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

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Photo: Carol Mitchell

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.

Communal poison in Delhi’s air: Open Mahapanchayat against Muharram procession in Bawana

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Provocative posters and speeches in Bawana have raised fears of a communal flare-up

Provocative posters and speeches in Bawana have raised fears of a communal flare-up

by Ayushi Rawat, India Resists

Today some of us reached Bawana on getting the news of possible communal tension since a Mahapanchayat had been called by some Hindu right wing groups to incite against the Muharram (Tajiya) procession yet to happen on the 4th of November. This was a part of the on-going tension that started at the time of Eid this year.

Listening to the Mahapanchayat was a horrific experience but even more crushing was the vulgar State-Hindutva nexus that was being displayed on stage. The right wing leaders along with the BJP MLA Gugan Singh Ranga present on stage and the ACP attending the tamasha. The meeting was basically called as a show of power as well as a part of the larger fear generating and hate instigating mechanism of the fascist forces. Every speaker on the stage came and aggressively spoke about why the Tajiya should not be allowed to enter the Bawana village area and that the Muslim community should restrict itself to taking out the procession “only in their area”; they went to the extent of saying that they have collected over 3500 signatures for the same and informed the administration and openly warned in public that if this demand was not accepted, the consequences would be dire, “Agar Tajiya yahan se nikla toh jo bhi maar-kaat hogi uske liye hum zimmedaar nahi honge” (If the procession moves from here, then whatever violence happens, we will not be responsible for that).

mahapanchayat-Hindu-delhi

With statements like, “Tajiya nahi niklega, hum khuli chunauti dete hain.. Hum yahan ke moolnivaasi hain… Hum sankalp lete hain ki hum hamare gharon ke saamne se Tajiya nahi nikalne denge.. Hum kamzor nahi hain…” (The procession will not go from here, we are giving an open challenge… We are the original inhabitants… We pledge that we will not let the procession go from in front of our houses… We are not weak…) There were repeated appeals to the close to 1000 yuva, the youth (which implies young macho-muscular adrenaline-infused boys) to instigate violence and be ready to oppose the procession’s entry strongly, with whatever means that they would find fit. The number of hate speeches was endless, references to words like talwaar and petrol were endless, the threats were endless, the voice was always aggressive, and the references to the legitimacy that “Modi Sarkar” now gives to these Mahapanchayats and ensuing riots were blatant. Towards the end, there was an open in public announcement that, “Sabhi bhai apne phone numbers yahan par likh dein.. Taaki hum gopniya tareeke se aap logon ko bata sake ki 4 taarikh ko kya karna hai.. Aap 4 taarikh ko tayyar rahein, Tajiya sham ko niklega…” (All the brothers should write down their phone numbers here… So that we can secretly inform you that what is to be done on the 4th of November… All of you be ready on the 4th, the Muharram procession would be in the evening…)

What is this if not an open instigation for a pogrom? It is only after we went and interacted with some people in the J.J. Colony, which is where the Muslim population mainly resides, that we got to know that the decision for not taking out the Tajiya in the Bawana village area was already deliberately taken by the Muslim community on 28th of October after the ACP appealed to them to do so. Some leaders in the community said that they did not want to incite violence, they did not want any tension to further deepen and that is why they decided to do so. Then what is the meaning of this show of power and Mahapanchayat, asked some of the young people in J.J. Colony. The youth seemed very hurt by the rise in such incidences after the new government came to power. One of the young boys said, “Hum Diwali bhi manate hain, Holi jab hoti hai toh wo bhi manate hain, hum musalmaan hain phir bhi hum sochte hain ki hum respect karte hain.. Ye desh jitna hinduon ka hai utna hi musalmaano ka bhi hai.. Phir hamare tyohaaron pe ye is tarah se kyun kar rahe hain?” (We celebrate Diwali, we also celebrate Holi, we are Muslims yet we respect… This country belongs to Muslims as much as it belongs to Hindus, then why such discrimination towards our festivals.) They also reported that there was no such feelings of communal hatred among the Hindus and Muslims residing in J.J. Colony, and that all those 1000 young men attending the Mahapanchayat mostly were not locals and were called from outside.

But this, the State does not find wrongful, this they do not find criminal, this they do not find threatening, this they think is something that they can enjoy with cups of chai and samosas without blinking a bloody eye! Shame on the Indian State!

Why we need public intellectuals

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public intellectuals

by Praful Bidwai

When Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani said of the Indian media during the Emergency that “when asked to bend, they crawled”, he received widespread praise from the intelligentsia and even from people opposed to the BJP’s ideology – because he spoke the truth.

Today, not just the media, but leaders from the fields of education, culture, healthcare and law, are crawling before the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh without even being asked to bend. They include the University Grants Commission chairman, Delhi University vice-chancellor, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences director, and numerous serving and former bureaucrats.

These were among the 60 luminaries who met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat over lunch in Delhi on October 12 at his invitation. Although many of them said they went “only to listen”, media reports suggest that some were ingratiating themselves to the unelected head of an organisation which spawned the BJP – an act unworthy of their positions and democratic propriety.

This is happening when the RSS, BJP and their affiliates have declared their intention to radically reorganise educational curricula along Hindutva lines, including the purging of textbooks of secularist ‘misrepresentations’. Parveen Sinclair, the upright director of the National Council for Educational Research and Training, was forced to resign.

Delhi University’s Sanskrit department, which has no expertise in history, has begun a campaign demanding that history textbooks show that the Aryans were indigenous to India, and not migrants, as most historians believe.

Articles are appearing in the mainstream media glorifying a fiction called ‘Vedic mathematics”’, based on a 1965 book by Bharati Krishna Tirtha, which fails to provide evidence that the sutras (formulas/algorithms) he cites exist in the Vedas. (For a scientific refutation of these claims, see http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/nothing-vedic-in-vedic-maths/article6373689.ece)

Meanwhile, calls for banning/burning books that advance non-Hindutva views have become strident. Fanatics are rampaging through colleges, bookshops, theatres, art galleries and cinema-halls, baying for punishment to dissidents. Everything from political belief, cultural identity to personal morality is being targeted in hysterical campaigns demanding conformity; dissenters are branded ‘un-Indian’.

Intolerance for the right to dissent, palpable in all regions, is now backed by the BJP. This is not to exonerate other parties, including the Congress, regional outfits, or even the Left, which too don’t fully respect the right to dissent.

However, they are not as instinctively, viscerally, and viciously anti-dissent as the BJP/Sangh Parivar, which regards dissent as ‘betrayal’ which must be snuffed out. This is in keeping with the profoundly undemocratic culture of the RSS, which long ago dispensed with the “cumbersome clap-trap of internal democracy” and opted for Ek-Chalak-Anuvartitva (unquestioningly following a single leader, or the Fuehrer Principle).

Yet, the right to differ, dissent, and express dissenting views is at the core not just of democracy – without which it would be impoverished into a majoritarian despotic system – but of knowledge production itself. Without the right to dissent, there can be no progress in the sciences, whether natural or social, and no generation of new knowledge and its dissemination in society through education, dialogue and public debate.

This is a theme that Professor Romila Thapar, one of India’s greatest historians and internationally respected scholars, emphasised in her Nikhil Chakravartty Memorial Lecture on October 26 in Delhi. This was the third lecture in the series: the others were delivered by economist-philosopher Amartya Sen and eminent British historian EJ Hobsbawm.

The theme of dissent couldn’t have been more appropriate for the memorial lecture. Chakravartty was a doyen among India’s post-Independence journalists, who edited the weekly Mainstream. He was for long a member of the Communist Party of India. Yet, he sharply criticised the Emergency – which the CPI then backed – and had to shut down the publication temporarily.

Thapar’s lecture was a tour de force covering many epochs and continents. It was at once a rigorous, scholarly analysis of the evolution of critical intellectual traditions over more than 2,000 years, and a passionate appeal to reason, scepticism and the spirit of questioning authority.

Thapar traced the relationship between dissidence and science from Socrates and Galileo in the west to the Buddha and Charvaka schools in India, and showed that certain principles, precepts and methods of science were common to all civilisations, from Athens and Arabia, to India and China. In our part of the world, we had the Buddha espousing agnosticism, and many materialist schools of thought which questioned karma, afterlife and the immortality of the atman (soul), and spurned various Vedic rituals.

If Aryabhatta hadn’t opposed contemporary royal astrologers, he wouldn’t have been able to show – a thousand years before Galileo – that the earth goes around the Sun. The key to this lay in the primacy he gave to logic and rationality, as distinct from faith and religious dogma. The method was to postulate a hypothesis linking observed phenomena to their causes, and test it through experiments; the results would be tested against future observations and refined till a scientific law was established.

Through her panoramic survey Professor Thapar showed the continuity of rational thinking and logical explanation across different countries and periods, which was invariably opposed by religious orthodoxy. Buddhist ideas were described in Brahminical orthodoxy as “delusional”, and a range of different schools like Charvakas, Ajivikas, atheists, materialists and rationalists, were all lumped into “one category – nastikas”, because they questioned the Vedas as “divinely revealed”.

Thapar says this reminds her of “the Hindutvavadis of today for whom anyone and everyone who does not support them, are Marxists!”

Numerous streams of thought coexisted in ancient and medieval India. Some “questioned beliefs and practices upheld by religious authorities”. Among them were women, such as “Andal, Akka Mahadevi and Mira, flouting caste norms, who were listened to attentively by people at large…” Amir Khusro is best known as a poet and composer, but he also studied astronomy; his heliocentric universe “distanced him from orthodox Islam”.

Later came social reformers like Ram Mohun Roy, Phule, Periyar, Shahu Maharaj, Syed Ahmed Khan and Ambedkar, who developed modern-liberal progressive values. Indian society has since been undergoing major changes, which need “insightful ways of understanding” so that social and economic conditions can be related to culture, politics and other phenomena. Public intellectuals are needed to explore these connections and “to articulate the traditions of rational thought in our intellectual heritage.”

As Thapar reminds us, there are “many specialists in various professions, but many among them are unconcerned with the world beyond their own specialisation.” These professionals are not identical with public intellectuals. “There are many more academics, for instance, than existed before. But it seems that most prefer not to confront authority even if it debars the path of free thought.”

Public intellectuals must take positions fiercely independent of those in power, must be seen as autonomous, and question received wisdom. In addition to possessing an acknowledged professional status, they must have a concern for “what constitute the rights of citizens” and particularly “issues of social justice”; and must be ready “to raise these matters as public policy”.

Thapar ends with an analysis of why public intellectuals are in decline in India and what they can do to become more assertive and effective. She didn’t speak a day too soon. (A recording of her talk is available for non-commercial use at http://sacw.net/article9874.html)

The writer, a former newspaper editor, is a researcher and rights activist based in Delhi.

Academics must question more, intellectuals must to resist assault on liberal thought: Romila Thapar

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Romila Thapar

by Pheroze L. Vincent, The Hindu

Historian Romila Thapar asked a full house of Delhi’s intelligentsia on Sunday why changes in syllabi and objections to books were not being challenged.

Prof. Thapar was delivering the third Nikhil Chakravartty Memorial Lecture here on Sunday, titled ‘To Question or not to Question: That is the Question.”

“There are more academics in existence than ever before but most prefer not to confront authority even if it debars the path of free thinking. Is this because they wish to pursue knowledge undisturbed or because they are ready to discard knowledge, should authority require them to do so,” the eminent historian asked.

Tracing the lineage of the modern public intellectual to Shamanic philosophers of ancient India, Prof. Thapar said the non-Brahminical thinkers of ancient India were branded as Nastikas or non-believers. “I am reminded of the present day where if you don’t accept what Hindutva teaches, you’re all branded together as Marxists,” she added.

“Public intellectuals, playing a discernible role, are needed for such explorations as also to articulate the traditions of rational thought in our intellectual heritage. This is currently being systematically eroded,” she explained.

Prof. Thapar stressed that intellectuals were especially needed to speak out against the denial of civil rights and the events of genocide. “The combination of drawing upon wide professional respect, together with concern for society can sometimes establish the moral authority of a person and ensure public support.”

However she said academics and experts shied away from questioning the powers of the day.

Why no reaction?

“This is evident from the ease with which books are banned and pulped or demands made that they be burned and syllabi changed under religious and political pressure or the intervention of the state. Why do such actions provoke so little reaction from academics, professionals and others among us who are interested in the outcome of these actions? The obvious answer is the fear of the instigators — who are persons with the backing of political authority,” Prof. Thapar said.

“When it comes to religious identities and their politics, we witness hate campaigns based on absurd fantasies about specific religions and we no longer confront them frontally. Such questioning means being critical of organisations and institutions that claim a religious intention but use their authority for non-religious purposes,” she said.

Prof. Thapar rued the fact that not only were public intellectuals missing from the front lines of defending liberal values, but also alleged a deliberate conspiracy to enforce what she termed a “Lowest Common Denominator” education.

“It is not that we are bereft of people who can think autonomously and ask relevant questions. But frequently where there should be voices, there is silence. Are we all being co-opted too easily by the comforts of conforming,” she asked.

 

This is the full audio of the Third Nikhil Chakravartty Memorial lecture delivered by Professor Romila Thapar. This audio recording was made in public interest by South Asia Citizens Web and may be used freely for non commercial use.

Police targeted Muslims in Trilokpuri: Shabnam Hashmi

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Shabnam Hashmi

Shabnam Hashmi is a known social and political activist fighting against communalism in the country. Her major contribution is the efforts she has undertaken for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims and survivors of communal violence, particularly those of 2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat carnage. In the wake of large-scale bloodshed in Gujarat, she felt an urgent need to fight the ideology of communalism on a day-to-day basis and carry out “absolutely action-oriented programme”. This led her, along with other activists and academics, to establish ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy), a voluntary organisation in March 2003 in defence of the idea of India. As a founding and managing trustee of ANHAD, she has, in a decade, spread the areas of her activities to states including Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Kashmir and Bihar etc. While her activism has won kudos among secular and progressive sections as her name was proposed in the list of 1000 women for 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, this has, many a time, invited the wrath of the Hindu communal forces and physical attacks by them. She believes that the rise of Modi poses an ever bigger challenge to secular forces as the incidents of communal violence have increased many times in the last few months, including the latest one in Delhi’s Trilokpuri area and tension in Bawana earlier. Against the background of this, Mishab Irikkur and Abhay Kumar interacted with Hashmi at ANHAD’s office in Nizamuddin, Delhi, on 28 October on a wide range of issues. Following are excerpts of the interview:

Last month ANHAD prepared a report on the hundred days of Modi regime and the question of minorities. What can minorities, particularly Muslims, expect from Modi?

If anyone is under the delusion that social and economic conditions of minorities will improve under the Modi regime or that they are going to benefit in any way, he or she should study the past records of Modi and the Sangh Parivar more critically. I have no doubt and hesitation in saying that Modi is a dictator and a fascist. Since his coming to power at the Centre there were more than 600 incidents of attacks on both Muslims and Christians. We have documented this in “100 Days under the New Regime: The State of Minorities in India – A Report” published by ANHAD and edited by John Dayal. Every single riot is now created and there is a well-oiled mechanism, run by the RSS and its sister organisations that work through the year to systemically manufacture incidents of communal violence. They are being assisted by the police who are highly communalised and they play a partisan role, targeting mostly Muslims.

Do you also see such mechanism working in Delhi’s Trilokpuri area where the situation has still not completely returned to normal? 

I have been told that the police in Trilokpuri picked up nearly 50 young Muslims. They were beaten up and were even denied food. It was only after the intervention by activists like Kiran Shaheen that a court ordered that they should be provided food. Lawyers and their relatives were not allowed to meet them. Worse still, Block No 15 of Trilokpuri, where mostly Muslims live, was blocked by the police who did not allow anyone to enter. The police did a massive combing operation and did not let journalists go inside Block 15. News reaching us suggests that Muslims are undergoing atrocities. If minorities are not guaranteed a life with dignity and a life without fear by the government, then it inflicts the biggest harm to them. That is why I do not have any hope from the Modi Government. As I hinted earlier, the sense of insecurity and fear created by a large number of attacks on Muslims and Christians, including their Churches and Fathers, is likely to increase. It is high time we struggled for protecting the idea of India.

You have launched a nationwide campaign in defence of the idea of India. How is it under threat after coming of Modi-led BJP to power?

The idea of India is based on democracy, equality, secularism, justice, pluralism, cultural diversity, communal harmony, gender equality and women empowerment, etc. But the RSS and Modi’s idea of India is to establish a Hindu Rashtra which will only be for the people who believe in Hindutva, not even for all Hindus. In fact, under the India of RSS, only the upper castes will be considered as first class citizens and the rest will be reduced to second class citizens. In this Hindu Rashtra there will be no place for lower castes, classes, women and all those who believe in the Indian constitution, democracy and secularism. The UP unit of the Shiv Sena has announced that it will award a cash prize of Rs. 21,000 to those Hindus who have ten or more children. While the Shiv Sena is desperate to see the population of Hindus increase, it does not mind treating women as just child-producing machines! How unfortunate it is that the BJP Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar blamed women themselves for the incidents of rape.  Besides, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that everyone who lives in India is Hindu. He also wants to get the Ram Temple in Ayodhya built by 2019. The Hindu Right is also using the issue of cow slaughter to instigate anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, Haryana and UP etc. Moreover, the issue of “Love Jihad” is fabricated and propagated by the Hindu Right to foment hatred against Muslims — a similar method was earlier used by Hitler against Jews in Germany.

Are you worried about the fact that some of the recent communal conflicts, as reported in media, were fought among Dalits/lower castes  and Muslims, who are the most oppressed sections in the Brahmanical social system? How much the RSS has been able to “saffronise” lower castes, particularly Dalits?

The term “Dalit” is not simply a caste but a political category. Anyone who fights against caste system is a Dalit. Thus real Dalits cannot fight against Muslims. Those who are fighting against Muslims are a miniscule minority of their community and they have been saffronised by the RSS. The process of saffronization of lower castes has been going on for the last two to three decades.

You have worked with the victims of 2002 Gujarat communal violence. Is it true that now the RSS, the VHP, and the BJP do not want to organise riots on a massive scale. Instead, they want to keep it at a low intensity level so as to maintain the atmosphere of communal tension. In other words, do you see any shift in Hindu Right’ strategy about riots? 

In the last few years, communal forces have changed their strategy. They are now going for low-intensity riots so that they may not be reported in media and the national or international attention could not be drawn to them. Even the locations of riots have shifted and now they are organised mostly in small places and rural areas with a view to creating and maintaining hatred among different communities and in places where people have lived in peace in the past. One should also keep in mind that the constructed image of Modi as the person standing for development (vikas), may be tainted if a large-scale violence, like 2002 Gujarat, breaks out in the country.

You have been leading campaigns against assaults on freedom of expression, communalisation of media and saffronisation of education etc. Could you tell us more about this? 

Let me begin with social media. My ‘Facebook’ page is followed by 5000 friends and some 9000 followers. Earlier, whatever I used to post on my Facebook wall, it was liked by a large number of people. But today their likes have drastically gone down because people are frightened of a possible crackdown on them if they appear to be “anti-ruling classes”. Earlier, in social media, the presence of secular and communal contents was almost balanced but today the space is captured by communal forces. Increasingly, media is now owned and controlled by Right-wing corporate forces. The point I want to stress is that the secular voices and dissents in social media have been drastically reduced to one tenth of what they had existed earlier. There is also an attempt to saffronise education. HRD Minister Smriti Irani is just a new kid on the scene. This process of saffronisation of culture and education began some two decades back.

Moreover, over 60-70,000 RSS-run schools, Saraswati Shishu Mandir, teach hatred and they have penetrated in society. Communal-minded administrators, officers, academics and journalists have been placed at almost all the institutions of the country. Even the peaceful Kanwariya (devotees of Lord Shiva) have been militarised by the RSS. As far as TV programmes are concerned, they have been used to poison the minds of people. Who could forget that the demolition of Babri Masjid was preceded by telecasting the Ramayana serial? Today most of the soap operas are highly anti-women. The Hindu Right has also appropriated Uniform Civil Code as its agenda, creating fear among minorities. Let me make it clear that the advocacy of the RSS and the BJP for Uniform Civil Code is not aimed at democratising society but to use it as a tool to impose Brahminical culture on all of us where there will be no rights for women. Unlike the BJP, the kind of Uniform Civil Code I am supporting is based on the idea of equality, gender justice, freedom and democracy etc.

Your critics have alleged that you are soft on the Congress and you tend to overlook its failures. How far is it true?

I have strong differences with the Congress on its economic policies but I disagree with Left critics including those of the CPM, who talk about maintaining equal distance from both the Congress and the BJP. I also disagree with the view that the Congress and the BJP are the same. I think the Congress does believe in secularism and democracy in principle while the BJP is anti-democratic and anti-secular. But it is also a fact that when it comes to practice and implementation, the Congress has many times failed to fulfill its promises. The reason behind this failure is the growth of communal consciousness among a large number of Congress’ leaders and cadres. Yet, around 25 per cent of Congress’ leaders and cadres remain secular but in the BJP there is not even one percent secular force. In the absence of any secular and Left force at the national level, one should choose the lesser evil.  About its failure to fully implement the Sachar Committee recommendations and to pass Prevention of Anti-Communal and Prevention Bill, it is the growing influence of communal consciousness in the Congress that has halted the welfare policy for the minority. But one should also not deny the fact that during UPA-I and UPA-II considerable work was done for minorities in the light of the Sachar report as well as other marginalised sections.

Mishab Irikkur (mishabirikkur#gmail.com) and Abhay Kumar (debatingissues#gmail.com) are pursuing Ph.D at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Pity the Animals: Unseat tiger, make cow ‘national animal’: Pejawar seer

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While the novice said, let’s at least leave the animals in peace, the ‘all knowing’ intelligent said, you understand nothing you fool.

cow-tiger

Udupi: One of the most influential Hindu seers, Sri Vishwesha Teertharu of the Pejavara Adhokshaja Matha, has held India’s ‘incumbent’ ‘national animal’ responsible for the increasing violence and terrorism in the country.

The pontiff has suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should consider declaring the ‘cow’ as the new “national animal” of India.

The seer, who has been demanding the elevation of the ‘Holy Cow’ to the post of country’s ‘national animal’ for several years, on Thursday reiterated his demand and said that the violence in the country would reduce if the tiger was unseated from the ‘coveted post’.

Speaking at Channarayapatna in Hassan district of Karnataka, the seer opined that a cruel animal holding the position of national animal was one of the main reasons for the increasing violence in India.

Dubbing the tiger as a “symbol of terror,” the seer said that the cow symbolised “mildness and abundance”.

He called upon people to protect the cow and asked them to chant ‘go mataram’ on the lines of vande mataram.

The chief pontiffs of several other prominent Mutts of Karnataka have also endorsed the proposal of Pejawar seer.

Modi Sarkar: Politics through Culture

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Modi

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

  1. (http://www.onislam.net/english/news/asia-pacific/475865-india-set-to-saffronize-school-curriculum.html)
  2. http://www.countercurrents.org/puniyani300714.htm
  3. http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/rss-30#sthash.GmBGCZLQ.dpuf
  4. (Modi and Hindutva footprints – Editorial, Kashmir Times Kashmir Times – Monday, July 28, 2014)

Christians attacked allegedly by right-wing activists in Bastar

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In this file photo, villagers of Sirisguda at the Special Gram Sabha to ban the entry of non-Hindu religious missionaries. Photo: The Hindu

In this file photo, villagers of Sirisguda at the Special Gram Sabha to ban the entry of non-Hindu religious missionaries. Photo: The Hindu

Raipur: The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum (CCF) has alleged that 12 people from the local Christian community, were attacked by members of the right wing Bajrang Dal in Bastar district’s Madota village on Saturday. District officials have registered an FIR.

“An announcement was made through drum beats that residents of Kotwar village should assemble at 9am on Saturday to meet the sub-divisional magistrate, deputy superintendent of police and town inspector to discuss ways to douse tension between the two communities. They waited till evening, but nobody turned up. By evening, right-wing activists came in a truck and attacked Christians, accusing them of promoting religious conversion,” charged Arun Pannalal, president of CCF.

Quoting local Christians, Pannalal said, a week ago BJP MP Dinesh Kashyap had visited Bhanpuri village and me gram sabha t local Christians. The MP washed their feet and then made a public announcement that they had completed the process of “ghar wapsi” or home-coming to the Hindu fold. Since then tension has been brewing between Hindus and Christians over prayer meetings at the local church.

While CCF has accused the district authorities of being “hand in glove” with the “right-wing elements,” the Bastar district collector however, refuted the CCF’s allegations saying that there was a clash between two groups in the village and added that a FIR has been registered against the accused persons.

The present controversy is rooted in an attempt by Hindutva organisations to convert Christian tribals to the Hindu fold. A campaign launched in July this year by Vishwa Hindu Parishad had led to a ban on the entry of and alleged “propaganda” by non-Hindu missionaries, especially Christians, in more than 50 villages of Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region.

With input from Agencies

Godse should have targeted Nehru: RSS mouthpiece "Kesari"

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The article written by B Gopalakrishnan, who was the BJP candidate in Chalakudy Lok Sabha constituency, argued that the selfishness of Nehru was the reason for all major national tragedies including partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

The article written by B Gopalakrishnan, who was the BJP candidate in Chalakudy Lok Sabha constituency, argued that the selfishness of Nehru was the reason for all major national tragedies including partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

Thiruvananthapuram: An article that appeared in RSS mouthpiece “Kesari” on October 17 has indirectly suggested that Nathuram Vinayak Godse should have killed Jawahar Lal Nehru and not Mahatma Gandhi.

The article written by B Gopalakrishnan, who was the BJP candidate in Chalakudy Lok Sabha constituency, argued that the selfishness of Nehru was the reason for all major national tragedies including partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. “If history students honestly verified the historical facts before partition and also the views of Godse, they may arrive at the conclusion that Godse had chosen the wrong target,’’ the article said.

He claims that, Nehru ‘killed Gandhi psychologically’ and effectively cut him out of talks with the British during partition. He says that Godse was a better person than Nehru. His argument is that Nehru stabbed Gandhi in the back whereas Godse pulled the trigger after a “respectful bow”. So the author says, “If history students feel Godse aimed at the wrong target, they cannot be blamed. Nehru was solely responsible for the partition of the country.”

Congress leaders have strongly opposed the article. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has directed state police to inspect if action can be taken against the magazine.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President VM Sudheeran criticized the RSS and BJP and said in a statement that the article distorts facts and history. “After the Modi Government came to power, consistent attempts are being made to glorify hardcore Hindutva ideologues and Gandhiji’s killer Nathuram Godse. It also displays the intolerance of Modi towards Nehru and his family,’’ Sudheeran told the media.

Condemning the attack on the former prime minister, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday called it disgusting and reprehensible. “It is painful that RSS ideologue such as this, has spoken something disgusting and reprehensible. It is time that people understand the true face of the RSS and the BJP. It is even more unfortunate that backers of such people are in power,” said Singhvi.

The article comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to reconstitute the organising committee for the 125 birth anniversary celebration of Nehru.

Audio recording: Real story of the Meerut 'Love Jihad' – In the words of the 'victim'

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love-jihad-meerut

This audio recording is a conversation with the girl, who was called a ‘victim’ of Love Jihad by right wing Hindutva forces. The interview took place on August 30, 2014 at her house, in Hapur with journalist Neha Dixit. It took place in the presence of her mother, T, who can be heard in the course of the interview. S, the girl, talks about how she and Kaleem were in love and wanted to get married but her parents were opposed to the match on religious grounds. Kaleem is an accused in this case and has been in jail for the last two months. She also says that she fears for her life.

This interview was not publish earlier for the fear of the girl’s safety, who has now been provided with police protection by the court. The name of the girl has been beeped in this clip to protect her identity.

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