JAN. 16, 1982
Editorial: “Decline and Fall of Indian Woman”.
The much-publicised “International Women’s Year” has come and gone and to flatter the female ego, the year is now stretched to a decade. How long can we go on fooling the female sex? Has the IWY done any real good to Indian women except for those holding seminars? What did the women of India gain by the 19-year rule of Indira Gandhi who has now launched her second heriditary rule? The publication of the “Report on the Status of Women in India” has laid bare in all nakedness her glamorous “Sita image”. Has India succeeded in abolishing prostitution? Why Hinduism has justified the Devadasi system? We don’t need a govt, report to prove that the Indian woman has been a chattel and a slave. The trick was played on her from the days of the Manusmriti which assigns the status of slave to the woman. No religion has committed greater crimes against woman than Hinduism. Manu asks the man never to trust a woman. She can be abused, kicked or even killed. Why not a single woman raises her voice against Manu-the enemy No.1 of the woman? Hundreds of causes were cited for the decline and fall of Indian woman during this IWY. But not one woman tried to trace the root cause for the decline and fall of woman.
The official committee (chapter 1) vaguely refers to the value system with our hierarchical caste system. But the Committee failed to name the villain, Manu. That means they want change only in the form but not the content. The special problem listed by the committee prostitution, Devadasi, rape, child marriage, dowry, widowhood, suicide, bride and widow-burning, unwed mothers, destitute women are all because of Manu. But what the committee has recommended is cure for the symptoms but not the disease. As long as Manu and his poisonous values pervade our society, Hindu woman cannot get a place of honour. The true woman can rise only from the ashes of Manu.
BC movement: Former Chief Minister of Bihar Karpoori Thakur addressing an all-India Backward Class Conference in Delhi on Dec.6 regretted that the Mandal Commission report was not implemented. About 1,000 delegates from all over India attended the conference.
RSS fund: RSS has announced a Rs.5-crore fund to reconvert Muslims and Christians as Untouchables of Hinduism.
Blackout and Blackmail by Brahmin-Bania Press: Kanshi Ram, President of the BAMCEF, says Banias supply the funds and Brahmin the pen.
Anti-woman and anti-caste trends in church: Jyotsna Chatterji writes
Brahmin meet: The All-India Brahmin conference at Madras on Dec.25 asked Brahmins to unite. Palttom Sivaramakrishna Aiyar of the Kerala Brahmins Association inaugurated the convention.
