“With this video the words of Babasaheb Ambedkar seem apt. The message Babasaheb Ambedkar read on Sankalp Divas… Babasaheb Ambedkar said, ‘people do not fear me because I am an intellectual, nor because I am very educated, not even because I represent a large community. People are scared of me because I have character, I am self respecting, I cannot be bought, and my thoughts are not for sale”, Devji Maheshwari, a senior activist of the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) quoted these lines in his last Facebook post on September 25 and linked it to a video “अंग्रेजों ने क्यों कहा था ब्राह्मणों में न्यायिक चरित्र नहीं होता ?” that translates as, ‘Why did the British say that Bhrahims do not have a judicious character?’. 

This was the last message Maheshwari posted on his Facebook page at 1.24 A.M, this video https://www.facebook.com/devjibhai.maheshwari.9 referred to BAMCEF National President Waman Meshram saying that members of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) were being targeted and made to feel inferior by Brahmins. 

Devji Maheshwari, resident of Rapar, a town in Kutch, Gujarat was stabbed on his way to his office that evening. He succumbed to his injuries before he could be taken to a nearby hospital. According to a report in The Hindu, as soon as word spread about the heinous killing, hundreds of community members in Rapar and other towns in the district blocked highways and burnt scrap tyres. 

Meanwhile, the victim’s family, supported by local Dalit organisations and community members, refused to accept the body until all the accused had been arrested. The body has been kept at the government hospital, stated news reports. The the other accused named in the FIR are – Jaysukh Luhar, Khimji Luhar, Dhaval Luhar, Devubha Sodha, Vijaysinh Sodha, Mayursinh Sodha, Pravinsinh Sodha and Arjansinh Sodha. Some local news reports also added that the motive behind the murder could also be connected to a property case that Maheshwari was fighting.

#Adv. Devji Maheshwari was a BAMCEF Activist dedicated to the Bahujan movement. Meghwal Community in Kutch is rattled by this loss. The grief will only translate into intense protests if the murderers are not immediately arrested.#JusticeForDevjibhaiMaheshwari pic.twitter.com/RGGrMzEfMc

— Priyanshu Gungunawat (@PGungunawat) September 25, 2020

Minaxiben Maheshwari is now fighting for justice and has named the accused openly. She is protesting outside the police station. “Why are the police not listening? I have been here for two days, but the police are still inactive. The main accused have not been arrested. Why? There is political pressure. Where has the government gone to sleep? Police is listening to them, not me. They do not listen to those who speak the truth. I will not take my husband’s body till all of them are arrested,” she told mediapersons.

According to the FIR, which was registered based on a complaint by the victim’s wife, Minaxiben Maheshwari, around 7.30 A.M on Friday, Maheshwari left his Rapar residence in a private vehicle for Bhuj, for a legal matter in connection with the property case involving a Luhar community hall, and had returned home by 3.30 P.M, after which he left for his office, reported IE. Minaxiben said, “No lawyer was ready to take the case of the community hall, and my husband did, and he kept the files related to the case with him and had tried in vain several times to lodge an FIR (related to the dispute) in the police station. Because he had the files, the rival party used to threaten to kill my husband, and it is my suspicion that they hired Bharat Jayantilal Raval to kill him”. 

An employee of a stationery shop in Malad West, Mumbai, was arrested on Saturday, less than 24 hours after he allegedly murdered a Dalit lawyer and activist in Gujarat’s Kutch district over his social media posts, reported the Indian Express. The IE report quoted  Mumbai Police information that the arrested accused, Bharat Raval, also hails from Rapar, had clashed with Maheshwari on his views on Brahminism. “Maheshwari wrote and shared posts critical of Brahminism on his Facebook page. Raval disagreed with those views and warned Maheshwari on several occasions to refrain from writing such posts publicly,” the IE quoted a Crime Branch official, adding that according to police, both Maheshwari and Raval had clashed repeatedly over the past one month. “Raval, who is Brahmin, had asked Maheshwari not to create trouble since both of them are from the same village. He also threatened him at his office once. But Maheshwari told him that he would not back down and challenged him to do what he liked,” the police official told IE.

However Waman Meshram, National President BAMCEF said that information is false and is a spin given by the media, and the police. 

The Indian Express और जनसत्ता ने क्रांतिकारी कार्यकर्ता एड.देवजीभाई कि हत्या की झूठी और गलत जानकारी लोगों को देने और उनकी हत्या का समर्थन करने के षडयंत्र का हम सोशल मीडिया के जरीये निषेध करते है.

उसकी विस्तारीत भुमिका हम यहां पर दे रहे है.#झूठा_है_जनसत्ता_IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/tMVUA6PAaX

— Waman Meshram (@WamanCMeshram) September 27, 2020

According to the Mumbai Police, the accused Raval travelled to Rapar from Malad on Wednesday with the intention of murdering Maheshwari. The CCTV footage from the area showed Maheshwari entering his office building at 6 P.M on Friday and a man wearing a red T-shirt following him inside. Seconds later, the man runs out of the building and flees, stated IE. Raval was booked under charges of murder and criminal conspiracy and under sections of the SC/ST Act at Rapar police station. A team from the Gujarat Police arrived in Mumbai late Saturday night to take custody of Raval.

The Crime Branch official told the IE that Raval, who was identified as the man in the CCTV footage, was acting alone. However, the Gujarat Police have registered an FIR against nine accused, including Raval. On Saturday, hours after members of the Dalit community in Rapar took to the streets, demanding the arrest of Maheshwari’s assailants, five of the nine accused, besides Raval, were arrested, while the others are absconding.

When will the police arrest the associates of Bharat Rawal who murdered Devjibhai Maheshwari, soldier of BAMCEF Gujarat and state in-charge of Indian Legal Professional Association.?#HangTheCulpritsOfDevajibhai pic.twitter.com/rnTwIwc6N1

— S Kumar (@Mulnivasi92) September 27, 2020

The BJP government of Brahmins appears to be actively involved in the murder of Devjibhai Maheshwari,Gujarat state in-charge of the Indian Legal Professional Association.

On the day of the murder,where were the policemen of the police station nearby.#HangTheCulpritsOfDevajibhai pic.twitter.com/9Itu6bmymW

— We are BMP supporters (@BMPsupporters) September 27, 2020

According to the Indian Express, V L Matang, National President of the Bahujan Mukti Party, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a CBI probe into the murder. “The (Kutch) district police registered an FIR at 1 am on Saturday, eight hours after the murder took place, and named nine people as accused… The police’s behaviour seems suspicious and we suspect that the district administration is attempting to shield the accused. We expect you to issue an order for a CBI probe within 24 hours of this letter reaching your office,” he wrote.

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The post I will not take my husband’s body till all accused are arrested: Minaxiben Maheshwari appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Stranger things have happened in Indian politics, where parties who otherwise wish to appear united against common causes such as fighting communalism, poverty, rights of Dalits, labour and farmer issues, have now found a ‘higher’ calling. Now, they stand in line for a slice of the Brahmin vote bank pie, which they have not really had a taste of since the state is known to vote for ‘natonalist’ parties, and caste politics rules on the ground. 

However, no harm in trying, seems to be the mantra of the major political parties, who are now working to undo the drubbing they got in the last general, and state, elections. The Brahmin voter of Uttar Pradesh too has recognised this, and as reported in Scroll, has become more vocal after the recent killing of gangster Vikas Dubey, who was a powerful Brahmin. 

The news report talks of one Naman Pandit who posted a war cry on his social media page recently, declaring, “Brahamano ko beema nahi chahiye, hathiyar chahiye.” (Brahmins do not want insurance, they want weapons). Pandit, a businessman and a resident of Khurja, in Uttar Pradesh, seems to have secured his social media profile now, but the news report describes him as an office bearer of the Gau Rakshak Sangh in Khurja town in western Uttar Pradesh. He is a proud member of the ‘cow protection’ group who are often in news for their alleged attacks on hapless humans, most of their victims belong to the minority communities.  

Here is a screenshot of his facebook page used by Scroll, and also available on the internet, as it may have done the rounds of the WhatsApp universe too.

This guntotting, ‘footsoldier of Hindutva’ is most likely to be a Bharatiya Janata Party loyalist. However, as the BJP government of Uttar Pradesh is led by Chief Minister Adityanath, a Thakur by caste, the Brahmins are feeling ‘marginalised’ and even ‘victimised’.

Therein lies the political opportunity, Preeti Chobey who describes herself as a former National Executive Member of Samajwadi Party, asked: “Why are the killings of Brahmins in UP increasing ???.”

यूपी में ब्राम्हणों की ही हत्याएं क्यों बढ़ रही है???

— Preeti Chobey (@preeti_chobey) August 16, 2020

The death  of gangster Vikas Dubey, has fuelled some anger in the Brahmin community that is probably feeling that the current government is “pro-Kshatriya”. In his social media post, Pandit has said “Uttar Pradesh has become “Brahmhatya Pradesh”, a state where Brahmins are killed”.

The next elections in the state are due only in 2022, however the Opposition parties; Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), know the time to do the groundwork is ripe. Scroll even adds the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the mix, as it too has joined in criticising the UP government’s “neglect” of the Brahmin community. A far cry from the time when the state had Brahmin Chief Ministers, and ministers. At least three, with family origins in Uttar Pradesh have been Prime Ministers too.

That was then, this is now. The Brahmins are now claiming that they are being victimised by the BJP government. Their cries seemed to have stirred sympathy even in Bahujan leader, Mayawati. The National President of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and four time Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has said the Brahmin community is “saddened by the casteist working style of the BJP” towards them. She said now members of the Brahmin society are dissociating from the BJP “and joining the BSP”.

According to Mayawati, the Brahmins are “quite intelligent” and will “not be misled.” She reminded her followers that the BSP government  had a “large number of ministers” and those at “other higher posts” from the “the Brahmin Samaj MLAs”. 

2. खासकर ब्राह्मण समाज के प्रति बीजेपी की जातिवादी कार्यशैली से दुःखी होकर अब इस पार्टी से अलग होकर व बीएसपी में जुड़ते हुये देखकर इन्हें यह कह रहे हैं कि तिलक, तराजू की बात करने वाले अब परशुराम की बात कर रहे हैं। लेकिन यह समाज काफी बुद्धिमान है। इनके बहकावे में नहीं आयेगा। 2/4

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) August 22, 2020

The Scroll reported that in the recently concluded UP Assembly session, Devmani Dwivedi, a BJP member of the legislative assembly from Sultanpur, asked questions from the government on the alleged attacks on Brahims. He asked, “How many Brahmins have been killed in the present regime? How many killers have been arrested? What are the security plans for Brahmins? Will the government provide them weapon licenses on priority?” 

Not to be outdone, Congress’s Jitin Prasada, a former Union Minister of State for Steel, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Road Transport & Highways and Human Resource Development launched an ‘awareness crusade’ for his community. He posted the event proudly as: ‘Brahma_Chetna_’ dialogue, as descendants of lost Parshurama, “walking on the path of justice, will bring back the lost honor, glory and pride of our society.” Parshurama was a Brahmin sage revered as an incarnation of Vishnu in the Hindu mythology. 

“ब्रह्म_चेतना_संवाद” जन-जन के आस्था के प्रतीक जनपद #चित्रकूट से हुआ। हम सभी न्याय के पथ पर चलते हुए भगवान परशुराम के बंशज अपने समाज के खोये मान-सम्मान, गौरव को वापस लाकर ही रहेंगे। संवाद में शामिल सभी का आभार…? pic.twitter.com/vIqWGuf03a

— Jitin Prasada जितिन प्रसाद (@JitinPrasada) August 26, 2020

He can now be seen blowing a conch, in his display pic on social media.

The social media page is now active, and gives the Congress leader full credit of course with its tagline: “ब्राह्मणों के सम्मान में। जितिन प्रसाद जी मैदान में।।” that translates as, “For the honor of Brahmins, Jitin Prasad ji in the arena.”  A telling sign, that may worry the Congress leadership more than it will anyone in the Brahmin community.

Brahmins constitute about 11% of the state’s voting population, according to estimates shared by political parties, reports Scroll. However, it correctly adds that more than the numbers, it is the Brahmin influence that makes them powerful in state politics. Which is why even Mayawati needs to make sure they are on her side in larger numbers this time around. She has been sharing her ‘concern for the Brahmin community’, which she feared may be feeling vulnerable, and targeted, after Vikas Dubey, and his gang members were shot dead.

Congressman Jitin Prasada, stated the news report, went a step ahead and demanded on August 11, that the Adityanath government restore Parshuram Jayanti as a state holiday. The holiday had been introduced by the Samajwadi Party government in 2007 and revoked by the BJP government in 2017. This was followed by  Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav who on August 23, said the BJP was now realising the importance of Parshuram and that too for narrow political gain, reported the Scroll, adding that his party colleague Abhishek Mishra had already announced his party would install the world’s tallest statue of Parshuram. The Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh even held a press conference on August 12 alleging that UP Police’s Special Task Force was a “Special Thakur Force” under the incumbent government. The report noted that many BJP sympathisers lodged FIRs against Singh over this comment.

On his part, the UP CM, in his speech in the monsoon session of the UP Assembly made sure to mention: “Ram and Parshuram are same in our eyes, those who differentiate them, they have a problem in their vision.” The Scroll’s news report added that Umesh Dwivedi, a BJP member of the legislative council, had said in a recent television interview that UP government was planning to provide special insurance to Brahmins and jobs for the widows of those who had been killed. However, Brahmin Naman Pandit, the cow vigilante activist, only seems to want weapons.

Perhaps, Jitin Prasada is the one who may need some ‘political insurance’ as he is facing critique from his own party colleagues now. Not yet for his leadership initiatives from the Brahmin community, but for his participation in the alleged dissent that became the core of discussion at the recent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet. He was the only one from Uttar Pradesh to have signed the now famous “dissent letter”. According to news reports, a unit of the party in Uttar Pradesh has demanded action against Jitin Prasada for that. According to a report by NDTV, the party unit has attacked Prasada and stated, “Jitin Prasada is the only person from Uttar Pradesh to have signed the letter. His family history has been against the Gandhi family and his father the late Jitendra Prasad proved it by fighting elections against Sonia Gandhi. Despite this, Sonia Gandhi gave Jitin Prasada a Lok Sabha ticket and made him a minister. What he has done is gross indiscipline and the district Congress committee wants strict action against him and condemns his actions. ” 

He has found support in senior party leader Kapil Sibal who posted, “ Unfortunate that Jitin Prasada is being officially targeted in UP Congress needs to target the BJP with surgical strikes instead wasting its energy by targeting its own”

Unfortunate that Jitin Prasada is being officially targeted in UP

Congress needs to target the BJP with surgical strikes instead wasting its energy by targeting its own

— Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) August 27, 2020

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Sparking controversies and criticisms, a sitting judge of the Kerala High Court, Justice V Chitambaresh recently made casteist remarks at a ‘Tamil Brahmin’s Global Meet’ conducted on Friday in Kochi by Kerala Brahmana Mahasabha.

Calling Brahmins dwijhanmana or twice born, he went on to describe some supposed characteristics of Brahmins saying that they have “clean habits, lofty thinking, sterling character, mostly a vegetarian, a lover of Carnatic music” and basically “all good qualities rolled into one”. These ideas have been previously contested by scholars on the basis that this promotes the concept of pure and impure, where, while the Brahmins are seen to be of pure origins, the Dalits and Other backward castes are seen as impure.

The judge proceeded to opine about the ‘rich heritage’ of Agraharams (temple land given to Brahmins by kings) remarking that the areas around such land should be preserved. “There are innumerable agraharams in Kerala, which needs to be preserved. There is a rich cultural heritage. The agraharams have to be declared as heritage source and we shall not permit any flat to be built in between the agraharams – in between the houses in the agraharams.“

Though he kept saying that “it may not be proper” for him to “express any opinion” he called on the Brahmin community to agitate for economic reservation saying that there is a platform for Brahmins to “agitate or to voice” their “concern about economic reservation alone, and not caste or communal reservation.” He said, “Of course, there is a 10% reservation for economically backward classes. A son of a Brahmin cook, even if he falls within the non-creamy layer zone, will not get any reservation. Whereas, a son of a timber merchant who belongs to other backward communities will get reservation if he is within the non-creamy layer zone. I am not expressing any opinion at all, it is for you to deliberate and put forward your opinion.”

The judge then moved to remark that “more of Veda Padshaalas which are now dwindling should be encouraged”.

Towards the conclusion, he said that the Brahmins should always be at the helm of the affairs. “It may be noted that a Brahmin is never communal, he is always considerate, he is an ahimsavadi (proponent of peace). He loves people, he is one who liberally donates for any laudable cause. Such a person should always be at the helm of affairs for which this Tamil Brahmin meet will definitely be a turning point,” he said.

An alumnus of Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram, Justice Chitambaresh started his practice in 1981 and was designated Senior Advocate in November 2007. In November 2011, he was sworn-in as an Additional Judge of the Kerala High Court. In December 2012, he was made permanent judge.

His remarks, which can be easily called casteist, were criticised by social media users. Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi said on Twitter that he disagreed with the judge. “I would simply disagree with Lordship and say that all humans are born equal,” Singhvi tweeted.

Having a clearly biased stand on caste, the judge has, in the past, upheld values of civil liberties.

In October 2017, a division Bench headed by him ordered the release of a Hindu girl from the detention of her family to marry her Muslim lover. He had said, “We caution that every case of inter-religious marriage shall not be portrayed on a religious canvas and create fissures in the communal harmony otherwise existing in the God’s own country.”

Last year, he also authored a judgment allowing a person to live with transgender community, dismissing the habeas plea of the mother.

However, it’s hard to say that these judgments can whitewash the blatantly casteist remarks the Judge has made at a time when the society if rife with caste based atrocities and even after 74 years of independence, caste discrimination has continued in the country.
 

The post Kerala HC judge says Brahmins should be at the Helm of Affairs, asks them to agitate against Reservations appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Photo courtesy: Twitter handle @wbf_canada
 

The post Opinion: Will the caste mind rise and smash Brahmanical Patriarchy? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh has been on the boil for nearly a month as the Thakurs – also known as Kshatriyas or Rajputs – have been engaged in violent attacks on the Dalits in which several people have been killed, several others injured, houses burnt.

Western Uttar Pradesh is a very fertile land owned by powerful farmers from Jat and Gujjar communities who have dominated the politics with late Charan Singh, former Prime Minister of India, the tallest icon among them. Suddenly it is the most active place for the Hindutva strategists to plan their future politics in the state.

The BJP was never the first choice of the farmer communities in Uttar Pradesh. Charan Singh had actually created an alliance of Ahir, Jat, Gujjar and Rajputs (AJGAR). But later on the Janata brand of socialists converted this into MAJGAR by adding Muslims to it. This was a powerful alliance and leaders succeeded through weaving this secular alliance.

Some added ‘Harijans’ too in the combination which was the term being used for Dalits before 1980s. It is another matter that before the arrival of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), this region’s Dalits could never use their franchise independently without any fear or favor.

But after the hugely successful ‘Muzaffarnagar experiment’ to control politics in Uttar Pradesh, BJP needed to break this alliance and convert it into the Muslim vs non-Muslim binary which gave it high ‘return’’ of votes during the elections.

An analysis of the beneficiaries from BJP’s strategy and harvest of hatred reveals it is the two communities of Thakurs and Brahmins who were absolutely marginalized in the post-Mandal politics. Due to over-ambitious and narrow-minded approach of current day politicians the dedicated workers of the RSS were able to use the contradiction among various communities to convey to the Thakurs and Brahmins that they were victims of ‘appeasement of Muslims’ and got them highly charged.

The problem with the current dispensation is that it has no time for governance as it continues to be in the election mode having learnt the art of democratic dividends through division of votes.

On April 20^th this year, Saharanpur saw an attempt to create a rift between the Dalits and Muslims. BJP MP Ram Lakhan Pal Sharma wanted to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti by organizing a procession which was to pass through some of the Muslim dominated areas. The administration denied permission as the Dalits who had already celebrated the Ambedkar Jayanti Programme on April 14^th felt no need of participating in the BJP-organised programme.

Sharma’s supporters became violent and the police was virtually helpless in front of the goons of the MP. The Superintendent of Police Lav Kumar’s house was ransacked. His wife narrated the ordeal of her family with little children and how they were terrified.

Instead of taking any action against Sharma, the Uttar Pradesh government transferred the honest officer and brought in another officer Subhash Chandra, against whom the previous UP government appointed judicial commission probing Muzaffarnagar riots had passed critical remarks.

The first engineered riots after April 20^th was when the Thakurs decided to celebrate the Maharana Pratap Jayanti. Maharana Pratap has become an important icon for the BJP to exploit in the name of ‘nationalism’. But in fact behind celebrations of Maharana Pratap and Prithviraj Chauhan jayantis is the idea of Rajput supremacy.

BJP has been able to use the powerful dominant communities including Rajputs, Jats, Lodhs, Kurmis into its fold through blatant hate propaganda against Muslims. Celebrating these jayantis not only strengthens the perception but also to give an opportunity to the ‘depressed’ communities who do not have any ‘role models’ to propagate. Two prominent Rajput leaders VP Singh and Arjun Singh were widely associated with the movement for social justice for backward classes. But for Rajputs they are ‘traitors’ as they facilitated the implementation of Mandal’s recommendations at different levels.

Recently Yogi Adityanath was invited as chief guest to commemorate the birthday of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar in Lucknow. Despite claiming to be a ‘socialist’ leader and follower of Acharya Narendra Dev, Chandrashekhar was essentially a Thakur and remained ‘proud’ of his values. In the villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Thakurs still consider Chandrashekhar as one among their top leaders.

Now, this caste unity is growing beyond party lines. After the ascendency of Yogi Adityanath, the Thakurs in Uttar Pradesh are virtually celebrating. They seem unable to understand the responsibility of running a state administration without any caste biases. There are reports of Thakur civil servants being given important positions in administration.

RSS and other allied organisations are not as active in the state as Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini which has outnumbered them. Most of the leaders of the Vahini hail from powerful Rajputs (Thakurs) families as well as dominant OBC communities. This has resulted in violence against Muslims and now against Dalits who are asserting themselves.

Saharanpur has been the hub of the BSP and powerful Ambedkarite assertive politics. The Dalits here have been active in the BSP movement for long and their alliance with Muslims is always a winning combination.

The other powerful community in the district is Gujjar but in the politics of farcical sloganeering the Thakurs and Brahmins have dominated the art of manipulating things. This has reduced Gujjars into a political non-entity despite being in majority in the region.

With elections to the local bodies around the corner, it is reported that BJP’s Raghav Lakhan Pal Sharma is eyeing for his son to contest. However, there is another other side of the story too.

As reported by Sanjiv Chandan in the Forward Press about the possible involvement of Sher Singh Rana, the man accused of killing Samajwadi Party MP Phoolan Devi and who is now on bail. It is no secret that Rana used the murder of Phoolan Devi to promote his political interest by suggesting that he has avenged the killings of the Rajputs in the Behmahi village in Kanpur Dehat allegedly by Phoolan Devi. Sanjiv Chandan, who interviewed him, says that Rana is a politically savvy and highly ambitious person and has been actively promoting Maharana Pratap as the pride of Rajputs.
The rise of Bhim Army can be seen as a threat to Rajput supremacy and there is a possibility of the Hindutva forces supporting such caste army which fights for maintaining status quo.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been paying glorious tributes to Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar. He misses no opportunity to quote him profusely as the builder of modern India. But he has yet to understand that a modern, democratic Ambedkarite cannot go with the old rajas, kings, emperors and monarchs.

Personally speaking, there is no justification of celebrating the valor of rajas and maharajas as they were the product of their period and except for taking pride in their caste, there is nothing much to glorify and celebrate.

Today, if we are talking of ending the caste system, bringing a law against untouchability or affirmative action for the Dalits and other marginalized sections of society, it is because of democracy. Were these possible if we had the old regimes still in place?

Why is Indian society so fanatical about caste and untouchability? If ideologues of the Sangh Parivar who glorify these icons and are deliberately highlighting an icon for each community to celebrate and ‘glory’ over the past, then they should tell us how many of these rajas worked for ending caste discrimination, untouchability in their empire?

In fact the biggest victims of the old system are the Rajputs themselves, where majority of the women still live behind veils (ghoonghat). This is particularly so in Rajasthan which is considered to be a region where Rajputs ruled for long and which still has palaces and forts that make all of us proud of these historical and beautiful structures. But at the same time we have the reality of a highly feudal system, caste system, child marriages and celebration of Sati too. The Sati practice was justified by none less than the Gwalior royal family and one of the founding members of BJP was the late Vijaya Raje Scindia.

The huge protest that the Bhim Army organized at Jantar Mantar last week has shown the strength of the Dalits who may not be willing to depend too much on political parties for resolving their crisis particularly related to their integrity and dignity.

The Bhim Sena has grown in the region by taking up constructive work among in the community, starting schools, developing entrepreneurship among Dalits. Of course, the primary strength of the Bhim Army is the Chamar community. It makes one wonder whether the Hindutva forces see the Bhim Army as a threat or plans to use it to sideline BSP and its leader Mayawati who enjoyed immense power in this region.

People were expecting Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad to be arrested at the Jantar Mantar. But he has not been arrested so far. At the moment we will not speculate about his activities or future plan of action unless there is some more public action on his part.

On May 23^rd, BSP President Mayawati visited Shabbirpur village where the houses of Dalits were ransacked by the Thakurs on May 5^th. The administration did not allow her to use a helicopter. Hence she went there by road which proved to be a boon as thousands of BSP workers from Ghaziabad to Meerut and Muzaffarnagar were waiting for her enroute to Saharanpur.

She had a road show and she spoke of maintaining law and order and asked for actions against the culprits. She also provided financial support from her party to families who had lost their houses, which is something the state government should have done.

One may disagree with her but she has been measured in her response which many of her strong critiques in the community see as tame surrender to upper caste politics. But people should not forget that you can’t expect a four-time chief minister to speak in a tit-for-tat, ‘khoon ka badla khoon se lenge’ kind of language which the Hindutva politicians have been using.

Mayawati showed maturity but it is also time for her to aggressively articulate the demands of young educated Dalits who are getting restive with slow or non-responses by her party on these kinds of issues. People feel that she has taken nearly a month to visit Saharanpur yet it warmed the already depressed cadres.

As soon as the Dalits were returning from Mayawati’s programme in Shabbirpur in Saharanpur district, there were clashes and violence was reported. The Thakurs attacked the Dalits resulting in several deaths. It is ironic that the Uttar Pradesh chief minister or the Prime Minister has not spoken a word on the attacks.

Mere condemnation will not work. The fact is that these kinds of contradictions that the BJP tried to manage during the elections with its one-point agenda of anti-Muslim rhetoric will not work for long. The Rajputs have become hyper during this government. Economically, they are not a power house. With land getting fragmented they do not have the strength of numbers to control politics of the region.

In the government services the percentage of Rajputs is very low. One of the reasons for this was the community’s disdain for it given its feudal outlook. Over the past few decades Rajputs did not engage in caste violence and seemed to have accepted the social reality that they don’t have numbers. Nor do they have the financial power of industrialists like Mukesh Ambani to dictate politics to politicians.

But with the growth of Hindutva and its muscular politics, Rajputs are again being ‘militarised’. This is a desperate attempt which is suicidal for it as we are living in the 21^st century where each one is being watched and observed. It is the age of human dignity and human rights. In the age of democracy Rajputs can’t live in the present glorying in their ‘past’.

A Maharana Pratap can be an icon for the community in terms of valour. But in today’s world you celebrate it through ideas and not guns. It is time for them to take the path of Buddha and that would guarantee their liberation along with all others.

The creation of community-based heroes is a political construct of the Sangh Parivar so that we all are stuck to our communities and do not accept any other thought of liberation. Such confinement reduces Maharana Pratap to a Rajput icon while relegating Dr Ambedkar to merely a Dalit icon.

The Rajputs and for that matter any other ‘sawarna [upper] caste must liberate itself from the prejudices of the past. That is possible only when they are able to positively understand the writings of Dr Ambedkar. But the political parties which want to use Ambedkar just to garner Dalit votes will never be able to do justice with him.

Dalits are responding to the challenges of the present in different ways. Many believe in a political response, others are thinking of a mighty Bhim Army while a few of them are resorting to religious conversion.

Over 180 families converted to Buddhism in Saharanpur. Earlier, in Sambhal district Balmikis [Valmikis], which is a community of manual scavengers, left Hinduism and embraced Buddhism because of their continuous isolation. The tragedy is that even the barbers were not cutting their hair.

How has it happened that all of a sudden the anti-Dalit feelings in the state are growing? We need to probe it. The fact is that barbers are one of the most humiliated communities in India and at many places their job is not just cutting hair. In our traditional village system of Manu they are supposed to serve both the bride and bridegrooms sides.

This includes washing the feet of baratis and all kind of work which none would advise in modern democratic society. But such is the ‘power’ of varnashram dharma that even a humiliated barber enjoys humiliating those who he feels are ‘lower’ than him.

Long ago Babasaheb Ambedkar had called it graded inequality, ascending order of reverence and descending order of contempt.

Religious conversion definitely has been a liberation theology for the Dalits in India. But pressure of the government makes it difficult for them to exercise this right to faith in today’s time. The right to faith is frankly provided to them just for conversion to Buddhism as the Hindutva forces consider Buddhism part of their dharma. Though this is incorrect they don’t feel too much of threat from it.

Other than this, any conversion to Islam or Christianity by the Dalits will not only be violently protested by the Sangh Parivar’s various offshoots but also by the state apparatus. Even when the Sangh Parivar is not seeing Buddhism as a threat at a broader level they are gleeful of the fact that there has not been any major call for conversion to Buddhism since the passing away of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar who embraced Buddhism in Nagpur on October 14^th, 1956 with a large number of his followers.

Can any organization give a call to Dalits over the country to embrace Buddhism on October 14^th 2017 this year? When political parties fail Dalits, they will either embrace militancy or spiritual liberation through conversion. Is there any other way which can give them justice and sense of belonging?

The post Prompted by the sangh parivar, Thakurs of Uttar Pradesh fighting a losing battle against Dalits appeared first on SabrangIndia.

1925 के दशहरा पर RSS की स्थापना महाराष्ट्र के कुछ कट्टर जातिवादी ब्राह्मणों ने ब्राह्मण नेता डॉ हेडगेवार के नेतृत्व में की और प्रारम्भ से विदेशी ब्लेक टोपी, विदेशी शर्ट – चड्डी ड्रेस कोड अपनाया जो 2016 तक चलाया गया.

Image: NDTV

2016 के दशहरा से ड्रेसकोड में बदलाव आया लेकिन हिन्दू संस्कृति के अनुसार नहीं लेकिन वही विदेशी ड्रेसकोड. काली टोपी, शर्ट और पेंट का बदलाव लाया गया.

RSS के प्रथम सर संघचालक ब्राह्मण नेता डॉ हेडगेवार, दुसरे सर संघचालक ब्राह्मण नेता गोलवलकर, तीसरे सर संघचालक ब्राह्मण नेता देवरस, चौथे सर संघचालक क्षत्रिय रज्जू भैया, पांचवे सर संघचालक ब्राह्मण नेता सुदर्शन और 6वे सर संघचालक ब्राह्मण नेता मोहन भागवत वर्तमान में कार्यरत है.

 संघ के जातिवादी ब्राह्मण नेताओ ने भारत को 11 क्षेत्रों में बांट कर अपने जाति संगठन को आरएसएस के नाम से जमाया है. इन क्षेत्रों का संचालन करने वालों का सामाजिक चित्र नीचे दिया गया है.

11 क्षेत्रोके 34 पदाधिकारियों में सामाजिक प्रतिनिधित्व
सामाजिक वर्ग – – – – आबादी – – -पदाधिकारी – हिस्सेदारी
1. ब्राह्मण – – – – – -03.00% – – – 24 – – – – 70.59%
2. क्षत्रिय-भूमिहार – -05.90% – – – 01 – – – – 02.94%
3. वैश्य – – – – – – – -01.70% – – – 07 – – – – 20.55%
4. शुद्र – – – – – – – – 51.70%- – – – 01 – – – -05.88%
5. अतिशुद्र- – – – – – 24.00% – – – -00 – – – -00.00%
(स्त्रोत-आरएसएस डॉटकॉम 2004-इंटरनेट पर आधारित)

संघ के प्रथम सर संघचालक, विहिप के प्रथम अध्यक्ष, एबीवीपी के प्रथम अध्यक्ष, भीरतीय मज़दूर संघ के प्रथम अध्यक्ष और राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेविका संघ की प्रथम अध्यक्षा कौन सी जाति की थी और आज इन पदों पर  कौन सी जाति के है ?

ब्राह्मण संगठन की पहचान को छुपाने के लिए ब्राह्मण स्वयंसेवक संघ नाम के बदले राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ नाम रखा गया है, ये बात देश के बहुत कम लोग जानते है.
 

The post हिंदुओं का नहीं, ब्राह्मण-बनिया संगठन है आरएसएस appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Former DGP, Gujarat, RB Sreekumar, in a letter to Gujarat CM, Anandiben Patel calls for an end to the criteria of born Brahmins alone being appointed as priests in government managed temples in Gujarat..

In a detailed letter addressed to Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, the former DGP, RB Sreekumar has pointed out that by appointing Brahmins only in nearly 80 state-managed temples as staff engaged in ceremonial, ritualistic and religious functions, the government is violating the Indian Constitution and making a mockery of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim of being “A torch bearer to carry on the work and principles of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar”.

Making references to Dr BR Ambedkar’s writings (’Annihilation of Caste’, ’Riddles of Hinduism’, The Untouchables’, ’Buddha and Karl Marx’) the letter points out that, “Ambedkarism is not a set of metaphysical concepts or dogmatic socio-political theories. It is a product of application of lofty Indian spiritual ethos of Buddhism, and liberal western political ideas from the days of the French Revolution (1789), the anti-colonial struggles and upheavals for establishment of representative democracy guaranteeing fundamental human rights, inclusive distributive justice and equitable service delivery to the people by the State”.
 
The letter notes with regret that “those engaged in performing ritualistic worship and ceremonial duties along with temple staff employed for auxiliary services like providing articles of worship, preparation of prasad etc, are appointed to those posts exclusively from certain families from the caste of Brahmins”. What’s more, “Many devotees complain that some priests do not know and comprehend the conceptual, metaphysical and spiritual import of many Vedic Suktas and Slokas from Tantra Samucchaya of Parashurama, chanted during pooja (worship)”.

Citing slokas from the Vedas , Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, Bhagwat Gita and other Hindu scriptures, the letter argues that no one is born a Brahmin but becomes one through acquiring education and culture.

Maintaining that “the present system of illegal monopoly of one caste in temple worship service is obnoxiously obscurantist, besides being repugnant of basic structure of the Indian Constitution and pre eminent Hindu scriptures”, the letter urges the Gujarat chief minister to “constitute a Gujarat Temple Service (GTS), on the pattern of any self-contained government service cadre” and to ensure that “qualified women should also be inducted as priests in GTS”.

 The full text of the former DGP’s letter may be read here.

The post Appointment of Brahmins Only to Government Managed Temples in Gujarat Mocks Ambedkar, Violates Constitution: Former DGP to Gujarat CM appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The late scholar and historian, Dr. Bishambhar Nath Pande’s research efforts exploded myths on Aurangzeb’s rule. They also offer an excellent example of what history has to teach us if only we  study it dispassionately 

The Muslim rule in India lasted for almost 1,000  years. How come then, asked the British historian Sir  Henry Elliot, that Hindus “had not left any account which could enable us to gauge the traumatic impact the Muslim conquest and rule had on them?” Since there was none, Elliot went on to produce his own eight–volume History of India from with contributions from British historians (1867). His history claimed Hindus were slain for disputing with ‘Muhammedans’, generally prohibited from worshipping and taking out religious processions, their idols were mutilated, their temples destroyed, they were forced into conversions and marriages, and were killed and massacred by drunk Muslim tyrants. Thus Sir Henry, and scores of other Empire scholars, went on to produce a synthetic Hindu versus Muslim history of India, and their lies became history.

However, the noted Indian scholar and historian, Dr Bishambhar Nath Pande, who passed away in New Delhi on June 1, 1998, ranked among the very few Indians and fewer still Hindu historians who tried to be a little careful when dealing with such history. He knew that this history was ‘originally compiled by European writers’ whose main objective was to produce a history that would serve their policy of divide and rule.

Lord Curzon (Governor General of India 1895–99 and Viceroy 1899–1904 (d.1925) was told by the Secretary of State for India, George Francis Hamilton, that they should “so plan the educational text books that the differences between community and community are further strengthened”.

Another Viceroy, Lord Dufferin (1884–88), was advised by the Secretary of State in London that the “division of religious feelings is greatly to our advantage”, and that he expected “some good as a result of your committee of inquiry on Indian education and on teaching material”.

“We have maintained our power in India by playing–off one part against the other”, the Secretary of State for India reminded yet another Viceroy, Lord Elgin (1862–63), “and we must continue to do so. Do all you can, therefore, to prevent all having a common feeling.”

In his famous Khuda Bakhsh Annual Lecture (1985) Dr Pande said: “Thus under a definite policy the Indian history text–books were so falsified and distorted as to give an impression that the medieval (i.e., Muslim) period of Indian history was full of atrocities committed by Muslim rulers on their Hindu subjects and the Hindus had to suffer terrible indignities under Muslim rule. And there were no common factors (between Hindus and Muslims) in social, political and economic life.”

Therefore, Dr. Pande was extra careful. Whenever he came across a ‘fact’ that looked odd to him, he would try to check and verify rather than adopt it uncritically.

He came across a history textbook taught in the Anglo–Bengali College, Allahabad, which claimed that “three thousand Brahmins had committed suicide as Tipu wanted to convert them forcibly into the fold of Islam”. The author was a very famous scholar, Dr Har Prashad Shastri, head of the department of Sanskrit at Calcutta University. (Tipu Sultan (1750–99), who ruled over the South Indian state of Mysore (1782–99), is one of the most heroic figures in Indian history. He died on the battlefield, fighting the British.)

Was it true? Dr Pande wrote immediately to the author and asked him for the source on which he had based this episode in his text–book. After several reminders, Dr Shastri replied that he had taken this information from the Mysore Gazetteer. So Dr. Pande requested the Mysore University vice–chancellor, Sir Brijendra Nath Seal, to verify for him Dr Shastri’s statement from the Gazetteer. Sir Brijendra referred his letter to Prof. Srikantia who was then working on a new edition of the Gazetteer.

Srikantia wrote to say that the Gazetteer mentioned no such incident and, as a historian himself, he was certain that nothing like this had taken place. Prof Srikantia added that both the prime minister and the commander–in–chief of Tipu Sultan were themselves Brahmins. He also enclosed a list of 136 Hindu temples which used to receive annual grants from the Sultan’s treasury.

‘When Aurangzeb came to know of this, he was very much enraged. He sent his senior officers to search for the Rani. Ultimately they found that statue of Ganesh (the elephant–headed god which was fixed in the wall was a moveable one. When the statue was moved, they saw a flight of stairs that led to the basement. To their horror they found the missing Rani dishonoured and crying deprived of all her ornaments. The basement was just beneath Lord Vishwanath’s seat.’

It transpired that Shastri had lifted this story from Colonel Miles’ History of Mysore which Miles claimed he had taken from a Persian manuscript in the personal library of Queen Victoria. When Dr. Pande checked further, he found that no such manuscript existed in Queen Victoria’s library. Yet Dr. Shastri’s book was being used as a high school history text–book in seven Indian states, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. So he sent his entire correspondence about the book to the vice–chancellor of Calcutta University, Sir Ashutosh Chaudhary. Sir Ashutosh promptly ordered Shashtri’s book out of the course. Yet years later, in 1972, Dr. Pande was surprised to discover the same suicide story was still being taught as ‘history’ in junior high schools in Uttar Pradesh. The lie had found currency as a fact of history.

The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (born 1618, reigned 1658–1707) is the most reviled of all Muslim rulers in India. He was supposed to be a great destroyer of temples and oppressor of Hindus, and a ‘fundamentalist’ too! As chairman of the Allahabad Municipality (1948–’53), Dr. Pande had to deal with a land dispute between two temple priests. One of them had filed in evidence some firmans (royal orders) to prove that Aurangzeb had, besides cash, gifted the land in question for the maintenance of his temple. Might they not be fake, Dr. Pande thought, in view of Aurangzeb’s fanatically anti–Hindu image? He showed them to his friend, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, a distinguished lawyer as well a great scholar of Arabic and Persian. He was also a Brahmin. Sapru examined the documents and declared they were genuine firmans issued by Aurangzeb.

For Dr. Pande this was a ‘new image of Aurangzeb’; so he wrote to the chief priests of the various important temples, all over the country, requesting photocopies of any firman issued by Aurangzeb that they may have in their possession. The response was overwhelming; he got firmans from several principal Hindu and Jain temples, even from Sikh Gurudwaras in northern India. These firmans, issued between 1659 and 1685, related to grant of jagir (large parcel of agricultural lands) to support regular maintenance of these places of worship.

Dr Pande’s research showed that Aurangzeb was as solicitous of the rights and welfare of his non–Muslim subjects as he was of his Muslim subjects. Hindu plaintiffs received full justice against their Muslims respondents and, if guilty, Muslims were given punishment as necessary.

One of the greatest charges against Aurangzeb is of the demolition of Vishwanath temple in Banaras (Varanasi). That was a fact, but Dr. Pande unravelled the reason for it. “While Aurangzeb was passing near Varanasi on his way to Bengal, the Hindu Rajas in his retinue requested that if the halt was made for a day, their Ranis may go to Varanasi, have a dip in the Ganges and pay their homage to Lord Vishwanath. Aurangzeb readily agreed.

“Army pickets were posted on the five mile route to Varanasi. The Ranis made journey on the palkis (palanquins). They took their dip in the Ganges and went to the Vishwanath temple to pay their homage. After offering puja (worship) all the Ranis returned except one, the Maharani of Kutch. A thorough search was made of the temple precincts but the Rani was to be found nowhere.

“When Aurangzeb came to know of this, he was very much enraged. He sent his senior officers to search for the Rani. Ultimately they found that statue of Ganesh (the elephant–headed god which was fixed in the wall was a moveable one. When the statue was moved, they saw a flight of stairs that led to the basement. To their horror they found the missing Rani dishonoured and crying deprived of all her ornaments. The basement was just beneath Lord Vishwanath’s seat.”

The Rajas demanded salutary action, and “Aurangzeb ordered that as the sacred precincts have been despoiled, Lord Vishwanath may be moved to some other place, the temple be razed to the ground and the Mahant (head priest) be arrested and punished”. (B. N. Pande, Islam and Indian Culture, Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna, 1987).

Dr. Pande believed in the innate goodness of human nature. Despite all that senseless hate and periodical outbreak of anti–Muslim violence after independence, he remained an optimist. When one of the worst riots took place in 1969 in Ahmedabad, in which more than 2,000 Muslims were killed and 6,000 houses burnt, Dr. Pande travelled there to see whether there was “any humanity still alive”.

Yes, it was in one locality, Mewabhai Chaal, where he found that all the houses had been burnt down. Did they all belong to Muslims? No. Only 35 belonged to Muslims; some 125 belonged to Hindus, he was told. So, it meant, the arsonists came in two different waves; one destroying the Muslim houses and the other the Hindu houses? No, it was only one wave, said Kalyan Singh. That one, there, he pointed out to smoke billowing from what used to be his house and his tyre-shop. He was a Hindu and he had lost property and business worth 200,000 rupees.
The miscreants had asked him to point out the Muslim houses so they could spare the Hindu houses. Kalyan Singh refused, and watched as the mob set fire to all the houses – including his own. How could I betray my Muslim neighbours? he asked Dr. Pande rhetorically.

Dr. Pande also went to the Muslim students’ hostel. One–third of its residents were Hindus. “Come out all you Hindu students,” yelled a murderous mob gathered outside the hostel. No, we won’t, shouted back the Hindu students and locked the gate from inside. In the event, the entire hostel was evacuated by the army and then left to the mob to loot and burn. The Hindu students were told they could take with them their books and research papers. Dr. Pande met a young DSc scholar, named Desai, who had left behind his more than three years’ labour, a ready–for–typing dissertation, to be burnt by the arsonists. Desai said he couldn’t think of saving his thesis while some of his Muslim friends were in similar position with their theses. A noble soul! Dr. Pande who had been looking for humanity found it there as well.

The inhumanity did not lie in the Indian nature, but the nature had fallen victim to the evil heritage of colonial history. Few realised how 1,000 years of their history had been stolen from them. Many tended to buy the fake and doctored version handed down to them as part of their colonial heritage. Some even saw a little political advantage in this trade. Dr. Pande heard a leading Hindu Mahasabha politician and religious leader, Mahant Digvijaynath, telling an election meeting that it is written in the Qur’an that killing a Hindu was an act of goodness (thawab). Dr. Pande called upon the Mahant (High Priest) and told him that he had read the Qur’an a few ti mes but didn’t find such a statement in it, and he had, therefore, brought with him several English, Urdu and Hindi translations of the Qur’an; so would he kindly point to him where exactly did the statement occur in the Qur’an?

Isn’t it written there? said the Mahant. I haven’t found it; if you have, please tell me, replied Dr. Pande. Then what does it say? It speaks about love and brotherhood, about the oneness of mankind. 

What’s jihad then? What is jizyah? How then India got partitioned? The Mahant went on asking, and Dr. Pande kept on explaining, hoping the Mahant would correct himself.

However, the Mahant’s ideas were fixed, in prejudice and in ignorance. Dr. Pande himself had been a senior member of the ruling Congress party which he had joined at a very young age. He was a disciple of Gandhi, a friend of Nehru; he had taken part in each and every non–cooperation movement against the British and gone to jail eight times. The Congress was supposed to be an all–Indian nationalist platform and yet Dr. Pande’s party was hardly free from the bias and ignorance of a cleverly deconstructed history. The rise of militant Hindutva tendency is only recent, but before it all became overt, the Congress itself was doing the same, albeit a little covertly. All the horrific anti–Muslim carnage took place during more than four decades of Congress rule. The doors of the Babri Mosque were opened for Hindu worship during the tenure of Nehru’s grandson, Rajiv Gandhi. The Mosque itself was pulled down during the regime of another Congress Prime Minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao.
Dr. Pande was, however, just one individual. That made his work all the more important, not just from the Muslim but from the point of view of the entire country. India’s deconstructed history is like a time bomb; unless it is defused, India cannot survive in one piece. Not for very long.

(Bishambhar Nath Pande born on 23 December 1906 in Madhya Pradesh of Umreth; member UP Legislative Assembly (1952–53); member UP Legislative Council (1972–74); twice member of the Rajya Sabha (1976 and 1982); governor of Orissa state (1983–88); recipient of Padma Shri (1976); author of several books, including The Spirit of India and The Concise History of Congress; died in New Delhi on June 1, 1998).           

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