Caste is worse than Aparthied

           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Constitution - Manusmriti has been replaced by modern Indian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.