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Caste blocks a Hindu renaissance
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To: ghen@netcom.com
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Subject: Caste blocks a Hindu renaissance
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From: ashok <ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in>
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Date: Thu, 27 Jun 96 21:22:24 PDT
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Priority: Normal
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Resent-Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 11:44:37 -0700 (MST)
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Resent-From: Ajay Shah <ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu>
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Resent-Message-Id: <Pine.ULT.3.90.960627114437.26836H@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu>
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Resent-To: ghen@netcom.com
Title : Caste blocks a Hindu renaissance
Author : Jaya Jaitly
Publication : Indian Express
Date : June 27, 1996
WE speak of Hinduism being a religion of great tolerance
and all imbibing. Yet there is one immutable factor
about Hindu society that has no answer. If it were all
embracing then why can one not be converted to Hinduism
from any other religion? Fundamentalist Hindus worry
about be loss to Hinduism by conversions to Christianity,
Islam and Buddhism. Yet there is no scope in Hinduism
for the reverse to take place. The reason for the
outflow and the impossibility of inflow is the same, and
that is the caste system. This is the greatest logjam
preventing the proper acceptance and growth of a modern,
humane, Hindu religion.
The problem is how can one convert oneself into a Hindu
from any other religion without giving oneself a caste
identity. No matter how much we may abhor the idea we
would have to select whether an American Mary Smith for
instance, would choose to be a Manju Sharma or a Manju
Paswan. The proposition is as ridiculous as it is
impossible. Caste being so totally intrinsic to
Hinduism, one cannot become a Hindu because one cannot
choose to he casteless by birth. There is no Hinduism
without caste.
The conversions away from Hinduism were also largely
motivated by the inhuman and exploitative aspects of the
caste system, and something which no Hindu should be
proud of. The escape has been proved chimerical as is
seen by the dalit Christians' demand for reservations.
If reservations are based on caste and the caste system
exists only in Hindu society all the dalit Christians and
dalit Buddhists have perforce to establish their Hindu
caste identity to achieve social empowerment through
reservations. Socially they were never allowed to forget
they were Hindus of the lowest order.
The Christian converts carry with them their caste to the
extent that most marriages are within the caste, and
caste discrimination gets demonstrated even in the
cemetery. Escape being elusive through conversion the
new escape route is reservations. It is here that the
dilemma begins, and envelopes the newly emerged leaders
of the forces of social justice who have set themselves
up as the true warriors against the enemy, Hindutva.
The propagation of caste is as fundamentalist an aspect
of party policy as the propagation of religion. If in the
name of social justice and positive discrimination,
casteism in which the blatant promotion of one caste to
the detriment of others, or the abuse of some castes by
others becomes the focal point of political empowerment,
one is in fact propagating the ugly face of Hindu
society. The Hindu religion is something quite different
as it does not speak of caste at all in its philosophical
texts.
Caste itself was the axis around which the Mandal-Mandir
construct revolved. The mandir movement was an attempt
to unify Hindus who were being divided on caste lines.
What makes it faulty is the fact that Hindus, because of
the very divisive caste system, cannot unify. Similarly,
the votaries of social justice fall into the same trap
because they cannot fight Hindutva (termed by them as
communism) While at the same time highlighting cote, the
single most important social manifestation of Hindutva.
The fighting of Mandal by Mandir and the fighting of
Hindutva by casteism will result in failure and cause
endless tensions both in society and in governance unless
both sets of forces set their sights on: a) the original
philosophy of the Hindu religion; and b) the real
objective of the social justice movement. Hinduism
speaks of equality between all beings and social justice
calls for the abolition of caste structures. Instead of
fighting for equality at all levels, the Bharatiya Janata
Party has allowed itself to be labelled the saffron
brigade with capitalist concerns.
On the other hand, social justice has been divorced from
the democratic socialist methodology of abolishing caste
through the active promotion of inter caste marriages
and dining, land reforrns, greater educational and
employment opportunities, and other such concrete
programmes. Its votaries find it easier to accentuate
caste and perform political arithmetic with its
components to achieve and retain power the easy way. As
long as the arithmetic adds up positively they find no
need to provide jobs or development to the concerned
people or wage battles against corruption and
criminality, let alone one attempt to bring about harmony
between the upper and under classes.
The leadership of both movements should begin a process
of self-analysis, adopt a policy of far-sightedness and
find ways of abolishing the pernicious caste dividing our
society while at the same time making Hinduism
progressive, dynamic and more humane.
The author is general secretary of the Samata party.
