A nation is only as strong as its society. The inherent evils and weaknesses in Hindu society which had sapped the life of the so called Indian nation have surfaced again. Illiteracy, superstition and bigotry propagated by the ruling Hindu castes to preserve their own class interests have kept them busy in nit picking rather than nation building. Little wonder then that invaders from as far away as Europe could easily conquor and rule India.
All nonHindu minorities are struggling against the tyranny of the majority. The Sikhs, Kashmiris, Assamese among others are demanding total independence. But now the Hindus need to have a drastic look at their own social set up. There is strife among the Hindus themselves.
The shiftless ruling caste of priests, the Brahmans, 5,000 years ago made all occupations here datary. These divisions made up castes. The Brahmans were the at the top and the lowest castes were deemed ‘untouchables’. Inter caste marriages were strictly forbidden. Merit for a low caste was of no consequence. Female infanticide, burning of women who brought insufficient dowry, burning of wives with dead husbands are still common among the so called high caste Hindus. The Muslims tried for over a thousand years in vain to change things in Hindustan as did the British. Even Apartheid at its worst is relatively mild and does not so completely demean a human being.
Mohan Das Gandhi, the renowned Hindu leader did the backward castes a great disservice. He rather than integrating and educating these exploited people branded them with a label, ‘Harijan’ or the ‘children of God’ so as to make them easily identifiable and thus kept separate.
Now, when the govt took a step to right this centuries old wrong even though for a wrong reason, an eye at the massive vote bank, it has to contend with riots. The upper castes have taken to the streets and are destroying govt property to protest against a job quota for the poor and backward castes. These so called untouchables and backward castes constitute over 50 per cent of the Hindus. They are rightly planning to defend their reservations.
Traditionally, these low castes supported the Congress Party which cleverly picked up a few of their leaders like Jagjiwan Ram. These lenders did what was expected of them and massed great personal fortunes and not much else. The Congress is opposed to the job reservations. The Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party is also opposed to the quotas while the Congress is in opposition, the BJP support to the coalition Janata Dal government is crucial.
Over the past few weeks life in most of India has been paralysed by strikes and riots. There have been many news reports of backward caste officers being assaulted and harassed.
The Brahmans have for 43 years willy-nilly succeeded in holding on to power but now the writing is on the wall and they can ignore it only at their own peril. They have no one to blame but their own crooked heritage of deceitfulness and a false sense of supremacy.
India today is a veritable powder keg with many social, religious and political dissensions. The system is rotten through and is bound to fall apart. This sooner this happens, the better for everyone.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 7, 1990
