Members of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) or Shudras have opened up a new anti-caste battlefront in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The trigger came from a doha or lyrical verse in Goswami Tulsidas’s famous epic poem, Ramcharitmanas, which says the Shudras, animals, drums and women should not be allowed near anything respectable—and punished if they cross boundaries. In this way, the Ramcharitmanas abuses the productive agrarian Shudras as people of animal status who do not deserve education and reputable employment.

Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya in Uttar Pradesh and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Prof Chandra Shekhar, the education minister of Bihar, flagged off this battle. Now it has spread to Shudra-OBC and Dalit organisations. Chandra Shekhar said the Ramcharitmanas “spreads hatred” and discrimination against the non-elite or lower castes.

The idea is catching on like wildfire. Shudra-OBC leaders have burnt copies of the book, challenging the RSS-BJP’s Dwija or twice-born leaders, saints and sadhus. There is little role for productive work in their lives, which most Sangh Parivar members spend around temples and RSS organisations. Some saints from UP have issued “fatwas” to kill Swami Prasad Maurya for a price. In Bihar, there are demands to dismiss and arrest Chandra Shekhar, but he has refused to apologise.

However, book-burning and banning are no solution—the authentic way out is to rewrite Indian history to include the contributions of the Shudras.

According to the protesters against the abusive language in the Ramcharitmanas, India does not just belong to Dwijas or the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Kayastha, Khatri and Nania, who believe the Shudra, Dalit and Adivasi communities must live as second-grade citizens in Hindu society. The latter do not want their children to learn those ancient or medieval books that abused these identities. They are rejecting syllabi of the kind the RSS-BJP has designed and presented as the “New” Education Policy. They are rebelling against ideas that humiliate them in classrooms and beyond—for example, the books circulated and published by the Gita Press, which promote casteism and Dwija authority in modern India. The New Education Policy wants to systematically promote the regressive ideas in such books.

In Lucknow, several banners appeared with the caption “Garv Se Kaho Hum Shudra Hain—Say with pride, we are Shudras”. They are harking back to the term “Shudra”, which referred to food producers and artisans in ancient and medieval Sanskrit books written by Brahmin saints and priests. These writers imbued the term to mean that the Shudras were unworthy of respect and human dignity, starting with the Rigveda and expanding after that. But the Shudra term is being redeployed by the productive communities as a concept worthy of positive identity. This Shudra movement is like the Black movement in America to rediscover their humiliated past as a weapon to fight for equality.

The Shudras were construed as born of the feet of Brahma, an Aryan war hero given the status of the highest god, while the Shudras were turned into perpetually enslaved people. In the Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Ramcharitmanas and so on, food producers and artisans were condemned to perform hard labour while kings, priests and saints were asked to shun food production and any other form of labour. But it is the labour-power of the Shudras that built this nation. Wealth cannot be produced by books that do not promote human equality and productive work ethics.

The RSS-BJP calls the Shudra and Chandalas (former untouchables) Hindus but does not go beyond making verbal claims. In practice, it denies them equal spiritual rights in temples or access to their Utopian visions of life after death. The power to control temples has remained in the hands of Brahmin priests, and the RSS never sought equal rights for Hindus of other castes—except the three elite classes—to enjoy this power.

Since the 2014 parliamentary election, the RSS-BJP forces have divided the Shudras into lower, middle and upper OBCs. It has mobilised them within the Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Bania voting blocs, which favour the BJP in every election. It did this to weaken the regional parties and strengthen its own power at the cost of the disadvantaged Shudra, Dalit and Adivasis. Make no mistake—even national wealth is being transferred to the hands of Dwija industrialists, as the Hindenburg report, published not from India but overseas, has exposed in the Adani Enterprises case.

The RSS-BJP combine wants to organise Hinduism precisely on the lines of conservative Muslim systems in, say, the Middle East, Pakistan or Afghanistan, where kings, dictators or religious figures control the wheels of power. That is why we hear of so-called religious “leaders” in North India issuing fatwas against Shudra leaders.

We must redefine the Shudra category as a dignified, productive force with a role in the political, social, economic and educational fields. Without mass mobilisation around this historical category, the productive status of the masses will get pushed back to Tulsidas’s time. This is why “Say with pride, we are Shudras” is the right slogan for these times.

When Chandra Shekhar put Manu Dharma Shastra, the Ramcharitmanas and the RSS’s ideological guru MS Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts in the same basket, clarity about this situation emerged. Promoting such knowledge will automatically make classical Shudra-Dalit enslavement the norm. Today, OBC-Dalit schoolchildren do not realise that the Shudra category refers to their productive, labouring parents. We need a new cultural battlefront to stop their modern enslavement.

Periyar Ramasamy started this fight in Tamil Nadu, unifying the Shudra-Dalit categories as Dravidians. The RSS-BJP plan is to break Dravidian unity and Shudra-Dalit-Adivasi unity by putting the Muslims up as enemies of Hindus. The Shudras and Dalits have bought into the RSS-BJP’s claims about a Muslim threat to the nation and voted them to power in Delhi and several States. But its undeclared agenda is to relegate the Shudra-Dalit forces to classical Brahmanical hegemony.

For all these reasons, India must start an intellectual battlefront by reading and re-reading Sanskrit texts. BR Ambedkar did this during his time, but the RSS-BJP are trying to co-opt his ideas by selectively quoting him on the minority question. A new discourse around the foundational books of the RSS-BJP—what they call Sanatan Dharma books—must also begin. Many Dalit scholars in North India do not want to enter this debate since they believe the Dalits are Buddhists and need not fight with Hindu religious ideology. But Shudra intellectuals and leaders have to fight this ideological battle.

In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Shudra leaders have realised that the New Education Policy reimposes the classical slavery of Shudra-Dalits in the garb of nationalism. Through it, the RSS-BJP regime wants to impose anti-Shudra and anti-Dalit books as sacred texts and lessons in schools, colleges and universities, where children and youth from these backgrounds study.

The slogan, “Garv Se Kaho Hum Shudra Hain”, shows a way out. Reuniting all productive communities, split into reserved (OBC) and unreserved Shudras, is necessary. If regional parties join this battle, it will signal definite hope for transformation. Once a historical category transforms into a category for social change—like the category ‘Black’ discarded ‘African-American’ and ‘Negro’—the Shudra identity will develop the next stage of social movement in India after the Mandal revolution. This new path is filled with hope, and Mahatma Phule, Periyar Ramasamy Naikar and Ambedkar are its guiding lights.

The author is a political theorist, social activist and author of ‘The Shudras: Vision For New Path’ with Karthik Raja Kuruppusamy. His next book will be The Shudras: History From Field Memories. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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A Chennai court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam, a fringe outfit, seeking criminal case against film actor turned politician, Rajnikanth for his remarks on rationalist leader Ramasamy Periyar. During the golden jubilee celebrations of Thuglak magazine on January 14, Rajnikanth gave a speech about Periyar’s denigration of Hindu gods in an anti-superstition rally held in Salem in 1971 by Thanthai Periyar.

The court deemed the case to be “at best defamatory” rather than police case as was being sought by the petitioner. The petitioner had sought charges under sections 153A [Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony], 504 [Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace] and 505 [Statements conducing to public mischief] of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to be invoked against Rajnikanth. As per the petitioner, Rajnikanth made “false and fraudulent statements insulting Dravidhiyan ideologists with   intention   to   provoke   breach   of   public   peace, by promoting enmity and hatred among the public of Tamil Nadu, in   the   name   of   religion,   only   to   score   political   mileage and   gather   support   from   particular   community”.

The Court, however, after hearing the speech delivered by Rajnikanth deemed that “he   has   stated   what   he   thought   was   a   fact, about   a rally held in Salem in 1971, by Thanthai Periyar, and which according to him was also published in the Thuglak weekly magazine   of   that   period….  the speech of actor Mr.   Rajinikanth, is   at   best   defamatory.   The   offence   u/s. 499   r/w   500   IPC   alone   appears   to   be   made   out.   The   said offence   is   non-cognizable, and   maintainable   as   private complaint.   In   the   circumstance, on   the   discussion   supra, this   court   finds   that   no   grounds   are   made   out   for concluding   offences   u/s.   153A, 504 and   505 IPC   are attracted,   and   the   petitioner   can   file   private   complaint for defamation, damages, and compensation, if so advised.”

The petitioner, is reportedly set to file an appeal against this order.

The order can be read here:

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Dalit and tribal bodies have called for a boycott of the products of Patanjali after Ramdev, the brand’s founder, allegedly accused Dalits, tribal communities, Muslims and the followers of the late Dravidian leader Periyar of spreading “intellectual terrorism”, The Telegraph reported.

प्रिय, रामदेव (@yogrishiramdev) आपने अब तक माफी नहीं माँगी, आपकी ये हिम्मत? ये हिम्मत आती कहाँ से हैं? सत्ता व हुक्मरानों से। ध्यान रहें, हम सबको झुकाने जानते हैं। पेरियार,अम्बेडकर, मूलनिवासी अस्मिता पर वाहयत टिप्पणी और हमें वैचारिक आंतकवादी कहना बर्दाश्त नहीं। #shutdownPatanjali pic.twitter.com/1ZrviDrOt1

— Hansraj Meena (@ihansraj) November 17, 2019

Ramdev made the statement on Republic TV during a show with Arnab Goswami on the subject of the ‘victory’ of the Hindus with regards to the Ayodhya land dispute. He had posted the same on Twitter too.

हमसब भारतवासियों को भारत का मूलनिवासी एवं सबको समान सबको महान मानते हैं,अपने महान पूर्वजों को आदर्श मानते हैं,
लेकिन कुछलोग भारतीयों कोही विदेशी कहकर व अपने महान पूर्वजों पर झूठे आरोप लगाकर उनको जूते मारते हैं यही डिस्ट्रक्टिव सोच वैचारिक आतंकवाद है,
एकभारत जातिमुक्त भारत बनाएं! pic.twitter.com/vKO7uhCXku

— स्वामी रामदेव (@yogrishiramdev) November 17, 2019

“Ramasamy Periyar, an atheist, described the followers of God as fools and labelled religion a poison. Their message is spreading. They are carrying out character assassinations of our saints. This is intellectual terrorism. This will divide the nation”, Ramdev had said during the interview.

The All India Ambedkar Mahasabha, All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation and the Bhim Army condemned his statement, describing him as a follower of the Manu Smriti, which codifies the caste system.

“The words used by Ramdev will not be tolerated. He has exposed himself as a believer in the Manuwadi philosophy. We have called for a boycott of Patanjali’s products,” said Ashok Bharati, president of the Ambedkar Mahasabha, which represents Dalit and tribal communities.His organisation has called for the burning of Patanjali’s products on the streets on Tuesday.

The Bhim Army, another champion of Dalit rights, has demanded an apology and a retraction from Ramdev, as has Employees Federation president Waman Meshram.

“The Baba has openly insulted the Dalits and the crores of Periyar’s followers. Like the RSS, the Baba does not believe in any alternative narrative about religious beliefs. We will boycott his products and protest everywhere,” Bhim Army spokesperson Kush Ambedkarwadi said.

यह देश बाबा साहेब अम्बेडकर के दिये संविधान को मानने वाले लोगों का है जो संविधान को नही मानते है वो देशद्रोही है और उन्हें तुरन्त देश छोड़कर चले जाना चाहिए @BhimArmyChief भाई चंद्रशेखर आजाद के दिये हैशटैग #रामदेवभारतछोड़ो का मैं पूरा समर्थन करता हूँ।#रामदेवभारतछोड़ो pic.twitter.com/NpF79Z53fI

— कुश अम्बेडकरवादी (@Kush_voice) November 19, 2019

E.V. Ramasamy Periyar (1879-1973), a social activist and politician who had started the Dravidian Self-Respect Movement, had in his book The Ramayana: A True Reading provided an alternative narrative on the epic. He had interpreted it as depicting a conflict between a Brahminical, caste-ridden and Sanskritic north and a non-Brahminical south.

Taking to Twitter, Bhim Army and other Dalit organizations have asked Ramdev to apologize for his words.

Yesterday, as Dalit activists and members from the community trended the hashtag #BoycottPatanjaliProducts, today they are demanding stricter action with the hashtag #रामदेवभारतछोड़ो.

यह 21 वी सदी का भारत है और बाबा साहब ने कहा था कि 21 वी सदी हमारी है, हमारे भारत में पाखंडियो के लिये कोई स्थान नही होगा। यहां इस देश की अखंडता, एकता और बाबा साहब के संविधान को मानने वाले लोग रहेंगे। जो भी संविधान विरोधी बात करता है, उसे यह देश छोड़ना ही होगा।
#रामदेवभारतछोड़ो

— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) November 19, 2019

रामदेव-पेरियार विवाद पर अब तक की सबसे महत्वपूर्ण प्रतिक्रिया. DMK के अध्यक्ष एम. के. स्टालिन की ओर से.

रामदेव की दुकान तमिलनाडू में बंद. वैसे भी वहां चार शहरों में ही उनके स्टोर हैं. वहां के लोग पतंजलि के चक्कर में कभी पड़े ही नहीं. #पतंजलिकाबहिष्कार https://t.co/15lsunHUcV

— Prof. Dilip Mandal (@dilipmandal) November 19, 2019

#रामदेव_ठग_है #ArrestRamdev
Ramdev says anti caste, anti patriarchy, working class liberators Periyar, Ambedkar, Lenin are “intellectual terrorists”. Why? Because their social & political movements threaten caste, class, patriarchal oppression, exploitation!

— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) November 18, 2019

This is not the first time that Ramdev has invited criticism for making casteist comments. In 2014, Ramdev was severely trolled for accusing Rahul Gandhi of visiting Dalit homes for honeymoon and picnic.

As the call for a boycott on Patanjali products was being made on social media, another video was widely shared Monday where Ramdev can be heard openly insulting Periyar.

प्रिय, बाबा (@yogrishiramdev) हम आपके विचारों से सहमत नहीं हैं इसका मतलब आपके अनुसार जुते मारने चाहिये। नहीं, बाबा नहीं। ये हमारे संस्कार और ज़मीरी सभय्ता में नहीं हैं। अंधभक्तों की ज़मात में आप फिर से बहुत गलत बोल गये। ये बिलकुल बर्दाश्त नहीं। #रामदेव_ठग_है pic.twitter.com/ggQZKpXvzH

— Hansraj Meena (@ihansraj) November 18, 2019

Ramdev’s repeated comments against Dalits and minorities have proved that he is a serial offender spreading hate speech and propagating communal disharmony. His links with the right wing party and now the sly repetition of their Hindutva supremacist narrative, has proved that he is anti-equality.

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A statement made by Ramdev on Periyar is on air and is being circulated. He calls Periyar and others, who spoke of Moolniwasi philosophy, as ‘intellectual terrorists’. One should not take Ramdev too seriously, as he has got exposed completely, and, if there was a neutral government, both the ED and the IT department would have arrested him. He is the man who uses religion to promote his products and gets huge tax rebate. The empire that he has built with the total support of politicians could not progress because, even if you can fool people some of the time, you cannot do that all the time.
 

The real issue here is that Ramdev is a clever politician, who plays different cards at different times. When the UPA was in power, he played the Yadav card and would visit Laluji and Mulayam Singh Yadavji . He remained in their good books for a long time. Even after the BJP came to power, Ramdev spoke as per his ‘strategy’ of not hurting the ‘sentiments’ of his own community and its various leaders, though none of his work can ever benefit his community because he is clearly playing in the hands of those who have exploited people for centuries through their caste privileges.

Playing his identity politics within the Sangh Parivar was important for Ramdev in order to extract the benefit, as the Parivar was in need of powerful Yadavs and other OBCs, who were solidly behind Lalu Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav. For the Sangh, it was essential to break this unity. Somewhere he succeeded in many ways. Many felt that at least someone from the OBC community is such a powerful and successful business magnet. But can someone really says that Ramdev’s identity has really helped the OBCs?

This question emerged many times and every time I had to ask friends to ask him to support the OBC quota or ask the Sangh Parivar to agree for proportional representation in every sector or even go for a caste census.

Ramdev has abused almost every Dalit Bahujan icon. He spoke against Dr Ambedkar, he abused Dalits in the past. His infamous comment: “Rahul Gandhi goes to Dalit homes for honeymoon and picnic” triggered huge protests by the Dalits all over the country and some Dalit rights activists filed an FIR against him. Now, he has again fulminated against Periyar, one of the most powerful icons of India, who taught us that we can get social legitimacy and political power even without invoking Gods, religion and religious practices.

The North Indian OBC leadership has not really embraced Periyar and Phule as their icons. If these two great icons are not promoted and spread across the northern belt, there would be no understanding of social justice and alliance building with other Bahujan or non-brahmin parties. For a better understanding between Dalits and OBCs, it is essential for the OBC leaders of North India to understand Dr Ambedkar and follow the strategies and paths shown by Periyar and Phule.

There is a huge Ambedkarite intellectual community that we have today, which has demolished the brahmanical myth. Hence, they cannot take Ambedkar head-on or talk about him as they are talking about Periyar, because they know well that Ambedkarites will not tolerate any insult to Baba Saheb Ambedkar. The Sangh Parivar knows it, Ramdev knows it and hence they target icons like Periyar because, in this case, our response is meek and just not sentimental and emotional enough to raise a political storm.

All those who believe in social justice must understand that Periyar was powerful not just because he called God’s creation ‘stupid’ and those who believe in it as ‘barbaric’. We are witnessing everything that the bhoodevtas created in India, but more than that we need to understand Periyar’s huge social reforms in Tamil Nadu. The awareness and understanding among the backward communities in Tamil Nadu was remarkable. Periyar analysed the corrupt social order and responded to it socially and politically. North Indian political parties, who represent or claim to represent Dalit-OBCs, are not interested in intellectual inputs as they feel it is useless to speak about them as these things cannot get votes. Rather than starting some thought-provoking journals, they want mouthpieces. Most of them have no link with social and cultural movements. Most of the so-called ‘cultural wings’ are party propaganda machinery, which does not go beyond party supremos. It is important to develop an intellectual movement along the lines of the philosophy of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, Birsa Munda and EVR Periyar. Their work and philosophy alone can bring India’s vast Bahujan masses together. We all celebrate Birsa Munda, but how many of us understand the Adivasi context today? Unless we understand their issues and cultural context, we will not be able to unite completely.

People have given a call for the boycott of Patanjali products. Well, most of these products, if honestly evaluated by the authorities, will fail to pass the scrutiny. If we respect our icons and heroes, who emancipated the vast Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi masses and enlightened them, then people like Ramdev, his products and hidden agenda must be exposed and boycotted. Dravidian parties, too, must respond to Ramdev’s fulmination against Periyar, calling him an intellectual terrorist. It is shameful and disgraceful for people like Ramdev to speak about Periyar and other Bahujan icons in such a way without fully understanding them. Had he read Ambedkar and Periyar properly, he, too, would have benefited from it and would have understood that he is merely a tool in the hands of the powerful people, and once they have used him, they will just ignore him to languish in isolation. Ramdev must apologise for his shameless remarks and if does not do that, people who believe in social justice and self-respect must boycott his products.

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The post Ramdev must apologise for his insulting remark on Periyar: Activists appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Why is Periyar’s life not taught in the schools and colleges of Tamil Nadu and rest of the country?Are his achievements and sayings not important?That the symbolism of ‘Black’ is not merely beautiful but powerful too, is reflected in Periyar’s actions more than anywhere else. Where do you find black shirt and white pant/ Sarong/Lungi combination? In cinema, as in popular culture, it is always white shirt and black pant, but Periyar’s idea provided Black superiority over white and that is why his symbolism is much more powerful than anyone else’s. I donot know whether the African-Americans know about Periyar’s work. I asked this question to Dr K Veeramani and he said that people are now reading Dr Ambedkar as his writings were in English. Periyar’s work is in Tamil and need to be translated into English. However, DK is very careful about it, as a lot of ideas may be misinterpreted by the translators, but they are now in the process of doing the translations.

Periyar was a thinker, an intellectual and, perhaps, the most powerful public intellectual. Many people feel the term ‘public intellectual’ should be used only for serious ‘academics’, but I think it should not be their monopoly. Periyar was the most influential man in our public life, as far as Tamil Nadu is concerned. He had the courage to call a spade a spade. His writings on women are unmatched even today. He can also be termed as one of the greatest feminists of our time, whose work most of our elite feminists may not even know about.

Periyar spoke against all forms of social evils and attacked the root of it. At a time when people say that in India, nothing can move without religion and we should ‘respect’ people’s ‘sentiments’, we must remember Periyar and his success story. Periyar thrashed brahmanism in Tamil Nadu, made the Dravidian people aware of the exploitative nature of brahmanism and provided his own cultural alternative, like self-respect marriages. Tamil Nadu still remain a fascinating state,although Dravidian parties compromised with Hindutva. This is why Periyar always maintained that we must not be part of the power politics. Social movements must remain devoted to the cause of the people and must not become political parties, as then, they will compromise the interest of the people. Dr Veeramani says that DK remains committed to Periyar’s vision of a strong social movement and our cadres do not aspire to become MPs and MLAs, even when they work to spread the message of Periyar all over the state, which only benefits the Dravidian political parties.

Periyar must go international and his thoughts should spread worldwide to promote humanism, rational thinking and the powerful message of the ‘black’ identity. Periyar is more important because it is also essential to know that you can bend the power without being in power. Periyar’s power came from his commitment to the cause of people. That is why they were ready to listen to him and follow him, despite his strong words against religious belief. He spoke powerfully against superstition. Periyar was not merely a rationalist and an atheist, but openly propagated his beliefs. Despite not being in politics, he defined the Dravidian political principles and ideology that Tamil Nadu saw. It is because of these Dravidian principles that, despite all the faults of the political leaders and their compromises, Tamil Nadu remains one of the best governed states, better in human development indices, where children get far better mid-day meals than in any other state. They were also the first ones to start it, without being compelled by a Supreme Court order to do so.own. Tamil Nadu still has 69% reservation and is far superior to any other state in governance.

The success of Periyar’s model in Tamil Nadu suggests that if we are true to the public cause, we can speak against false religious beliefs and succeed. Today’s politicians cannot do it as they use religious superstition to promote their devotees and bhakts. Periyar wanted enlightened cadres and not brainless bhakts and that is why he succeeded. There are attempt to finish Dravidian principles and Periyar’s work but, as Dr Veeramani says, Hindutva forces will try everything but Tamil Nadu will reject them as it rejected them in the past.

The comprehensive and enlightening conversation with Thiru. Dr K Veeramani will be available in the coming days.

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The post Why is Periyar not taught in Indian schools and colleges? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Sneha Parthibaraja

Indeed, such significant steps go a long way in creating progressive ideas among educated as well as ordinary people of the country. On February 5 , 2019, Sneha Parthibaraja, the Tamil Nadu woman, became what revenue officials claim, the first Indian woman who has been issued the ‘No Caste, No Religion’ certificate.

Say reports, now, Sneha’s parents have been leaving columns of caste and religion blank in application forms as and when they fill them up. But their daughter Sneha has a step forward: To make this part of her identity ‘official’.
 

Long struggle

Sneha, an advocate, has been trying for such a certificate since 2010. “I started to apply for a (No Religion No Caste) certificate in 2010 but officials kept rejecting it for some reason. Some said there was no precedent in the country…”, she has been quoted as saying. But after 2017, she reportedly stood firmly on her decision and explained to officials on her stand and justified her intentions.

According to B Priyanka Pankajam, the sub-collector of Tirupattur, they decided to give the certificate to Sneha after verifying all her documents and finding the caste and religion columns blank.

A community certificate or a caste certificate is a record issued by a State government, which gives information that a particular person belongs to a particular community like scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST) or other backward class (OBC). In its place, she obtained the ‘No Caste No Religion’ certificate. Two of her sisters, Jennifer and Mumtaz, have also identified themselves as Indians without caste or religion.

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Translated by T Marx

Image courtesy The Hindu

Periyar EV Ramasamy, the father of the Dravidian Movement and the Self-Respect Movement, in this essay, written as an editorial for the Republic (Kudiarasu) and translated by T Marx, talks about the “cunning nature of the caste system” which established the brahmins as superior to other castes. He appeals to those who want complete independence for India to take steps to eradicate caste differences, even while the British rule lasts, otherwise caste domination would continue and the atrocities of the caste system will never be wiped out.

Those who want to protect the multi castes-system! We stated that the reason for original four castes, in course of time multiplying into 4,000 castes was inter mixture of one caste with the other. Still there are people among us, those who are called ‘velalars’ accept the original system of four castes, that is brahmin, vaisya, kshatriya, panchaman, consider themselves as ‘sad sudras’ and some others instead of referring to graded caste names of Sanskrit words, referred to them in beautiful Tamil words like Anthanar, Arasar, Vanigar and Velalar and proclaim that these categories were there in Tamil Nadu anterior to, even before the arrival of aryans and that they belonged to the fourth category and created a myth that to serve the people belonging to these four castes, many castes came into being functioning as slaves and that they were pallu, pariah and eighteen such castes and were contented with such new explanation.

Under the heading of such ‘pallu, pariah eighteen set of people’, that is to indicate eighteen castes meant for serving the four higher castes, the names were given as follows: ilai vanikan, uppu vanikan, ennai vanikan, ochhan, kalthachhan, kannan, kuyavan, kollan, koyilkudiyan, thachan, thattan, navithan, palli, pariah, panan, poomalaikkaran, vannan and valayan.

But these same eighteen castes are, according to a research book, Abhidhanakosam, detailed as servants with the names, viz., sivigaiars, kuyavar, panars, melakarars, parathavars, sembadavars, vedars, valaiars, thimalars, karaiars, sanrars, saliyars, ennai vanikars, ambattars, vannars, pallars, puliars and sakkiliars.

Apart from this, the divisions among the velars are shown as: Velalars are the supreme among the sudras; among them mudalis occupy the top place; next to them come velanchettis—sub categorised into cholapurathar, sithakkattars and panchukkarars; they are saivars and are eligible to sit and eat in the same row without discrimination. Next to them come cholia, thuluva, kodikkal velalars of different categories. Among them the lowest in order are ahambadiyars, below them maravars; lower in rank are kallars. Below them formed Idaiyars and further down the social ladder were kavaraigals and kammavargals.

It can be observed that the above arrangements carefully avoid discrimination among the brahmins and shuffling of higher-lower positions among them and that no objection or doubt could be cast on their position. It clearly explains the cunning nature of the caste system. Otherwise mention is made about quarrels among kshatriyas and vaisyas, objections on who is superior to the other and without any basis, fighting for supremacy over the other, reducing the other caste to a subordinate position, etc. could be discerned. Also even if other caste people try to find sources for raising themselves to a higher level among the fellow castes, all the sources cleverly used to indicate that these are all inferior to the parppanars who are called brahmins. Otherwise they are not useful for the purpose of unravelling the mystery of the creation of such other categorisations.

So, in this way, it was established that except the brahmins, others are inferior castes; that is unfit to be touched by brahmins, nor would a brahmin eat with them giving equal status to them; also the other castes shall not have many other rights; that they are fit only to be subservient to brahmins, were born due to illegal cohabitation, low-high caste cohabitation leading to intermixture, and by and large people of a general, degraded condition. This, in brief, is the essence of caste system.

Besides, if any logical or philosophical explanation is to be given for this, that can only be for the stupids who listen to that: not really for the religion that originated these and supporting documents like the vedas, sastras, the co-called code of righteousness etc. And without raising any valid questions and objections to these logical explanations, people have to merely accept their degrading conditions.

Leaving these aside, if we look at the position and rights assigned to others except the brahmins, one can easily understand that no rational thinking or self-respecting people would accept what is referred to as the name of their castes and in fact could not even dream of such degradation consequent upon this caste division. That is, if you look at the position and rights assigned by the brahmins to the fourth varna, sudra class, it is akin to what the present government has conferred upon people who are referred to ‘traditionally criminal class’ who are obliged to live by the terms and conditions imposed by the government and manner in which they are treated.

For example we will quote from what are referred to dharma sastras or code righteousness: “Snathamaswam gajamatham rishabham kamamohitam sudrama ksharasamyuktam dhoorata parivarjiyem” – i.e., “ a horse that has been give a bath, an elephant in high mental tension, a bull in sexual pursuit, and a literate sudra should not be allowed to come nearer.” Is the meaning of that Sanskrit quotation.

“Japas thapa, theertha yatra pravarjaya, manthara sadhanam, devaradhanam, sachaisva stree sudra pathathanishan” i.e., “Mental prayers, penance, pilgrimage to holy places, sanyasa or renunciation of the world, prayers to God and worship—are all prohibited for womenfolk and sudras.”

“na patem samskritam vanim” –i.e, a sudra should not read Sanskrit.

“naiva sastram patenaiva srunuvan vaidhikaksharam, nasnayatu dayalpurvam thapo mantram suvarjayel” – i.e, a sudra should never study sastras, or listen to the vedas; he should never get up before sunrise and take bath or say mantras or do sever penance either.”

“Itihasa puranani, napatesrotumarhasi”—a sudra should not even read itihasa and puranas. But he can listen to a brahmin reading them. “
“Chaturvarnyam mayasrushtam, parisramatyakam, karmam sudrasyapi pavanam” (Gita) – The four varnas were created by me; in that the principal duty of sudra is to serve others.

Thousands of such quotations can be given and explained. This is what is contained in what is consider as our religion’s religious works, vedas, dharma sastras referred to as revelations from God.

For some reason, we have a government which is not obliged to practice these religious regulations: Accordingly some of us are not obliged to live according to these ‘right’ code of rules and regulations. But again if attempts are made to protect our religion and caste, to stabilise them in the name of religion and caste, think of the havoc we have to face and what are the consequences to be experienced.

So long as there caste divisions within the Hindu society, as long high-low perception also will be there.

Today those who are nationalists and desire that India should have full independence, they must make efforts to eradicate the caste differences even while British rule lasts. Instead if they say, “You leave us, we will take care of things”, it is equivalent to taking poison ourselves and no good will accrue by that. In India, today 999 out 1000 people are not interested in abolishing caste differences, in fact want to be in the higher caste where they would dominate over a number of lower castes. Today if we give up even the rights acquired under the present rule, and if administration were come into the hands of people who are committed to varna dharma, caste domination, the atrocities of caste system will never be wiped out.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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The poll outcome has indicated that India might be under a longer spell of the Hindutva party as it has strengthened brick by brick. It also reflects what I have been saying about a strong, solid, arrogant Savarna block throughout the country.
 
After the Mandal one, in 1990, we saw, the unity of the Dalits and OBCs all over the country and people were talking about the Uttar Pradesh experiment but now this is completely rescinded. Mandal forces have completely lost their battle. The biggest disappointment is from Bihar where RJD and allied parties are thoroughly routed. This indicates clearly that except for the bhakts, diverse sections of castes compete with each other and many will never go along together. The Bahujan challenge was to bring them together which is not possible without their participation in the power structure.
 
BJP’s electoral plan was engagement with diverse OBC communities in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In Uttarakhand, they became a nationalist party, attracting ex-servicemen, while in UP, they actually got support from all the segments and the party exists on the ground.
 
I never believed in jumlas and I saw our friends, including many senior ones, giving their ‘decisive’ verdict. A huge number of their bhakts on social media would feel as if they are making the government. Most of them were just calculating on the basis of their caste and numbers while the Sangh worked on the ground. To counter or fight the Sangh or RSS, we need to have a cultural narrative and solid work on the ground, outreach with those communities who have been left out of the broader Dalit Bahujan movement and not insulting them for their faiths or mode of worship.
 
Not that I am shocked with the results but what has convinced me is that most of those writing about the on-ground situation don’t actually know the ground realities. See how the language of the ‘expert’ has changed now in the media, hailing this huge victory of Narendra Modi transcending all the barriers of caste, class, gender, region. My question is when they travelled all over the country and were reporting, why did none of them report that there is this massive ‘Tsunami’ for Narendra Modi.
 
And yes, to strengthen democracy, I would again say, we must ban the Exit Polls and there should be stricter guidelines for media reporting on the issue. Opinion polls must not be allowed before two months of the poll schedule. Election Commission must again focus on rebuilding its credibility and try to rectify the fault lines.
 
Let us not wish ‘death’ for political parties. We are already in an age of a one-party hegemony. What Congress was in the 1960s, the BJP has become today. And definitely they have not come merely on their strength and Savarna reaction alone, all parties including Congress with their lacklustre form of government and party functioning have resulted in this affair.
 
What is important is to build parties in the state, focus for next round of elections, infuse new blood, discard family and caste nepotism, build strong cultural and intellectual groups, engage with those who can give you an honest opinion which you may not like yet will be beneficial for you.
 
Rahul Gandhi’s Chowkidar Chor Hai slogan boomeranged. In a heavily dosed and intoxicated nationalist framework, Rahul Gandhi can’t challenge Narendra Modi. Given Congress party’s own track record on corruption, perhaps Rahul’s raising a corruption issue did not work. A good strategy would have been to leave the issue to be raised by Prashant Bhushan and likes. The second and most important message which BJP and Narendra Modi gave was against ‘political families’. If the results are any indication, I can say, political families will have to think seriously as to how many members of their family will be joining politics and if yes, they need to work. They can’t take people for granted.
 
I think most of us were just calculating caste numbers while Amit Shah was making strategies to take the people to the booths. We can’t take people for granted. People’s vote is not ‘transferable’. Let me say this very categorically, that in the 21st century, people want the unity of forces on a long term basis and social cohesion. If unity does not result in having good candidates in the party, people don’t vote for the same. I can bet SP BSP-RLD votes did not get transferred to each other. it does not happen. It is not easy.
 
The Bahujan narrative will have to rebuild and spread across the country. Baba Saheb, Phule, Periyar, Bharat Singh, Birsa Munda need to be taken to people. Celebrate their work and socialise their ideologies on the ground. There is no respite. Our fight is for an inclusive, equal and humane society based on Constitution, which must go on irrespective of the electoral outcome. But let us realise that answer to these issues and challenges before us do not come from jumlas and we need to have a serious discussion. Not just on social media but we need to meet physically and share our ideas regularly on various platforms.
 
Wish all of you power. The struggle for dignity and human rights will continue.
 

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Shridhar, 34, came to Mumbai in 2007 after he completed his engineering in Tamilnadu. He started staying in Dharavi, where many of the Tamil migrants stay, and being new to the city Shridhar got in touch with other youngsters from Tamil Nadu in Dharavi. It was a time when the Tamil Eelam movement was at its peak.

This was also the time when he came in contact with people who were involved in the Ambedkarite and Periyar movement in Mumbai. Sridhar says that until he came in contact with them, he was a god-fearing person. He adds, “There was so much going on, so many people were being killed. I questioned my own belief system. I read Buddha, Quran also the Bible looking for answers. In school no one taught us about Ambedkar, no one taught us about Periyar”. He went back and studied both works of Ambedkar and Periyar. He worked in the Periyarist and Ambedkarite Movement and also started his own rationalist initiative called Awareness.

Sridhar adds, “ I had almost 12 cases against me because of the protests within a span of four years from 2009 to 2012. People said look you an engineer you have a good job, but I wanted to do something good for the society”.

It is at this point where he decided that he needs to change his life, he learnt about the Self Respect Marriages and he wanted to implement that in his life. At the same time his family wanted him to get married, he had only one condition that it should be an intercaste marriage. But this wasn’t as easy as he taught. He adds, “Caste is like a pyramid, I saw that caste is everywhere, there is caste within caste itself, even within the Schedule Castes”.
 
Miles away in Tamil Nadu, Mohan (30) who is a artist and a Parai Trainer based in Tamil Nadu is planning to marry in next six months. He says that the works of Periyar and Ambedkar influenced him a lot in making this decision, also a chance visiting a friend respect marriage left a lasting impression on him.

Mohan whose partner is an artist, have mutually decided to have a Self Respect Marriage. Mohan says, “ Ours will be an inter-caste and inter-religion marriage. Self-Respect marriage is about equality…I want to give equal respect to my partner”.

He further adds that he is planning to call people from the movement to the marriage so it can make people aware of this.

Contested ideas of self-respect
Both Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have seen a long tradition of the non-Brahmin movement. This radical anti-caste movement or the non-Brahmin movement was started by E Ramasamy Periyar in 1925. During 1925 in the midst of the nationalist movement, Periyar put forth the discourse of Self Respect. He proposed that every non-Brahmin caste should have equal human rights. This formulation of the idea of self-respect was different than what was propagated by Gandhi and Nehru. The Gandhian idea of self-respect came from more spiritualistic tenets of Hinduism specifically the varna system, where he said that the one should take dignity in labour and all occupations are equal. In contradiction, Nehru’s idea of Self Respect came from more of nationalistic discourse and taking pride in being a nationalist. Periyar contested both of these ideas, saying that self-respect should start with the individual himself, and that there and said that basic Self Respect will only come through over-throwing Brahminical Hegemony and bring in rationality amongst the citizens. Periyar spoke in the context of caste-based society and said that national freedom is of no use if there is no individual self-respect. To break the hegemony of the Brahmins, Periyar conceptualised Self Respect Marriages. One of the earlier self-respect marriage took place between Shanmugam and Manjula who was a widow in Araku near Madurai in her early 1920’s. But it was only in 1967 when DMK, which came from the Periyarite tradition under the leadership of Annadurai came to power, that Tamil Nadu became the first and only state to legalize Hindu marriages conducted without a Brahmin priest.

Hence a self-respect marriage saw marriage as a contract in a more constitutional non-sacred non-religious way. It encouraged inter-caste marriages and widow remarriage. An amendment was brought under section 7A of Hindu Marriage Act which validated self-respect marriages.

Basically, legalizing Self Respect Marriages threw out the regressive practices built on Brahmin Hegemony, firstly that being that it can take place without a Brahmin priest

The Provisions of section 7 A Amendments are 1)Section 7-A of the Act applies to any marriage between two Hindus solemnized in the presence of relatives, friends and other persons. 2)The main thrust of this provision is that the presence of a priest is not necessary for the performance of a valid marriage.3) Parties can enter into a marriage in the presence of relatives or friends or other persons and each party to the marriage should declare in the language understood by the parties that each takes other to be his wife or, as the case may be, her husband.4)The marriage would be completed by a simple ceremony requiring the parties to the marriage to garland each other or put a ring on any finger of the other or tie a thali. The validity of Self Respect Marriages was critiqued on basis that, the movement of Self Respect was basically a political philosophy and marriage which is considered as a sacred and non-customary institution cannot be based on a radical political philosophy. It was also further objected on basis of Section 3(a) and Article 14 stating that it was contrary to the very tenets of Hinduism. The High Court ruled that it does not violate Article 14 since whoever wants to marry according to the Hindu Custom can do so through Hindu Marriage Act 1955. The High Court further ruled that the Hindu religion by itself is pluralistic in character and thus various forms of marriage have traditionally existed.

Legal framework
In 2011, the Supreme court declared the caste panchayats illegal and barbaric. In the purview of increasing caste violence perpetrated after inter-caste marriage, the Prohibition of Unlawful Assembly ( Interference with the Freedom of Matrimonial Alliances) Bill, 2011 proposes no person or any group of persons shall gather with an “intention to deliberate on, or condemn any marriage, not prohibited by law, on the basis that such marriage has dishonored the caste or community tradition or brought disrepute to all or any of the persons forming part of the assembly or the family or the people of the locality concerned.” Marriage, according to the draft law, includes a proposed or intended marriage. Though the Bills for Matrimonial interference and Unlawful assembly have been proposed since 2011 in the wake of increasing Caste/Honour Killings, it is yet to be made into a law.

Ambedkar says that Endogamy is the only characteristic that is peculiar to caste. Thus the superposition of endogamy on exogamy means the creation of caste and both the surplus man and the surplus woman constitute a menace to the Caste if not taken care of. Like Ambedkar, Periyar did not trust to the enabling power of individual consciousness alone to bring about transformation. Consciousness war for him always already collective. Ambedkar in his thought-provoking essay, What is worse untouchability or slavery? mentions two kinds of law. One is the legal law and another is the public law which according to him in India works on the caste-normative. This public law often overpowers the legal constitutional laws in India. Not only that, observing closely, this public law undermines the practice of legal law in day to day life. The caste-normative propounded in the Manusmirti always looked down upon women as the citizen of fundamentally a human being. Therefore, even in the presence of constitutional law in front which men and women in India have equal rights, the public law that has been the everyday philosophy behind people’s action in public and personal places does not fully allow people to perceive women as an equal citizen. The instances of rape or domestic violence are often found dealt with as per the caste-background of the victims.

Sridhar wanted to prove a point to the society, to turn around all the religious mores, he says, “I started right from the invitation card, and quote of Dr.Ambedkar. We had called people from the Periyar and Ambedkarite Movement. My wife was worried as to what will people say if she doesn’t wear a Mangalsutra. But then we both decided that we will wear a gold chain with a Bodhi tree leaf.”

Its been a few years since his marriage, although in Mumbai it is not yet legally validated. Sridhar says he has no choice apart from getting it registered in Tamil Nadu, but he is hopeful that some intellectual discourses have been created to take the idea of self-respect marriage forward.
Like Mohan, Sridhar adds , “Many people are having inter caste marriages, but they might do it according to the customs of either of the community their partners belong”.

Sridhar echos similar sentiment , he says, “ Its now that people are learning to give self respect to themselves, they are refusing dowries and other such things, so it is slowly catching up”. Sridhar aims to take up the Self Respect Marriage and hopes that it is validated in other states. He says, “ There needs to be a community of people who do not adhere to any caste or religion, or those who don’t believe in it, we need such people to come together, to form a community on their own”.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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