high & low caste-one cutting across the other. That means the Brahmin belonging to the highest caste may be poor but an Untouchable minister like Jagjivan Ram may be quite rich. This is the most baffling problem faced by no other country in the world. If other countries have to destroy only “classes”, we in India have the twin menace of “class” & “caste”. Since the loyalty of both the rich and the poor are first to their caste, it is difficult to unite the poor of a caste against the rich of their own caste. The frequent “caste wars” in India have conclusively proved that poor Hindus will not join hands with Untouchables-who are economically the poorest and socially the lowest. Therefore, India presents a paradox where no general mobilisation of the poor is possible. Even Islam and Christianity have not escaped caste division because originally they were also Hindus. Sociologists by & large endorse our opinion that in India “caste” is a “class”. A mobile caste is a class. The low castes are all poor and higher castes are generally rich. But on thing can be said with confidence that in India it will not be possible to launch a “class struggle” without first destroying caste. At least a simultaneous thrust: “class-caste struggle” has to be launched. But our Marxist comrades do not agree with this argument. The Hindus are also not prepared for this. Since Hinduism is the other name for caste system, any attack on caste means a direct assault on property & privileges that the caste brings. Since every caste and sub-caste stands to benefit from this grand system, no Hindu is prepared to give up caste. Currently the high caste Hindus are making lot of noise over the moss conversion of Untouchables to Islam. To prevent it they say they want to destroy untouchability. Hindu leaders including Gandhi say that they want to eradicate untouchability. But nobody is complaining against caste system. Be- cause they know that untouchability being part of caste system, it is not possible to remove untouchability alone without destroying the caste system, which in turn means destroying Hinduism. So when Gandhi & other Hindu leaders talk against untouchability, they are not sincere. Gandhi, whom Ambedkar described as a Hindu leader and Enemy No. 1 of Untouchables, wanted a patchwork solution. Gandhi was content with reform but Ambedkar wanted Revolution and asked Dalits to quit Hinduism and go in for conversion. 7. Marxists Betray Revolution: India being one of the poorest countries in the world. all the factors necessary for revolution exist there. The Marxist parties are about 50 years old. And they are a force to be reckoned with. But the country is no where near revolution. This is because the Marxist leadership is in the hands of the Brahmins who are not really ready to launch a struggle to destroy caste as it will effect the property and privileges of their caste. And without destroying caste, it is not possible to destroy class. They are not prepared to combine caste struggle with class struggle. The Untouchables and tribals are born revolutionaries. No- body wants revolution more urgently than these two sections. But the Marxists have no programme to attract them. The Left parties do not inspire these revolutionary sections. And quite a number of them not only feel that Marxists in India are far from revolution but actually counter-revolutionaries. 8. Religious Revolution: As the Marxists have betrayed revolution. Untouchables are forced to take the only other path available-a religious solution. Thou- sands of Untouchables and tribes, there- fore, embraced Christianity and Islam and the flow is increasing. It is to be noted that the Untouchables of India are subjected to torture not because they are poor. There are any number of poor in India and Untouchables are only a part of it. The country itself has over 50% living below the “poverty line”. But why Untouchables alone are subjected to torture? Not because of their poverty, but their degrading social status. So the problem of exploitation in India is due to social causes and not economic factors. The main cause of India’s poverty is, therefore. social and next only economic. The social degradation of the Untouchables having had religious sanction under Hinduism. the Untouchables have no other go but to get out of this gas chamber of Hindu- ism and seek fresh air under other liberating religions: Christianity, Islam, Sikhism. Buddhism, etc. Therefore conversion to other religions has become popular among the Untouchables. Not because alter conversion to Christianity and Islam the problem of poverty would be solved. To them poverty is not their No. 1 problem. Man cannot live by bread alone. He wants self-respect which is denied under Hindu- ism. They will get it the moment they get out of Hinduism and convert to other religions. Untouchables have discovered that conversion helps them as they will no longer be subjected to atrocities. Conversion to other religions, therefore, helps the Untouchables to destroy caste paving the way or rather helping them to go to the next phase: “class struggle”. Ambedkar chose Buddhism after a 20-year-long thinking on the subject but unfortunately Buddhism. having been considered a part of Hinduism has proved to be ineffective in destroying untouchability because those who embraced Buddhism along with Ambedkar are still treated as Untouchables by the Hindus. So the Untouchables mostly prefer Christianity and lately in one State. Tamil Nadu, the trend is towards Islam. 9. Role of Christians: As already stated, the sickness of Hinduism is s0 contagious that it has not spared any other religion. Those who went over to Christianity carried their caste with them and we have evidence that to gain more members, the Church leaders allowed the converts to keep their caste identity. There are even today separate graveyards in the Church for Untouchable converts. But one thing: Christianity or Islam does not sanction caste distinction. Anybody fighting against caste within the Church or Islam will get support of their religion. But not so under Hinduism. That is why inside the Church in India, there is a powerful movement to fight caste dis crimination. Despite the caste distinction the Untouchable converts to Christianity are today emotionally and psychologically much better off than their counterparts who preferred to stay behind in Hinduism, The latest trend towards Islam in Tamil Nadu, the southernmost State of India, is a new development that has rattled the Hindu clergy. Even the government has expressed alarm and there are fresh moves to ban conversions and stop the flow of foreign funds to India. There are charges that Arab countries are financing the con- version drive but government investigation did not prove it. It is only a few thousand Untouchables who embraced Islam in Tamil Nadu. Mass conversion to Islam is not new to this area but the orthodox Hindus and the fundamentalist party, RSS. are worried about this trend because a Hindu considers Islam as the most inveterate enemy of Brahminism. Islam has no caste distinction. The Untouchables are attracted to this because of its egalitarianism. Even some Christian converts have opted to Islam.
10. Hinduism is anti-human: The above account is sufficient to convince anybody that Hinduism is not only anti- democratic but anti-human, Even the Bra- hemins, the custodians of Hinduism, have not benefitted materially from this suffocating religion. Hundreds of Brahmins have fled the “holy” India and settled in “unholy” US, UK and Gulf countries. Quite a number of them are still complaining of poverty in India. Foreigners are likely to be deceived by the propaganda of non-violence, the Gandhian Ahmisa. But as representative of the Untouchables. we would like to blast this myth. No- where in the world we can get a set of people who are more violent and blood- thirsty than the Hindus. Hinduism is no doubt dying. Christianity and Islam have a better future in India. Urbanisation and scientific development have set fire to the very citadel of Brahminism. But what keeps the dying Hinduism alive are the two main props caste system and the Karma theory-the belief in rebirth, pre- destiny. The Hindus talk about democracy and socialism but “majority rule” in India has resulted in majority tyranny on the minorities who are reduced to the level of second-rate citizens a persecuted minority. India will soon plunge into a bloody communal and caste war. Christianity has helped millions of Untouchables to get liberation. The tribes of the Eastern India are today a force to be reckoned with be- cause of Christianity. All those who went over to Christianity are definitely better off than those who stuck to Hinduism. If Christianity has to attract more followers. it has to immediately set its house in order by getting rid of the caste within the Church. Secondly, they have to render all-out help to Untouchables and tribes. CCA can send a team to India to investigate the position of Untouchables and we will render all help.
11. Solution: The Untouchables of India are so weak-socially, economically. culturally, politically & even physically- that they no longer have the patience to wait for a revolution which has proved elusive. Therefore instead of waiting endlessly for the revolution, they have decided to seek their own solution to their problems. 1. The first and the foremost programme is to quit Hinduism and seek refuge in any religion that assures them social status, 2 They will fight for a separate state. They are currently scattered all over India and live in isolated ghettos. Being in a minority, thoroughly disarmed and totally dispossessed, they face danger to their life, property and the honour of their women. So to get safety & security they have to seek a separate state. And pending such a statehood. Untouchables are migrating to bigger cities. Organised shifting of population is also planned. 3. Every Untouchable is asked to carry an arm for his self-protection. 4. International organisations & particularly Christians and Muslims have a duty to support the liberation struggle of the Untouchables. Our struggle needs to be linked up with the other struggling groups of Blacks, Burakus, Palestinians, Marxists and other friends. On behalf of the Untouchables of India, we thank the CCA-URM led by George Ninan and ably assisted by Kurata. (Paper presented on behalf of the Untouchables of India at the Asian Conference on “Role of Religion and National Harmony” organised by the Christian Conference of Asia held in Sri Lanka. Oct.
