Oh Rama, Oh Rama, You became the God and we the demons.
You portrayed our Hanuman as a monkey,
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
But we were the aborigines of this land.
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Here is a song which was supposed to have been sung by a group of Dalit school students in North India. This song brings out the real injustices suffered by the Dalits at the hands of Upper Caste Hindus. And the song advocates a Dalit-Muslim Unity by saying that today the Hindus are using the Dalits to fight the Muslims; in the same way as in the ancient past the Hindus (Aryans) used the Vanaras (the song implies that the Vanaras were Dravidians termed as monkeys by the Aryans) to fight other Dravidians called the Rakshasas.
Here is the song :
The rulers who control all knowledge,
Claim the Ramayana to be India's history
And called us many names -demons, low castes, untouchables.
But we were the aborigines of this land.
Listen to our story.
Today we are called the dalits -the oppressed.
Once the Aryans on their horses invaded this land.
Then we who are the natives became the displaced.
Oh Rama, Oh Rama, You became the God and we the demons.
You portrayed our Hanuman as a monkey,
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
You enslaved us to form a monkey army,
Those you could not subjugate
You called a rakshasa -a demon.
But we are the forest rakshak -the protectors.
You invented the hierarchy of caste
Through your laws of Manu, the first man.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
And you trampled on the rights of women.
You made your wife Sita undergo the ordeal of fire
To prove her chastity.
Such were your male laws, Oh Rama.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
When Shambuka, the Untouchable
Tried to gain knowledge,
You beheaded him, Oh Rama.
Thus did you crush those who tried to rise above their caste.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
Days passed, years and centuries,
But our lives remained the same.
We skinned your cattle,
So that you can wear shoes.
We clean your gutters,
So that you can stay clean.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
Did you ever even ask, Oh Rama,
What our caste is?
Did you ever even ask
What our religion is?
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
Independence dawned.
It began with the rule of the consitution.
The author of the constitution Dr. Ambedkar
Framed the constitution around secular ideals.
The castle of caste privileges began to crumble.
No longer could the elite skim
The milk of religious exploitation.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
But poverty grew and to divert the poor
From their real need, a new enemy was found.
Muslims were targeted and "taught a lesson".
To destroy Lanka, Oh Rama, you
Formed us into a monkey army.
And today you want us,
The working majority,
To form a new monkey army
And attack Muslims.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
Few countries in the world can boast such diversity or so lively a contemporary culture as India, the world’s second most populated country (with over 1 billion people). Indians speak over 1,500 different mother tongues and have 18 official languages.
However, alongside tremendous diversity lies deep-rooted societal prejudices. The caste and patriarchal systems of India have contributed to marginalization for many thousands of people for centuries. Even today, caste largely determines the jobs people may obtain, whom they may marry, and what socio-economic class they will be locked into. Those who fall even below the lowest caste are known as the "untouchables" or "Dalits", and people in this category face extreme discrimination.
Between a third and a half of India’s population are estimated to survive on so little food each day that they are chronically starved. The diets of the poor, rather than improving as the government claims, have become even more inadequate in the past 30 years. Nearly 90% of the country’s children are chronically malnourished, a record rivaled only by Bangladesh. In addition to high levels of hunger and malnutrition, two-thirds of India’s 900 million lowest income households live below the poverty line, and an estimated 48% of adults in India are illiterate.
Over the last two years there has been tremendous political and economic upheaval at a national and local level in India. India has been opening its doors to the free market with the consequent effect of creating a new middle class, empowering the wealthy and putting at risk the resources available to the poor. These shifts have increased the suffering of the poor, who rely on services which the government is currently unable to provide such as primary education, health care and the public distribution system.
THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
NOTES FROM A BROTHER IN INDIA:
HISTORY AND HERITAGE
By INIYAN ELANGO, M.D.
Edited and Posted by RUNOKO RASHIDI
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The first thing those who enslaved the Black people did was to erase all records and memories of our great heritage and history. This is because a rootless people will always wallow in self-pity and self-destruction. For example, the first thing that was done by the Sinhalese (the majority people in Sri Lanka who find kinship with the North Indian Hindus, Sanskrit language and their Aryan heritage), when they started a civil war with Sri Lanka's minority Tamil people two decades ago, was to burn down the centuries old library in a city called Jaffna which housed priceless Tamil books which were hundreds of years old. The civil war still wages in Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), are fighting for "Tamil Eelam", a separate Tamil homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka.
So that is why I consider it very important to make our people very proud of themselves again because we are the owners of the richest and the oldest civilization and culture. We were civilized, cultured and humane when the Aryan hordes were plundering, killing and amusing themselves in barbarism all over Europe and Central Asia.
I think you know about the erstwhile "Lemuria" continent which bridged the Indian sub-continent and Australia, where the pre-historic Tamil (Black) people lived. Much of Lemuria was lost to the sea during a massive oceanic upheaval. But the aborigines of Australia are supposed to be the descendants of the pre-historic Tamils. Much of the customs and the language of the aborigines of Australia is similar to those of the rural Tamil folk. Even the facial features of the Australian aborigines and the Melanesian people is very similar to that of Tamil "Pariah" (Dalit) people.
I am very interested in the visual media. When I was in the USA I studied film for a short time at the Los Angeles City College. I feel the global visual media, including American cinema, is extremely Euro-centric" culturally. Movies are modern day cultural icons and we don't have any motion pictures to preserve the glory of the global Black history and culture. Even disaster movies like the Titanic showcased European culture and manners. Even movies made with Black stars such as Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington or Will Smith are made for the consumption of White audiences and never deal with Black history or culture. Even Spike Lee is too obsessed with the negative side of the Black experience in America and never bothers about showcasing Black history and culture, with the possible exception of the motion picture Malcolm X. I have a dream of making films that will be widely seen by people all over the world which will deal with the positive side of Black life.
Even the media madness over the end of this millennium (as counted from the birth of Jesus Christ) is being celebrated with European artistic and cultural flair with the total exclusion of Black arts and culture. I have formed a troupe to perform Dalit arts, folk music and street theatre to keep the arts of the Indian Black people alive. In India the arts and music of the Hindus is passed off as the culture of India by totally excluding the native music and performing arts of the Dalit people.
In America people usually associate "Black" with Africa while being oblivious to the fact that Black people live in very large numbers in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Gautama Buddha, the Black revolutionary who founded the egalitarian religion of Buddhism to counter and destroy the bigotry of Hinduism, was a Black prince. But the Hindus highjacked Buddhism and killed Buddhists in large numbers. The Buddhist missionaries fled to other parts of Asia and spread the message of the Buddha in China and other parts of Asia. Those indigenous Dravidians who were loyal to Buddha and resisted the caste system became the untouchable outcastes (Dalits). That is why Dr. Ambedkar called upon his people to embrace Buddhism. But unfortunately, the brand of Buddhism that is practiced by the Dalai Lama and other Asians such as the Chinese, Japanese and Sinhalese are all corrupted forms of the real Buddhism. To learn about the original message of the Buddha one should read the works of Dr. Ambedkar.
So long for now. Let us make the new millennium the millennium of the Black human beings of this World! Let us work towards that earnestly, intelligently and with unity. Let peace and prosperity rule over our people. With love.
SOURCES:
Without Malice: The Truth About India, by Iniyan Elango
WHY DALITS HATE HINDUISM?
Christian services to be written in letters of gold.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/book.htm
FOREWORD
This is a short introduction to Western people, mostly Christians, interested in India and particularly the Dalits. Since they are always guided by India's ruling upper castes, who have been always very close to the West, they often get misled because of the plethora of contradictions that make the confusion worse confounded.
The Hindu ethos is guided by hate. And that is why the Hindus hate anything which is not Hindu. Muslims, Christians and Sikhs have become the first targets of their hate philosophy, converting India into one of the most violent countries in the world. They talk non-violence but practice the worst kind of violence against Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Dalits and also all women.
But the puzzle is it is these very Hindus—not even 15% of India's population— who are the closest to the West. They have made America their second if not first home. Entire Western benefits are sucked away by these people who are the very oppressors of Dalits and other non-Hindus.
They exploit the Western sincere benefactors, mislead them and at the same time oppress the Dalits and non-Hindus inside India. And to mislead the Western do-gooders they resort to deception without ever making the innocent Westerners aware of their cunning tricks.
Western people interested in India should note that there is no other country in the whole world with such a plethora of perplexing problems. That is why they very often get deceived by the Hindu propaganda. India has not only the class problem but the more serious caste problem which has no parallel in the world. Besides. It is also the original home of racism.
The triple problem of class, caste and racism are further complicated by the nationality question. India is not a nation but a country of several hundreds of nations. The Hindus effectively make use of these complex contradictions and rule this country hiding all the reigning chaos and confusion with the power of their monopoly media.
Such a unique, well-oiled machinery of exploitation is over 3,000 years old. No group has succeeded in operating such a machine for so long anywhere in the world. Why only in India? Why our Western benefactors are not trying to understand this question?
Christian missionaries to some extent at least understood the baffling complexity of India. But the Muslims, even though mostly converts from the indigenous Indians, are yet to understand these complexities.
This booklet introduces India to such Western scholars, aid-givers, missionaries and all those sincerely interested in the liberation of the Dalit — the Black Untouchables of India.
Bangalore V.T. Rajshekar
Date: Aug.15, 2004
Hinduism vs. the Movement of Untouchables
1. Introduction:
We are thankful to the Christian Conference of Asia for having given us an opportunity to present the case of the Dalit, the Black Untouchables of India forming over 20% its 1,000 million population. (V.T. Rajshekar, Dalit — The Black Untouchables of India, Clarity Press, USA, 1987). Christians have rendered such a signal service to the liberation of Untouchables that it can be written only in letters of gold when we rewrite the Indian history. Once kept out of Brahminism, now called Hinduism, as outcastes, the Untouchables of India today present the world's cruelest form of Apartheid before which the South African racial segregation and other Black problems of US and UK pale into insignificance. But, alas, the Indian Apartheid has received hardly any world attention as India's Brahminical ruling class has kept it a closely guarded secret.
Boneless wonder
If the Untouchables are what they are today, it is only because of Hindu religion, which, they say, is followed by about 85% of the Indian population. The correct name of Hinduism is Brahminism, imported to India by the Aryan invaders. Hinduism, considered the world's most ancient religion, has no parallel in the world.
A bundle of contradictions, a boneless wonder, words such as Hinduism, Hindu or Hindustan not at all figure in the Sanskrit "sacred scriptures" of Hindus. These scriptures do not even give a name to this religion. It has no founder. It has no single god. It has neither a church nor one single text like the Bible or Quran. The Supreme Court of India has ruled that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life.
The question: "Who is a Hindu?" can be answered only in the negative: one who is not a Muslim, Christian or a Parsi is a Hindu. Its priests are unique in the world. They not only belong to one caste (Brahmin) but are a hereditary pest. At least 95% of the Hindus do not know their "holy books". A majority of them do not even regularly visit temples. At least 30% of the Hindus are not admitted into Hindu temples.
Caste rivalry among Hindu gods
Therefore, Hinduism cannot be defined except that we can identify that a Hindu is one who is by birth. The Hindu is one who is not a Muslim or Christian,. That means Hinduism can be defined only negatively. Caste system, of which untouchability is a part, is the foundation on which Hinduism is built. You remove caste, the Hindu edifice falls like a house of cards. So every Hindu must have a caste. Without a caste there can be no Hindu. Nay, caste system is the other name for Hinduism. Caste and untouchability are deathless because they have divine sanction. Even the Hindu gods belong to different castes. And one god fights with another god because of caste rivalry.
Hinduism is, therefore, a vast mad house. Nay, the maddest house in the whole world. India, because of this, has become a sick country and its sickness is affecting the health of other countries. Look at Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, UK, USA, Canada, etc. True, Hinduism is actually practiced only by the Brahmins who form the apex of the caste pyramid. They form not even 5% of the Hindu population and yet as "gods of earth" they control everything — all the property and privileges. And, therefore, rightly constitute India's ruling class, supplying every Prime Minister that India had (barring three or four for a very brief period) since "independence". None can rule India except the Brahmin. This is the power that Hinduism has conferred on the Brahmin, who is called the Bhoodevata, god on earth.
Brahmins killed Budhism
Hinduism is so powerful that though an alien religion,being an Aryan import, it devoured every protest movement including the most liberating Budhism, which was destroyed and driven out of India over 2,000 years back. Brahmins led by the Adi Shankara literally slaughtered Budhists. Budhism today reigns in other parts of the world but not to be found inside India – except for a feeble attempt made by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Saviour of the Untouchables and the new rising star of India, at the fag end of his life by himself embracing Budhism along with several millions of Untouchables.
Efforts are being made to strengthen Hinduism —claiming it to be a religion of over 85% of Indians — and the government itself is actively helping the process making the Christians and Muslims nervous and making them feel that the Government in India is pro-Hindu. A fundamentalist Hindu nazi party called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is vigorously at it by fanning communal flames and periodically resorting to torture of Untouchables, Tribals, Muslims and Christians. The ultimate aim of the RSS is to clamp a class-caste fascist dictatorship, before which the Hitler's nazi rule will pale into insignificance, crush the Untouchables and castrate the minorities.
2. Untouchables & Tribals, original inhabitants of India:
Untouchables and Tribals who together make a formidable third of India's population are the original inhabitants of this ancient country. But the invading Aryans drove them out and those who fled to hills and forests became Tribals and those driven out of village limits became Untouchables.
The stigma of untouchability (racism) is not confined to Untouchables alone. In fact one caste is untouchable to the other "Hindu" caste. Ascending order of reverence and descending degree of contempt. But what are called as Harijan — meaning the "children of god" in the words of M.K. Gandhi— suffer not merely from untouchability but unapproachability, unseeability, unspeakability, etc. Dogs and cats are let inside a Hindu house but not an Untouchable.
Therefore, every village in India has become a ghetto, which is the worst part reserved for these born bonded slaves, reduced to skeletons, who are expected to render free service to the Hindus without expecting any return. They do all the menial jobs: cleaning, sweeping, scavenging, agricultural operations, carrying dead cattle and eating its carcass. Building constructions. Every dirty job. While the men are Untouchables, the women can be enjoyed by the upper caste (Hindu) men. This is the concept of Hindu justice.
No place for democracy under Hinduism
Democracy and social justice have no place under Hinduism. But the country's Constitution has forced the government to introduce some "socialist reforms". But with the advent of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, even these concessions and reservations are disappearing. So we live under such serious contradictions and perpetual clash between the fascist ideology of Hinduism and the socialist slogans of the government forced by the country's Constitution prepared by Dr. Ambedkar. The Constitution has given the Untouchables some paper "reservations" in jobs etc. but privatisation has killed even this little mercy.
Untouchability (sanctified racism) among Hindus is thus a unique phenomenon unknown to humanity in any other part of the world. Nothing like it is to be found in any other society —primitive, ancient or modern. Sociologists and historians of India are not interested in the problems of Untouchables because they all belong to the upper caste. Nay. You will be laughed at and ostracised if you talk about it publicly.
3. Why beef-eating Brahmins became vegetarians:
The first organised protest movement against Brahminism was launched by the Budha and Untouchables joined it en masse. Dr. Ambedkar has discovered that before the Aryans invaded India, the language of India was Tamil. He said the war between Budhism and Brahminism and the defeat of the former resulted in its followers being driven out of the village limits. Brahmins, who were the deadliest enemies of Budhism, adopted the trick of sabotaging Budhism by infiltrating it. They conducted a war against Budhism both from without and within. And after vanquishing Budhism, they inflicted untouchability upon those defeated.
Another ingenious method the Brahmins adopted to destroy Budhism was to give up beef-eating and become strict vegetarians. The Brahmins were the most gluttonous beef-eaters and the Vedic texts have any number of references to their indiscriminate killing of cows and eating them. Killing brought them joy. In fact, cow was then reserved for the Brahmin stomach.
The Brahmins also excelled in drinking intoxicating liquor, sex and such other merry-making. When the Brahmins gave up eating beef other Hindus also followed them. If the non-Brahmins underwent one revolution by giving up beef-eating, Brahmins underwent a double revolution. They gave up meat-eating for the first time and became vegetarians.
To my mind, it was the strategy which made the Brahmins give up beef-eating and start worshipping the cow. The clue to the worship of cow is to be found in the struggle between Buddhism and Brahminism and the means adopted by Brahminism to establish its supremacy over Buddhism". (Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: Untouchables, W&S Vol. 7 p. 345).
Why the Brahmins resorted such a reckless adventure, a supreme sacrifice of giving up their greatest pleasure in life? Dr. Ambedkar says:
" Without becoming vegetarians, the Brahmins could not have recovered the ground they had lost in its revival, namely Buddhism". (Ibid p. 346).
Jews of India
Brahmins — whom we have described as the "Jews of India" (V.T. Rajshekar: Brahminism, DSA-2002)— have beaten the Jews in craftiness, deceit and treachery. They wanted to beat extremism with extremism. It is a fantastic strategy. The only way to beat Budhism was to go one step forward and become vegetarians.
Today, Brahmins (barring those in Kashmir and Bengal) are vegetarians and non-drinkers, though the yuppies among Brahmins have once again started meat-eating and drinking.
Non-violence was absorbed into Brahminism which from the day of the defeat of Budhism went on changing its name and recently it came to be called Hinduism. The Vedic religion of Brahminism was sacrificed to save Brahmins and destroy the revolutionary philosophy of Budhism and thus permanently condemn India to slavery and serfdom. That is how India, which has the world's largest but the most famished cattle population, turned into a cow-worshipper as a result of the triumph of Brahminism over Budhism. It was a means adopted by Brahmins to regain their lost glory. This supreme sacrifice of the Brahmins proves that the "Jews of India" are prepared to go to any extreme and make any compromise to save Brahminism.
To them Brahminism became more important than India. Every foreign invader was invited by them to serve their selfish ends. India today is one of the poorest countries of the world, a sick nation, because of Brahminism. (V.T. Rajshekar: India as a Failed State, DSA-2004). Not only if the Untouchables are to be saved but if India itself has to be rescued, Brahminism will have to be destroyed. That is why the Untouchables, being the original owners of India, have decided to escape from the tyranny of Brahminism.
4. India is not a "nation"
The Hindu nazi terrorists now led by the RSS often boast about the "Indian nationalism" or "cultural nationalism". They are spending a lot of money and time to rouse this "national patriotism" among Hindus. But is India a "nation"?
Each religion — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Hindus — constitutes a different but perpetually warring nation. Muslims (15%) and Christians (3%) are being persecuted by the Hindu "majority". Apart from this, the Untouchables (20%) and Tribals (10%) each constitute a separation "nation". Sikhs are rightly demanding a separate nation — Khalistan. Linguistically, geographically and ethnically India is deeply divided. Besides, each caste is a separate "nation" within the so-called Hinduism. (V.T. Rajshekar: Caste — A Nation Within the Nation, Books for Change, Bangalore, 2004-reprint).
Hinduism is thus a vast prison-house of warring nationalities. Nationality is a social feeling. It is a longing not to belong to any other group. This is the essence of what is called a nationality and national feeling. But in India race, language and country do not suffice to create a nation. A nation is a living soul, a spiritual principle.
Suffering in common is a greater bond of union than joy. As regards national memories, mournings are worth more than triumphs, for they impose duties, they demand common effort". (Renan quoted by Dr. Ambedkar in his book, Thoughts on Pakistan, Thacker & Co., 2nd edition -1945, p.17).
As consciousness increases along with literacy and other factors, Muslims, Christians and each caste within Hinduism will clamour for separateness and some people expect India to be torn to pieces in course of time.
The Hindu ethos stands for division and disintegration and not for unity. The seeds of destruction are within Hinduism itself. Nobody need destroy it. Hinduism will destroy itself. Because the Hindu house is built on hatred. The engine of hatred drives a Hindu.
5. Apartheid in India — a world problem:
The Untouchables of India constitute the worst form of Apartheid. The Afro-Americans are employed as household servants in White houses, and therefore, they are not Untouchables. But India's Untouchables are kept outside, segregated in all areas. Their very touch, look, even thought leads to pollution. You can make out a Black man from the colour of the skin but not so the Untouchable. He may be fairer than the Brahmin. Nobody can identify an Untouchable by the mere skin colour.
Therefore, the Indian Untouchability like the Black problem is not a problem arising out of colour prejudice. It is a mental problem created by the caste system. That makes it the most serious problem in the whole world. But, alas, no world body, the UN, International Court of Justice, Human Rights Commission or anybody for that matter, has ever bothered about the Untouchables who in sheer number excel the American Blacks or for that matter the Palestinians or any other struggling group.
For the first time India's Black Untouchables took their case to the UN at Durban (2001) comparing casteism with racism but suffered a defeat because of the Brahminical rulers stiff opposition.
Therefore, ours is a world problem of the greatest magnitude needing the highest priority.
The only people to spare some thought to the Indian Apartheid are the Christians. The World Council of Churches and the CCA have done a lot. And because of this they have invited the wrath of the Indian ruling class. If the Christians are interested in saving India and thereby the Untouchables they will have to intensify their efforts.
6. Class & caste: India's twin great divide:
While every other country in the world is divided into rich and poor (class division), India has not only its rich and poor but also the high and low castes. In India, the people are not only divided horizontally as rich and poor, but also vertically into high and low castes — one cutting across the other. That means the Brahmin belonging to the "highest caste" may be sometimes poor but an Untouchable government official may be rich. This is the most baffling problem faced by no other country in the world.
If other countries have to destroy only the "class", we in India have the twin menace of "class" as well as the "caste". Since the loyalty of both the rich and the poor is first to their caste (nation), it is difficult to unite the poor of a caste against the rich of their own caste. The frequent "caste wars" in India have conclusively proved that "poor" Hindus will not join hands with Untouchables – who are economically the poorest and socially the lowest.
Therefore, India presents the world's most baffling paradox where no general mobilisation of the poor is possible.
Even Budhism, Christianity, Sikhism and Islam have not escaped caste division because originally they were also "Hindu".
Sociologists by and large endorse our opinion that in India "caste" is "class". A mobile caste is a class. The low castes are all poor and upper castes are generally the rich. But one thing can be said with confidence that in India it will not be possible to launch a "class struggle" without first destroying the caste. At least a simultaneous thrust: a "class-caste struggle" has to be launched.
The Indian marxist leadership did not agree with us and that is how the Untouchables of India have rejected marxism. (V.T. Rajshekar: How Marx Failed in Hindu India, DSA-1988).
" caste identity"
The Hindus are also not prepared to destroy their caste because they became rulers only because of their caste identity. Since Hinduism is the other name for caste system, any attack on caste means a direct assault on property and privileges that the caste brings. Since every caste and subcaste stands to benefit from this grand system, no Hindu is prepared to give up the caste.
The upper castes (Hindus) are making a lot of noise over the conversion of Untouchables to Islam or Christianity. To prevent conversion they give the false promise of destroying untouchability. Hindu leaders including M.K. Gandhi say that they want to "eradicate" untouchability. But nobody is complaining against the caste system. Because they know that untouchability being the foundation of caste system, it is not possible to remove untouchability alone without destroying the caste system, which in turn means destroying Hinduism. So when Gandhi and other Hindu leaders talk against untouchability, they are not sincere. Gandhi, whom Dr. Ambedkar described as a Hindu leader and the Enemy No.1 of Untouchables, wanted only a patchwork solution. Gandhi was content with reform but Dr. Ambedkar wanted revolution and asked Dalits to quit Hinduism and go in for conversion. Religious conversion has proved to be the best, surest and the most nonviolent way of liberating the Untouchables. (DV Jan.1, 2003 p. 20: "Conversion as the best, simplest, surest & the most nonviolent way to liberate Dalits").
7. Marxists betray revolution:
India being one of the poorest countries in the world, all the factors necessary for revolution exist here. But the country is nowhere near a revolution. This is because the marxist leadership is in the hands of the Brahmins who are not really ready to launch a struggle to destroy caste as it will effect the property and privileges of their caste. And without destroying the caste, it is not possible to destroy the class. They are not prepared to combine caste struggle with class struggle. That is why the Untouchables have rejected marxism.
The Untouchables and Tribals are born revolutionaries. Nobody wants revolution more urgently than these two sections. But the marxists have no programme to attract them. The Left parties do not inspire these revolutionary sections. And quite a number of them feel that the marxists in India are not only far from revolution but actually counter-revolutionary.
8. Religious revolution:
As the marxists have betrayed revolution, Untouchables are forced to take the only other path available — the religious solution. Thousands of Untouchables and Tribals, therefore, embraced Christianity. Sikhism, Budhism and Islam and the flow is increasing.
It must be noted that the Untouchables of India are subjected to torture not because they are poor. There are any number of poor in India and the Untouchables are not the only poor. They are only a part of the poor Indians. The country itself has over 50% living below the "poverty line".
But why Untouchables alone are subjected to torture? Not because of their poverty but their degrading social status. So the problem of exploitation and poverty in India is due to social causes and not economic factors.
The main cause of India's poverty is, therefore, social and next only economic. This has to be clearly understood. The Untouchables are kicked, killed, burnt, raped and their little property destroyed not because they are poor. Poverty is not their problem. They became poor because the Hindus robbed their human rights.
The social degradation of the Untouchables having had religious sanction under Hinduism, the Untouchables have no other go but to get out of this gas chamber of Hinduism and seek fresh air under other liberating religions: Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Budhism
September 3, 2007 -- As much of the focus in the last three weeks have been on the parliamentary debate with the possibility of mid-term elections due to opposition parties in India threatening to withdraw their support from the Central Government, there is a different kind of preparation going on in Washington, DC. Indian American Security Leadership Council (IASLC), a non-profit bipartisan organization of high profile Indian-Americans is busy organizing Security Policy Conference to strengthen the U.S.-India Security Alliance.