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BRIDE BURNING IN INDIA: A SHAME FOR HINDUISM: ACT NOW (
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Subject: BRIDE BURNING IN INDIA: A SHAME FOR HINDUISM: ACT NOW (
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From: "N. Tiwari" <ntiwari@rs3.esm.vt.edu>
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Date: 12 Oct 1995 22:43:09 GMT
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Approved: srh <srh@rbhatnagar>
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Article: 402 of soc.religion.hindu
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Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu
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Organization: none
> From: Partha Banerjee <pb019@csc.albany.edu>
> To: soc-religion-hindu@uunet.uu.net
> Newgroups: soc.religion.hindu
> Subject: BRIDE BURNING IN INDIA: A SHAME FOR HINDUISM: ACT NOW
>
>
> Hinduism has now experienced a terrible brutality on its women: bride
> burning and dowry deaths have now spread in Indian Hindu populations
> like the plague. This is a disgrace to our country and religion and we
> must act now to stop this tragedy.
>
> In spite of the fact that wife battering is a worldwide phenomenon
> (and the western world is no exception), in India and some adjoining
> countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, brides are being killed
> upon demands of dowry. The practice has rapidly increased over the
> past ten years and although it has been concentrated in the Hindu
> heartland of north India (Delhi, Hariyana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh,
> Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan), it is spreading at an alarming rate
> throughout the subcontinent. Traditionally dowry-free Islamic
> countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh have also witnessed quite a
> few cases of this extreme form of violence against women.
>
> The just-concluded first international conference on bride burning and
> dowry deaths held at Harvard University from September 30 through October 2 has
> observed the following facts:
>
> 1. The terrible nature of the problem is more prevalent in the
> conservative and chauvinistic Hindu heartlland of northern India
> (where incidentally, the fundamentalist Hindu parties are the
> strongest)
>
> 2. The problem is predominantly concentrated in the areas where the
> caste system is most stringent
>
> 3. Most of the incidents are observed among the upper-caste (Brahman
> and Khsatriya) affluent Hindu communities
>
> 4. In spite of some landmark rulings by the Indian Supreme Court and
> some laws passed by the Indian Govt. in the recent years, there has
> been extreme lack of sincerity on the part of the police and the
> conservative ruling class to implement them
>
> 5. A severe form of corruption in the police and bureaucracy has made
> it almost impossible to make a dent into the system
>
> 6. Women are being used as commodity to bring money to the groom's
> family and there is very little sense of decency or conscience on the
> part of the groom's family
>
> 7. In many cases, the "educated" groom is taking precautions and
> playing tricks to bypass the law
>
> 8. The family of the abused (i.e., the parents of the bride, etc.) are
> being threatened severely and kept from taking actions.
My response:
1. I will first commend Sri Partha Banerjee in his concern about the
bride burning issue in India. It is indeed a serious issue, that
needs to be addressed by all of us. For Hindus, it is truly a matter
of shame, and we as Hindus should get rid of this evil ASAP.
2. Having said that, I will now debate the validity of the observations
made by Shri Banerjee. He claims the following:
a) The practice is most prevalent in areas where Hindu fundamentalist
parties are the strongest. Also, Shri Banerjee tries to draw a co-
relation between the severity of casteism and bride burning issue.
Both these arguments are quite wrong. Firstly, the rise of 'Hindu
fundamentalism' is quite a recent phenomenon. However, we do see
bride burning has been going on for years. Attributing a sort of
correlation between bride burning and the rise of BJP is quite
misleading, objectively inaccurate and smells of a anti-BJP tirade
masquerading as anti-bride burning tirade.
b) The claim that we see the worst form of oppression in the name of
caste in these areas is also quite untrue. Not that these areas are
free from evils of casteism, but to label these areas as the most
casteist is not quite true. In fact, most of the times, you hear
about opressions based on caste, the reports emanate from TN, Bihar
and Karnataka. In the past, Bengal was also in that list. But times
have changed. The very rise of anti-Brahmin parties in the state of
TN (Jusitce Party, DMK etc.) testifies to this assertion of mine.
c) Also, the argument to label 'upper-catste' persons as the main culprits
the sustenance of this evil (bride burning) is not true. There are
Brahmins, Thakurs. But there are also Vaishyas and the Harijans.
Perhaps, this one reason, that all Hindus with a reasonable conscience,
should get together atleast on this issue, and try there best to get
rid of this evil. And these men and women with a resonable consicence
are everywhere. In all castes, and in all regions.
d) There seems to be a subtle message in the post of Partha. Atleast that
is my interpretation. The message is: Getting rid of BJP is the one of
the ways in which this evil can be culled. That is really a bad medicine.
From what I remember, the practice started in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana.
Bride burning is not a problem of religion. It is one of the consequences
the excessive dose of materialism in our lives. For example, we do not
see in the works of Munshi Premchand, a lot of dowry related problems.
In my frequent conversations with my parents and relatives, it has been
several times pointed out that a 'baraat' never used to go back on grounds
of dowry. In fact, all this 'negotiation' was never there. There was dowry
of course, but it was never that big an issue. In the post 1947 era, we
were increasingly taught that money could buy you anything. As long as
you had money, you could buy justice, fame, husband etc. Money was the
key. It never mattered as to how you got that money. Witness the respect
that we accord to our bureaucrats, netas, filmi actors, industrialists.
And I will not be far from reality if I claim that a very very large
fraction of these people have earned their fame in a very dubious way.
A casual look at our own relatives, parents, and even ourselves, could
only place us in the same category. It is not an issue of communists
or the rightists. Rather, the roots are much more widespread. To shift
the blame on on party or individual will be just running away from the
reality.
A nation run by corrupt persons will see no problem in burning a women
if she did not bring enough money. It is sheer greed. Pure greed. Nothing
more, nothing less. And the solution lies in curbing our own greed.
Nothing else would work. So the next time you try to go in Bharatiya Railway,
do not bribe the TTE to get a sleeper for yourself. That is a small step
in the eradication of evils like dowry. Could we take that step? Or are
we too busy shouting slogans.
--
Nachiketa Tiwari
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