Who's afraid of Caste Census?

If caste census is done, the India democracy would thrive on the firm support of the lower castes who keep hoping of getting their share based on their numbers. The upper castes may feel desolate with the system of democracy itself, if this shift begins to take place. They might call such a shift “castocracy”. But would they call a state or a nation being ruled by women “womenocracy”?

Cognitive social psychology says all such theories are constructed on a convenience known as “comfort zone”. If brown upper castes live in white societies they see brown bashing but black bashing remains hidden in their blind spots. In white societies the browns are not in their comfort zone but in India they are and do not want to see the other’s “discomfort zone”.

Many upper caste intellectuals say that caste was a construction of the colonial census system. They talk as if caste never existed before the British started an enumerative process. By their logic we should come to the conclusion that before the British enumerated people based on religion, there were no religions in India. There are many such blind spots in India and that is why we still remain backward in theories of knowledge.

Let all castes — not just OBCs — be counted for strengthening our democratic system. I know that even mine is a blind-spot theory but it may have the effect of an antidote.

From veteran Dalit activist Kancha Ilaiah's comment in The Asian Age. More Here.

What if Rahul Gandhi marries a dalit girl?

Some times we ask to change only one part of our social machine. Parts have no independence actions; they are dependent on big Machines. Honor killing is just one bad product of that social machine of India. 

First abolish the unjust Caste system. If champions of social changes in our country start marrying Dalit families to break the taboos, picture will change. 

That is what Rahul Gandhi can not do. He can visit to condole every devastated family, he can distribute thousands of rupees, government jobs but he can not understand the social pressure under which Brahmin and Dalit families are living. Can Rahul Gandhi, Varun Gandhi, Son of Rajnath Singh, and sons and daughters of our political leaders and RSS leaders come to marry Dalit families? 

Many upper caste people are enjoying social celebrity status speaking for social problems on Televisions, writing in News Papers. This is like championing social reform from dead, burned and raped bodies of Dalits. They can not on Television after they break taboos in their own homes. They can not allow the change which they proclaim on television. 

No social reform can be delivered without recognizing Dalits as respectable Human beings. Give message to society from your homes first, not from TV Shows and New Papers. If people belonging to upper castes like Mishras, Sharmas, Bajpayees, Pathaks and so on start marrying Dalit families, it will be greater than what Raja Ram Mohan Roy had done in his period. Rahul Gandhi and Varun Gandhi and sons of Brahmin political leaders, media pundits, business tycoons and Bolywood set an example by marrying in Dalit familes. The change will happen across the society.

There are many bright matches from both sides but they are divided in two borders of social vertical and horizontal hierarchy. If common Brahmin families find heavy weight people of their society marrying Dalits and all castes without any castiest considerations, they will not fear to be condemned by their relatives. It is the fact that many Brahimn and upper caste families are willing to allow their children to marry whomever they wish to do regardless of caste and creed but they are under immense social pressure.

If heavy weight of Brahmins and other upper caste from politics, business, academics etc have Dalit spouses and brides in their homes, the social stigma will gradually go away. It is irony that people still love to tag their caste tags (Sharma, Warma, Pandaey, etc) with their names. Can they not get rid of it so that other persons of lower caste tags feel it easy to talk and interact with on equal basis? 

Why these people want to make them feel that he/she should take care of his/her caste tag. Once you tell him you are Sharma, the other person fells in inferiority complex. If we are any more civilized people we must throw out t these tags. Our degrees, talents, performance, social achievements are enough to be our identity. (see comments on Ashutosh Ashu's Face Book wall. below. courtesy to Ashu)

I agree with individual liberty. But how can you ensure individual liberty when individuals are chained in a rigid caste system? I am talking about why marrying a lower caste person is still an stigma. If champions of social changes in our society, who have large following across the caste do initiate, things will change. Parents of Nirupama would have allowed her, had they found it a 'common thing' which is being practiced people like like Ghandhis, Bajpyees, Sharmas, Pathakas and so on. To break the stereotypes, change will come from the society, not from the laws. If Brahimns do not feel it easy to marry in Dalits, no Dalit, however is he educated or wealthy, will remain untouchable.

From Omair Anas's thought provoking, amusing and interesting post in his blog

To read the full post click here.

Deciphering Deras...!

The Indian Express has an excellent FAQ on the history of deras (Sikh sects) in Punjab:

•What are deras and why are they in the news?

A dera is technically the headquarters of a group of devotees who follow the teachings of a particular spiritual guru and generally have a living representative of the guru who is equally revered. The representatives of the gurus, who hold the gaddi, are normally anointed by their predecessors.

•How many deras are there in Punjab?

Estimates vary but it is generally believed that there are about 300 major deras across the state and the neighbouring state of Haryana. Out of these, about a dozen have substantial following — over one lakh devotees each. There are hundreds of others which are restricted to a few villages each.

•Are only Sikhs members of these deras?

No, membership of deras is not restricted to Sikhs. A number of Hindus are also members of these deras. In fact, some of the deras even have Muslim and Christian followers.

•Who are the main followers of the deras?

Although these deras generally have members from various castes and creeds, the majority of the members belong to the so-called “lower castes”, that is, members of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes.

To read the full story click here.

Why is Punjab burning?

It took only a few hours for fires to erupt across Punjab after the news from Vienna of “serious injuries” to Sant Niranjan Dass, head of Dera Guru Ravidass Sachkhand Balan, and the death of his deputy Sant Ramanand, both of whom were on a tour to Europe.

The rapidity with which protests spread is a pointer to the growing clout of deras that have mushroomed across the state and their potential to spark off conflict.

In fact, all major villages in Punjab today have two gurdwaras — one frequented by the so-called “upper castes” or Jat Sikhs, another by Dalits or “lower castes,” including members of SCs and OBCs. Ironically, Sikhism was founded five centuries ago to counter the caste system. Today, it’s members of under-privileged communities who constitute the growing ranks of deras, each one usually headed by a living guru — much against the tenets of Sikhism, writes Vipin Pubby in Indian Express.

To read the full story, click here

Meena Kandasamy on 'Rise of Hindutva in Tamil Nadu' - II

Meena Kandasamy is the emerging face of Indian literature. She is from Chennai. She is basically a teacher and teaches college students about the nuances of poetry and literature. She is an established poetess now. Besides she is a social activist, writer, blogger, peace activist and a fine human being with a heart that beats. She likes to describe herself as a woman writer who is obsessed with revolutionary Dr.Ambedkar’s message of caste annihilation. Below it we present one of her article published in Boloji.com.

Doing It Everyday – 2

Now, we shall look at a mini-exposition by the Joint Secretary, Parva Samanvaya Vibhag of the VHP, Mr. Santosh Trivedy on the topic of Festivals for National Integration which finds its place in the same website. He writes,

“Our festivals have a theme and a great continuity with our ithihasa or history. Some of them are associated with nature. Many of them have roots in scientific principles. They are all of great social and cultural significance too. The practice of religious fasts is not only of great spiritual and religious significance but also of essential principles of health and hygiene. Ours is a philosophy of life propounding the omnipresence of paramathma, the immortality of Athma, the principle cycle of births and deaths etc. Our festivals are also an expression of that philosophy. They are very much inter-linked with music, dance, painting, and other arts. Devotion to God and society has been a main theme with many of our festivals. Thus our festivals have been powerful instruments of integration and exponents [sic] of unity in diversity.

Celebration of these festivals on a large scale and with the message of our Rishi will be giving us the impetus and samskars [sic] to the society and facilitate early realization of the goal of national renaissance. This requires, a reorientation in the practice of our festivals, keeping in view the times and requirements. The objective shall have to be integration and social awareness.

So far most festivals are celebrated at the family level or at some limited sectarian or institutional level. The area has to be widened and they should be brought to mass and collective level. Leaders of various sections and communities may be invited to explain the importance and relevance of each festival to the masses. There should be mutual participation in the festivals celebrated by individual sections. For example, a guruparva celebrated in a gurdwara may be attended by all the Hindus. The Buddh and Mahavir Jayanthi and others may be celebrated collectively. Festivals observed by Harijans, Girijans shall have to be extended to all Hindus. In addition to collective celebration of festivals certain universal practices on the festive and other occasions also would be helpful in promotion of national integration. Tilak Dharana on the forehead, cow worship, hoisting of 'om' and 'Bhagava (Saffrron) flags are some of them.”

Dissecting this manifesto is no more difficult or different. Their dream projects peep out from behind gossamer curtains. Their appropriation of religious beliefs to serve political agendas dictates itself out.

First, the contention of Trivedi that festivals have a theme and a great continuity with our itihiasa or history. Look at the word ‘have’. If any festival lacks a theme or historicity that is no problem. Leave it to the saffron brigade… The Sangh Parivar can rack its combined brains and invent themes and extrapolate in order to achieve continuity in history. The search for a linear, homogeneous Hindu history is part of their project anyway. [And regarding the choice of ‘itihasa (epic) or history’, the reader can pick out the correct answer.]

We now move to the second grandiose statement: the emphasis on a scientific principle. Except for the carnage in Gujarat, whose scientific principle was traced by Modi to Newton’s Third Law, which festival of hate or love or whatever had any scientific principle? This invention of a scientific background is in order to steer clear of criticisms that arose from movements like Raja Rammohun Roy’s Brahmo Samaj and Periyar’s Self-Respect movement that criticized the superstitious, dogmatic and utterly unscientific basis and origin of festivals. Or may be, they are speaking to the colonialists, the imperialists who have more than once pooh-poohed the irrational celebrations. Think of Whitehead, Elmore and other western scholars of the pre-independence era who were rudely taken aback by the atrocious nature of some of the festivals. So we find the VHP preening itself to announce of the scientific principles.

First Science, then Health. The Greater, Larger Things. Festivals buttress scientific principles, and scientific principles buttress fasts. The quid-pro-quo of political logic. The practice of fasts is connected with ‘health and hygiene.’ Since fasting has been developed into something of a national weapon, no one will have the audacity to question this claim. We condescend to understanding the health and hygiene (?) factors. But in India with its seasonal starvation deaths and serious malnutrition in a major section of the population, fasting, like feasting, is a luxury that only a few can afford. And only very few, like the banal right-wing can make the most of it.

Having claimed that festivals are ‘powerful instruments’ (one has to emphatically agree, seeing the Hindutva experience), Trivedi moves on to talk of celebration on a large scale. When the Sangh Parivar speaks of a large scale, it sounds draconian: chills creep into my spine, and my fingers twitch instead of flying across the keyboard. We have seen what large scale has meant to them: the kar-seva in Ayodhya, the riots in Mumbai, the agitations against Mandal, the genocide in Gujarat. Terror is shape of largeness. And before you are done with dealing on their massive dreams, the next line sends another jolt: Not only large, but early. In his words: “facilitate early realization of the goal of national renaissance.” Translated into ordinary speech it is the impatience to declare the Hindu Rashtra. And towards this end, he calls for a ‘reorientation’. In the following lines, we learn that this reorienting is moving the festivals from the private sphere into the public sphere. So, religion is not religion is not religion. Religion is politics and vote-banks and mobilization and hatred and crimes.

‘Mutual participation’ is part of the project of foisting an Hindu identity on Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains. So Hindus are required to flock to gurudwaras, and likewise Buddhist and Jainist festivals can also be appropriated. This is the ahimsa of assimilation. One also needs to wonder why, in this article on ‘Festivals of National Integration’, there is no mention of the festivals of the other religious minorities—Muslims and Christians, or of Hindus taking part in them. Will that not aid national integration?

So, having given the guidelines to woo the religions of revolt, here is the procedure for integrating the Dalits and the Adivasis who have never been part of the Hindu society. So, all Hindus are advised to observe ‘Harijan-Girijan’ (forgive the arrogance of their rhyming words, almost like Humpty-Dumpty) festivals which is once again a project of mobilization and conscription. Observing subaltern festivals is an excellent entrepreneurial idea: minimum investment, maximum returns. As Lele notes in Hindutva: The Emergence of the Right, “Many of the tribal, low caste deities to which Brahminism had to adapt ended up as consorts or local incarnations of the pan-Indian patriarchal gods, thus investing these pan-Indian symbols with unprecedented power and potency for popular mobilization.”

There has to be some clarification about commonly confused words: it is the stark Hindu nationalism that is preferred to be substituted with the dreamy, grandiose project of national integration. Cow worship and om/saffron flag hoisting are meant to be universal practices. Which universe are they practiced in? Here, we are forced to read blatant instances of Hindutvaization as a step towards the ‘promotion of national integration.’ The picture that has evolved is clearly illustrative of the sinister designs behind the Hindutva celebration of fairs, festivals, and yatras. This is the reason why the Sangh Parivar is keen on filling up the calendar.

Monopoly of the calendar

“Due to Vishva Hindu Parishad and others, there began a growing confidence among Hindus. A large number of saints and seers too took up the cause and came out of their seclusion and plunged into action in the society. The Ekathmatha Yagna, the Rama Janina Bhoomi Abhiyan changed the mood of the entire Hindu society. But the speed and vigour of progress is yet to rise, to cope up with the growing challenges and activities of the disruptionists and foreign agents.

The festivals and parvas are being celebrated with interruption although there is some adverse effect because of the political atmosphere or economic disparities. Holi Dipawali, Vijyadashami, Raksha Bandhan, Sankranti and the like have a great impact in keeping the society [sic] intact and in promoting unity and integrity of the nation. The enthusiasm in pilgrimages from Kashi to Ramaswaram, to great centres like Prayag, Tirupathi, Nathadwara, Vaishnodevi, Sabarimalal etc. are on the increase. Special mention may be made of the increasing popularity of kumbhamela, in which Hindus from all over the world take part.”

So you see, they have blocked all the dates: either the VHP is coming on yatras or people are going on yatras, or they are all celebrating, here, there everywhere. Calling these festivals red-letter days would sound communist, or in a out-of-fashion sense, Freudian. Welcome, aboard to the saffron-letter days. This is the egalitarianism of the new holiness: you need to no longer look forward to sacred days that occur so rarely, no longer is Friday the traditional day for women to pray in temples. Everyone’s learning saffronized Solomon-Grandy rhymes and a new version for every week. Ritual days don’t any longer punctuate the weary life. The Sangh Parivar is doing it everyday. If the festivals are a way to expend your energies and stretch your budgets, the prescribed fasting for so many occasions shall set that straight.

Also read : Meena Kandasamy on 'Rise of Hindutva in Tamil Nadu' - I