In August 2002, the French weekly Courrier
International featured what proved to be a highly
controversial article based on translated extracts of interviews
with political militant of the Indian Dalit-Bahujan movement and
author of the bestseller Why I Am Not a Hindu (1996) Kancha
Ilaiah. In the article, which had originally been published in the
New Delhi-based magazine Outlook, Kancha Ilaiah explained
why he believes that, "Only the Dalitisation is able to
effectively counter the threat of a Brahmin fascism disguised as
Hinduism". Quoting Dalit leader Dr. Ambedkar, Kancha Ilaiah stated
that Hindutva is nothing but Brahminism, where upper castes have
established a self-favouring social system, claiming their
superiority on the basis of religion.
Controversies
Being himself born in what
he terms an Other Backward Caste family, Kancha Ilaiah, has in
several interviews explained how throughout his life, he has felt
and suffered from exclusion imposed by iron gloves of Brahminism.
- Hinduism never initiated
me or my people into its religion. We do not wear the threads, we
cannot become temple priests, we do not have childhood formations
like Brahminical children, Kancha Ilaiah said in one interview.
- I hate Hinduism.
Hinduism is not ours, it is against us. If we have to become
Hindus, the Brahmins will have to change the entire religious
texts, our food habits, our gods and goddesses and images, he
stated.
Instead of pleading for
the inclusion of Dalits at an equal level in the Hindu structure,
Kancha Ilaiah argues in favour of transforming the entire system
through what he labels Dalitisation. Dalitisation means the
assertion of Dalit culture and history as a counterweight to
Brahmin hegemony.
- If you want to defeat
the enemy, you cannot remain contented with merely critiquing him,
because even in that case, he is the one who sets the terms of
discourse and you are playing the game according to the rules that
he devises, so naturally it is he and not you who wins in the end,
said Kancha Ilaiah.
Consequently, he called
for Dalits, rather than dwelling on the historical oppression to
which they have been submitted, to keep focus on the process of
Dalitisation and thereby set the terms of discourse.
Self-critique
The propos of Kancha
Ilaiah were much disputed in fierce debates that followed a series
of interviews with him published in magazines and on the Internet.
Too militant and too one-sided, envisioning nothing but the other
side of the exact same coin, said some. Failing to recognise that
also upper castes are victims of their own beliefs, and not
acknowledging that the transformation of an entire social
structure and system of beliefs is a process that takes time,
others added; while yet other critics accused him of painting a
far too rosy picture of Dalit culture and of omitting to criticise
its own drawbacks. In particular, it was argued, Kancha Ilaiah
neglected to mention the caste and gender discrimination that take
place within the Dalit community itself. Why point fingers at
Brahmin and other upper caste discrimination when the same
exclusion processes also exist among Dalits?
- Because, said US social
anthropologist Hedwig Martens, any fundamental change of the caste
discrimination has to come from the top segment of society.
It is a basic reaction which we have seen throughout history and
in so many instances that when people are being oppressed, they
themselves tend to become other people’s oppressors. If the upper
castes cease discriminating the Dalits, the internal
discrimination of Dalits eventually will also cease.
- This, however, does not
mean that everything should be left to the upper castes, Hedwig
Martens stressed. Dalits must also take up their own
responsibility in bringing about change.
Which role for Dalit intellectuals?
In various European and
Indian magazines, the debate went on. It still goes on.
Who raised it in Nepalese
media?
Sources:
Ilaiah, Kancha. Why I am
not a Hindu: a sudra critique of hindutva philosophy, culture and
political economy. Calcutta: Samya, 1996.
Enquêtes et Reportages –
Enquête : Des intouchables contre l’oppression des brahmanes,
Outlook (extraits), New Delhi. In : Courrier International, numéro
613: 1 August 2002.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/jan/17inter.htm
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/dalitism/dal001/dali0101.html
http://www.ambedkar.org/reformers/KanchaIlaiah.htm
http://www.sikhnet.com/Sikhnet/discussion.nsf/
http://www.himalmag.com/2002/july/opinion.htm
For further reading:
Books:
— Ambedkar, B.R. Emancipation of the
untouchables. Bombay: Thacker and Co., 1972.
— Charsley, Simon R. and G.K. Karanth (ed).
Challenging untouchability: dalit initiative and experience from
Karnataka. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998.
— Joshi, Barbara R. Democracy in search of
equality: untouchable politics and Indian social change. Delhi:
Hindustan Publishing Corporation, 1982.
— Joshi, Barbara R. Untouchable: voice of the
dalit liberation on movement. New Delhi: Select Book Service
Syndicate, 1986.
— Kshirsagar, R.K. Dalit movement in India and
its leaders. New Delhi: M.D. Publications, 1994.
Articles:
— Beteille, Andre. Caste consciousness. ‘The
Times of India’: 30 August 2001.
— Gupta, Dipanker. Caste is not race, but let’s
go to the UN forum anyway. ‘The Times of India’: 18 August 2001.
— Guru, Gopal. The left and the caste question.
‘The Hindu’: 20 December 2000.
— Ilaiah, Kancha. Caste and the U.N. meet. ‘The
Hindu’: 21 August 2001.
— Kannabiran, Kalpana. Caste, the democracy and
dalit women. ‘The Hindu’: 20 June 2001.
— Mehta, Pratap Bhanu. Dalits and economic
liberalization. ‘The Hindu’: 5 September 2000.
— Menon, N.R. Madhavan. Tackling
discrimination. ‘The Hindu’: 3 August 2001.
— Omvedt, Gail. Caste, race and sociologists.
‘The Hindu’: 18 October 2001.
— Omvedt, Gail. The U.N., racism and caste.
‘The Hindu’: 4 April 2001.
Reports:
— Amnesty International. Racism and the
administration of justice. Amnesty International Publication, UK,
2001.
— Amnesty International. Using the
international human rights system to combat racial discrimination.
Amnesty International Publication, UK, 2001.
— Human Rights Watch. Broken people: caste
violence against India’s ‘untouchables’. Human Rights Watch
Publication, USA, 1999.
Instead of pleading for the inclusion of Dalits at an equal
level in the Hindu structure, Kancha Ilaiah argues in favour of
transforming the entire system through what he labels Dalitisation.
Dalitisation means the assertion of Dalit culture and history as a
counterweight to Brahmin hegemony.
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