to the fact that the thrust of the campaign is to project a very samras (harmonious) picture of our society where cleanliness or the lack of it is connected with our ’duty’ (Kartavya) towards ’Bharat Mata’.

Perhaps one can have a look at the oath administered by the PM to everyone who joined this campaign.

“Ab hamara kartavya hain ki gandagi ko dhoor karke Bharat Mata ki sewa karein.” (Now, it is our duty to serve Mother India by removing the dirt.)

Did anyone hear any word about the pernicious ’caste system’ during all the media frenzy which witnessed its launching ? Definitely not. In fact caste and related discriminations have become so common and ingrained in our psyche that the media did not find anything newsworthy in it. Perhaps when every other officer was getting ready to have his/her own moment with a broom in hand the mediawallahs decided not to talk about this unique system of hierarchy – legitimised by the wider society and sanctified by religion -which has condemned a section of its own people to the ’profession’ of cleaning, sweeping and scavenging. What to tell the outside world that half of India still defecates in the open and there are lakhs of people who are still engaged in this ’profession’ of shit collection. In fact, we have designated communities who have been ’forced’ in this dehumanising work since centuries together

On closer look we can find that they go by many names in various parts of the country. As Gita Ramaswamy discusses in her book ’India Stinking’ (Navayana, 2007) : They are Bhangi, Valmiki, methar, chuhra in Delhi, Dhanuk in UP, han, hadi in Bengal; mehtar, bhangi in Assam; methar in Hyderabad; Paki in coastal Andhra ; thotti in Tamil Nadu; mira, lalbegi, chuhra, balashahi in Punjab. Names may be different but they share the same fate : they belong to the bottom of the Hindu social hierarchy and are untouchables. And under the caste hierarchy, castes that consider themselves superior does enjoy a wider range of choice of occupations but the erstwhile untouchables, today’s dalits have the least desirable occupations – removal of human excreta, cleaning, sweeping, leatherwork, skinning of dead animals, removal of human and cattle corpses, rearing of pigs etc.

We know that despite sixty plus years of independence, while moneybags here can easily compete with moneybags in the advanced world, while rulers of India yearn to make 21 st century as India’s century, there has not been any qualitative change in the lifeworlds of the majority of the dalits who are still lying at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Yes, a small section among them has definitely taken advantage of the affirmative action programme and is on the path of upward mobility, but for the majority amongst them, their is no qualitative change in their situation marked by deprivation and discrimination.

2. Interestingly in his hurry to ’do a Gandhi’ Mr Modi launched the campaign from the same Valmiki Basti where Gandhi had stayed for a while, without bothering that such a move would further stigmatise the community. And this at a time when there is a great churning going on within the community especially its youth to leave this ’profession’ and take up other dignified work. Not very many people outside the community are even aware that there is growing talk of ’Jhadu Chodo, Kalam Uthao ( Leave the Broom, Hold the Pen) reverberating within them. Organisations like Safai Karmachari Andolan and others have even undertaken the task of demolition of dry latrines at various places and there have been occasions when people have spontaneously come forward to collectively burn the broom and basket which is used in scavenging.

While media did not bother to question the venue chosen by PM to start his campaign, many close watchers of the situation did not feel surprised as they knew how Mr Modi, looks at this occupation, which finds mention in his book ’Karmyog’ where he calls it as some kind of “spiritual experience”.

Not very people know that it was the year 2007 when collection of Narendra Modi’s speeches to IAS officials at various points of time were compiled in a book form named ’Karmyog’ and were published by the Gujarat government. Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, a top ranking PSU was roped in to fund 5,000 copies of the book. (http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/true-lies/entry/modi-s-spiritual-potion-to-woo-karmayogis). Sample one of his speech, where talking about the Safai Kamdars Modi exhorts:

“I do not believe that they have been doing this job just to sustain their livelihood. Had this been so, they would not have continued with this type of job generation after generation….At some point of time, somebody must have got the enlightenment that it is their (Valmikis’) duty to work for the happiness of the entire society and the Gods; that they have to do this job bestowed upon them by Gods; and that this job of cleaning up should continue as an internal spiritual activity for centuries. This should have continued generation after generation. It is impossible to believe that their ancestors did not have the choice of adopting any other work or business.” (Page 48-49, Karmyog)

Later Modi’s remark got published in the Times of India in mid-November 2007, which were translated and republished in few Tamil newspapers. There was a massive reaction of Dalits in Tamil Nadu for calling their menial job “spiritual experience”. Modi’s effigies were burnt in different parts of the state. Sensing trouble Modi immediately withdrew 5,000 copies of the book, but still sticked to his opinion. Two years later, addressing 9,000-odd safai karmacharis, (cleanliness workers) he likened the safai karmacharis’ job of cleaning up others dirt’ to that of a temple priest. He told them,

“A priest cleans a temple every day before prayers, you also clean the city like a temple. You and the temple priest work alike.”

It would have been enlightening for Mr Modi if he could have browsed through Dr Ambedkar’s writings just to know how he had reacted when Mahatma Gandhi had similarly praised ’scavenging as the noblest service to society’ and said ’How sacred is this work of cleanliness !’(Navajivan, 8 th January 1925)

To preach that poverty is good for the Shudra and for none else, to preach that scavenging is good for the untouchables and for none else and to make them accept these onerous impositions as voluntary purposes of life, by appeal to their failings is an outrage and a cruel joke on the helpless classes which none but Mr Gandhi can perpetuate with equanimity and impunity. In this connection one is reminded of the words of Voltaire ..:”Oh! mockery to say to people that the sufferings of some brings joy to others and works good to the whole. What solace is it to a dying man to know that from his decaying body a thousand worms will come into life.”

(What Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables, Dr Ambedkar : Writings and Speeches, Vol 9, (Mumbai : Govt of Maharashtra, 1990) P. 290-93

3. The ’silencing’ or ’sanitising’ of the discourse of caste in the packaging and presentation of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or the dominant discourse around it reminds one of the persistence of untouchability in Gujarat and the manner in which it was made to ’disppear’ sometime back . (As an aside it may be mentioned here that Modi served as chief minister of Gujarat from the year 2001 to 2014.)

Appears unbelievable?

Perhaps you can have a look at a Gujarat government sponsored report titled “Impact of Caste Discrimination and Distinctions on Equal Opportunities: A Study of Gujarat”, authored by Centre for Environment Planning and Technology University (CEPT) University scholars led by Prof R Parthasarathy, which calls caste discrimination a matter of “perceptions”.

In his blog ’True Lies’ senior journalist Rajiv Shah (http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/true-lies/entry/untouchability-and-modi-s-babus) has provided detailed critique of this study.

To put in a nutshell this CEPT report was a governmental response to an exhaustive study titled ’Understanding Untouchability’ done by Ahmedabad based NGO ’Navsarjan Trust’ with the help of Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. (2009) which demonstrated with concrete data the wide prevalence of untouchability both in public and private spheres in interaction between scheduled castes (SCs) and non-scheduled castes (non-SCs), as well as within SCs: among the several jatis in rural Gujarat.

It is important to note that the results of the Navsarjan study were widely covered by the media .

Looking at the fact that the ongoing debate had the potential of putting a spanner in the well cultivated image of a Samras (harmonious) Gujarat under Modi, a panicky government asked CEPT to review and verify Navsarjan’s findings. In fact, the government seemed so keen to give a clean chit to itself that it adopted a two pronged approach to tackle the uncomfortable situation in which it found itself. Apart from commissioning the above mentioned study it constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the then minister for social justice, Fakirbhai Vaghela and secretaries of different concerned departments to refute the findings of the report. The government instructed its officers to get affidavits from scheduled caste village residents regarding non-existence of untouchability.

Commenting on the report Rajiv Shah says that

“[t]he nearly 300-page report, ..far from being a review of “Understanding Untouchability”, is more of an effort to justify the evil practice.”

As opposed to the survey of 1,589 villages done by Navsarjan, the CEPT team was made to survey just five villages, dig out a plethora of caste-wise data on agriculture, irrigation, employment and distribution of government schemes but were instructed not to collect any data on “”caste discrimination” – a term used by them in lieu of untouchability.

The reluctance of the scholars to even mention the U(ntouchability) word can be gauged from the observations made by leading sociologist Ghanshyam Shah as well, who has also written a critique of the CEPT report ’Understanding or ignoring untouchability? How Gujarat government-sponsored study examines discrimination in a ‘very casual way’’ (in www.counterview.org, Nov 13, 2013) :

..[i]n the scholars’ view (and that of the government) there is nothing wrong if the Dalits are forced to carry own vessels or are made to be served at fag end of the festivity. In fact, if the scholars are to be believed, Dalit elders advise the “younger ones” not to participate in village festivals like Navratri or Garba, celebrated in other localities, “for fear of possible quarrel with non-Dalits.” The youth agree in order to maintain social peace and order. To quote from the report, “Those Dalit youth who go there, do so as spectators and not participate in Garba…”

He also adds :

“CEPT has completely ignored to study the practice of untouchability. Perhaps for them like the Government of Gujarat it is a non-issue. And, they have carried out mainly a socio-economic survey in five villages. The authors do not feel the need to argue why they have confined their study to socio-economic survey. Why have they not correlated socio-economic data with the presence or absence of untouchability?”

While the CEPT experts could not discover untouchability in the five villages covered, the Navsarjan team which toured these villages in June 2013 found how the dalits live under subjugation and a state of helplessness as they know that the government would not protect them if they assert for their rights. Ghanshyam Shah adds:

In fact, an important omission from the CEPT report was that of Valmikis themselves, who are considered lowest in the social ladder under a Varnacracy. As opposed to these worst victims of untouchability, the report focuses on the Vankars, a “socially acceptable” Dalit community, a weaving class.

The omission of Valmikis in a report commissioned by the government cannot be considered inadvertent. Their still remaining confined largely to the work of sweeping and cleaning ; collecting and handling dust, garbage and filth of the cities, towns and villages to make them livable for other dwellers and in the process facing daily humiliations and even deaths by ’accidents’ or getting afflicted with occupational diseases is a reality which cannot be ignored anymore. Perhaps the scholars might have felt that their sheer presence in a governmental report was anachronous to the media propelled image of ’a best-governed state, occupying number one position in the country on ‘development’’.

4. Commenting on the ’Clean India Campaign’ Rohit Prajapati, an environmental activist from Gujarat, has raised an altogether different point in his writeup ’Mr. Modi Preaches a Clean India, But His Record on Waste management and Pollution in Gujarat is Dirty’ (http://sacw.net/article9679.html). He has discussed a similar campaign launched by him in 2007 calling it ’Nirmal Gujarat -2007’ and looked at the track record of his government in controlling pollution. According to him Modi similarly made ’..tall claims during that campaign. But reality is best seen in Ahmedabad at illegal solid waste dumping site, the ‘Gyaspur-Pirana Dumping Site’ – a Waste Mountain near Sabarmati River adjacent to the main road.’

The writeup discusses basic facts as they were revealed in the ‘Report of the Task Force on Waste to Energy’ dated 12 May 2014 by the Planning Commission of India which states

“As per CPCB report 2012 – 13 municipal areas in the country generate 1,33,760 metric tonnes per day of MSW, of which only 91,152 TPD waste is collected and 25,884 TPD treated.”..“Further, if the current 62 million tonnes annual generation of MSW continues to be dumped without treatment; it will need 3,40,000 cubic meter of landfill space everyday (1240 hectare per year). Considering the projected waste generation of 165 million tonnes by 2031, the requirement of land for setting up landfill for 20 years (considering 10 meter high waste pile) could be as high as 66 thousand hectares of precious land, which our country cannot afford to waste.”

It would be opportune here to quote a large extract from the said writeup here :

Mr. Modi, things are not as simple as you say. This waste generation figure covers only 31.15% population of India. Considering the waste generation figures of all of India, these figures will be even more daunting. The Planning Commission (which Mr. Modi wishes to abolish) of India’s report further states “A study, of the status of implementation of the MSW Rules 2000 by the mandated deadline by the States, was carried out in class 1 cities of the country. It revealed that in 128 cities except for street sweeping and transportation, compliance was less than 50% and in respect of disposal compliance was a dismal 1.4 %.”What about the government’s major role in policy making for the reduction of waste and implementation of ‘The Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules 2000’? Your track record in the implementation of these rules in the Gujarat is worst.

The consistent follow up by the pollution-affected people, people’s organisations and NGOs regarding the increasing pollution levels in the industrial areas of India forced the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the State Pollution Control Board in 1989 to initiate the process of indexing the critically polluted areas. At that time 24 industrial areas, including Vapi, Ankleshwar, Ludhiana, were declared ‘critically polluted’. In 2009 the CPCB and IIT-Delhi, in consistence with the demands of the people’s organisation’s working on environmental issues decided to use a new method of ‘indexing the pollution levels’ of these areas, which is now known as the ‘Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index’ (CEPI). The CEPI includes air, water, land pollution and health risks to the people living in the area. However, our demand has been to include the health of the workers, productivity of land and quality of food / agriculture produce in the index since the presence of high levels of chemicals and heavy metals in food produce has severe health implications. This is affecting not only people living around the industrial area but anyone consuming it – hence not restricting the impact to the particular industrial area.

In December 2009 the CEPI of 88 polluted industrial clusters was measured; it was then that the CPCB and the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) of Government of India were forced to declare 43 of those as ‘critically polluted clusters’ and another 32 industrial areas as ‘severely polluted clusters’.[6] Following this study the MoEF on 13 January 2010 was forced to issue a moratorium (prohibition on opening new industries and/or increasing the production capacity of the existing industries) on the 43 critically polluted areas. Similar reports were prepared by CPCB in 2011 and 2013 but these reports are completely ignored by past government and also by Modi Government.

In the concluding part of the article the writer discusses how after assuming reins of power, Mr Modi instead of undertaking the task of improving environment of these 88 industrial clusters, the government led by him started ’lifting of the moratorium of industrial cluster like Ghaziabad (UP), Indore (M.P.), Jharsuguda (Orissa), Ludhiana (Punjab), Panipat (Haryana), Patancheru – Bollaram (A.P.), Singrauli (UP & MP) and Vapi (Gujarat) as a first order of business on 10 June 2014. He underlines Vapi’s track records which demand more ‘stringent action’ against the polluting industries of Vapi & concerned officers of Gujarat Pollution Control Board and definitely not lifting of moratorium from Vapi. According to him ’the murky politics and economics of ‘GDP growth’ continue to prevail over the cause of ‘life and livelihood’ of ordinary people and ‘environment & conservation.’

His write-up concludes with few more figures and a BIG question:

In 2009, the Ankleswar’s industrial area, with 88.50 CEPI, topped the list of ‘critically polluted areas’ of India.

In 2011 and 2013, Vapi industrial area, with CEPI of 85.31, topped this list.

Thus Gujarat is able to top in 2009 in ‘critically polluted areas’ in India and continues to maintain its position in 2011 & 2013.

The Government of Gujarat deliberately ignored to comment or engages ever on these issues.

Mr. Modi what about the clean up of these industrial clusters of India? Do you have any plan to clean up this CRITICALLY and SEVERELY POLLUTED INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS OF INDIA?

5. To conclude, one can talk of similar silences, erasures if we probe further deep.

But that is not the aim of the article. The nationwide campaign which has been taken up is going to involve tremendous human as well as financial resources. We are being told that government employees are being exhorted to devote at least 100 hours every year – or two hours a week – to do this work and send proof to their seniors. It is going to cost 620 billion rupees ($10bn; £6.1bn) – the government has earmarked 146 m rupees and expects to get the remaining amount from the corporate sector, international development organisations and elsewhere. It is also being said that main goal of the programme, is to end open defecation in the country – as nearly half of India’s 1.2 billion people have no access to toilets.

All sounds good and especially very soothing to the ears of NRIs who seem to be worried over the image India carries in the comity of nations.

But all these efforts do not seem to go anywhere because as we already said there is a conscious attempt not to address the key issues.

It appears that Mr Modi seems to be in a big hurry to leave an impact on history.

He might be successful like his predecessors. If today we remember or associate Garibi Hatao with Ms Indira Gandhi or ’Age of Computers’ with Rajeev Gandhi, similarly future generations would remember or associate the ’Clean India Campaign’ with Modi while still debating the ’dirtiest country in the world’ tag associated with the country.

Subhash Gatade is the author of Pahad Se Uncha Aadmi (2010), Godse’s Children: Hindutva Terror in India,(2011) and The Saffron Condition: The Politics of Repression and Exclusion in Neoliberal India (2011). He is also the Convener of New Socialist Initiative.