using asap thank you
On Mon, Jun 26, 2017 at 7:29 PM, ram puniyani <[email protected]> wrote: > *Kovind, Dalit Politics and Hindu Nationalism* > > *Ram Puniyani* > > > > By nominating Ramanth Kovind as the Presidential candidate, BJP has tried > to play the politics of tokenism to the hilt. Mr. Kovind is a dalit from > UP. While many names were doing round from BJP parivar, finally they > settled down for a person who is dalit in name and Hindu nationalist in > ideology. Last three years of Modi Sarkar has not only seen rising violence > against Muslims, religious minorities but also against dalits in > particular. Starting from banning of Periyar Study circle in IIT Madras, to > creating a situation where Rohith Vemula, a dalit research scholar, had to > take his life, to ‘cow-violence’ against dalits in Una, the dalits as a > social group have come under severe attack, which is by product of Hindu > nationalist politics. Apart from this; there are also instances where the a > Central minister equated dalits to dogs, a BJP leader, UP BJP vice > President Kripa Shankar Singh said that Mayawati was worst than a > prostitute. Incidentally he was apparently reprimanded but through back > door his wife was given the ticket for assembly elections and later was > made a minister in Yogi cabinet in UP. To add salt to the injury one saw > the horrific anti-dalit violence against dalits in Saharanpur as Mr. Yogi > came to power and upper caste are feeling more powerful. When the Bhim Army > under Chandrasekhar protested against the attack on dalits, the young Dalit > leaders were arrested while to attackers were left off with minor charges. > > This move of nominating Kovind, seems to be a superficial attempt to > assuage the deep injury inflicted upon the dalits of the society. One > recalls here that after the Gujarat carnage, orchestrated on the pretext of > Godhra train burning, and the deep wounds inflicted upon Muslims in Gujarat > Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam was chosen by BJP to be the President of India. It was > another tokenism, which did not change the deeper anti minority dynamics in > the society. This is what tokenism is supposed to be doing, creating an > impression that one is offering a helping hand. > > Mr. Kovind has been a RSS swayamsevak; he has donated his ancestral house > for RSS work. His opinions as reflected in many of his statement show that > he regards Islam and Christianity as alien religions. This came out when he > was participating in the debate on Rangnath Mishra commission report, when > the issue of reservations for dalits converting to Islam or Christianity > came up for discussion. Mr. Kovind says that education should have primacy > over reservations, undermining reservations for dalits. > > As a part of BJP, Kovind has been trying to woo the non-Jatav Dalits in UP > in particular. BJP-RSS have won over many a dalits. Likes of Mr. Ram Vilas > Paswan, who has been compromising the interests of dalits for the sake of > personal power, said that all those who oppose Kovind should be regarded as > anti dalit! What does it mean to be a dalit leader today? There are many of > the likes of Kovind and Paswan who seal their lips when atrocities against > dalits are going on and are rising. The dalit leadership is in the dilemma > today. Many of Ramvilas Paswan variety of dalit leaders are aligned with > Hindu Nationalist politics of BJP-RSS as it gives them perks and power. But > there is a large number of others who are engaging in the protests against > the system on the issues of survival and dignity of the dalits, for their > rights as equal citizens. For the dalits the major achievement has been the > coming into being of Indian Constitution, a document giving them > theoretical equality. It gives them the ground on which they can stand and > struggle for their rights. > > On the other hand the politics of RSS has been opposing Indian > nationalism, in favor of Hindu nationalism. RSS politics has been upholding > the scriptures which have provisions of caste hierarchy inherent in them. > As such Hindu nationalism has come a long way during last close to a > century or so. Is it a coincidence that RSS came up in the context of the > rising protests by dalits in the form of non Brahman movement in Vidarbha > region of Maharshtra. This movement was against the social structure which > gave primacy to landlord Brahmin. The movements based on equality have been > running parallel to the freedom movement. The dalits were articulating > their needs through agitations and movements for equality. Hindu > nationalism upheld the age old system; it upheld the caste structure in a > subtle way. In due course, especially after the decade of 1990s the > politics of RSS-BJP has been opposing reservation and equality for dalits. > It has operated at multiple levels to co-opt the dalits in to their > political fold. Adding on to Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, which has been working > for Hidnukaran of Adivasis (Hinduisation), Samajik Samrasta Manch (Social > harmony forum) came up to oppose the struggles for Samata (equality) in > favor of ‘harmony amongst castes’. Through cultural mechanisms it has been > trying to propagate that dalits have been defending Hinduism against the > attacks from Islam. > > Lately RSS combine has been making attempts to pay respect to Ambedkar, by > calling him Great Hindu, by observing his anniversary at grand scale etc. > Ambedkar’s politics and Hindu nationalist politics are polar opposites. > Ambedkar stands for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity while Hindu > nationalism is for the hierarchical values of Vedic times. Through social > engineering dalits have been made to participate in destruction of Babri > Masjid and also to participate in anti Muslim violence. How do assess Mr. > Kovind? The politics of a person is not just guided by birth, dalits > propagating and working for Hindu nationalism are harming dalits in a > serious way, while even non dalits upholding the path of Ambedkar are truly > working for uplift of dalits! > > Mr. Kovind must have taken the oath of RSS, which calls for primacy of > Hindu nation. Indian Constitution is for Indian nationalism. What will he > uphold as President of India, the former or the latter? > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "humanrights movement" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > . > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- *Seema Mustafa* *Founder-Editor* *The Citizen* *thecitizen.in <http://thecitizen.in>* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
