Editor's TV interview shocks American audience

On Dec.22, 2005 (Dec.23 in India) American television viewers as well as an international internet audience were treated to a very special interview conducted on the relatively new but increasingly popular internet TV program, Current Issues, hosted by the Palestinian activist, Dr. Hesham Tillawi. V.T. Rajshekar, a noted Indian political scientist, author, journalist and publisher, appeared on the program and provided the Current Issues audience with a socio-political breakdown of modern India.

Most Americans are unaware of events in India, many aren't even familiar with the reality of the inequitable caste system. Rajshekar was like a breath of fresh air blowing through stagnant contemporary American political skies. He opened the interview with what may perhaps turn out to be the most significant aspect of the interview and that was an introduction of himself, his Weltanschauung (political world view), his journal Dalit Voice, and the plight of the persecuted nationalities of India.

India is not Hindu: Rajshekar immediately dispelled that notion that India is a Hindu nation. He eloquently explained how the alien Aryan religious system was initially introduced to the subcontinent and how it is exploited by the ruling Brahminical caste to indoctrinate the masses and maintain control over them. He compared the virtual micro-minority Brahmin monopoly of the Indian media, government, political parties, educational system and professions to the Jews of America and how they too have usurped the leadership positions in the very same institutions and for the same purposes, to exercise control over the majority. This isn't to say that he exonerated the European American leadership of their responsibility in criminal world events, but he recognizes that the current leadership here in the US does not reflect the will of the European American majority, nor America's diverse minority. This is an incredibly important point because it reveals a commonality that all peoples share in today's world, an inability to exercise one's true will in the face of the imposed oppression of a few elitists, whether those elitists be Jewish, Brahmin or wealthy European traitors serving zionist masters.

Rajshekar reveals how the outsourcing of American jobs to India isn't serving the Indian people, something most Americans erroneously believe, as much as it enriches the oppressive Brahminic minority of India who have allied themselves with zionism and the state of Israel at the expense of India's persecuted majority.

Fraud on democracy: V.T. Rajshekar also exposes the ruse of democracy (one man one vote) in India and how the subterfuge can be compared to our own fraudulent system here in the US. He explains how the theoretical concept of democracy exists in India but how it is manipulated by the Brahmin monopoly of the Indian media and how it dictates its will through the indoctrination process offered by the substandard Indian educational system. He dismisses the idea that India educates its masses, revealing that most Indian schools, roads, public services and jobs exist only in the cities, not in the countryside, where the largest number of Indians live.

He reveals himself to be an eminent political scientist by nearly dissecting through the extraneous political noise associated with the inconsequential and getting right to the purulent cancer lying just below the surface, by explaining how the media in both countries dominated by a numerical minority and how that monopoly effectively renders the voice of the majority null and void.

Internet breaks monopoly: In the US, Jews exploit their monopoly on the media by imposing their will and the will of the zionist state upon Americans. This is evident by the fact that legitimate polls reveal that 85% of the American people believe George bush should be impeached; yet he still sits in the White House. The Brahmins do exactly the same in India. They position themselves to determine what the Indian public sees, hears and learns.

Fortunately for the people of the world, the Internet has disrupted this media monopoly and we are able to hear for ourselves the words of political dissidents like V.T. Rajshekar, Mordechai Vanunu, Dr. Fredrick Toben, Ernst Zundel, and many others on new Internet TV programs like the Current Issues. No longer do the zionists and Brahmins maintain an absolute stranglehold on information dissemination. No longer are they able to dictate their "reality" without being scrutinized and critiqued by brilliant, albeit persecuted, modern-day dissidents.

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Extending caste to economic planning is dialectically right

I read your long Editorial on economic planning. (DV Dec.1, 2005: "DV jumps from social to economic"). The ruling upper castes will oppose it. The opposition is in the form of a systematic conspiracy of silence. But be rest assured that the same people who have resorted to this strategy are secretly discussing whatever you write. They will pretend to ignore you until they have no choice but to confront you. Another reason why they are ignoring you is because they don't want to grant legitimacy to you in any manner and end up making you any sort of a leader. This is nothing new and all ruling classes do this.

I strongly feel that you should leave no stone unturned to make DV a national weekly.

CASTE-BASED CAPITALISM

I also think that despite shrinking attention spans, TV is a better medium. All you have to do is look at the effect that Dr. Kancha Ilaiah has when he takes on VHP heroes on NDTV with Rajdeep Sardesai as mediator. I think you too must get into TV.

Caste-based economic development is worth pursuing. In India, capital has been refracted by caste leading to what Dr. Kancha Ilaiah calls casteisation of capital. That is how we have caste-based housing societies and banks like Saraswat Co-operative Bank. We too must set up such housing societies and co-operative banks on caste basis. But it may eventually lead to violence and caste-based ethnic cleansing due to various other factors. You may also have to prepare a strategy in an era where a global market crash may lead to state capitalism under an Brahminical bureaucratic bourgeoise making a come-back. Even under such a system economic planning will have to be caste-based.

BRAHMINS & SOCIALISM

The zionazi narco-dollar is artificially propping up the New York stock exchange and global banking system. All this maya may not last long and may even lead to a great economic depression which may be worse than the 1930 crash. This will be the time when the Brahminical bureaucrat-technocrat types and "Socialist Brahmins" will say that "socialism is better". They may try to milk the socialist cow once again or resort to naked fascism. These are the only two possibilities and I feel you should be prepared for both the situations with a fool proof strategy.

No revolution in history has proceeded peacefully and your "caste identity" theory also has military value – it has the potential to rip apart the Indian army on caste lines. Imagine caste-based revolts within the army. The British were forced to run away because Indians in the royal British army revolted.

PRINCIPAL ENEMY

So, not only must we press for private sector reservations, we must also push for caste-based economic development. If necessary, we must even launch a Bodh Gaya liberation movement on the lines of the Ram Janambhoomi movement.

So far no Indian Maoist has launched a movement naming Brahmins as the principal enemy, even though they say that feudalism is the principal contradiction.

How can feudalism be fought as the principal contradiction without fighting Brahminism which is the fountainhead of feudal fascism? No Indian maoist has openly declared that caste is both base as well as superstructure. It is both subjective as well as objective. It is because caste is also a base that it influences the superstructure. Otherwise casteisation of capital would not have occurred on a regular basis.

CUTTING CROSS-THREAD

An honest maoist should lead economic boycott of upper caste products as well as organise the cutting off of cross-thread as part of a de-feudalisation drive. But nothing like this has happened so far because of savarna marxists. It is because of such ideas that I support your "caste identity" theory. You are planning to fight casteism with caste. Dialectically, you are correct. Now "Socialist Brahmins" will be totally exposed. They also know this and that is why they are keeping quiet. But be rest assured that this is merely the clam before the storm.

Caste demographics seem to suggest a possibility of caste-based ethnic cleansing due to fights over women and water, due to female infanticide as well as water shortage. Your game plan appears to be to ask for a rightful share of the economic cake based on caste lines. You have observed how ethnic identities could not be erased despite East European-style state capitalism. I am also aware that Lohia had mentioned that in India caste is class. I also fully agree with you that Brahminical marixsts have been deliberately misinterpreting marxism in a mechanical way.

I have already read your How Marx Failed in Hindu India? Going by the demographic reasons I feel there is a possibility of your "caste identity"- based economic development leading to violence along caste lines. Peaceful economic empowerment using caste identities may not be possible all the time. There should not only be religious revolution but also linguistic and cultural rejection — that is Dalits should completely jettison their so-called mother-tongue and neutralise sanskritisation by adopting total Westernisation. Even Ambedkarites seem to be quite sanskritised or tend to be impractical mother-tongue maniacs. I think rejection of what you call Mother Tongue mania is absolutely necessary to finish off brahminisation (sanskritisation). If the Dalits get together and threaten en masse conversion to Islam if land reforms and human rights are implemented all hell will break lose.

ENGLISH PRAVACHANS

Please write on how sanskritisation could perhaps be neutralised with unabashed and complete linguistic and cultural rejection of Brahminised "mother tongues". What is the necessity to cling on to such Brahminised mother-tongues especially when these are getting anglicised and westernised every day because of industrialisation? I have actually seen and heard English pravachans conducted in Matunga's temples. All "Sri Sri" Ravi Shankars speak in English. So why should Dalits love such mother-tongues and dig their own grave? Dalits ought to understand that Western culture accepts beef-eating. Tribal and Dalit culture are more aligned to Western culture than puritanical Brahminical culture can ever hope to be. Dalits ought to stop learning their so-called mother-tongues are enough to preserve their myths and collective memories, they are mistaken.

English will not only serve the purpose better, but also enable them in touch with the Blacks and the Burakumin as well as other allies. It will put them on a level paying field vis-a-vis Brahmins who love to play jazz music of Black African slave origin and prevent the Dalits from learning. I am convinced that along with rejecting Brahminical religion, Dalits should culturally and linguistically reject Brahminical agri-rural-feudal bullshit which is already decaying and dying. Dalits should westernise furiously to kill sanskritisation and brahminisation.

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DV supports Madras CSI Bishop's bid to oust Syrian Christians

The minority upper caste (Syrian) Christians of Kerala have abrogated the ecclesial as well as educational institutions to themselves by fraudulent means. Such instances are many. St. John's Medical College, Bangalore, was jointly established by the Catholic churches to offer quality medical education to oppressed Christians. However, the college has been hijacked by the upper caste Kerala Christians. Recently, Rev. V. Devasahayam, the CSI Bishop in Madras, has given a call to retrieve the four famous Christian colleges in Madras (Women Christian College, Madras Christian College, Meston Training College and St. Christopher's Training College) from the clutches of upper caste Christians. The Bishop formed a retrieval committee to look into the issue and reclaim these colleges to serve the 40 lakhs of Tamil Protestant Christians of the Madras diocese.

Nadar-Dalit clash: However, in this act of treachery some Nadar Christians of the CSI diocese of Madras who were once the front-runners of social transformation in Tamil Nadu, have abetted the crime of Keralites. A deep chasm exists in the diocese between the Dalits (Adi Dravida) and Nadar Christians. The economically powerful Nadar Christians have a grouse against the poor Dalit Christians. The cause of disagreement is the control over the finances of the CSI diocese among the affluent Nadar Christians and the Dalit Christians.

This chasm is being fully exploited by the Keralites to achieve their unholy aims of controlling the colleges in Madras.

Stella Maris College: The other side of the story is the case of Stella Maris College, under the control of the Catholic diocese of Madras-Mylapore. There are also the nuns from Kerala have taken full control of the college with little room for the native Tamils in general and the Tamil Dalits in particular.

Meanwhile, the principal of the Madras Christian College has issued an advt. threatening those who are demanding justice. It is unbecoming of a principal of such a famous college to issue such a threat against the Bishop who wants to reclaim these colleges so that the Dalits and oppressed for whom the colleges were started can utilize these.

Remember, the fierce battle waged by the Nadars to reclaim the Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank from the ESSAR group.

Some linguistic jingoists from Kerala in the Christian College have been saying that it is not Madras Christian College but Malayali Christian College. Who owns the college? The diocesan committee and the duly appointed ecclesial authority or a few individuals who want to abrogate powers to themselves?

The right step to retrieve the colleges and establish the priority to the Dalit Christians of the state is to involve the Tamil Protection Movement and other Dalit outfits, organizations, movements and political parties. The Bishop must ask the Govt. of Tamil Nadu through the State Minority Committee and set the ball rolling. It is the duty of all self-respecting Tamils to support the claims made by the CSI Bishop.

The four colleges usurped by Syrian Christians were under the Madras Diocese until 1980 when the Women's Christian College, Meston and Christopher's colleges, which were registered under the Societies Act, were discreetly brought under the Companies Act.

"The cardinal principle was that the institutions would be administered by persons nominated by the church on a time-bound basis. However, those nominated to the Governing Council fraudulently altered the clauses and made themselves life-members, besides abrogating the power to nominate or expand the council", Devasahayam said.

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TN ruled by non-Tamils

Dalit Voice fully supports the stand taken by Bishop Devasahayam to reclaim the institutions belonging to the CSI church from the Syrian Christian usurpers. Tamils have been steadily losing Tamil Nadu itself to outsiders. Today non-Tamils are virtually ruling TN. What a shame on the children of Periyar E.V. Ramaswami and his Self-Respect Movement. The Bishop and the CSI church must note that his fight is not a legal question but a question of Tamil identity and Tamil pride. What a misfortune that the country's most ancient and original Dravidians are ruled by Aryans — EDITOR.

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Perpetual conflict in S. Asia until Hindus stop persecuting Bahujans

I have read Dr. (Mrs.) Ajeet Jawed's book on Jinnah but hesitated to comment because my understanding of Jinnah is very different from her. This is not unexpected because I judge him with a different yardstick. However, we both see him as a leader with clear vision, great integrity, sterling character and exemplary steadfastness.

There were two very distinct phases of his political life: (1) in which he was looking after the interest of Muslims during a period of political and social reform with agenda being set by the British Raj; (2) period of constitutional reform in which the agenda was set primarily by Hindu bigots like M.K. Gandhi. That he was not a bigot in either of those phases is conceded by all. But that does not make him secular or Indian Nationalist as Dr. Jawed concluded. His politics was determined by the political focus and agenda of the time. This has to be case with every successful politician. And he was more than a politician; he was statesman who set precedents that guide peoples in the entire region including those he did not claim or try to lead — the Sikhs and Dalits.

Hindu bigots: Most of the book is devoted to wondering what he could do as a leader of secular India if Hindu bigots had embraced him rather than spurn him. But Hindu bigots could not have embraced him except in the manner in which L.K. Advani did. He also praised Jinnah for being secular and the outcry of bigots in the BJP — who outnumber those clever with words by 100 to 1 — was indeed spectacular. In her eagerness to make the same point L.K. Advani made during his visit to Pakistan, she ignores what he did do as a leader of the Muslims of South Asia and sought to do for other minorities including the Sikhs and Dalits.

I see that a concerted effort is being made by Indian scholars to rehabilitate Jinnah to assimilate Muslims in a manner similar to that used by the Brahmin for assimilating native Bahujans into the Hindu fold.

The Brahmin embraced the gods of the native peoples but on their terms; they made them the children of lesser gods —Untouchables in their own land. What is an offer to the Muslims, Christians, Dalits and Sikhs is the same status and fate.

Distorting history: India is not just politically Machiavellian; it is socially Machiavellian as well. India is continuously trying to rewrite and distort history in order to assimilate those it can and liquidate those it cannot. Jinnah took a long time discovering that truth. He was not alone; the Muslims of British India took even longer. India has not abandoned its quest. Perpetual strife and conflict is the fate of entire South Asia until India abandons its quest to absorb/liquidate other identities. That it has sharpened the Muslim identity of Bangladesh by trying to impose secularism on that hapless country should have taught India a lesson. But India refuses to see and learn. It is trying its subversive methods against Pakistan as well and the reaction is even stronger. Even If India wins a battle or two that it has with American blessing and help, it is bound to lose the war.

Hinduism is not a faith; it does not seek converts or respect the identity of other peoples; it subverts other identities and its embrace is deadly. Islam, on the other hand, offers converts equality and honour, the embrace of Islam is socially uplifting. (usmankhalid@lisauk.com)

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A must book for every DV family member You will shed tears as you read it
JINNAH (Secular & Nationalist)
Dr. (Mrs.) Ajeet Jawed
2005 pp.400 Rs. 255, $15
Faizbooks.com
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Dalit scholar looks at anti-human features of Hinduism

Introduction:

By his origin alone a Brahmana (Brahmin) is a deity even for the gods, and (his teaching is) authoritative for men, because the Veda is the foundation for that. (Manusmriti, XI, 85).

Hinduism is so ancient that its followers claim it to be eternal (sanatan). The "infallible" Vedas assert the creation of a divine social order based on varna system, which led to the formation of castes and hundreds of subcastes in India. At the roots of the Hindu social system lies a dharma as prescribed in the Manusmriti. God, the ultimate reality, could be attained only by unquestioned service (karma) to the Brahmins, while they lead the quest of the Brahman by reading and reciting the Vedas.

SHUDRAS RELIGIOUSLY HUMILIATED

The Brahmin men, thereby, codified this in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda which reveals the Chaturvarna comprising 1. The Brahmins (who originated from Brahma's mouth, and thereby, are his mouthpieces) 2. The Kshatriya, who ruled and fought on the divine advice of their Brahmin masters, 3.Vaishya, who formed the trading community and 4.shudra, the craftsmen, potters and farmers. Those who did not belong to any of these varnas were the ati-shudras, the Untouchable outcasts. (Shudra=low, ati-Shudra =most low). Brahminism is a confluence of the three twice-born varnas, headed by the Brahmins, who have religiously humiliated the shudra, the ati-shudras, tribal communities, Christian and Muslim minorities. Few of them, like the leftists and feminists are Brahmin by birth, but may not be Brahminical in ideology and practice. (The word Brahminism refers to the upper-caste people who represent the Vedic hegemony) There have always been various other deities and forms of worship in India which, according to the non-Brahmin scholars, have been co-opted and appropriated by Brahmanists. These variations, they say, are distinct and cannot be interpreted as different manifestations of the Brahman.

KILLING OF SHUDRA SHAMBUKA

"Hindus may be tolerant, not Hinduism either socially or intellectually". (Nath, Ramendra) The Vedas and other Hindu scriptures lack even oblique emphasis on humanitarian values like equality, fraternity and compassion toward all human beings. Obsessive importance is given to following one's dharma based on karma, which is in turn based on one's birth, not capacities. The best punya (good deed), according to the Manusmriti, is to donate generously to a Brahmin (not to the poor) and the worst kind of paap (sin) is to hurt a Brahmin.

Ram, the hero of the "sacred epic" Ramayana, and supposedly incarnation of God Vishnu, kills Shambuka, a shudra, who had taken to ascetic practices in search of the ultimate reality. He (Ram) was taught his dharma (duty) by the sons of the Brahman (the Brahmins) to persecute the one who disobeyed the Divine Law. Dronacharya, the Brahmin Guru in Mahabharat, demands Eklavya (a shudra) his thumb as guru-dakshina (fees of the teacher) because he could not let a shudra excel Arjuna, a Kshatriya and god Krishna's friend, in archery. The influence of these Vedic principles, law books and "sacred scriptures" has reduced Dalits (Untouchables) and women to subhuman status, in spite of the Constitutional protection.

During the pre-colonial period, untouchability, sati (widow-burning), child marriages and Devadasi (temple prostitution) were on a historic high.

GANDHI'S LIP SYMPATHY

While M.K.Gandhi paid only lip service to the cause of untouchability, other crusaders like Jyotirao Phule, Periyar and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar paved the way to the emancipation of the downtrodden by securing Indian women and the Dalits constitutional rights and reservations.

Untouchability: The outcasts were scavengers of the social order for generations and lived outside the village boundaries. Untouchability, under the pretext of purity, is as sanatan as is Brahmanism. Inter-dining and inter-caste marriages were strictly prevented as divine will. The Untouchables could not use water from the ghats and wells of the twice-born. These restrictions are followed in villages even in this century.

Its impact is very severe because masses of people remain enslaved in this vicious system physically, mentally and spiritually as part of obedience to god's commandments for their wrong deeds in the past birth. Manusmriti prescribes several brutal punishments for those who break these laws of karma and purity. Caste discrimination takes different subtle forms in cities.

HINDUISM PROHIBITED EDUCATION

Let the three twice-born castes (varna), discharging their (prescribed) duties, study (the Veda); but among them the Brahmana (alone) shall teach it, not the other two; that is an established rule.(Manusmriti, X, 1)

All over the world, religions worked for mass education, except Hinduism, which worked to restrict social mobility. (Ghose, Sagarika). Vedas and shastras reserved the right to education to the Brahmin men. More than 50 years after India's "independence", only a tiny percentage of Dalits are literate.

Most of them live in incredible conditions in the villages. Syllabi in schools and universities is so designed that it gives little or no space to understand the real struggles and problems in the society.

Dalits and tribals have lost their cultural and religious identities in the course of compulsory Brahmanism in schools and media.

A woman is forever either the daughter, wife or mother of a man; men are to revere women in household settings (Fisher, Mary Pat, 88)

BRAHMINS PERSECUTE PHULE

It was a shudra couple, Jyotirao and Savitri Phule, who started the first ever girls school in India, especially for the Untouchable girls during the British colonial rule. Brahmins harassed them for breaking the "sacred" Hindu law.

While Gandhi fought for political freedom mobilising men and women from all communities, he did not oppose the Varna-Vevastha and supported the Sati-Savitri and Sita images of Hindu women.

Dr. Ambedkar had to resign as Law Minister to get the Hindu Code Bill passed which empowered women by securing them equal property rights and right to divorce besides other. The Brahminical forces condemned such reforms because it was against the Hindu vedic laws.

Dalit women lie at the lower-most rung of the social ladder. The Devadasi tradition of child prostitution in temples continues in some parts of the country. Most urban prostitutes come from Dalit communities.

FALL OF WOMEN UNDER HINDUISM

Besides this, Hindu women remain trapped in the Sita-Savitri ideal of eternal self-sacrifice and service to men, especially husbands. Rape and violence on Dalit women (Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist) go unreported. Inter-caste marriages are rare. It is not uncommon to kill those who marry against the shastras (Hindu laws) when one of the parties is a Dalit.

Women's literacy is stunningly low; women's employment does not always render them equal status because they have to remain subordinate to men as part of the Divine Hindu order. Besides dowry deaths, female foeticide has become like a norm in India, among educated middle- class Hindus, in spite of the law against sex determination. Ironically, doctors use godly code words like Jai Shree Ram if it is a boy and Jai Matadi (victory be to the Goddess) if it is a girl. Customs like doodh-piti (drowning baby-girls in a pot of milk) continue in some parts of India.

The root cause is not only patriarchy, which is universal, but a deeply rooted religious belief (Hindu), which bestows spiritual bliss to the ones who are blessed with sons because it is a son who traditionally gives agni (fire) on one's death that leads to one's moksha.

WHEN BRAHMINS ATE BEEF

Ahimsa (non-violence):

Svayambhu (the self-existent almighty god) himself created animals for the sake of sacrifices and a Brahmin may eat flesh of animals consecrated with Vedic mantras. (Manusmriti, V, 39,36).

There are ample evidences in the Vedas and other scriptures, which indicate that Brahmins have been meat-eaters, ate even beef and drank seven kinds of wine. The Ashwamedha Yajna demanded a number of horses for sacrifice. The "supreme queen" had to do intercourse with the royal horse a night before the Yajna after which the horse was set free as a royal symbol of power expansion.

It could have been by the advent of Budhism in India that the Brahmins took to vegetarianism.

The outcastes were condemned to eat meat of dead animals. The sacred scriptures are full of brutalities against animals and human beings. Even at a symbolical level, one cannot doubtlessly assert that the Hindu gods represented goodness.

Hospitality: Atithi Devo Bhava (a guest is god):

BRAHMIN DOMINATION IS TOTAL

Unfortunately, not every person who visits a Brahmin is defined as guest. A Kshatriya, Vaisya and a shudra at a Brahmin's door are not atithi (guests), according to the Hindu shastra (Law).

But a Kshatriya (who comes) to the house of a Brahman is not called a guest (atithi), nor a Vaisya, nor a sudra. (Manusmriti, III, 110) Brahmins enjoy exclusive privilege in every aspect of life to date.

Political Economy:

Whatever exists in the world is the property of the Brahmana (Brahmin); on account of the excellence of his origin. The Brahmana is, indeed, entitled to all. (Manusmriti, I, 100)

Brahminical scholarship legitimised leisure, mantra, puja, tapasya and soothsaying and defied all economic theories including feminist economic theory. (Ilaiah, Kancha). Brahminical hegemony pervades through every aspect of Indian societies.

Politics in India is religion and caste- based. Brahminical forces have invariably controlled the major political parties in power. The Dalits merely try to lobby and their leaders mostly fail to address their issues in the post-Ambedkarite era. Major educational, health and commercial institutions are owned and controlled by upper castes. Dalits are systematically excluded from being part of development programmes.

Christian and Muslim minorities are exploited invoking the heroic deeds of Ram and Krishna who symbolise violent coercion.

Hinduism is deemed synonymous to Indian nationalism. In villages, these minorities are treated as untouchable outcastes who would pollute their dharma (Hindu). Old town planning tells a lot about the Hindu caste system. Brahmins reserved the area lining rivers, building temples on the ghats and declaring them sacred, in other words reserved exclusively for the pure ones. Dalits, Muslims and later on Christians lived out of the limits of the chaturvarna (the four-tier system).

WHITE WOMAN AS TEMPLE PRIEST

Elite Brahmanism, on the other hand, has been successful in India and abroad projecting a liberal, accommodating, democratic image. They go to the extent of refusing the Manusmriti as part of Vedic Hinduism, which has been to them, until the dawn of British colonial rule, as important aspect of Hinduism as is the Shariah to Islam and to the Muslims.

Recently, a Western (White) woman was appointed high priest in Varanasi, the most sacred Hindu place of pilgrimage. This honour and authority was never bestowed upon any Brahmin woman scholar in the history of Hinduism.

Not to mention, non-Brahmin men and women are still not allowed to study the Vedas in Hindu religious schools. The Shankaracharyas and other religious heads take no stand against untouchability and other issues. Brahmin priests control temples, harvest gods and humiliate Dalits and women.

Upper-caste leftist, Dalit, Muslim and Christian activists who raise their voices against this age-old system face a number of threats from the Hindu fascist quarters for whom Dharma-yudh (holy war) is the essence of Hinduism. Christian missionaries and innocent children were burnt to death, nuns mass raped, Dalits lynched in public, Dalit women stripped and paraded on streets.

SOCIALIST & SACRED BRAHMINS

It cannot be a coincidence that no Brahmin woman or man has faced such humiliation in the history of Brahmanist India. In the view of many Dalit scholars liberal and fascist Hindus are two sides of the same evil- Brahmanic/Vedic Hinduism.

"Dalitisation alone can effectively challenge Brahminical fascism parading in the garb of Hindutva." (Ilaiah, Kancha)

Law & order: Prisons in India are occupied mostly by Dalits. It is similar to the condition of the African- Americans in the US prison industry. Dalit custodial deaths are numerous. There are evidences which indicate how the police department is ordered by the upper-caste ministers to allow the mob to do its job during communal violence. (Sharma, Rakesh)

Tsunami: The latest natural disaster brought the world together to help those who suffered tremendous loses. However, the aid that poured in from all corners of the world could not reach Dalit and Tribal communities in India, as it should have. Untouchability was evident. Fear of the Christian missionaries mobilised some politically motivated volunteers to keep the Dalit and tribal masses from being converted to Christianity. Some Dalit activists have documented the caste-based relief work in a short documentary film, Outside Mercy.

CONCLUSION

Hinduism is an exceptional religion because it legitimises all kinds of divisions, discriminations, inequalities, exploitation, violence, and, pornography too in its Vedas, Puranas and books of Divine Laws. While the Budha, Jesus and Prophet Mohammad worked to bring about equality, peace and love, especially for poor men and all women in the society, the Hindu rishis perceived the ultimate reality as a divisive, discriminating power working only to protect and serve the pets of Brahmin, brutalising rest of the humanity, including all women.

Christians, Muslims and Buddhists are encouraged to read, understand, and propagate their religion and to move closer to the ultimate reality. However, Brahminism has always banned non-Brahmins from the same and has not been tolerant to the people of their own religion, as they have been to the powerful Westerners.

BURNING OF MANU SMRITI

The low-caste Hindus have readily converted to Islam and Christianity and to Budhism to get rid of their castes. The real impact of Hinduism on Indian social structures is nothing but casteist and sexist degradation.

December 25th is observed as Manusmriti Dahan Diwas, on which several Dalit and women's groups symbolically burn the Hindu law book in public, like Dr. Ambedkar, who did the same when he led the movement to annihilate caste and abolish untouchability in India. (roopalirokade@yahoo.com)

Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2002.

Ambedkar, Dr. B.R., Writings and Speeches, Vol.3, Maharashtra Govt.

Ilaiah, Kancha, Why I am not a Hindu, Distributed by Bhatkal Books International (1996)

Sharma Rakesh, The Final Solution,

Sagarika Ghose, The Earthly Pundit, Independent Media Centre, India , 2003

Nath, Ramendra, Why I am not a Hindu, www.infidels.org. Bihar Rationalist Society, 1993.

Omvedt Gail, The Pioneer, Jan.30 2000

Now, a phirang priest in Varanasi, The Times of India, March 11, 2005

Manusmriti, translated by Buhler, George, The Laws of Manu, Sacred Books of the East, Vol.25.

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The essay was written as part of the interdisciplinary course from the Dept. of Philosophy, Toronto. Though not an exhaustive piece of work, the essay attempts to present an argument against the notions that have been popularised over centuries about Hinduism, especially in the West. Following were some of the issues discussed in the class with regard to what Hinduism has given to the world. The author got an A+ in the course.