LUCKNOW: The diatribe of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) against Mahatma Gandhi continues firing another salvo against Gandhi the Uttar Pradesh president of the party Jung Bahadur Patel has said Mahatma Gandhi Was not a true Hindu but used Hinduism to fulfill his political goals.
BSP leader said Mahatma Gandhi had a Brahminical mentality and always wanted the Oppressed bahujan samaj to Mo Malin at the bottom of the caste ladder.
To buttress his arguments Patel said Gandhi had written in favor of casteism in Naviivan in 1920-21 But four years later in 1925 in Young India he wrote that he was Against casteism but was in favor of the Varmashram system which in fact is the other side of the same coin
Without mincing words Paw) said Gandhi’s penchant for the Varmashram system was evident from the fact that after Manu he was the first person to add a fifth Segment-Panchmas (later rechristened as Harijans)-to the system.
The word Harijan he said was first coined by Narsi Mehta a renowned saint of Maharashtra in the 16/17thcentury when he called the children of Devdasi Harijans. Patel asked Do the Dalits who are culled Harijans-have the same status as that of children of Gevadasis
Lashing out at the Congress he said The leaders who swear by Gandhi have not taken pains to legalize the word Harijan and en: shrine tin the Constitution. Iris a shame that the Government still uses words like Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe in official dossiers. The BSP leaders said that Gandhi’s love for Dalits was as false as the philosophy.
The country he said was being run on Gandhi’s philosophy for the last 40 years and Gandhi’s Instead of paving the way for development had forced the country to mortgage its gold. Defending party leader Mayawati and MLA Barkhu Ram Verma for their remarks against Gandhi Patel Said They have only repeated the words of Baba Saheb (Ambedkar) and we the Ambedkarists stand by them.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 25, 1994
