“Ours is the struggle not for money or power
but, for the reclamation of human dignity”
-Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Garoda Garo. This was the name of a caste in the State of
Gujarat. It had been categorised as the one belonging to Scheduled Castes. The
people of this caste officiate as priests to the other people categorised as
Scheduled Castes there. The people of this caste did not, however, want to be
called as Garoda Garos. They wanted a better name and had been lobbying for it
for long. They wanted to be called as Guru Brahmins. It was on January 2, 2017
that Vijay Rupani, the Chief Minister of Gujarat conceded to their demand and
said that that community would, thereafter, be called Guru Brahmin (Times of
India 20.02.2017). Garoda Garos were delighted. The Social Justice and Empowerment Department of the Gujarat
Government issued notification to that effect on 02.02.2017 declaring that “the
name of Garo/Garoda community has been changed to Guru Brahmin”.
Eight days passed. There was another notification by the same
ministry, on 10.02.2017, stating that “the people from the ‘Guru Brahmin’
community would be identified as ‘Guru Brahmin Anusuchit Jati’ (Guru Brahmin
Scheduled Caste)”. A pall of gloom descended on the Guru Brahmin community.
They felt outraged. They opposed that revised nomenclature. They did not like
it. B.K. Shrimali, the general secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Guru Brahmin
Mahasabha said, “There was no need to add the term Scheduled Caste to the new
name given to us”. “Since
Brahmins per se don’t perform rituals for Dalits, they set up a
sub-caste called Garo Brahmins to do such things. With time, calling someone
Garo Brahmin became derogatory. It meant we were not as good as Brahmins. We
sought a more respectable name to stop such humiliation”, said Shrimali. (Ahmedabad
Mirror, 28.10.2017 -News item titled “Why can’t you give us a respectable name?
ask Guru Brahmins.”). Social activist Manishi
Jani says, “This decision (dated 10.02.2017) exposes the deep-rooted casteism
in our society. The government wants to lure Dalits for votes by offering
various schemes yet want to keep the nuisance of casteism alive. Instead of
receiving a better name, the community has got a more derogatory name”.
The Brahmin veto over Non-Brahmin’s name
An Association of
Brahmin Youth, called the Unity of Parshuram Parivar (UPP), claimed credit for
the second notification. It said that it was their efforts which made the Chief
Minister change his stand and issue the revised order on 10.02.2017. Its president
Nirav Dave boasted, “We protested against the addition of the name Brahmin to
the Garo community. We expressed our displeasure before CM Rupani. The CM
listened to us and amended the notification.” That was not the only Brahmin
organisation which claimed that credit. There had been a delegation of World
Brahmin Federation members to meet the Chief Minister on the very next day
itself, I.e., on February 3. Besides, there was another team of Brahmin
community leaders which met the Chief Minister, further three days later, on
February 6, asking him to rethink his decision. “Clarifying the reason behind their
objection, a Brahmin community leader seeking anonymity, says, “Both
communities share similar surnames. There have been cases where Brahmins have
married Garo Brahmins due to confusion over names. So we want the government to
make the distinction clear” (Ibid.).
What a great grievance the Brahmins had had!
The Gujarat Brahmins want to retain a distinguishable identity; to protect
their aloofness and exclusivity. They do not want any other group of Hindus to
pilfer away any benefit that accrues to the ‘Brahmins’. Their standoffish
attitude should be given government recognition and protection, they insisted.
They were more concerned with maintaining their ‘puritanical’ approach in
marriages. Blood purity was more important, they divined. After all, their
ancestors did the same too.
When
Hitler wanted to make Germany ‘a land fit for the Aryans to live’, he enacted
and enforced a law totally prohibiting the marriage of Germans with Gypsies,
Jews and people of colour. It was called as the Law for the Protection of German Blood and
German Honour, 1935. In 2017, the Brahmins around the world were not far behind
Hitler. When the Gujarat government issued notification on 02.02.2017, they got
worked up and worked so vigorously against the new nomenclature given to the
Guru Brahmins that they began to sleep only after Vijay Rupani reneged on
10.02.2017, when they felt assured that their racial purity and exclusiveness
would remain protected. Was it not a fact that the authorities in Germany were
demanding “proof of racial purity before a marriage could go ahead under
a new law in 1935”?
The same Ahmedabad Mirror of 28.10.2017
reports, ‘Another leader refusing to be named bluntly states, “Garo Brahmins
are not Brahmins. They should not carry this name. The decision hurt our
sentiments, so we made a representation against it.” The stand of these
Brahmins was shocking. They, first of all, do not have any say in the matter
pertaining to the nomenclature of Garoda Garos. No existing law of the nation
prevents the others from calling themselves Brahmins, if they want to. Yet, the
BJP government yielded to the unlawful pressure tactics of the Brahmins. It
respected only the sentiments of the Brahmins and pooh-poohed the sentiments of
the oppressed Guru Brahmins.
The issue here was why the Brahmins were so protective of their
Brahmin title. Where was the need for them to oppose someone else being called
some Brahmin? The answer lies in the fact that the Brahmins, post-independence,
do have the vested interest to resurrect their vicious and anti-social
Chaturvarna system that was in vogue in the days of Manu. They do not have any
regret or remorse about the crimes committed against humanity in the past in
the name of protecting and preserving the Chaturvarna social disorder. On the
other hand, they boast of their ‘heritage’ and continue to subjugate the
Non-Brahmins in an organised manner.
History just repeats itself in India, the
darkest pages of the history. The Brahmins have not come out of their warped
state of mind, even in the 21st century. They treat the Non-Brahmins with
ill-will. There is no scope to expect any sense of Fraternity from them,
although they call, the Non-Brahmins also as Hindus.
The
term ‘Hindu religion’ is, really, a misnomer. The Brahmins equate, in essence,
the term ‘Hindu’ only with themselves. If a Non-Brahmin exposes the Brahmanical
misdeeds, the Brahmins brand him as ‘anti-Hindu’. But the soul-deep aversion
exhibited by the Brahmins towards the Non-Brahmins is not treated as an
‘anti-Hindu’ action. It is simply ignored from public discussion. As long as
the Brahmins continue to have this kind of mind-set, they will pose very
serious threat to the welfare and development of the Non-Brahmins. Mr. O. Rajagopal,
BJP’s Vice President and in charge of Tamil Nadu and Kerala had, during his
visit to Chennai on 08.08.1995, equated the term Brahmin with Hindu.
“Mr.Rajagopal’s outburst denouncing the anti-Brahminism of the South as being
‘anti-Hindu’ perhaps allows a peep into the staunch “Manuwadi” view that the lower-castes
are outside the strict Hindu fold” (The Hindu 09.08.1995).
Martin Luther - Anti-Pope; not
Anti-Christianity
Martin
Luther was not anti-Christianity but was anti-Pope, particularly the Pope Leo
X. In 2016, Pope Francis praised Martin Luther as “a great reformer”. (The
magazine npr - 28.10.2016). In October 2016, Pope Francis travelled to Sweden
and participated in the ceremony that started the yearlong commemoration of
Protestant Reformation that split the Churches 500 years ago, in 1517 AD.
But the mainstream Brahmins are not prepared, even now, for real
reformation of Hindu religion. They want the notorious Chaturvarna
balkanisation remain forever with legal recognition. They cast slur on the Non-Brahmins
who expose the Brahmanical duplicity, as anti-Hindus. The oft-repeated call for
‘Hindu unity’ by the Brahmins is only a call to protect Brahmin interests and
not the interests of all the ‘Hindus’. That slogan was and is used by the
Brahmins to utilise the services of Non-Brahmins to achieve the purpose of the
Brahmins. Chaturvarna social order is a matter of shame to humanity. Worse when
it is given legal sanction by the Judiciary, as in the case of priesthood. This
Chaturvarna system had been and has been the cause of numerous inhuman crimes
against humanity.
Winston Churchill had, rightly, said, “Let me
just direct your attention once more upon the untouchables, fifty or sixty
millions of them, that is to say, more than the whole population of the British
isles, all living their lives in acceptance of the validity of the awful curse
pronounced upon them by the Brahmins” (Albert Hill, London. 18.03.1931).
In the Hindu religious order, the fact is that all the Non-Brahmins are
untouchables only, as could be seen from the arguments of the Brahmin
fundamentalists in respect of priesthood and could be seen from the concept of
“Theendal” enforced by them in Travancore. History is attempted to be repeated
to glorify the Chaturvarna system and establish the Brahmin-raj. Let us recall
that Yuan Tzang had called the sub-continent as Brahmin land, even when Harsha,
his patron, was ruling the nation. He was an eyewitness to the attempt of assassination
of Harsha by the Chaturvarna fanatics.
The solution to rid India of this Chaturvarna
system lies in the enforcement proportionate representation to avoid being
ruled by the Brahmins who, actually, hate the renaissance in the lives
Non-Brahmins as has been seen from the Guru Brahmin episode, and numerous such
episodes in the past including the opposition to christen a child born in an
oppressed case, as Mudi Soodum Perumal in the year 1809 and brought social
pressure to change him name into Muthukutty. Brahmins have driven the
Non-Brahmins only to this alternative to demand proportionate reservation for
all castes and religions in India in services at all the top-level posts,
including the higher judiciary. There is no scope for redemption otherwise.
Let the
Non-Brahmins work towards that goal, in the interest of their posterity!
♣
Published in the magazine OBC Voice of November,2024. For more on the subject, click on the following link:
https://archive.org/details/nonbrahminmanifesto2019ina5_202003/mode/2up?q=non+brahmin+manifesto+2019+vaeyurutholibangan
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