Caste Apartheid 10-11-2015

11, October 2015                        Caste Apartheid

A group of high energy Dalit activists from India and their US supporters organized a special meeting at Stanford University last Thursday to direct attention on caste apartheid that still exists throughout India.

Who are the Dalits? The Varna and caste system has been in existence in Indian society for thousands of years. India is the only country in the world where such a system still exists. The Varna and caste system was sanctified by the Hindu religion and by Vedic scriptures. Because it has been blessed and condoned by generations of high caste Brahmins, its validity has rarely been challenged except by the founder of the Sikh Faith, Guru Nanak, who fiercely condemned the caste system for its inequities and social injustices. During this period, many low caste Hindus converted to Sikhism, Buddhism or Christianity to escape the tyranny of caste.

Unfortunately, Hinduism has successfully deflected these external influences and cast discrimination has survived and continues to flourish to the present day.

The Manusmriti text codified the then prevailing social norms and consigned the shudras, atishudras and women to an unequal and sub-human existence. The distinctiveness of the caste system is its hereditary, compulsory and endogamous nature. Once born in a caste straight jacket, there is no escape and for the vast majority of Dalits this stigma is like a passport to hell. The worst affected by the caste system and its social oppression have been the Dalits, or atishudras, or scheduled castes. Albeit in a different way, the Adivasi’s or scheduled tribes in India have also faced social oppression over the ages. The stories of Shambuka in the Ramayana and of Ekalavya in the Mahabharata are classic testimonies of the non-egalitarian nature of Hindu society in ancient and indeed modern India.

Along with the curse of untouchability, the Dalits, with few exceptions, are denied property rights. Most have to survive on extremely low wages and the ‘lucky ones’ eat the leftovers thrown away by the higher Varna; they are not allowed to draw water from the common well reserved for their higher caste bretheren; they enter and exit homes by a back door and rarely ever have physical contact even with their most enlightened benefactors.  

A staggering 200 million Dalits are forced to endure appalling oppression, repression, physical and sexual violence and murder. Their oppressors are rarely held accountable in a culture that affords them complete impunity. They are denied entry to temples, given restricted access to water and forced to work for higher caste employers. A number of the delegates who came from different Indian states spoke of encountering arrogance, disdain and outright hostility from police and other officials. A FIR (First Information Report) documenting complaints are rarely filed to ensure no one will ever be held accountable. Previously called Untouchables, the Dalits are forbidden to make physical contact with a member of a higher caste. If this occurs, the unfortunate Dalit receives a torrent of abuse for “desecrating” the ‘low life’ recipient who subsequently undergoes multiple cleansing to wash off the encounter. This is often followed by firebombing Dalit homes, and attacks on Dalit men and molestation and sexual violence on Dalit women.

The Dalits are now mounting a nationwide effort to force officials to address their grievances and protection from high caste oppression.

They have modeled their strategy on the Gulabi Gang that has been operating a highly successful campaign in Uttar Pradesh since 2006. They adopt a ‘no nonsense - in your face’ approach to shame officials and family members guilty of abusing women.    

Using social media. Modern day Dalits are coalescing into a strong vibrant movement and are reaching out to NGO’s like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the UN Human Rights Commission for support. A country should be judged, not only on its GDP and its economic growth but how well its serves the poorest of the poor. Using the latter as a matrix, India gets a failing grade.