My question: Why the victims of the system have continued to suffer despite the provisions guaranteed in the Constitution? What made then tolerate the miseries of socio-economic inequalities?
The vedic religion wrongly paraded as Hinduism had its own beliefs, values, ideals and goals whose aim was to see that 85% of the population toiled for the comfort of 15% of the population. The Upanishads, Gita and Brahma Sutras contain debates on the abstract questions related to the nature of god, man-to-god relationship, techniques of controlling the mind and other psychological questions, which evoked interest only in a very few, even among the upper castes.
These debates were neither useful nor relevant to the common people and it never reached them. These sophisticated debates, contradictory theories and hair-splitting arguments were such that different and divergent schools of thoughts arose among themselves leading to different sects, different pontiffs and different ways of worship. The vedic religion did not present an integrated or unified thought. However, all these intellcctual exercises were confined only to a few among the upper castes, all of whom had agreed on the common code aimed at one thing-suppressing, exploiting and dominating the people whom they called “lower castes.” The instruments through which they did this were called smritis or shastras and the most famous, most cruel and the most strictly implemented smriti was the Manusmriti. Smriti literally means memory. These codes, rules and practices handed down to generations and retained in the memory of elders were codified by Manu. It is, therefore, called Manu’s Code.
DR. AMBEDKAR VS. GANDHI
If by religion, we mean morality, piety, mercy, love towards the sick and suffering, brotherhood, nonviolence, truth, service to humanity etc., there is very little of nothing at all of religion in the smritis or shrutis. The shrutis (heard) are Vedas and these smritis (handed down through memory) are shastras.
Dr. Ambedkar’s most widely quoted words are:
“If we continue to deny it (political and social equality), those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy”.
We are aware of the sharp differences between Dr. Ambedkar’s approach and Gandhi’s approach to the question of Dalit- Hindu incompatibility. While warning Hindus, Gandhi too at times had shared Dr. Ambedkar’s anger.
MENTAL ATROPHY OF DALITS
Noticing the half-hearted manner in which Hindus went about admitting the children of Untouchables to schools, he said in a speech at Bardoli on Jan. 19, 1922:
“If you have such hypocritical intentions (in treating Untouchables as equals) then rest assured that you will perish at the hands of the antyajas themselves.
Now my worry is why such fears of not only Dr. Ambedkar but even of Gandhi did not come true? The answer lies in the psychological setup and mental atrophy of Dalits which we must concede is one of the achievements of vedic religion. That is why I am dealing with the vedic religion at some length.
The emphasis in the smritis is on several “do’s” and “don’ts”. The impact of these smritis is so great on their followers that they live an utterly irrational and perverse life. Is there any sense in believing that onions should not be eaten on Thursdays? The result is that the smriti’s produced values and norms which came to assume the role of religion. A little analysis will show that the vedic religion in practice is not a religion but irreligion which unfortunately had the support of kings and rulers.
HAVOC OF KARMA THEORY
The only tangible achievement of the vedic religion is that (1) it successfully kept the society divided and (2) succeeded in injecting inferiority complex in 85% (or even more) of the population. The object of the vedic religion was successfully achieved by the theory of karma i.e. the belief that one’s miseries are the result of misdeeds in the past life. Not obeying the rulers laid down in the smritis constituted “misdeeds”. The belief in karma theory is so deep and widespread that practically all Indians, from vice-chancellors to illiterates, from share-brokers to beggars, from ministers to peons, everyone believes in it.
The point is those in misery, squalor and abject poverty think that their suffering is the result of a divinely ordained system of justice. That is why the victims of the system continue to suffer despite the rights given to them by the Constitution. To put it more correctly they think that their suffering is justified and their own making.
SLAVES ENJOYING SLAVERY
In fact, India is the only country today having slaves and where slaves enjoy their slavery. And there is no righteous indignation among the slaves.
This is the achievement of the vedic religion through the instrumentality of karma theory. From the psychological point of view, there is very little difference between the psyche of the repentant thief suffering in the jail and the psyche of an average Dalit. Most Dalits do not know the meaning of the word “Dalit”.
We need not be apologetic while describing the vedic religion as irreligion. Budha (5th century BC), Basavanna (12th century AD), Mahatma Phule, Narayana Guru, Periyar and Dr. Ambedkar have all said the same in so many words.
It is my personal experience that whenever, I had occasion to discuss these points in Dalit gatherings, the “educated” Dalits come up with strange questions such as: (a) Did not Gandhi, Vivekananda, Raja Ram Mohan Roy etc. try to reform Hinduism? (b) Did not Periyar condemn the entire Hinduism instead of confining his attack to the priestly class only? (C) Don’t you think that Hinduism is the only religion which gives full freedom to profess and practice whatever one wants to believe and follow?
These questions show how the term “Hinduism” is causing confusion at all levels. The word Hinduism is one of the most widely used term in most debates. Hinduism has not been and cannot be defined. It has no clear meaning and, therefore, has several meanings. Thoughts and debates therefore get diffused.
Though Dr. Ambedkar very clearly explained that Dalits were not Hindus and were never Hindus, not only the oppressors of Dalits but many Dalits also regard themselves as Hindus since they are also victims of the upper caste-controlled media.
No other word has caused so much confusion and, therefore, so much damage to the victims of vedic religion as the term “Hinduism”. The upper castes have a vested interest in hinduising their victims.
CONFUSION CREATED BY “HINDU” WORD
The present Hindu law, i.e. the four acts governing inheritance, marriage, adoption, succession, guardianship etc. defines Hindu in the same way as the British did. The present law (i.e. all the four Acts of 1955) describes all Indians who are not Muslims, Christians, Parses and Jews, as Hindus.
Nowhere in the world a people are defined in such a negative manner as Hindus. Hindus are, therefore, not a people with a common religion or a set of common beliefs, nor common traditions nor common history. Should one believe in god in order to be a Hindu? Not necessarily.
This is because Hinduism is not a religion. In fact, there is no such thing as Hinduism even as there can be no such religion as Europeanism or Australianism. Budhists, Jains, Lingayats and Sikhs have their own religions but are counted as Hindus. Dalits are the worst victims of vedic religion but are counted as Hindus.
HINDUISM IS RELIGION OF VAIDIKS ONLY
Dalits and BCs are not Hindu for the purpose of becoming pontiffs or priests and even to exercise the right to enter temples or mutts or ashrams. When the oppressed people are killed and burnt they are Dalits and when they are about to embrace Islam or Christianity they are Hindus.
Dalits and BCs become Hindus according to the needs, convenience and whims of their oppressors. This perverted attitude, this illogical thinking, this hypocrisy, this love-hate relationship is called hindutva. Hinduism firstly is not a religion and secondly, it is economics and politics of the vaidik upper castes. Hinduism is. therefore, a political expression. What is even more interesting and obnoxious is that the vaidiks are indulging in unprincipled economics and unprincipled politics using the name of Hinduism.
Muslims do not treat a person who does not believe in god, does not respect Quran and does not care to go to mosque as a Muslim. Christians do not treat person who does not believe in god, does not respect the Bible and does not care to go to the church as a Christian. But the vaidik tells Dalits, BCs and even shudras: “you cannot listen – let alone recite – Vedas, you cannot enter my home, but you have no right to call yourself that you are not a Hindu”. This attitude is uniquely Hindu (vaidik) and not found anywhere in any part of the world.
In history, we find the Kshatriyas fighting in alliance or under the command of Muslims, Muslims fighting under Kshatriya kings or commanders, Muslim rulers leading military expeditions with armies consisting of Kshatriyas and shudras and fighting Kshatriya king or another Muslim ruler and one Kshatriya ruler fighting another Kshatriya ruler with Muslims in both the armies. Most of the armies. consisted of soldiers belonging to different religions. The army of Aurangzeb, the most hated of the Mughal Emperors, had a Kshatriya by name Raja Jai Singh as its commander or general. Loyalty at all levels was for the region, land or for the kingdom and never for any religion in the politics of the past.
MISCHIEF OF SHIVAJI & TILAK
Religion was introduced in politics in its most ugly form by Shivaji in the 7th century.
The first blow to secularism in recent times was given by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who tried to mix up the “national” movement with Ganesha festival.
The term Hindu which at all times remained undefined came to be used extensively in politics especially by the upper castes who had a vested interest in the confusing potential of this term.
The definition given by Tilak and M.M. Malaviya when the British wanted a definition to Hinduism, the various decisions of our courts before and after “independence” that shaped the meaning and content of Hinduism, whether the Shankarachari and other mutts speak of Hinduism, the manner in which the Supreme Court rejected the claim of the Ramakrishna Mission that it was not a Hindu organisation, the present negative definition of Hindu contained in the Hindu law of the day, the mischief of the media, fatal fascination of Dalits and BCs themselves for the Hindu values and beliefs that are rooted in vedic religion, Dalit- Muslim relationship or lack of it, Budhism and related questions and problems, the ugly story of Vande Mataram and how the song came to be foisted on the movement for freedom, how the ancient non Aryan and non-vedic medical system came to be called ayurveda, interpolations, plagiarism and perversions in the texts of epics or puranas, hinduisation (in reality it is vedic orientation) of social life, imposition of vedic values on culture, sanskritisation of languages, brahminical interpretation of history as opposed to true or Dalit interpretation of history, reservation policy, Mandal Commission report, various GOs and the decisions of the Supreme Court, are all necessary and relevant for understanding the problems facing Dalits, BCs and for working out a plan to realise their aspirations.
DALITS HAVE NO MEDIA
The opponents of the ideology of the BSP have at their command (a) the entire media, private and govt., electronic and print, (b) all the so-called religious institutions – including Muslim and Christian Institutions who chant the gospel of communal harmony which in reality means friendship with upper castes, (c) all school and college textbooks In the preparation of which upper castes or their stooges have a monopoly, (d) the entire film industry – including TV serials all of which glorify the vedic culture or the temple culture, and (e) all movements such as communism, rationalism, empowerment of women, music, dance, drama, health promotion etc., education in India means, miseducating the pupils to admire vedic culture. While illiterates in villages belonging to Muslim, shudra and BC populations, have been living in harmony, their educated counterparts in towns and cities were busy correcting the “historical injustice” by demolishing Babri Masjid. They indulge in the useless. gossip over the Uniform Civil Code and such other non-issues.
Reports say that more than half the world’s illiterates are in India. These illiterates are the only hope for the genuine communal harmony and not the “educated” since education in India is a process of injecting saffron ideas into the brains of the pupils.
To put it briefly, the whole intellectual atmosphere in India is pro-vaidik that sympathy for Dalits is a mere pretence and vote-catching gimmick.
Our people must be educated on all these issues by holding seminars in every village or in taluk headquarters. Our people must be taken back to their cultural roots by developing a counter-culture. Budha’s, Dr. Ambedkar’s, Periyar’s birth anniversaries etc, should be the festivals in which study circles should play a big role. We should observe Deepavali and Dasara in a different way to tell our people and others that we are different from Hindus. When the enemy celebrates the Rama Lila, we should celebrate Ravana Lila. On these occasions thoughts of Periyar, Budha, Dr. Ambedkar, Mahatma Phule, Dr. Narla, Prof. K.S. Bhagavan, V.T. Rajshekar and ideas from the vast Dalit literature should be spread through lectures, pamphlets, songs, slogans and other cultural activities. Kerala’s Onam type festivals must be evolved all over India.
The object should be to take away Dalits and BCs from the Hindu fold. Periyar’s thoughts are facing a setback in Tamil Nadu because a counter-culture was not developed by his followers.
Firstly, there should be a band of dedicated and intellectually well equipped team of persons who will not aspire for party tickets and political power. They should work like a think-tank for the party. Secondly, we should make distinction between mental corruption and monetary corruption and concentrate more on attacking the intellectually corrupt.
DE-HINDUISE DALITS
The share of the upper castes even in the list of India’s top corrupt persons is very big. As in the govt. service, they are over-represented even in the world of corruption. P.V. Narasimha Rao, Jayalalita, Ramakrishna Hegde, Mrs. Sheela Kaul, Harshad Mehta, Satish Sharma, Sukh Ram etc. are all corrupt irrespective of the rate of cases filed against them. In TN, every party wants to be friendly with Bangalore Papatti, except DMK. Subramanya swamy and Cho. Ramaswamy support her only because of caste affinity. The same corrupt coterie talks of saving merit from being dislodged by Dalits and OBCs. Dalit leaders should expose this communal politics. At the same time, unity among Dalit, BC leaders and Muslims should be forged.
Funds need not pose a problem. Our own people will contribute small sums from each family when they see activities that given them pride, hope and guidance. Sincere and dedicated work will surely be rewarded.
(Paper presented at BSP seminar on Sept.8, 2000).
