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An excerpt from ‘The Clash of Cultures: Productive Masses Vs Hindutva–Mullah Conflicting Ethics,’ by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd.

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

Before the BJP came to power the discussion on the campus used to be around Muslim communities’ educational development, employment and the kind of poverty the people suffer from. That was also the period in which the Sachar Committee Report was in every Muslim intellectual’s – man or woman’s – mind. Now I see more fear and silence among them. Why? 

Before the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power, there was no indication in the election campaign of the Prime Ministerial candidate – Narendra Modi – that the Muslim question that remained on its agenda for a long time would be brought into play in so many ways after coming to power. After the Party came to power, within no time Article 370, the resettlement of Kashmiri pundits back in Kashmir, and beef food bogey became major issues. The cow protection issue has haunted Muslims for decades. The beef ban in many BJP-ruled states put them not only in fear of food security, but many of them lost small businesses around cattle, meat, leather and bone sales and purchases. Unemployment among them has gone up to unknown heights. The lynching of Aklaq in Uttar Pradesh created a scary situation among Muslims all over India.

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I have been working at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, for about six years. Here Muslim men and women constitute the main body of teaching faculty, non-teaching staff and student community, as the Urdu language has been only nurtured by Muslims after independence. Even in the Nizam-ruled region, where every other community people learnt Urdu, they no longer hold on to Urdu. The Reddy and Velama Zamindars who used to read and write in Urdu have given up. From this region, only Muslims sustained what they call the Urdu Zuban. So my interaction at this university is with Urdu Urdu-speaking Muslim community.

The Muslim men and women who work in this university live with diverse dress codes, lifestyles, and hairstyles. There are women who wear modern dress, maintain other modes of body style and drive their own cars. Even in a big university like Osmania University, I have not seen so many women driving their own cars, working till late in the night. But they do that in MANUU. A woman professor worked as a registrar. A burkha-clad woman professor worked as provost of the hostels of both boys and girls for quite some time. She has also contested for the presidency of MANUUTA. In Osmania where there are more women teachers mainly Hindu, never took up the provost job, as it involves, at times, late-night stays. In the neighbouring Hyderabad Central University, there are more women staff members (mainly from upper castes), even educated abroad. But nobody has taken up that job.

Some girl students even cover their whole face, except their eyes, but they study well. There are men who always live in traditional dress and have beards, wear sherwani, pyjama and so on. I know two very conservative-looking people – one woman and a man – but their expertise in computer operation is unmatched. There are men who wear more modern dresses than men of other communities. I tried to find out whether there were any polygamous men among teaching and non-teaching men. Hardly any. I know that there are divorced women but they are quite confident and professional. Before the BJP came to power the discussion on the campus used to be around Muslim communities’ educational development, employment, and the kind of poverty the people suffer from. That was also the period in which the Sachar Committee Report was in every Muslim intellectual’s – man or woman – mind. Now I see more fear and silence among them. Why? 

The Kashmir crisis has deepened after the election. Blood is flowing on an everyday basis. After the Uri incident, every Muslim began to be suspected as if he or she were a Pakistani agent. After the surgical operation, the celebration appeared not because the terrorist dens on the border were attacked but seemed to be against every Indian Muslim. The mood was that of a lesson being taught. This message was sent quite consciously by the sweet-distributing squads. 

The sudden discovery that every Muslim woman is facing Triple Talaq and the urgency to bring about a Uniform Civil Code to save Muslim women scare them more. One case of one Muslim woman in the Supreme Court is being projected as if every Muslim woman after the BJP came to power is facing the Tripple Talaq and the UCC is the solution.

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Now the discussion among them in small groups, lunch meetings, and “chai pe churcha” is not about their “vikas” but about their “fear”. The women teachers and non-teachers I talk to tell me that these are not our major problems. They say, “Our major problems are education in English and Urdu and jobs in the market. They further say “safety in the general society not just in the Muslim society”. 

I see many of them feel lost in the present situation. They are lost because Lalitha Kumaramangalam, Chairperson of the National Women’s Commission and all other ruling Hindu women keep telling the nation that they are worried about the divorced Muslim women more than the Dalit women getting raped on a daily basis. They are also not at all worried about the young and old Hindu widows living a pre-Rajarammohan Roy life in the Varanasi rat hole called Vrindavan. 

Every Muslim man feels that the Hindutva brigade treats them as if they are the soldiers on the other side of LOC fighting for Pakistan. Why did the situation change after the 2014 elections so drastically? In the leading TV shops, every Muslim man is buying – particularly in some English TV shops – bombs and guns. Every Muslim woman is selling a Talaq certificate and begging for protection from her cruel husband. Why wasn’t this also done before the 2014 elections? Do Muslim women of India need Hindu Vijaya Mallyas and Christian Donald Trumps to protect them from Triple Talaqs and bad husbands? 

There is another campaign at large in the morning walks, lazy chai shops or yoga training centres where the Hindutva brigade’s old and young men talk about how Islam has destroyed Bharat. Many of them use the Muslim-designated name of the nation – “Hindustan” – in danger. Unfortunately in all Muslim meetings, this is the name they also use for this nation without knowing that this can be a source of the amendment to the constitution that its existing name India – Bharat, should be changed to Hindustan. 

For decades Muslim politicians and intellectuals were self-destructive and now they lost all the courage to combat these forces who actually participate in “khoon pe charcha’’. The Muslim intellectuals for long were busy with secular “coffee pe churcha” when their community was facing the music of “khoon pe churcha”. They never even wanted to talk about the abolition of untouchability or permanent widowhood in Hindu society. They worried it would hurt the Hindu sentiments. 

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It was actually the Muslim Irani hotels that initiated the common drink-and-eat culture in India. Hyderabad would provide you with any number of examples where the Brahmin Bhojan Coffee hotels did not allow anybody except the Brahmins to eat and drink inside. In the spiritual domain, the Muslim Durghas allowed all castes to touch and worship the shrine when no Hindu temple was allowing the Dalits and OBCs. They do not want to make a law that all spiritual places – Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Sikh – ban caste practices. Why do we not initiate a Uniform Religion Code (URC), that will ensure human justice, which is a pre-requisite of gender justice?

Excerpted with permission from The Clash of Cultures: Productive Masses Vs Hindutva – Mullah Conflicting Ethics, Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, Telangana Publications.

https://scroll.in/article/1059019/why-the-bjp-should-ensure-gender-and-caste-justice-among-all-faiths-before-a-uniform-civil-code

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd | 15 Nov 2023

No political party, not even the BJP led by the RSS, can ignore the socio-economic findings of Bihar’s caste census. 

Enumerators receive information from a Patna resident during a caste-based survey in Bihar. Image Courtesy: PTI

After the Bihar government released a broad composition of the caste-wise population of the state in October, it recently released the statistical findings on the socio-economic status of the state’s population. The data shows that the Other Backward Classes of the state constitute 63.13% and the non-Muslim upper castes constitute just 10% of the population. As a single caste, the Yadavs constitute the largest number, 14.27%. The picture is as follows: 

The castes that make up the backward (27.13%) and most backward communities (36%) together constitute 63.13% of the state’s population. The general category castes, which constitute the Brahmins, Bhumihars, Kayasthas and Rajputs, constitute just 15.52% of the population. 

In other words, the Yadavs are virtually as large a social group as all the communities that make up the general category in that state. 

If the Muslim population is excluded, the Hindu OBCs constitute 50% of the population and the upper caste (general) category constitutes just 10%.

Impact of Caste Census

An immediate question arises, how would the caste census play out in terms of judicial decisions at the Supreme Court level? The 50% cap imposed on all reservations is based on a moral premise raised by the court. Once such authentic data of caste composition is placed before the court the cap would have to go. 

Once a caste census is conducted at the all-India level, the whole political structure will undergo a radical change.

This understanding of social composition was the reason why the Dwija caste leaders in all parties were afraid of collecting caste-wise Census data.   

After the caste-wise socio-economic and educational data was tabled, the Bihar government decided to increase the OBC reservations to 65% in the state. Including the EWS reservation, the reservation in Bihar would now rise to 75%. 

This decision of the Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav government will create an ideological crisis for the Bharatiya Janata Party. It will also force the judiciary to relook at its 50% cap on quotas, now that a solid database can be placed before it, at least from one numerically large state.

Poverty Indicators

Let us also look at the caste-wise poverty levels in Bihar. Those who earn less than Rs 6,000 per month are considered the ‘poorest of the poor’ in any state. That is, these families earn less than Rs 72,000 per year. In the 21st-century and in a globalised world, such a poor income can hardly sustain a wife and husband and their two children. 

The poverty line defined by the erstwhile Planning Commission’s economic surveys and the existing Niti Aayog’s surveys establish that Bihar is the most poverty-ridden state in India, after which come Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. For this reason, along with Rajasthan, these states are also clubbed together as the ‘BiMaRU states’.

Now, the Bihar caste census data shows the caste-wise poverty situation for the first time. It is seen quite clearly that 42.93% of the Scheduled Castes are living in absolute poverty. The Scheduled Tribes follow the Scheduled Castes in terms of having a poverty ridden life with 42.7% among them absolutely poor. 

The Extremely Backward Classes constitute the largest grouping in population terms, but in terms of poverty they are worst-off among the OBCs—33.58% of them fall in the category of the poorest of the poor. 

Further, 33.16% of the OBCs are in the most poverty-ridden category. The data shows that the Yadavs, though numerically dominant, have 35.87% in the most poverty-stricken category.

Indeed, a section of the Brahmins—25.32%— and 27.58% of the Bhumihars, followed by 24.89% of Rajputs suffer from poverty. The least poverty ridden caste is the Kayastha, among whom 13.38% are poor. 

However, we must understand that even among the ‘poorest of the poor’, those who belong to the historically oppressed castes are more lacking in education and caste capital. 

Therefore, when we examine caste as a unit, the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and EBCs of Bihar need a lot of welfare push apart from mere reservations.

The agrarian productivity in Bihar needs to be upgraded because the state hardly has any industrial capital. In terms of economic vibrancy, its urban locations, including the state capital Patna, though known as ancient Pataliputra, is nowhere close to even a district headquarter in a South Indian state. Unless the state’s productivity is upgraded, pushing its vast population above the poverty line is impossible.

National Implication of Bihar Data  

One major implication is that several states are now forced to collect caste-wise data. The Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh governments have already started collecting caste-wise data. 

After the Bihar caste data was released, the Congress party’s All-India Congress Committee met and decided that caste data will be collected wherever it is in power. When the Congress comes to power at the Centre, it would make the caste census part of the general census enumeration, done once in a decade.

This new development is a shocker to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is ruling the nation through its brainchild, the BJP. The reason is simple. The RSS was for removing reservations and forbidding any discussion on caste identity. Their idea of social engineering was to convince the Dalit/Shudra masses that the Hindus must unite to fight Muslims and Christians, not to expand caste identities and create a crisis in the Dwija-controlled Sanatana Dharma.

With great reluctance, they allowed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use his OBC identity in the 2014 election for vote-garnering purposes. They perhaps believed that he would manage the nation as he managed Gujarat by constantly using ‘Muslim appeasement’, ‘Muslim enmity’ and ‘Pakistan threat’ and so on, without allowing the caste question to enter the political discourse. 

But India is not Gujarat. Modi’s caste identity and his vote mobilisation based on caste identities in North India, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, became the driving force for the Mandalites to push the caste identity issue towards its logical end.

Now the RSS/BJP will be forced to take a stand on the national caste census. If they avoid the issue, the entire Shudra/OBC masses will come to realise that their vote power was only used to consolidate Dwija power.  

The Prime Minister has repeatedly said in his 2023 state election campaigns that his government has made 27 OBCs ministers. He has also been saying that the caste census will divide Hindu society. 

Such arguments will only show that they do not want to uplift the historically oppressed OBCs at the ground level. A caste census is about allocating resources and planning for the welfare of each community, based on its actual status and led by scientific data. No party can avoid the question of caste census now.

The author is a political theorist, social activist and author. His latest book is The Clash of Cultures—Productive Masses Vs Hindutva—Mullah Conflicting Ethics. The views expressed are personal.

https://www.newsclick.in/bihar-economic-data-turning-point-democracy

In contrast to the BJP’s economic model, which benefits big industrialists, the Congress focuses on the masses who produce wealth from land and labour.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi interacts with a farmer regarding paddy harvesting during his visit to Kathiya Village, near Raipur | ANI

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

15 November, 2023 11:40 am IST

The Congress’ welfare agenda, introduced during the last assembly elections in Karnataka and upgraded in Telangana, has left the BJP and its Right-wing economists in disarray. Even pro-Congress conservative economists and traditional intellectuals of the party are confused. Veteran leaders such as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram would not have approved such massive welfare measures for rural productive masses.

According to a Right-wing classical theory, providing bank transfers akin to monthly pensions to rural farmers and labourers—Rs 5,000 for those over 55 years of age, and Rs 15,000 per acre every year in schemes like Rythu Bandhu to both the owner of the land and their family members—is seen as an investment. The Congress also promised Rs 12,000 per annum for every labourer’s family as an improvement dose. Such money transfers are seen as catering to the agrarian masses’ lazy lot.

In addition to all that, every woman in Telangana will be given Rs 2,500 per month for her family expenditure, along with a gas cylinder for Rs 500. The Congress also promised Rs 2 lakh loan waiver, in addition to medical treatment up to Rs 10 lakh, directly paid to the concerned hospital. However, many economists argue that such welfare initiatives weaken industrial growth. Most of these economists are for writing off loans of hundreds of crore to big industrialists if they show losses, considering them hardworking rather than lazy.

In contrast, the welfare economy of South India is believed to increase the purchasing power of the vast rural Dalit/Adivasi/OBC/Shudra masses—the real producers of wealth in India—whether in agrarian or industrial sectors. As the Bihar caste census has correctly shown, the well-being of vast productive masses was consciously negated by the Dwija (‘upper caste’) intellectuals in social, political, economic and educational fields. The national caste census will expose the disease within the Indian social system just like an ultrasound does in the human body.

Dwija economists

The conservative Dwija economists, whether educated abroad or in India, interpreted such schemes as unviable, citing they might make the labour force lazy. But the reality is that the rural agrarian sector is in the hands of Shudra/OBC/Dalit/Adivasis. They have to work hard to produce food, whether welfare help comes from the state or not. They cannot afford to be lazy in production seasons.

The new welfare agenda of the Congress, if it is adopted all across India, injects money into the rural markets that don’t have luxury malls and the riches of the upper-middle class found in cosmopolitan cities. Money flows into these markets and is spent almost immediately within a month or two in villages and semi-market towns. This will enrich the rural economy, which is away from the highways, airports, and Vande Bharat trains that the BJP is building. It’s a better approach to lead the development of rural housing, education, and health, as it improves the living conditions of productive individuals and their families. With better food, clothing and housing, malnutrition among the labour force is likely to decrease, and the productive energies of the population will grow. Their lifespans will expand.

GST income

The GST returns of Telangana, and India as a whole, are anticipated to grow significantly with booming rural and semi-urban markets. With digitised payments in villages, no small traders can escape tax. Money that goes into villagers’ accounts from the state budget will get ploughed back into the state exchequer in the form of expanded GST.

In a country like India, if governments allocate huge amounts of money to major contractors, only a fraction finds its way back to the markets. Apart from the massive wealth concentration in a few hands, prevalent issues include tax evasion (we see tax raids only in rich households), and hawala transactions to foreign countries. India is not meant to be like the US with its high-rise buildings, highways and massive ports and airports. The masses produce wealth from land and labour in our country.

Currently, these wealth producers are controlled by the richest of the rich—who invariably happen to be Dwija. They lack sympathy and empathy for the rural productive masses. This cultural disconnect reinforces caste divisions, a contradiction to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) belief that Hinduism promotes goodwill beyond castes. India, marked by widespread caste barriers, faces challenges in fostering universal human goodwill.

Congress agenda

The Congress is also not free from its old Dwijamindset. The present model of economy that the RSS/BJP are operating in was built by the Congress. It seems to be changing now and the credit must go to party leader Rahul Gandhi. His symbolic efforts, such as joining men and women in planting and harvesting paddy, suggest a departure from the traditional mindset of the party. Unlike his grandmother and father, his interaction with food producers seems to have taught him something new—the existence of a caste-based economy in India. To what extent Gandhi’s insight will reshape the nation’s welfare system, beyond the electoral system, remains to be seen. While he has started to push for a new development model, as seen in the Chhattisgarh experiment, it is a challenge to make it an all-India model. Only time will tell how long the party will function according to his stance.

Gandhi and the Congress will have to fight the Narendra Modi government and the RSS/BJP’s contrasting economic model in the upcoming 2024 general elections. In contrast to the BJP’s economic model, which benefits big industrialists, the Congress model focuses on the masses who produce wealth from land and labour.  Gandhi’s model, influenced by South India—especially Tamil Nadu—and theoretically rooted in his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru’s democratic socialism, offers an alternative approach.

English education

As of now, the Congress has not promised English medium education in village schools, likely due to concerns about potential criticism from the Dwija media branding it as anti-mother tongue. There is also apprehension about encouraging the influence of the private English medium school and college education mafia. However, the party has promised to introduce one International English medium school in every mandal (covering about 15 villages) to the already established 709 residential schools that are teaching English in Telangana. It initiated the same in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan by opening a few schools. And was opposed by the BJP/RSS.

The Congress, as a national party, has finally accepted what I call the Shudra Development Model (SDM), as against the current BJP Brahmin-Bania Development Model (BBDM). While the pre-Rahul Gandhi Congress adhered to BBDM, the party is now willing to change. This shift is certainly going to be good for the country.

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political theorist, social activist, and writer. Views are personal.

https://theprint.in/opinion/rahul-gandhi-is-reshaping-congress-welfare-agenda-i-call-it-the-shudra-development-model/1845140/

Kancha Ilaiah

There are two prominent stories around the celebration of Diwali. One, this is the day on which Ram returned to Ayodhya and coronated himself as king after killing Ravan. It is also the day when Krishna and his wife Satyabhama killed Narakasur, known as the evil rakshasa. It’s the death of the enemy that is celebrated.

Perceptions differ from north and south India about Ram killing Ravan and Krishna killing Narakasur. Diwali day just does not remain a day of lighting lamps, wearing new clothes, worshipping whom one considers god, but also burning massive amount of crackers that pollute the atmosphere so much so that even the health of the forces that keep celebrating would also get damaged. The emissions in urban areas on that day rise to the level of choking people. And several people, especially children, die because of fires and pollution.

Let us first see the Ram narrative on which this festival is based. The reason why a festival gets celebrated and the way it is celebrated is very important for building an inclusive society and nation. Nothing wrong if a nation or a section of the nation celebrates Ram’s birthday or coronation day. But why burn Ravan’s effigies on that day?

Ravan as mythological figure is owned and venerated by a section of Dravida/Shudra/
dalit/Adivasis. None other than Mahatma Phule, Periyar Ramasami Naikar and B.R. Ambedkar presented a different image of Ravan. Should then the office of the Prime Minister hurt the sentiments of historical victims, who were born in castes/tribes that get castigated as bad people or people who respect Ravan.

The Dravidians and dalit-Bahujans across the country treat Ravan as their representative. His action of abducting Sita was seen by them as an answer to mutilating the beautiful body of Shurpanaka, his own sister, by Lakshman at the instance of Ram himself. Further, he did not physically assault Sita at all. They see Shurpanaka and Sita as women who have equal rights for their dignity and self respect. Why demonise Ravan alone?

We know that mythologies are constructed by the dominant caste/class writers, not only to sustain their dominance but to subvert the emerging knowledge and identities of the historically oppressed people. The view that Ravan is a representative of Dravidian/dalit-Bahujan masses has been growing over the years. Of course there are multiple readings of Ramayana and different ways to understand the characters of that story. So also of Ram. The notion of dharma and adharma too differ from class to class and caste to caste. Those who want to worship Ram have the right to worship him, but similarly, those who want to worship Ravan or admire him have the right to do so as well.

A secular state must, thus, maintain its neutrality. If state functionaries attend the burning of Ravan’s effigy they are sanctifying the culture of historical partisanism. They are then joining the ranks of the oppressors.

Similarly, Deepawali (as it is called in the south) is also the day when Krishna killed Narakasur. Narakasur is seen as a representative of Dravidian adivasis because he represents black sturdiness, which is a part of Dravidian warrior heritage. Why should any death be celebrated? If terrorists celebrate the brutal killing of Rajiv Gandhi, men who perceived him as the man responsible for deaths and devastation in Sri Lanka, how will we respond? For Indians Rajiv Gandhi was a good man, but for Sri Lankan Tamils he was a bad man. For this historical event the reply is not killing Prabhakaran and celebrating his death in India. Even for Khalistanis who killed Indira Gandhi, she was a bad Prime Minister. If the Khalistanis celebrate the killing of Indira Gandhi with burning of crackers and lighting of lamps how do we feel?

Such events of killing and counter-killing should not become occasions for celebration that will only serve to remind representative groups of their inimical relationship. And even if wrong cultural practices continue as festivals, the state must remain aloof. The images of Ravan and Narakasur and so on were not seen as their heroes by the Dravidian masses till Mahatma Phule’s writings and activism came to play a significant role among their lives. Now they treat Ravan, Naraka, Bali as their un-Hindu heroes. Why not the other civil society respect their view of history?

We now have definite scholarly groups to own the representative images of Ravan and Narakasur. At least this must make people re-think the narrative of why we celebrate Diwali/Deepawali as festival of death but not life.

When Christians started celebrating the birthday of Jesus, as a counter the Pharisees who killed him started celebrating his crucifixion day. Gradually they understood the cruelty of their celebration and a day came in human history that the successors of Jesus’ enemies began to celebrate his birthday. Now Christmas is the biggest celebration in the world. Let those Indians who like to celebrate Ram’s persona fix some day as his birthday and celebrate it with lights, new clothes, good food and so on. So also for Krishna — Janmashtami. Nobody has a problem with that.

It’s only the evil, cruel mind which wants to celebrate death. Mahatma Phule was of the view that historically the Shudras and Ati-Shudras never celebrated death or murder. But now Diwali celebration has extended to them too. In a multi-cultural nation we all should protect everybody’s right to worship birth, not death. We should celebrate creativity and productivity, not destruction.

The writer is director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad.

https://www.roundtableindia.co.in/this-diwali-think-why-we-celebrate-death/

After almost ten years of BJP rule, with two powerful leaders – Narendra Modi and Amit Shah – at the helm, the RSS has now discovered that ‘wokeism’ is posing a ‘serious threat’ to family and societal life in India.

Ram Madhav and Mohan BhagwatStylised by Jaseem

Written by : Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

Edited by : Maria Teresa Raju

02 Nov 2023,

In his Dussehra speech this year, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat attacked ‘wokeism’, calling it an ideology that will cause the destruction of families and in turn, the society. Writing about Bhagwat’s speech, the RSS intellectual Brahmin Ram Madhav says that the “destructive, all-devouring forces” out to destroy the unity that Bhagwat referred to were “cultural Marxists or wokes”. The ‘wokes’ were accused of capturing institutions like media and academia, and plunging education, culture, politics, and social environment into chaos. Bhagwat held the ‘wokes’ responsible for creating a “vicious cycle of fear, confusion, and hatred” and described their modus operandi as “mantra viplav”. 

The question that arises then is — what is ‘wokeism’? Never has there been any course on wokeism in Indian universities. I have never read about it, even though I am an ardent reader of new schools of thought. But the RSS seems to have done quite a bit of research on ‘wokeism’. After its almost ten-year-long rule through its brainchild Bharatiya Janata Party, with two powerful leaders – Narendra Modi and Amit Shah – at the helm, the RSS has now discovered that ‘wokeism’ is posing a ‘serious threat’ to family and societal life in India. What is this ‘wokeism’ that even the Indian intellectual circles do not know of? 

What does ‘wokeism’ mean? 

The Cambridge Dictionary defines woke as “aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality”. The word, which originated in African American English, began to be widely used in the 2010s as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. It came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial justice, sexism, and LGBTQIA+ rights, as well as ideas of the American Left, such as white privilege and reparations for slavery in the United States. “By the end of that same decade it was also being applied by some as a general pejorative for anyone who is or appears to be politically left-leaning,” says Merriam Webster.

The RSS leader, with his Dussehra speech, made out ‘wokeism’ to be a dangerous concept that Indians should not fall prey to. The Dalits, Adivasis, Shudras, and Other Backward Classes (OBC) of India must be thankful to Mohan Bhagwat for bringing the idea of ‘wokeism’ into their lives and discourse. If in America it refers to reparation for slavery, in India the productive masses must think about demanding reparations for their historical slavery. The enormous wealth that Brahmin-Bania industrialists have accumulated without investing any amount of labour actually belongs to the Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs. It is caste that causes such an ownership disorder. If the priestly and business castes, who constitute a very small number, own disproportionate wealth and properties, how can the RSS accept that as the rightful, nationalist property ownership of those castes? 

Among the top 100 wealth owners of India, there is not a single Dalit, Adivasi, or OBC person. Instead, there are millions of producers who are landless and homeless. History holds records of millions who starved to death in this very Matru Bhoomi, despite the massive labour power they invested in the agriculture fields and industries. The RSS never cared for their life, and were, until recently, talking about cultural nationalism. Now they have turned to attacking Marxists, who, in fact, have remained unbothered about culture and caste in India, calling them cultural Marxists, and attributing the ‘wokeism’ discourse to them.

Only after Gramsci’s writings reached them did a small section of Dwija Marxists invoke the cultural discourse with an Italian mode and speak about subalternism in India. Now Ram Madhav writes that it is these Gramscian cultural Marxists who, having captured educational, media, and literary institutions, are disturbing the Indian family and social systems. Additionally, ever since Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party began talking about caste census, the RSS is trying to portray them as ‘wokeists’ and cultural Marxists. But the BJP used the OBC bloc to come to power by projecting Narendra Modi as an OBC. Was it not wokeism then? 

In the last hundred years, the RSS has never campaigned for fair, let alone equitable, distribution of resources for those Indians who produce food by investing their labour. If the philosophy of ‘wokeism’ supports the idea of dignified survival of humans, it must be invoked by the Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs, at least in the future. The RSS thinks that any demand for a share in the Brahmin-Bania wealth is a social disturbance. They want the Dalits to live as Dalits, Adivasis should live as Vanavasis, and Shudras as subordinates to the Brahmin-Banias. The Shudras, including Jats, Patels, Marathas, Reddys, Kammas, Velamas, and Nairs (apart from all OBCs) along with Dalits and Adivasis, must oppose the Brahmanic design of the RSS. 

After the birth of RSS, the situation of the productive masses has become worse, as it has supported the Brahmin-Bania exploitation without any hesitation. With globalisation, the Brahmin-Bania monopoly capitalists were fully integrated into the RSS network. There was a collective design to push wealth into the hands of the Brahmin-Bania monopoly. During Congress rule, the same castes profited from the expanding capitalist wealth. Within the last 30 years, the Brahmins and Banias of India have reached a stage where their members find themselves in the top three richest families in the world.

At the same time, the Dalit/Adivasi/Shudra working masses remain among the poorest of the poor. When they demand a share in the wealth, the RSS sees social chaos in that attempt. But when they silently suffer hunger and death, the RSS sees cultural nationalism in the tragedy.   

Is the RSS for family welfare and stability?

RSS is an organisation of male, unmarried persons. There are also instances where some married young men left their wives and parents to join the RSS. When young men leave the parents who brought them up, remain totally unconcerned about familial responsibilities, and work for the RSS, what is happening in the process? Is that ‘wokeism’ of the RSS kind or not? 

The RSS follows the models of the Buddhist Sangha system of ancient times and the Catholic Jesuit system of the mediaeval era. However, the only difference is that the Catholic Jesuit system did not accept married persons even if they wanted to join the order after leaving their spouse. They trained young students in their theological colleges and recruited them to teach in their schools and colleges, and to work as pastors in the churches. Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that these three models are anti-family.

In Sanatana Dharma, marriage does not become a hindrance to temple priesthood. However, Brahminism encourages sainthood in which marriage is not the norm. Even now, there are many such saints and sadhus with deep connections with the RSS. These saints are not involved in any form of social service like teaching, or serving the sick in hospitals. They simply sit, travel, and think of self- salvation. Is that not anti-family?

How did Communists, who neither preached celibacy nor remained unmarried, become anti-family and cultural anarchists? Even the liberal leaders and workers in Congress never preached against family. The only top leader who has remained unmarried in the Congress is Rahul Gandhi. 

Previously, the RSS stumbled upon a sudden discovery of urban Naxals in India. Now, as the debate around caste census has gained traction, the new awakening of the Shudra/OBC, which the RSS calls ‘wokeism’, is taken to be dangerous. The Shudra/OBCs should see through the RSS design of promoting Narendra Modi as an OBC to get their votes. Unless the Shudras and OBCs in the RSS understand this design and wake up from their cultural slumber, India as a nation cannot develop.

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political theorist, social activist, and author. His latest book is The Clash of Cultures—Productive Masses Vs Hindutva-Mullah Conflicting Ethics. Views expressed here are the author’s own.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/opinion/wokeism-the-rashtriya-swayamsevak-sanghs-latest-sworn-enemy

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

28 Oct 2023

RSS is against inter-caste marriages; it promotes discriminatory practices when it comes to non-veg vs veg food; how can caste system end?

Of late, in the context of Shudra/OBCs becoming very conscious of their numbers by demanding caste census at the national level, and also their historical location in the Dwija hegemonic society, the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been talking about eradication/ annihilation of caste from public platforms.

I have mentioned in an earlier article that Dattatreya Hosabale and other leaders were prescribing temple entry and water rights to Dalits/Shudras to eradicate caste. These two things are not only outdated but they have no potential to remove the social discrimination either.

I raised questions like priesthood rights for all Hindu castes that the RSS considers Hindu in Hindu temples, and also fighting against the graded indignity of labour that created a graded unequal caste system which will have serious implications for the eradication of the caste system.

In this piece let me look at the question of inter-caste marriages which the RSS does not want to promote, and also the egalitarian food culture, where the RSS itself is promoting meaterian-vegetarian-linked unequal and discriminatory practices in the society in general and at higher educational institutions in particular.

The meaterian vs vegetarian conflict just as casteist one. It does not help to eradicate caste but promotes casteist Brahminism in the civil society and public institutions like the civil society and public institutions like universities, leading to food-cultural conflicts. Such a divisive food culture between castes also comes in the way of inter-caste marriages. How? We will examine.

Power of two social institutions

These two social institutions, marriage and respectable inter-dining, have serious caste-abolition power. I deliberately call power because marriage and food cultural conditioning have tremendous power to unite or divide social groups. The caste marriage institution and socially segregated food cultural parampara (tradition) have sustained caste hierarchy for millennia. The caste-centered arranged marriage system is meant for caste-based separation of the DNA of people.

In the 100 years of existence of the RSS, there is no evidence, either in either leader’s speeches or writing, that it would encourage inter-caste marriages in order to eradicate caste. Dr BR Ambedkar suggested that inter-caste marriages will exchange blood relations between two segregated communities with different occupations. That will also advance the mental and physical abilities of the offspring, apart from weakening the caste of both partners.

Maybe with a view that such an inter-caste marriage of his own could prove that, he married Savita Ambedkar, woman from a Brahmin family. We do not have any information on how a Dalit, who normally eats meat and with western cultural exposure, and a Brahmin who grew up in an exclusively Indian environment, led their marital life. Either Savita or Ambedkar must have changed their food habits into pure vegetarian or mixed (meaterian and vegetarian) food. Or, they may have respected each other’s food choices.

As the Indian youth of all caste higher education, the scope for inter-caste^ marriages is expanding. They are happening as well. But because of caste cultural rules, the inter caste marriages are generally not accepted by parents, for it carries a social stigma. In many cases, particularly where one partner is Dalit and the other is non-Dalit, the killing of such persons is a very common problem now.

How does the RSS, as a guide to the ruling BJP and as the biggest social organisation of India, deal with it? Society has no idea.

The RSS leaders constantly speak about maintaining Sanatana Dharma or Hindu parampara. Is inter-caste marriage part of Sanatana Dharma or Hindu parampara? Let the RSS make it clear to the nation. The eradication of caste is a critical project to sustain democracy in India. It is good that the RSS now speaks about the eradication of caste but, at the same time, it has to spell out the ways and means.

Inter-dining issues

The caste system has made inter-dining a major problem in India. For centuries, different caste people could not sit side by side and eat food. In urban areas, modern restaurant systems have created a caste-free eating ecosystem. But, in villages, it is still a major problem. In several schools, food cooked by Dalits are not being eaten by non-Dalit children. This is a problem of parampara. The RSS has not taken the stand against this practice.

The veg-non-veg problem has become a serious one in many ITs and other central institutes Some Central ministers as nart of the RSS vegetarian culture, have asked institutions to adopt vegetarian-only menus. Smriti Irani was the first education minister to initiate steps, sending circulars saying only vegetarian food be served in central institutes and universities. Some heads of ITs, including IT-Bombay, ordered separate allotments for veg and non-veg eaters. All this is because of the RSS ideology of vegetarian food parampara or practice of Sanatana Dharma of vegetarianism.

The Shudra/Dalits/Adivasis – leave alone

Muslims and Christians – in India survive mainly by eating meat and veg food based on the availability. But their preferred food on festive occasions is meat. There is clear caste varna division in this food parampara. Does the RSS want to give away the pure veg food culture of its own organisation or not? What stand does it take about people eating their own preferred food in public and private places? What is Hindu or Hindutva food culture? Is it pure vegetarian or mixed (meat and veg) food based on individual choice?

Democratisation of food culture based on personal preferences is one of the caste eradication issues. The RSS leaders never spoke about the food freedom of individuals or families. But now mixed food or pure veg are caste segregational practices. In South India, for example, all Shudra/Dalit/Adivasis are meat and veg eaters. Brahmins and Baniyas are pure veg eaters. Children are trained to eat that way in those castes.

Eradicating caste step by step

Without addressing these practices, how does the RSS plan to eradicate or abolish caste?

Thus, I could locate four social instruments that could be deployed to eradicate caste step by step, about which the Roto smelt.

1) Priesthood rights to all castes, which RSS thinks are Hindus, in Hindu temples. For that. openina theoloaical schools and colleges with right to admission for all castes including Dalits/Adivasis and Shudras is a must.

2) Deploying massive teaching material about the dignity of labour of all occupations from tanning to pot making to barbering, tilling the land to teaching in schools and colleges.

3) Promoting inter-caste marriages by propagating that it is good in the interest of the nation, society, family and individual.

4) Inter-dining with choice and preference of individuals and with respect to others’ food choices.

The present propaganda, including in the G-

20 Summit in Delhi, that pure vegetarianism symbolises Hindu or Indian food culture, has to be stopped. The RSS must spell out its opinion on these issues if it is serious about the eradication/annihilation or abolition of caste.

(The writer is former director of the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad)

If it is serious, it must work towards allowing all castes to become temple priests and change the education system. 

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd  
Oct 20, 2023 

RSS leaders Mohan Bhagwat and Dattatreya Hosabale. Photo: X/RSSOrg

In the backdrop of the Indian National Congress taking a stand on the caste census, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has declared that it would work for the eradication of caste. Earlier, the sarsangchalak, Mohan Bhagwat, talked about God not creating caste but some pandits having created it. He also talked about the need for reservations remaining as long as caste discrimination remains. These are stray statements that the RSS leaders give to satisfy Shudra/OBCs and Dalits, as their votes are crucial for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Dattatreya Hosabale, the general secretary of the RSS, declared that the organisation should work for the eradication of caste. On October 11, in a meeting with its workers, he said, “any person has the right to enter a temple anywhere”, and also urged RSS cadres to work for “eliminating caste-based discrimination which brings disrepute to Hinduism”. He was reported to have further said, “Any person can enter any temple, and everyone has the right to fetch water from any source of water. We must not tolerate such discrimination in the name of caste or untouchability, because it brings disrepute to the entire Hindu community.”

The media reported his statement on the next day as if it was the first programme to eradicate caste.

Dattatreya’s plan is quite outdated. His plan is built on Mahatma Gandhi’s programme, which did not have any value for caste eradication, then or now. Temple entry for Shudras, OBCs, Dalits and Adivasis is now more or less accepted. The restrictions placed on Dalits for fetching water are also fewer now, though sporadic incidents still happen.

However, the RSS’s plan may reduce caste-based discrimination in a few areas but will not result in the eradication or abolition of caste.  

This kind of typical old Gandhian programme does not suit the present times and demands of Shudras, OBCs, Dalits, and Adivasis.

What the Shudra/OBCs are asking for now is a caste census. The Bihar government has already done it and released the results. The RSS seems to have advised the BJP-run Union government and also state governments run by the party not to do so. If the numbers of Shudras and Dwijas (Brahmin, Bania, Kayastha, Khatri and Ksatriyas) are revealed, the resource and power-sharing will have to be done on that basis – which will have huge implications for the Dwija control of the economy and power – spiritual and social – in the future.

The RSS historically has been concerned about maintaining Dwija control of the nation’s wealth, power and also the Hindu spiritual system.

Since the Modi government buckled down against the caste count, in spite of the fact that the prime minister claimed OBC status, the caste discourse among Shudra/OBCs has been scaled up. The critical question among them is how come a Brahmin – Rahul Gandhi – is calling for a caste census while an OBC – Modi – is against it. The RSS strategy of having an OBC PM to mobilise OBC voters seems to be in deep crisis. 

Also read: Why the BJP Is Afraid of a Caste Census

The RSS, which never accepted caste as a category of electoral agenda, projected Modi as the first OBC prime ministerial candidate in 2013. The mainstream media, which was also averse to a discourse on caste, carried this propaganda to every nook and corner of India. Now the same RSS and media are opposed to the caste census, whereas they were in favour of the 10% EWS reservation for upper castes and women’s reservation – without an OBC quota – in the parliament and in assemblies. The Shudra/OBCs see through this game plan of the RSS/BJP and the big media.

If at all the RSS is for the abolition of caste, they should have declared an agenda for priesthood training to all castes by abolishing the Brahmin control over spiritual institutions like temples, mutts, gurukuls and so on. Another equally important spiritual reform they could address is whether Sanskrit should still continue as the language of prayer.

But leave that aside. Why do they not take the initiative to admit boys and girls of all castes for priesthood training? Why do they not talk about opening up schools and colleges for Hindu theological training, which would be open for competition cutting across the castes that consider themselves Hindu, to run the temples and other spiritual institutions?

The Gandhian agenda in the early 20th century did not go that far. It was confined to temple entry and water rights to Shudra/OBCs and Dalits. The Hindu spiritual agencies agreed to allow Shudra/OBCs into temples but not Dalits at that time. However, the constitution of India and some laws secured temple entry and water rights to Dalits to a large extent. Why is the RSS talking about these old issues but avoiding the question of caste census?

All big media houses play up small inconsequential statements by Mohan Bhagwat or Dattatreya Hosabale on the same level as the prime minister’s. The reason is that the RSS has expanded the base that sustains the Dwija control of all systems of India. Now they think that the Muslims and Christians have been “shown their place” in the past 10 years and that Shudra, OBC, Dalit and Adivasi assertion has to be tackled with tact but without giving them any substantial space.

Rahul Gandhi. Photo: Screengrab via X/@RahulGandhi

Similarly, the RSS does not talk about the present school and college education system where private, English medium schools are under the control of education business houses. The government school and college education in regional languages is of poor quality and has poor infrastructure. However, they directed the Union government to stress the importance of education in the ‘mother tongue’ (meaning regional language) in the government sector only. The RSS remains silent about providing the same medium and an equal standard school and college education to all – this will contribute to the eradication of caste. The RSS leadership knows this.

Nor does the RSS get into real issues that will weaken segregation based on caste in the agrarian sector. Caste is deeply rooted in the graded indignity of labour and production-related science. The graded inequality that B.R. Ambedkar talked about was institutionalised in the process of establishing graded indignity of labour and productive science. For example, leather-related scientific and technological work is treated as more undignified than tilling the land or making pots. Washing clothes and cutting hair were treated as more undignified than iron and gold smithy. Finally, temple priesthood and teaching in gurukuls were treated as more dignified than tilling the land and harvesting. Thus, the temple pujari and gurukul teacher, who were/are only Brahmins, treated all other tasks as beneath their body and soul. The RSS, in its 100 years of existence, never tried to take up a campaign against these indignities and anti-science belief systems that got entrenched into caste society’s belief systems.  

If the RSS is serious about abolishing caste, it should push for courses about the dignity of labour and respect for science and technological knowledge that exists in tanning, cutting hair, washing clothes, making pots and tilling the land to be introduced in schools and colleges. 

Until Rahul Gandhi, no political leader who claimed to be a Brahmin took a decisive stand on the basic task of counting castes and redistributing resources to the oppressed. Not even his own ancestors. Among upper caste leaders, after Mahatma Gandhi, a Bania, it is only Rahul who has taken a definite stand on caste. One has to wait and see if this genuine commitment remains in the future, but his stand must be appreciated.  

Also read: Congress’s Push for Caste Census Is a Step Towards Ideological Unity in Opposition Ranks

The RSS, if it is serious about eradicating caste, should start a campaign about the dignity of labour, production and science and make it acceptable in the Hindu spiritual system. The course content in schools and colleges must have teach human equality and equal respect for every work and different food cultures. The RSS must ask for the same medium and equal quality of school and college education – whether the institute is government-run or private. Training for pujaris must be opened for all castes that claim to be Hindu. 

But there is no evidence that the organisation’s top leadership, which mostly comprises people from the Brahmin caste, has the will for such a reform.

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political theorist, social activist and author.

https://thewire.in/caste/the-rss-plan-to-eradicate-caste-is-outdated-and-skirts-the-real-issues-of-today