Caste is worse than Aparthied
Hundreds of millions of untouchables
(Dalits) have been
subjected to humiliation, degradation,
untouchability, starvation,
murder, rape and what not for about 3000
years. Indian society
has been divided into four classes or
Varnas (castes); on the
top is Brahmin (priestly class), next to
them are Kshatriyas
(warrior class), then we have Vaishya
(business class), and at
the bottom are Shudras (untouchables).
These untouchables
can not share any public platform with,
and even their shadows
pollute the so-called upper castes.
Manusmriti, which regulates
social and political life of Hindu
society in India, bars untouchables
from reading, pronouncing and hearing the
holy books like Vedas
and if they hear them, molten lead is to
be poured in their
ears, their tongues are to be cut off if
they pronounce them
and eyes are to be pierced with red hot
iron. Even African
brothers have not faced such a draconian
social and religious
norm. The Indian Government may say that
the old
Constitution - Manusmriti has been
replaced by modern Indian
Constitution framed by Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar, but, because of
non-implementation of the present
Constitution, the old
Constitution holds the order of the day
in day-to-day life.
Because of this dilution of reservation
(a Constitutional provision
to provide jobs in Government services
and politics according
to population ratio), rape and murder of
Dalits and discrimination
in every walk of life are the order of
the day. Even the Supreme
Court of India is engaged in eroding the
base of reservation by
delivering adverse judgment after
judgment.
The
world may not believe our nightmare as truth but it
Religious Freedom (
2 )
is so. Why apartheid problem caught the
attention of the
world is because nature and religion did
not help in masking the
reality. Blacks and whites are both
creations of nature and this
realization has helped in exposing the
discrimination of brothers
with black skin. Such discrimination was
not backed by religion,
be it Christianity or Islam. But in our
case the social
discrimination, which has pervaded all
walks of life, is caused by
Hindu religion. The untouchables have
been consoled to live a
dehumanized life because they are said to
be condemned to it
by the desire of gods. Accordingly, it is
considered good if they
suffer because they are washing away the
sins of their past life
and their present suffering will liberate
them in the next life.
According to Article 1 of the UN
Convention on Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (CERD), caste
discrimination is included
in racial discrimination, as formally
interpreted and explained by
the CERD Committee in 1996, ICCPR
(International Convention
on Civil and Political Rights) in 1997
and the UN Sub-Commission
for protection and promotion of Human
Rights in 1999;when on
the one hand the Indian Constitution
recognizes discrimination
on the basis of which reservation is
given, then how caste
discrimination can be denied at
international human rights for
a? When Indian Government and its
dominant castes do not
feel shy of associating with UN Bodies
and developed countries
in the field of health, education , rural
development and the
like then how can they say that only
caste discrimination is an
internal matter ? Even most developed
countries like USA and
Japan have gracefully accepted
discrimination in their respective
countries. At no point, they said that
their internal problems
have been internationalized; when
nature-created differences
like blacks and whites are being fought
then why manmade
social norms, which sprang up due to
Varna Vyavastha (caste
system), can not be fought ? Our problems
are more severe
than apartheid. Can anyone deny that
killings, rapes, starvation
or social discrimination of Dalits are
not rampant ? Isn't it a fact
that safeguards like reservation provided
in the Constitution are
frequently
flouted? After independence Indian Parliament should
have first taken up the issue of
elimination of caste and
imparting of compulsory and equal
education and by now India
would have reached the pinnacle of
progress. Isn't it true that
today also untouchables are carrying
human excreta on their
heads? Isn't it a fact that even in the
wake of the Tsunami
tragedy that struck coastal Tamil Nadu,
many relief camps
were put up by Govt. and other voluntary
bodies, wherein
Dalits were not allowed to share food and
shelter side-by-side
with upper castes and others? Even in
case of death, they
were treated separately. Among human
beings, caste
discrimination still continues to be
practised there which proves
that the dominant castes cannot change
their mind-set. Those
who are settled in western countries,
like Silicon Valley, have not
changed a bit. Rather, being in minority outside
of India, they
become more fanatic and parochial and
support RSS ideology
Whatever progress has been made by
untouchables is
due to reservation in services and
politics. Dalits constitute
about 25% of the total population of
India. So far, reservation
has not been fully implemented, e.g., out
of 120 Secretaries in
the Government of India, there is hardly
anyone from this
community. In 1997 the Department of
Personnel & Training
issued five anti-reservation orders on
the basis of Supreme
Court judgment which have eroded the base
of reservation.
The All India Confederation of SC/ST
Organisations has been
struggling since 1997 for restoration of
benefit of affirmative
action and its implementation. The
untouchables do not have
any participation in the fields of
industry, trade, commerce,
higher education and judiciary,
profession and art and culture.
Imagine what would be happening to them
if there were no
reservation. Why this truth remained
masked is precisely
because of upper caste dominance in all fields
like media,
communication, key places in Government
etc. India is among
those countries which join the cause of
human rights outside
India, but when it comes to the cause of
human rights within
the country, it says that it is an
internal matter. Developed
countries
like USA and Japan have accepted gracefully and
honestly that discrimination does exist
in their countries but
they did not say that their internal
matter had been
internationalized. But, Indian Government
is pleading that it is
an internal matter. Going by the logic of
Indian Government
then every Genocide and Xenophobia
happening in any country
becomes the internal matter of that
country.
The United Nations Organization has
failed to appreciate
the exploitation and discrimination in
India in time. Justice delayed
is justice denied; however, it has still
time to include caste based
discrimination in its programs. Human
Rights are not only inborn,
inalienable, indivisible, universal but
they transcend nation state
boundaries. Irrespective of political,
nation state boundary and
other considerations, the whole humanity
is having the obligation
to protect and promote the cause of
humanity. The U.N.O.
should not succumb to any kind of
pressure opposing the inclusion
of caste based discrimination.
It is often said that truth can not be
masked for a long
period but it is so in India. Whatever
standard hypotheses and
parameters are there to gauge the truth-
human mentality,
faith and persuasion - they all fail when
applying to so called
human beings of Brahminical Social Order
(BSO). The entire
media is in the hands of BSO in India and
nothing much can
appear either in print or electronic
media which goes against
them. Some of the electronic media are
controlled by western
people but the upper castes have pervaded
in such a way that
nothing goes against them. Whatever they
feel like is covered
and western journalists and media have
not understood it till
now.
The upper castes rule the roost in every
sphere and
whenever westerners try to understand the
truth, they have
failed to see through it. The simple
reason for this is that they
understand only English and prepare
socio-cultural schemes
based on projections of upper castes so
that scholarships and
fellowships are given to them only. A
warrior only can know a
warrior;
similarly, Christian brothers, being above such a heinous
caste system, could not understand it.
Buddhism was born in India before the
birth of Jesus
Christ and it spread to most parts of the
world during its peak;
however, it declined in India because of
internal weaknesses
and manipulative actions of Brahminical
forces, i.e., so called
upper castes. If at all there is a need
to serve humans it is in
India as most of the societies in the
world have overcome
acute forms of exploitation and discrimination,
but in India till
today the caste system - graded
inequality- exists in the most
brutal and crude manner which leads to
the most inhuman
form of exploitation and discrimination.
India has been the cradle
land of Buddhism but it was
systematically weakened because
of the caste system and this became
possible because people
were not conscious and educated but in
today's world this is
not going to be the case and this
exploitation and discrimination
in the name of caste system would not
continue. There is
complete unrest, frustration and agony
amongst DALITS - so
called lower castes/untouchables who
constitute more than 25
per cent population of India. I do not
think that more than 250
million people would be living in such
nasty and wretched
conditions any where in the world.
The Lord Buddha Club and All India
Confederation of
SC/ST Organisations have been waging a
relentless war for
equality, justice, rights and harmony for
the last 7-8 years.
Reservation in Government Services was
given to Dalits after
huge, concerted efforts and hardships and
it is like the
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION for BLACKS in the
UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA, but now it is being snatched
away by the upper
castes under one pretext or the other. We
had organized four
mammoth gatherings on 26th November 1997,
16th November
1998, on 13th December 1999 and 11th
December 2000 of
about 0.1 million, 0.5 million, 1.0
million and 1.5 million
respectively,followed by rallies in
subsequent years, demanding
rights for these children of a lesser god
but the rulers have not
relented and there is no hope that they
would accede to the
demands.
