The sins of the ancestors Vs The role of the descendants - Part II

(Mr. Manivannan has responded with the following counter-arguments, with reference to the write-up "The sins of the ancestors Vs. The role of the descendants". His arguments  in three posts in the Facebook are re-produced here to ensure continuity in the thread, for the benefit of the readers. Numbers have been assigned to paragraphs for easy reference and recall. )

Post 1:

1. The problem with your responses is that it completely washes off personal responsibility for continuing discrimination among "Dravidians" against Dalits and those presumed to be lower than them on the caste hierarchy while it shifts blame to the "Aryans" without any regard for the accomplishments of the greatest Aryans of India - Buddha, Vardhamana Mahavira, Emperor Ashoka among others.

2. Comparison to the Nazi Germany is interesting. But since the Dravidian parties have been ruling at least in Tamil Nadu for almost 50 years with considerable political power, what have the Dravidians accomplished to eradicate caste and religious discrimination? There are no laws against such discrimination in housing, employment, etc. Violence against Dalits are not committed by "Aryans" in Tamil Nadu but by fellow "Dravidians", especially dominant Tamil castes. There is no sense of shame associated with this. The dominant upper castes bristle against varnasrama when they face discrimination but have no hesitation in discriminating against other castes. Isn't that hypocrisy?

3. In all of India, the percentage of people who marry outside their caste is least in Tamil Nadu, the very state that rebelled against Varnasrama. Why is that? While brahmins in Tamil Nadu are increasingly marrying outside their caste including Dalits, Christians and Muslims, dominant non-brahmin castes have been accusing Dalits of Jihad-love and have been rioting. And yet you would conveniently blame even this on brahmins and evade responsibility.

4. Who are the prominent examples among non-brahmin leaders who are equivalents of Lincoln in their treatment of Dalits and other oppressed castes? And when the dominant non-brahmin castes were rioting against Dalits, where were the voices against such rabid casteism?

5. You claim that there is a group that "perpetuates apartheid in society and captures the bureaucracy, media and judiciary through unfair means and terrorist tactics and runs the society with mafia-like grip." Now, with the likes of Sun TV, Kalaignar TV, and others who run powerful media and other business empires and which are all owned by the very people who used to criticize the brahmins, what has been done to counter the "terrorist tactics" that you allege as above? When the Dravidians run the government, own the media, have been graduating overwhelming majority of the engineers, doctors, lawyers and other professionals for nearly fifty years, what has been done to ameliorate discrimination against Dalits or counter the "apartheid" regime that you dicuss?

6. Since you believe that sins of the fathers are inherited by the children, what have the non-Dalit non-brahmin castes have done to compensate for the sin of untouchability and crimes against Dalits that continue even today? Everything that you accuse the brahmins of including the "advantages secured due to historical reasons" that cannot be claimed as fundamental rights are still with the dominant castes of Tamil Nadu, aren't they?

7. In spite of your promise to accept responsibility for the sins of your ancestors, I don't see anything in your writings that reflect that. All that I see are the continued attacks against others for your sins.

8. That will remain the problem if we continue to focus on racist notions in blaming specific groups based on their birth. Had we focused on the idea of universal equality, fundamental human rights, and enforcing them regardless of the perpetrators, we could have become a modern society. Instead, we continue to be an extremely backward society in our thinking, tribal in our social organization, and primitive, racist and bigoted in our outlook. Until we are ready to look at ourselves in the mirror first, accept the crimes that we and our ancestors have done and continue to do, and stop doing that, there is no solution to this. Until we live the life of genuine brotherhood and egalitarianism we have no right to accuse others of not doing that. That is just hypocrisy.

9. So, in your writings, condemn the bigoted behaviors regardless of the accidents of one's birth. But if you continue to believe that only one group of people are responsible for the world's evils, then you are just another hypocrite.

Post 2:

10. …… I am not fine with blaming any groups, Aryan or Dravidian or others. The biggest  problem that I see with most societies is to ascribe their problems to the schemes of others rather than take responsibility themselves, particularly a majority society blaming a tiny minority like the Nazis blaming the Jews. Tamil Nadu is not apartheid era South Africa. Even when there is an oppressive majority as in the case of black Americans fighting for their rights, it required the brilliance of Rev Martin Luther King Jr., to generalize it as civil rights for everyone and bringing along the majority community for a common cause. His "I have a dream" speech is visionary and inspiring. It is tiresome to hear cliched arguments blaming Aryan groups for problems that are entirely solvable. A hierarchical pyramid can be collapsed from below. One doesn't require to start at the top. If you don't accept hierarchy above you, start by rejecting the layers below you. Most of the groups in Tamil Nadu are fighting to climb the hierarchy rather than reject it entirely. That is the real problem.

Post 3:

11. Sir Herbert Risley wrote that the “peculiar” institution of caste would most likely prove to be a challenge for the development of Indian nationality: “So long as a regime of caste persists, it is difficult to see how the sentiment of unity and solidarity can penetrate and inspire all classes of the community”.

12. While India still struggles with deeply rooted prejudices of caste there are some sociologists who believe that caste and varna were far more flexible before the advent of the Europeans and that Manu sastra was irrelevant to most Tamils until the Vijaya Nagara Naickers and then the Europeans took that to be the governing law of Hindus.

What we need is total rejection of any birth based hierarchical rule.

http://www.thehindu.com/.../tp.../article790373.ece