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 if they read them. 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 The Indian Government may say that the old Constitution - Manusmriti has been replaced by modern Indian Constitution framed by Dr.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 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.

Many dalits have escaped to Islam and Christianity but their nightmare has not ended. Brahminical Social Order (BSO), being dominant religion and tradition, has crept into other faiths. Christians and Muslims are almost equally victims of caste discrimination and therefore equal onus lies on them in annihilation of caste discrimination which is mother of all discriminations. The so called upper castes sometimes use lower castes against Christians and Muslims but our movement is scuttling this unscrupulous design.

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 fora? 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 (Right Wing of Hinduism) 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 more than 200 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 struggled hard 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 matters had been internationalized. But, Indian Government is pleading that it is an internal matter. Going by the logic of Indian Government, 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 All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations has been waging a relentless war for equality, justice, rights and harmony for the last 10 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.

- Dr. Udit Raj,
B-113, Sarvodaya Enclave,
New Delhi-110017, India
Tel: 91-11-26960022, 91-9899382211
Email: dr.uditraj@gmail.com
buddha@ndf.vsnl.net.in
seema6raj@yahoo.co.in
www.dalitinternational.org