Verificación de consistencia y compatibilidad

O n 4 November, the Government of India felt tremors for alto- gether unexpected reasons. Under the leadership of an officer called Ram Raj, the Dalits of India decided to create history not in the field of electoral politics but in the sphere of religion—the same principle on the basis of which the BJP-led government came to power. Ram Raj decided to become Udit Raj to steal the socio-spiritual agenda from the brahminical forces of India.

Suddenly, the Hindutva politics that came to the centre-stage of political power with the slogan of Ram Rajya, around the name of the Hindu divine ruler Sri Ram (at the social level a name that is very popular among the Dalits of North India including the Dalit politi- cians—Jagjivan Ram, Kanshi Ram, Ramvilas Paswan and so on), be- gan to undergo a change. That whole society which was kept untouchable without aspiring for a religious history of their own ap- peared to move with determination towards Buddha Raj, in the foot- steps of their modern Buddha, B. R. Ambedkar.

Why was the Central Government so afraid of a religious meet- ing, furthermore one led by a government official?

T h e Delhi police cited two reasons for cancelling the permission for the (in their language, 'conversion') meeting of Dalits embracing Buddhism at the Ramlila grounds. One, that the meeting was being organized with the help of the All India Christian Council (AICC), and second, that some organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were opposing it and hence they were apprehending trouble. For

106 On the Right to Religion

these reasons the police not only cancelled the permission, but cor- doned off all the main roads that led to Delhi.

Thousands of people were stopped at various entry points. De- spite that, according to some estimations, about one lakh Dalits em- braced Buddhism on that day and the press splashed the photographs of Dalits getting shaved by Buddhist monks on the Embrace Bud-

dhism dais. What a feeling of liberation that atmosphere must have

created for Dalits who till now did not have the opportunity to go their heads shaved even by the village barbers as part of the wretched casteism that brahminical ideology,has created! Now they were being shaved by the monks themselves in the open venue of a public function.

Let us take up the two arguments that the Delhi police, with a clear direction from the Union Home Ministry, gave for cancelling the permission. Assuming that the AICC helped the Dalits to em- brace Buddhism in Delhi, what is wrong with that? T h e Dalits of India have been denied the right to religion for almost three millen- nia. Except for living in the spiritual realm of their own, which was constructed as a small tradition by characterizing their food culture of 'meatarianism' and 'beefarianism' as polluted, they have never known the experience of being part of a universal religion of which any educated Dalit can read in any book about religion.

In Indian history the educated Dalits read about Hinduism. In world history they read about Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. But they were not part of any of them in any meaningful way. Though they are being claimed as Hindus mostly due to vote bank politics— as they have the right to vote now—they cannot embrace Hinduism with a right to priesthood. Upper caste sociologists sheepishly won- der what is there in priesthood and why should Dalits aspire towards it now? But they do not advise the Hindu priestly class to give up that very 'meaningless' profession in favour of Dalits.

Don't the upper caste sociologists know that questions like the right to religion and priesthood cannot and should not be measured by the income criterion? Religion is related to the cultural life and history of people. If somebody welcomes a social group into a uni- versal religion with full rights of religion and food culture, why should not a people who were denied that right of universal religion accept the offer? So long as such a process does not involve violence, how can Christians or Muslims be stopped from welcoming people

Reject the Oppressor 107 into their religion? What does the right to freedom of religion mean as enshrined in the Constitution?

What right do Hindutva organizations like the VHP and RSS have to claim Dalits as Hindus when they are not given the right to reli- gion, priesthood and food culture within the temple and other reli- gious institutions? In Andhra Pradesh, when the government took up the temple entry programme for Dalits, the Hindutva organizations not only remained totally silent, they, tacitly supported the upper castes which negated the programme. Shamelessly, some statements were issued to the effect that Dalits could enter Hindu temples only when they gave up meat and beef-eating. Why should somebody give up his/her food culture to become a priest in a Hind.u temple?

It is the right of Dalits to embrace any religion that gives them equal rights with full respect to their existing culture. Hindutva orga- nizations, including the BJP, think that they can force people to be their spiritual slaves. As education spreads among the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, they will get into religions that grant them all rights with social and individual dignity. This is the reason why in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kashmir, the majority chose Islam, leaving the Brahmins out. Throughout India the number of educated Scheduled Castes who think about universal spiritual rights has increased. They too are moving into other religions rapidly.

The main fear of the Central Government and the Hindutva or- ganizations is that educated tribals and Dalits are making conscious moves to get into religions like Christianity and Buddhism. There are a large number of educated Sudra (mainly OBC) people who also think that their children have no spiritual status as Hindus and it is better to get into non-Hindu religions that give them universal ex- posure and equal spiritual rights.

A large part of the subcontinent has already become part of the Muslim world. The forces that were thrown out of these regions as they did not become Muslims were the dwijas, mainly the Brahmins. T h e case of Kashmir is a recent one—there all other castes got as- similated into Islam and only the Brahmins (Pandits) were left out. A major part of the Northeast has become Christian and Christianity is expanding slowly—in spite of resistance from the Hindutva front organizations.

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India, a major chunk of Dalits have already gone into Christianity. Those upper caste people who were converted to Christianity like the Syrian Christians and Marthoma Christians—despite the fact that the Hindutva forces have become political rulers—are refusing to come back to Hinduism. And Udit Raj's Embrace Buddhism move- ment came at a time when the world is seriously discussing the clash of civilizations based on religion.

Udit Raj's movement, with the kind of coverage it got in the na- tional and international media, has the strength to grow stronger. Once the Dalit-Bahujans understand that the social, educational, po- litical and economic powers operate around the temple, church, masjid and vihara, they will plan their future around these institu- tions. The Hindutva forces have acquired every kind of power only by using religion.

If Udit Raj uses that very same tool to empower his own people, then what is wrong with that? T h e discussions about the intentions of Udit Raj and the vitriolic attacks that some of the Dalit leaders and intellectuals are indulging in (saying that he is an opportunist) do not carry any conviction. Those intellectuals who keep talking about landed property being important, do not seem to have realized that the Brahmins of India got landed power only through religion. Only when the land became part of a moribund economy did they leave it to move into the capitalist/bureaucratic system.

Dalit empowerment aims at uplifting the religious status of Dalits. T h e movement of Udit Raj has immense liberative potential.

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