DECCAN INQUIRER
Bi-Weekly e news paper
Editor: Nagaraja.M.R.... Vol.04.....Issue.52...........08 / 07 / 2023
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Are Brahmins today’s Dalits in India?
May 11 2007
French Journalist Francois Gautier, having spent nearly two decades in India, finds reservations for SC/ST and OBCs a prejudiced trend based on misconceptions.
At a time when nearly all political parties are vying with each other to please Dalits or other backward classes advocating reservations for them, ignoring the Brahmins, French Journalist Francois Gautier, having spent nearly two decades in India, finds it a prejudiced trend based on misconceptions.
In a write up “Are Brahmins the Dalits of today?” (May 26, 2006 ) posted on Rediffmail.com, Gautier has pointed out how much ill-found are the facts about the ‘prosperity’ of Hindus, especially, the Brahmins in today’s India.
He lashes out at the UPA Government for following an appeasement policy, which appears to be based on obsolete data about the actual state of Dalits in India.
“At a time when the Congress Government wants to raise the quota for Other Backward Classes to 49.5 per cent in private and public sectors, nobody talks about the plight of the upper castes,” says Gautier in his write up.
According to Gautier, today’s Brahmins can be easily found cleaning public toilets, a menial job that the government projects as if it is being done only by Dalits since ages.
“There are 50 Sulabh Shauchalayas (public toilets) in Delhi; all of them are cleaned and looked after by Brahmins (this very welcome public institution was started by a Brahmin).
There are five to six Brahmins manning each Shauchalaya. In most villages in UP and Bihar, Dalits have a union which helps them secure jobs in villages,” Gautier states.
Fifty per cent of rickshaw-pullers in Delhi’s Patel Nagar are Brahmins. Did you also know that most rickshaw pullers in Banaras are Brahmins?,” Gautier asks.
He questions: “Do our institutes connect with the real India?” while pointing out the reverse discrimination existing in bureaucracy and politics of the country.
Talking about Kashmiri Pandits, Gautier mentions they are living as refugees in their own country.
“400,000 Brahmins of the Kashmir Valley, the once respected Kashmiri Pandits, now live as refugees in their own country, sometimes in refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi, in appalling conditions. Their vote bank is negligible,” says Gautier.
In South India, the state of Brahmins as stated by various agencies speaks for itself.
Seventy five per cent of domestic help and cooks in Andhra Pradesh are Brahmins.
“A study of the Brahmin community in a district in Andhra Pradesh (Brahmins of India by J Radhakrishna, published by Chugh Publications) reveals that today all Purohits live below the poverty line,” quotes Gautier.
Gautier questions: “Who are the real Dalits of India?”
“In fact, according to this study there has been an overall decline in the number of Brahmin students. With the average income of Brahmins being less than that of non-Brahmins, a high percentage of Brahmin students drop out at the intermediate level,” Gautier quotes.
“The study also found that 55 per cent of all Brahmins lived below the poverty line -- below a per capita income of Rs 650 a month,” adding there is no reason to believe that the condition of Brahmins in other parts of the country is different.
Gautier quotes the per capita income of various communities as stated by the Karnataka finance minister in the State assembly: Christians Rs 1,562, Vokkaligas Rs 914, Muslims Rs 794, Scheduled castes Rs 680, Scheduled Tribes Rs 577 and Brahmins Rs 537.
But preferential policies for the non-Brahmins in government jobs and modern occupations such as law and medicine have forced Brahmins to retreat in these spheres as well.
Gautier suggests that caste shouldn't overwrite merit while quoting an Andhra Pradesh study, the largest percentage of Brahmins today are employed as domestic servants. The unemployment rate among them is as high as 75 per cent. There are hundreds of families that are surviving on just Rs 500 per month as priests in various temples (Department of Endowments statistics).
Gautier says : “There are innumerable instances in which Brahmin priests who spent a lifetime studying Vedas are being ridiculed and disrespected.”
“At Tamil Nadu's Ranganathaswamy Temple, a priest's monthly salary is Rs 300 (Census Department studies) and a daily allowance of one measure of rice. The government staff at the same temple receive Rs 2,500 plus per month,” Gautier states.
Gautier observes and lashes out at the Congress-led government observing “the tragedy of modern India is that the combined votes of Dalits/OBC and Muslims are enough for any government to be elected. The Congress quickly cashed in on it after Independence, but probably no other government than Sonia Gandhi's has gone so far in shamelessly dividing Indian society for garnering votes.”
Gautier also quotes from The Indian Express newspaper’s report: 'These measures will not achieve social justice'
“The Indian government gives Rs 1,000 crores (Rs 10 billion) for salaries of imams in mosques and Rs 200 crores (Rs 2 billion) as Haj subsidies. But no such help is available to Brahmins and upper castes.”
Writing about how reservations fracture Hindu society, Gautier observed that Anti-Brahminism originated in, and still prospers in anti-Hindu circles. It is particularly welcome among Marxists, missionaries, Muslims, separatists and Christian-backed Dalit movements of different hues. When they attack Brahmins, their target is unmistakably Hinduism.
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Caste Reservation or Discrimination Vengeance ?
- An appeal to Honourable Supreme Court of India
The “Caste based Reservation Acts “ by government of india and state governments are reverse discrimination , gross violation of human rights , acts of vengeance.
Our freedom fighters struggled, sacrificed to build an ideal country free from any biases. Freedom fighters belonging to all castes, religions including brahmins, dalits , muslims , others have sacrificed a lot in freedom struggle. After independence people belonging to all castes and religions are paying taxes to the government. In spite of all this numerically dominant castes are usurping public resources , opportunities by suppressing , discriminating numerically minor castes like brahmins , vyshyas. Where is equality , equal opportunity?
Every human being including brahmins have human rights of equal rights , equal opportunity and equitable justice even if Constitution cheats them of the same.
The Caste based reservation acts are passed by majority in parliament fine. In the same way inhuman acts of suppression of Jews were passed by majority in Nazi Germany parliament. Brute numerical majority doesn't make an inhuman act as human or injustice as justice.
From time immemorial numerically dominant castes were ruling village panchayaths to big kingdoms. People of dominant castes were village panchayath heads to kings, they ruled enforced discriminatory rules , untouchability in their jurisdictions.
Today's parliament and state legislature s since independence are occupied by dominant caste members. They have made brahmins as scape goats for all the ills , untouchability. Does it mean kings & village panchayath heads of yester years were foolish and acted as per brahmin's advices only ? Then why don't you credit brahmins for good things done in yester years ?
Every caste and religion including brahmins are guilty of practicing untouchability against dalits but not brahmins alone.
Only dalits need caste based affirmative actions to remove caste based social stigma.
All other castes , religions doesn't need OBC , GROUP A , GROUP B , etc tags and reservation. They must get affirmative actions based on their economic status rather than their caste. Numerically , politically dominant castes have usurped public resources by classifying their own castes as backward.
There are rich as well as poor people in all castes and religions. Poor in all castes and religions need support by government and society. But rich people in so called reserved category doesn't need government support instead it must be given to the poor among the same reserved category. Affirmative actions must be based on latest transparent people census including details of caste , religion , education , property , income , etc not on decades old census. There is a huge change from 1947 to 2023.
Children should not be punished for the crimes committed by their grand father.
Also punishing a criminal ( of minor caste) for his crimes is right but letting his accomplices, crime partners ( belonging to dominant castes ) free is not right.
Now many state governments have unscientifically declared people of dominant castes as backward castes and granted them reservation benefits even crossing 50% reservation cap by SCI. There are many families of reserved category where both parents are government employees and getting more than one lakh rupees monthly salary , still government declares them backward and their son gets fee waiver , scholarships , etc in college. Whereas a brahmin worker earning three hundred rupees in daily wages is declared as forward caste by government and his son studying in college is denied fee waiver scholarships , etc like his backward class classmate. Unable to pay fees he drops out of college.
Is this the India our freedom fighters struggled sacrificed for ?
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Editorial : BAN Caste based Reservation to rich dalits
- Rich must not enjoy at the expense of poor
Basic tenet of our democratic governance and of our constitution is EQUALITY & EQUAL OPPORTUNITY to all Indian citizens.
Reservation policy was intended as a short term measure to correct historical injustice to dalits.
Basic principle of criminal justice stipulates you cann't hold a grandson liable for a murder committed by his grandfather a century ago and punish the grandson now.
In the name of correcting historical injustice to dalits , even after extending reservation benefits for 75 years , goverment is practicing apartheid policy. Government is forcefully suppressing a class of citizens so called forward caste people. This is against basic tenet of constitution of india.
These suppressed forward caste people are truly “ NEO-DALITS".
In a running race boys who have practiced hard for years are running in the race sincerely , meanwhile organisers of racers tweak the rules of the game to few participants, gives them motor bikes. Naturally boys on bikes will cross finishing line first than boys on legs. Finally organisers declare boys on bike who crossed finishing line first as the winner. This is exactly what government is doing since 75 years by reservation policy. Is it fair ? Is it not illegal, against constitution? Right way is instead of giving bikes to those boys running training must be given to them. Finally race must be on a level playing ground.
Do remember we are also citizens of india and we are also tax payers. With our money ( public money ) Since 75 years government is suppressing us in the name of forward caste. It is illegal , unconstitutional, violations of constitutional rights , violations of human rights. Now 50% of jobs , seats in educational institutions are divided between SC , ST , OBC, MUSLIMS & minorities totally neglecting poor of all castes & religions. Some of the OBC groups were part of ruling dynasties never faced any social persecution and now with political clout got themselves as backward and enjoying reservation benefits.
Whereas Muslims are in majority in Jammu Kashmir , Kerala and Christians are in majority in Kerala / North Eastern States still they are enjoying reservation benefits wrongly as minorities whereas real minorities hindus in those states are getting none of the benefits.
We citizens of india as tax payers has right to decide how our tax money is spent by government. We don't want our hard earned money to be wasted on unfit rich people rather we want it to be rightly spent on poor dalits poor hindus poor muslims poor minorities poor OBCs. Within 50% reservation quota 10% must be reserved for poor irrespective of caste, religion.
Within a definite time frame caste based reservation must be replaced with poverty based affirmative action. Our Constitution framers Dr.Baba saheb B R AMBEDKAR themselves have fixed 10 years timeline for reservation but our short sighted power hungry politicians have extended it beyond 75 years.
Laws should be dependent on present facts not history alone. As the time changes, social scenario changes in sync with time laws must also change must be amended. Then alone country , it's people can prosper.
- Hereby, we request Honourable supreme court of india:
1. To identify all citizens suppressed by government in the name of forward caste as “ NEO-DALITS”.
2. To legally punish the public servants who extended reservation policy for 75 years much against the wishes of constitution framers.
3. As a first step fix economic cut off point to separate creamy layers of dalits , OBCs , minorities from reservation benefits.
4. Second step keeping the same economic cut off point identify poor , needy in other castes also and extend the reservation benefits to them also on an equal footing.
5. Finally down the line scrap all caste based reservations instead income based affirmation policy must be brought in. Instead of declaring a person with low marks as passed, selected against many other talented , struggling persons, that low scoring person should be given free coaching facilities, free hostel, fee waiver, etc. But exam rules , selection rules must be same for all.
6. Still if goverment continues with it's crimes of suppressing neo dalits and if apex court also aids the goverment, both of them become criminals.
7. 10% reservation must be accommodated within 50% reservation pie of jobs, seats in educational institutions.
8. Give minority reservation benefits to hindus in jammu kasmir, kerala, north eastern states where actually hindus are in minority whereas muslims Christians are in majority.
9. Fix a definite time line for removal of caste based reservation and it's replacement with poverty based affirmative action.
10. To stop persecution , human rights violations, fundamental rights violations of sections of society falsely declaring all of them as forward.
11. To clearly specify the parameters for declaring a person as backward or forward or minority or oppressed.
12. To remove the forwards among so called backwards, minorities from reservation benefits.
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PIL – Ban Caste based Reservation to Rich Dalits Muslims OBCs
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. OF 2021
IN THE MATTER OF
NAGARAJA . M.R
editor , DALIT ONLINE ,
# LIG 2 , No 761 ,, HUDCO First Stage , Laxmikantanagar ,
Hebbal , Mysore – 570017 , Karnataka State
…...Petitioner
Versus
Honourable Chief Secretary , Government of Karnataka ,
Honourable Pricipal Cabinet Secretary , GOI & Others
....Respondents
PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 12 to ARTICLE 35 & ARTICLE 51A OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA FOR ISSUANCE OF A WRIT IN THE NATURE OF MANDAMUS UNDER ARTICLE 32 & ARTICLE 226 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA.
To ,
Hon'ble The Chief Justice of India and His Lordship's Companion
Justices of the Supreme Court of India. The Humble petition of the
Petitioner above named.
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH :
1. Facts of the case:
Dalits & backward caste people have suffered innumerably for centuries at the hands of forward caste people. It was nothing but APARTHEID policy.
Muslims and other people whoes numbers were minor also suffered persecution.
Our constitutional framers to provide equal opportunity to all indian citizens gave certain transient measures like reservation in schools , college , jobs , etc to these persecuted people.
Now even after 75 years of independence & reservation , affirmative policies of government still many dalits , minorities are suffering. Creamy layers of dalits , muslims with political connections have over used , reservation benefits to the maximum denying their own dalit , muslim brothers , sisters of reservation benefits. Few well connected dalit families have over used reservation benefits multiple times , while many poor dalit families have not used reservation even once. Few Scheduled Tribe communities & other backward caste communities didn’t face any social boycott at all in the past. Some of those communities were actually rulers / royals. Still due to political connections now those few ST & few OBC communities are enjoying reservation . As a result few dalits , muslims have become well educated , rich while their poor brothers suffer in ghettos , slums.
In few dalit families both father & mother are in government service based on reservation , has taken fast promotion on reservation , both sons got education on reservation and even got government jobs on reservation. Still that family wants residential site under reservation quota , school seat for grandson under reservation and get it from government. how is it justified ?
Reservation benefits are provided by public coffers – ie hard earned tax payer’s money belonging to all castes & religions. That money must be properly used to correct historical wrong. Reservation benefit must be given only once to a family , the family member who uses that benefit to get education & appointment reaches a stage of financial independence. In turn that family member must personally spend towards uplifting his other family members instead of relying on government support.
The castes & tribes which didn’t face any social ostracism but enjoying ST & OBC benefits by political connections must be removed from those categories. The poor among those castes & communities must be given financial support for education , self employment , etc based on economic criteria. In this way reservation fund will be preserved & that saved money can be used for other poor SC / ST / OBC / Minority families. So that all SC / ST / OBC / Minority family will come up fast in society.
Private sector which enjoys loans , subsidies , other benefits from government , public banks are not bound by reservation policy , are not bound by social obligation to provide reservation to dalits & muslims.
Successive governments are indirectly segregating people with new names & using them as vote banks. Affirmative actions of government are creating inequalities in society, while constitution of india mandates to treat all citizens as equals.
Basic tenet of our democratic governance and of our constitution is EQUALITY & EQUAL OPPORTUNITY to all Indian citizens.
Reservation policy was intended as a short term measure to correct historical injustice to dalits.
Basic principle of criminal justice stipulates you cann't hold a grandson liable for a murder committed by his grandfather a century ago and punish the grandson now.
In the name of correcting historical injustice to dalits , even after extending reservation benefits for 75 years , government is practicing apartheid policy. Government is forcefully suppressing a class of citizens so called forward caste people. This is against basic tenet of constitution of india.
These suppressed forward caste people are truly “ NEO-DALITS".
In a running race boys who have practiced hard for years are running in the race sincerely , meanwhile organisers of racers tweak the rules of the game to few participants, gives them motor bikes. Naturally boys on bikes will cross finishing line first than boys on legs. Finally organisers declare boys on bike who crossed finishing line first as the winner. This is exactly what government is doing since 75 years by reservation policy. Is it fair ? Is it not illegal, against constitution? Right way is instead of giving bikes to those boys running training must be given to them. Finally race must be on a level playing ground.
Do remember we are also citizens of india and we are also tax payers. With our money ( public money ) Since 75 years government is suppressing us in the name of forward caste. It is illegal , unconstitutional, violations of constitutional rights , violations of human rights.
We as citizens of india as tax payers has right to decide how our tax money is spent by government.
- Do remember we are also citizens of india and we are also tax payers. With our money ( public money ) Since 75 years government is suppressing us in the name of forward caste. It is illegal , unconstitutional, violations of constitutional rights , violations of human rights. Now 50% of jobs , seats in educational institutions are divided between SC , ST , OBC, MUSLIMS & minorities totally neglecting poor of all castes & religions. Some of the OBC groups were part of ruling dynasties never faced any social persecution and now with political clout got themselves as backward and enjoying reservation benefits. Whereas Muslims are in majority in Jammu Kashmir , Kerala and Christians are in majority in Kerala / North Eastern States still they are enjoying reservation benefits wrongly as minorities whereas real minorities hindus in those states are getting none of the benefits. We citizens of india as tax payers has right to decide how our tax money is spent by government. We don't want our hard earned money to be wasted on unfit rich people rather we want it to be rightly spent on poor dalits poor hindus poor muslims poor minorities poor OBCs. Within 50% reservation quota 10% must be reserved for poor irrespective of caste, religion. Within a definite time frame caste based reservation must be replaced with poverty based affirmative action. Our Constitution framers Dr.Baba saheb B R AMBEDKAR themselves have fixed 10 years timeline for reservation but our short sighted power hungry politicians have extended it beyond 75 years. Laws should be dependent on present facts not history alone. As the time changes, social scenario changes in sync with time laws must also change must be amended. Then alone country , it's people can prosper.
2. Question(s) of Law:
Why not LIMIT reservation only once to a family that too only one family member ? Why NOT limit reservation to only poor among SC / ST / OBC / Minorities ?
3. Grounds:
Request for proper use of reservation funds to needy.
4. Averment:
a . Hereby , I do request the honorable supreme court of India to consider this as a PIL for : “writ of Mandamus” and to issue instructions to the concerned public servants in the following cases to limit reservation benefit only to needy among SC / ST / OBC / Minorities.
b. to give reservation benefits like job reservation , subsidized loan , preferrential industrial / residential site allotment , etc only once , only one benefit that too to only one family member. This avoids a single dalit with political connections using multiple reservation benefits and same family members using reservation benefits. Once a dalit gets reservation benefit he must come up on his own and must strive to bring up his other family members. This way reservation benefit will reach other poor dalit families who have not received a single reservation policy benefit.
c. to order government to stop appeasing one minority community by subsidized pilgrimage , marriage support , etc while denying the same to other community.
d. The intent of our constitutional framers was to bring oppressed on par with forward caste people towards a dignified life but never to put them above others crushing , oppressing poor forward caste people. This goes against constitution & creates new way of APARTHEID & new outcasts.
e. to order government to enforce reservation policy in job , school seats , to private sector also.
f. To extend financial aid , educational aid benefits on par with SC / ST / OBC / Minorities to all economically weak weak people irrespective of their castes , religions.
PRAYER:
In the above premises, it is prayed that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased:
a . Hereby , I do request the honorable supreme court of India to consider this as a PIL for : “writ of Mandamus” and to issue instructions to the concerned public servants in the following cases to perform their duties & to legally enforce Uniform Civil Code.
b. to give reservation benefits like job reservation , subsidized loan , preferrential industrial / residential site allotment , etc only once , only one benefit that too to only one family member. This avoids a single dalit with political connections using multiple reservation benefits and same family members using reservation benefits. Once a dalit gets reservation benefit he must come up on his own and must strive to bring up his other family members. This way reservation benefit will reach other poor dalit families who have not received a single reservation policy benefit.
c. to order government to stop appeasing one minority community by subsidized pilgrimage , marriage support , etc while denying the same to other community.
d. The intent of our constitutional framers was to bring oppressed on par with forward caste people towards a dignified life but never to put them above others crushing , oppressing poor forward caste people. This goes against constitution & creates new way of APARTHEID & new outcasts.
e. to order government to enforce reservation policy in job , school seats , to private sector also.
f. To extend financial aid , educational aid benefits on par with SC / ST / OBC / Minorities to all economically weak people irrespective of their castes , religions.
g. to pass such other orders and further orders as may be deemed necessary on the facts and in the circumstances of the case.
Hereby, we request Honourable supreme court of india:
1. To identify all citizens suppressed by government in the name of forward caste as “ NEO-DALITS”.
2. To legally punish the public servants who extended reservation policy for 75 years much against the wishes of constitution framers.
3. As a first step fix economic cut off point to separate creamy layers of dalits , OBCs , minorities from reservation benefits.
4. Second step keeping the same economic cut off point identify poor , needy in other castes also and extend the reservation benefits to them also on an equal footing.
5. Finally down the line scrap all caste based reservations instead income based affirmation policy must be brought in. Instead of declaring a person with low marks as passed, selected against many other talented , struggling persons, that low scoring person should be given free coaching facilities, free hostel, fee waiver, etc. But exam rules , selection rules must be same for all.
6. Still if goverment continues with it's crimes of suppressing neo dalits and if apex court also aids the goverment, both of them become criminals.
7. 10% reservation must be accommodated within 50% reservation pie of jobs, seats in educational institutions.
8. Give minority reservation benefits to hindus in jammu kasmir, kerala, north eastern states where actually hindus are in minority whereas muslims Christians are in majority.
9. Fix a definite time line for removal of caste based reservation and it's replacement with poverty based affirmative action.
10. To stop persecution , human rights violations, fundamental rights violations of sections of society falsely declaring all of them as forward.
11. To clearly specify the parameters for declaring a person as backward or forward or minority or oppressed.
12. To remove the forwards among so called backwards, minorities from reservation benefits.
FOR WHICH ACT OF KINDNESS, THE PETITIONER SHALL BE DUTY BOUND, EVER PRAY.
Dated : 05.12.2021. ………………..FILED BY: NAGARAJA.M.R.
Place : Mysuru , India…………………….PETITIONER-IN-PERSON
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Right to equality , equal opportunity and equitable justice is a birth right , human right of every human being. Nobody , no minister , no constitutional body can violate it. When it is violated , it is a crime against humanity , the people who perpetrate those violations are CRIMINALS. Even when public servants perpetrate those human rights violations in the name of parliamentary acts like Reservation policy , the people who drafted such inhuman laws and people who passed and enacted such inhuman laws are all CRIMINALS.
Do remember Inhuman persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany was approved by majority in German parliament. Mere supporting numbers doesn't make an inhuman act justified or an illegal act as legal.
Government is practically protecting rights of dalits , obc and minorities only. Good. Is it not the duty of government to protect rights all other citizens including forward castes , brahmins ? Didn't forward caste people , brahmins struggle and sacrifice for India's independence ? Are not they electing government by their votes ? Are not they paying taxes ?
Reservations should be seen as temporary and exceptional “or else they would eat up the rule of equality”. It is continuing for 76 years.
Hereby we appeal to Honourable Supreme Court of India :
1. To order government of india and state governments to conduct time bound transparent scientific people census and to make those data public to disprove manipulations by government, political parties and vested interests.
2. To annul all discriminatory reservation acts by government.
3. To order government to base it's affirmative policies on actual conditions of people irrespective of caste or religion on the basis of latest public census.
4. To limit reservation benefits only once to a family. Father gets job on reservation quota again his son should not get job on reservation instead a person of same reserved category who has not got reservation benefits earlier should get it.
5. To provide equal opportunity for every person irrespective of caste or religion in all spheres.
Your's sincerely
Nagaraja M R
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The Plight of Brahmins
The Mandal Commission report marks the culmination of the attempt at social engineering that began with the Christian missionary (followed by British governmental) campaigns against the Brahmin community in the early part of the 19th century. It was not accidental that Brahmins emerged as the principal target of British attacks. Britishers of all pursuits, missionaries, administrators and orientalists, were quick to grasp; their pivotal role in the Indian social arrangement. They were all agreed that religious ideas and practices underlay the entire social structure and that, as custodians of the sacred tradition, Brahmins were the principal integrating force. This made them the natural target of those seeking to fragment, indeed atomise, Indian Society. This was as true of the British conquerors as it was of Muslim rulers in the preceding centuries. Mandal takes off from where the British left.
The British were not wrong in their distrust of educated Brahmins in whom they saw a potential threat to their supremacy in India. For instance, in 1879 the Collector of Tanjore in a communication to Sir James Caird, member of the Famine Commission, stated that “there was no class (except Brahmins ) which was so hostile to the English.” The predominance of the Brahmins in the freedom movement confirmed the worst British suspicions of the community. Innumerable CID reports of the period commented on Brahmin participation at all levels of the nationalist movement. In the words of an observer, “If any community could claim credit for driving the British out of the country, it was the Brahmin community. Seventy per cent of those who were felled by British bullets were Brahmins”.
Role slighted
To counter what they perceived, a Brahminical challenge, the British launched on the one hand a major ideological attack on the Brahmins and, on the other incited non-Brahmin caste Hindus to press for preferential treatment, a ploy that was to prove equally successful vis-Ã -vis the Muslims.
In the attempt to rewrite Indian history, Brahmins began to be portrayed as oppressors and tyrants who wilfully kept down the rest of the populace. Their role in the development of Indian society was deliberately slighted. In ancient times, for example, Brahmins played a major part in the spread of new methods of cultivation (especially the use of the plough and manure) in backward and aboriginal areas. The Krsi-parasara, compiled during this period, is testimony to their contribution in this field.
But far more important was the Brahmin contribution to the integration of society. So influenced are we by the British view of our past that we completely ignore the fact that the principle by which the Brahmins achieved the integration of various tribes and communities was unique in world history. This was perhaps the only case where all incoming groups were accommodated on their own terms. All aspects of their beliefs and behaviour patterns were accepted as legitimate and no attempt was made to compel them to surrender or change their distinctive lifestyles. Each group was left to evolve and change according to its internal rhythm. What a contrast to the Christian method of conversion by the sword and their efforts to obliterate all traces of the previous history of all converts.
Apart from misrepresenting the Indian past, the British actively encouraged anti-Brahmin sentiments. A number of scholars have commented on their involvement in the anti-Brahmin movement in South India. As a result of their machinations non-Brahmins turned on the Brahmins with a ferocity that has few parallels in Indian history. This was all the more surprising in that for centuries Brahmins and non-Brahmins had been active partners and collaborators in the task of political and social management.
Overdrawn
Some British observers themselves conceded that the picture of the Brahmin as oppressor was overdrawn and that in reality there was little difference in the condition of the Brahmin and the rest of the native population. H. T. Colebrooke, one of the early Sanskrit scholars wrote, “ Daily observation shows even the Brahmin exercising the menial profession of a Sudra… it may be received as a general maxim, that the occupation, appointed for each tribe, is entitled merely to a preference. Every profession, with few exceptions, is open to every description of persons; and the discouragement, arising from religious prejudices, is not greater than what exists in Great Britain from the effects of Municipal and Corporation laws”.
The British census operations that began in the latter part of the 19th century produced further distortions in the Indian system. The British sought to interpret the caste system in the light of their own pet theories. H. H. Risley who directed the 1901 census operations was, for example, determined to demonstrate that “race sentiment” formed the basis of the caste system and that social precedence was based on the scale of racial purity. The same race theory played havoc in Europe in the form of Nazism and has now been fully repudiated.
The British, unmindful of the complexities and intricacies of the social arrangement, sought to achieve standardisation by placing all jatis in the four varnas or in the categories of outcastes and aborigines. As a result they destroyed the flexibility that was so vital for the proper functioning of the system. The census operations raised caste consciousness to a feverish pitch, incited caste animosities and led to an all-round hardening of the system. They led to frantic efforts at Sanskritisation and upward mobility, so very different from the flexibility of earlier times. When the system was made rigid everyone wanted to be a member of a higher varna. Caste consequently became a tool in the political, religious and cultural battles that the Hindus fought amongst themselves.
Downward mobility
It is significant that the census operations coincided with the attempt to reorganise the army on the basis of the martial race theory. At about that time the British were also beginning to raise questions about the relative balance of Hindus and Muslims in the public services and about the “monopoly” of certain castes in the new education. There was also talk of the conspiracy of certain castes to overthrow their rule.
The forces unleashed by the British continued to gather momentum. Them myth of the omnipotent Brahmin had been so successfully sold that most Indians missed the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In recent years, however, a number of studies have appeared that detail the downward mobility that has been the chief characteristic of he Brahmin community particularly since independence.
Financially, the Brahmins have been very hard hit. State laws combined with fragmentation of land have had the effect of substantially reducing the size of family holdings so much so that most Brahmins today find it difficult to eke out a living from land. Traditional occupations like family and temple priesthood, recitation of the Vedas and practice of Ayurvedic medicine no longer prove remunerative nor command respect.
A study of the Brahmin community in a district in Andhra Pradesh (Brahmins of India by J.Radhakrishna, published by Chugh Publications) reveals that all purohits today live below the poverty line. Eighty per cent of those surveyed stated that their poverty and traditional style of dress and hair (tuft) had made them the butt of ridicule. Financial constraints coupled with the existing system of reservations for the “backward classes” prevented them from providing secular education to their children.
In fact according to this study there has been an overall decline in the number of Brahmin students. The average income of Brahmins being less than that of non-Brahmins, a high percentage of Brahmin students drop out at the intermediate level.
In the 5-18 year age group, 44 per cent Brahmin students stopped education at the primary level and 36 per cent at the pre-matriculation level. The study also found that 55 per cent of all Brahmins lived below the poverty line that is below a per capita income of Rs.65 a month. Since 45 per cent of the total population of India is officially stated to be below the poverty line it follows that the percentage of destitute Brahmins is 10 per cent higher than the all-India figure. There is no reason to believe that the condition of Brahmins in other parts of the country is different.
Appalling poverty
In this connection it would be revealing to quote the per capita income of various communities as stated by the Karnataka Finance Minister in the State Assembly on July 1, 1978: Christian Rs.1562, Vokkaligas Rs.914, Muslims Rs.794, Scheduled caste Rs.680, Scheduled Tribes Rs.577 and Brahmins Rs.537.
Appalling poverty compelled many Brahmins to migrate to towns leading to spatial dispersal and consequent decline in their local influence and institutions. Brahmins initially turned to government jobs and modern occupations such as law and medicine. But preferential policies for the non-Brahmins have forced the Brahmins to retreat in these spheres as well. According to the Andhra Pradesh study, the largest percentage of Brahmins today are employed as domestic servants. The unemployment rate among them is as high as 75 per cent.
Clearly it is time to sit up and see reality as it is before we complete the task the British began- the atomisation of Indian society and annihilation of Indian civilisation.
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Will the targeting of Brahmins ever end?
By Hindu Post
One of the first lessons which was taught to us as children was “Two wrongs do not make a right”. This a rejection of lex talionis or the law of retaliation – that a punishment inflicted should correspond in degree and kind to the offense of the wrongdoer; in layman’s terms, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Lex talionis is the law of tribal societies based on balanced opposition among groups, potential retribution being the main form of deterrence against attack. But what worked in tribal societies does not necessarily work in complex civil societies, particularly in liberal democracies. Civil societies require civility; replying to injury by injuring back is a violation of civility, lowering all parties to savage behaviour.
Yet, these elementary principles have been thrown to the wind for decades by the very persons who claim to be champions of social justice – politicians, activists, academicians, etc. and what is being seen today is a form of retributive justice against Brahmins.
Be it supporters of E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar), who is known to have once said, “If you see a snake and a Brahmin on the road, kill the Brahmin first”, or more recently the former Chief Minister of Bihar, Jitan Ram Manjhi, who used the word “haraami” to describe pandits, there is no gainsaying that there has been and still is an insidious, simmering resentment against the community.
Reports have surfaced of their tufts and sacred threads being cut, them being compared with pigs, threatened with rape, and even subjected to physical violence, all in the name of anti-Brahminism. Even Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, venerated though he is by parties across the political spectrum, was known to speak of Brahmins in unflattering terms, such as:
“Historically they (Brahmins) have been the most inveterate enemy of the servile classes (Shudras and the Untouchables) who together constitute about 80 per cent of the total Hindu population. If the common man belonging to the servile classes in India is today so fallen, so degraded, so devoid of hope and ambition, it is entirely due to the Brahmins and their philosophy… There is no social evil and no social wrong to which the Brahmin does not give his support. Man’s inhumanity to man, such as the feeling of caste, untouchability, unapproachability and unseeability is a religion to him.”
Fashionable among anti-Hindu, Marxist, radical religious and separatist outfits, this is an ideology which is premised upon two faulty assumptions – that Brahmins were responsible for atrocities inflicted upon the lower castes, particularly Dalits; and secondly, that they, on account of their superior position in the caste – based hierarchical social order, have had more access to education and consequently, are not only more propserous but have a disproportionately higher representation in the echelons of the bureaucracy, judiciary, media, corporate organisations, and so on.
However, it is not very difficult to deconstruct narratives. It may be that brutalities were perpetrated against the marginalized sections of society, but is there any evidence to suggest that Brahmins alone behind it? As Dr. Prakash Shah puts it, “virtually all the violence in Tamil Nadu against Scheduled Castes was by other lower castes, not Brahmins who have in any case left the villages.”
That apart, even in other parts of Bharat, caste related violence has been attributed to non-Brahmin communities, both upper and lower caste. Take the case of the 2006 Khairlanji massacre where a group of villagers, mostly Kunbis, sexually assaulted and murdered members of the family of Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, who belonged to the Mahar community. While the Mahars are Dalit, the Kunbi are classified as an Other Backward Class by the Bharatiya government. Yet, there was no backlash against the Kunbi community as a whole.
Moreover, it would be factually incorrect to say that it is the lower castes alone who have been the victims of all caste – related violence. To cite just one instance, in 1948, following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, thousands of Chitpavan Brahmins, the community to which Nathuram Godse belonged, were massacred by Congress workers, a pogrom which soon took a casteist turn with the Marathas joining the killer’s bandwagon, the social tension between the two dating back to the days of the Peshwa-Shivaji hostility.
And coming to the second argument, there is not an iota of empirical caste-wise data to suggest Brahminical hegemony in the echelons of any field. On the contrary, regarding the appointment of judges in the Madras High Court, Dr. Abhinav Chandrachud writes in his book, ‘Supreme Whispers’:
“In June 1983, Justice Rajagopala Ayyangar told Gadbois that the backward community got all the advantages, that there were only a handful of Brahmins at the Madras High Court at that time. Likewise, TV Balakrishnan, son of the 1950s Supreme Court judge TLV Ayyar, said that since 1960, appointments to the Madras High Court were made on the basis of community and caste, that members of the forward community were discriminated against at that court and appointed late, and that there were just two Brahmins at the high court by June 1983.”
Even otherwise, it is absurd to think of Brahmins as an affluent, pampered class as a whole. Such perceptions belongs to the realm of myth or stereotype as is evident from the fact when the Kanpur Municipal Corporation invited applications in 2016 to fill in 3,275 vacancies for the post of a safai-karmachari, a job usually considered as menial, no less than one lakh Brahmins applied for the post.
The situation is not too different in the rest of Bharat. As Francois Gautier’s states in his 2006 article, ‘Are Brahmins the Dalits of today?’:
There are 50 Sulabh Shauchalayas in Delhi; all of them are cleaned and looked after by Brahmins. The institution itself was founded by Bindeshwar Pathak, a Brahmin.
50 per cent of rickshaw pullers in Delhi’s Patel Nagar are Brahmins who like their brethren have moved to the city looking for jobs on account of lack of employment opportunities and poor education in their villages. These men make about Rs 100 to Rs 150 on an average every day from which they pay a daily rent of Rs 25 for their rickshaws and Rs 500 to Rs 600 towards the rent of their rooms which is shared by 3 to 4 people or their families.
Most rickshaw pullers in Banaras too are Brahmins.
400,000 Brahmins of the Kashmir valley, the once respected Kashmiri Pandits, now live as refugees in their own country, sometimes in refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi in appalling conditions.
In the Southern Bharat too, the condition is not very different. The following extract from Meenakshi Jain’s article, ‘The plight of Brahmins’, published in the Indian Express in 1990, paints a similar picture:
“Them myth of the omnipotent Brahmin had been so successfully sold that most Indians missed the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In recent years, however, a number of studies have appeared that detail the downward mobility that has been the chief characteristic of the Brahmin community particularly since independence.
Financially, the Brahmins have been very hard hit. State laws combined with fragmentation of land have had the effect of substantially reducing the size of family holdings so much so that most Brahmins today find it difficult to eke out a living from land. Traditional occupations like family and temple priesthood, recitation of the Vedas and practice of Ayurvedic medicine no longer prove remunerative nor command respect.
A study of the Brahmin community in a district in Andhra Pradesh (Brahmins of India by J.Radhakrishna, published by Chugh Publications) reveals that all purohits today live below the poverty line. Eighty per cent of those surveyed stated that their poverty and traditional style of dress and tuft had made them the butt of ridicule. Financial constraints coupled with the existing system of reservations for the “backward classes” prevented them from providing secular education to their children.
In fact according to this study there has been an overall decline in the number of Brahmin students. The average income of Brahmins being less than that of non-Brahmins, a high percentage of Brahmin students drop out at the intermediate level.
In the 5-18 year age group, 44 per cent Brahmin students stopped education at the primary level and 36 per cent at the pre-matriculation level. The study also found that 55 per cent of all Brahmins lived below the poverty line that is below a per capita income of Rs.65 a month. Since 45 per cent of the total population of India is officially stated to be below the poverty line it follows that the percentage of destitute Brahmins is 10 per cent higher than the all-India figure. There is no reason to believe that the condition of Brahmins in other parts of the country is different.
In this connection it would be revealing to quote the per capita income of various communities as stated by the Karnataka Finance Minister in the State Assembly on July 1, 1978: Christian Rs 1562, Vokkaligas Rs 914, Muslims Rs 794, Scheduled caste Rs 680, Scheduled Tribes Rs 577 and Brahmins Rs 537.
Appalling poverty compelled many Brahmins to migrate to towns leading to spatial dispersal and consequent decline in their local influence and institutions. Brahmins initially turned to government jobs and modern occupations such as law and medicine. But preferential policies for the non-Brahmins have forced the Brahmins to retreat in these spheres as well. According to the Andhra Pradesh study, the largest percentage of Brahmins today are employed as domestic servants. The unemployment rate among them is as high as 75 per cent.”
So what does it mean when Jack Dorsey, the then CEO of Twitter, surrounded by female journalists, holds a poster entitled, “Smash Brahminical patriarchy” or when volunteers of a pro-Dravidian group hold a thread ceremony for pigs on a Chennai road as a form of protest against Brahminism?
The truth is that Brahmins have become the perfect scapegoats for just about everything and everybody. The country is not progressing – blame it on the irrationality and superstitutions propagated by the Brahmins. There is too much unemployment – it is because the Brahmins have taken up all the jobs. Inequality is widening – thanks to the birth based privileges and entitlement of the Brahmins. Dalits are being attacked – the attackers cannot be anyone else but Brahmins.
After all, why bother actually addressing the real issues such as development, job creation, providing opportunities to the needy, and maintaining law and order, when you have a one-size-fits-all solution for every malady in the country?
In fact, this inexplicable animosity towards an entire community bares striking similarities to the institutuionalised hatred towards Jews in Nazi Germany, the only difference being that in the Indian setup, State support is more tacit, unlike Hitler who made no bones about his anti-Semitic policies. Drawing parallels between the prevailing stereotypes about Brahmins in Europe and the Jews in Europe and the treatment meted out to them, Professor Jakob de Roover writes in his 2008 Outlook article, ‘The Indian Jews’:
‘Jews have been described as devious connivers, who would do anything for personal gain. They were said to be secretive and untrustworthy, manipulating politics and the economy. In India, Brahmins are all too often characterised in the same way.
Second, the stereotypes about the Jews were part of a larger story about a historical conspiracy in which they had supposedly exploited European societies. To this day, the stories about a Jewish conspiracy against humanity prevail. The anti-Brahminical stories sound much the same, but have the Brahmins plotting against the oppressed classes in Indian society.
In both cases, historians have claimed to produce “evidence” that cannot be considered so by any standard. Typical of the ideologues of anti-Brahminism is the addition of ad hoc ploys whenever their stories are challenged by facts. When it is pointed out that the Brahmins have not been all that powerful in most parts of the country, or that they were poor in many regions, one reverts to the image of the Brahmin manipulating kings and politicians behind the scene. We cannot find empirical evidence, it is said, because of the secretive way in which Brahminism works.
Third, both in anti-Semitic Europe and anti-Brahminical India, this goes together with the interpretation of contemporary events in terms of these stories. One does not really analyse social tragedies and injustices, but approaches them as confirmations of the ideological stories. All that goes wrong in society is blamed on the minority in question. Violence against Muslims? It must be the “Brahmins” of the Sangh Parivar. Opposition against Christian missionaries and the approval of anti-conversion laws?
“Ah, the Brahmins fear that Christianity will empower the lower castes.” Members of a scheduled caste are killed? “The Brahmin wants to show the Dalit his true place in the caste hierarchy.” An OBC member loses his job; a lower caste girl is raped? “The upper castes must be behind it.” So the story goes.
This leads to a fourth parallel: in both cases, resentment against the minority in question is systematically created and reinforced among the majority. The Jews were accused of sucking all riches out of European societies. In the decades before the second World War, more and more people began to believe that it was time “to take back what was rightfully theirs.” In India also, movements have come into being that want to set right “the historical injustices of Brahminical oppression.” Some have even begun to call upon their followers to “exterminate the Brahmins.”
In Europe, state policies were implemented that expressed the discrimination against Jews. For a very long time, they could not hold certain jobs and participate in many social and economic activities. In India, one seems to be going this way with policies that claim to correct “the historical exploitation by the upper castes.” It is becoming increasingly difficult for Brahmins to get access to certain jobs. In both cases, these policies have been justified in terms of a flawed ideological story that passes for social science.
Perhaps the most tragic similarity is that some members of the minority community have internalised these stories about themselves. Some Jews began to believe that they were to blame for what happened during the Holocaust; many educated Brahmins now feel that they are guilty of historical atrocities against other groups. In some cases, this has led to a kind of identity crisis in which they vilify “Brahminism” in English-language academic debate, but continue their traditions. In other cases, the desire to “defend” these same traditions has inspired Brahmins to aggressively support Hindutva.
However, if today someone were to say that the present Germans must be made to suffer for the crimes committed by the their forefathers against the Jews, it would be considered as laughable. But on the other hand, when Brahmins in India are targeted in the name of retributive justice, hardly anyone bats an eyelid.
Nevertheless, leaders of various outfits are slowly beginning to realized that this cannot go on forever. Unlike Hitler’s Germany, every vote matters in an Indian election and while bashing Brahmins may have been politically safe once, it is not the case today. While Mamta Banerjee has announced a monthly allowance of a thousand rupees and free housing for priests, politicians from the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have both promised to build statues of Bhagwan Parshuram in an attempt to woo the Brahmin community in the run up to the 2022 U.P. Elections.
But while the sensible amongst us will treat such doles and promises with an appropriate amount of salt, one cannot help but wonder if the Brahmins themselves are responsible for their lot. Had the community, though numerically small, collectively asserted itself when the seeds of anti-Brahminism were being sown, the movement could have been nipped in the bud. Even in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Kamsa’s ministers while advising him of the need to take immediate action against the enemies, say in verse 10.4.38:
“Yathaamayo ‘nge samupekshito nrbhir,
na shakyate rudha padash cikitsitum,
yathendriya graama upekshitas tathaa,
ripur mahaan baddha balo na caalyate.”
“Just as a disease, if initially neglected, becomes acute and impossible to cure; or as the senses, if not controlled at first, are impossible to control later; an enemy, if neglected in the beginning, later becomes insurmountable.”
But alas, the problem has reached such magnitudes that destroying it seems nigh impossible. And as the Brahmins continue to toil in a so-called “egalitarian” India with barely any socio-economic privileges and a setup that systematically discriminates against them, it would appear that only Bhagwan Parshuram can save them, given that anti-Brahminism has today become a force more powerful than the corrupt Kshatriyas he was forced to exterminate.
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Reservation or Oppression or Vengeance ?
A GO issued by the Madras Presidency in 1921 allocated 44% of reservations to non-Brahmins, 16% to Muslims, 16% to Anglo-Indian Christians, and 8% to Scheduled Castes. 100% fully reserved. No jobs , no college seats, no government support for Brahmins. Are not brahmins citizens of india ? Are not brahmins tax payers to the government ? There are many Brahmins who struggled and sacrificed for our freedom struggle like other communities.
Britishers sowed the seeds of division between religions , castes to keep all bharatiyas disunited. To ensure continued hostilities between people and thereby bharath doesn't progress.
You cannot give vision to one by snatching away vision of the other , you cannot uplift one by pushing down the other.
Objective of the democracy is to treat all equally. Nobody is superior nor inferior, all are EQUALS.
More than democracy, Constitution of india HUMANITY is superior. Everyone gets human rights of equality and equal opportunity by birth. Government sponsored reservation policy is inhuman and violates human rights of poor and numerically weak people. Now in practice downtrodden identified by government are GOVERNMENT BRAHMINS and get all benefits from tax payer's money from cradle to coffin. Whereas poor among forward castes identified by government are suffering as DALITS.
Just an example a couple both of them got college seats , government jobs on reservation. Their gross monthly income is more than one lakh rupees. They get priority house, site allotment from government on caste basis. Still they apply for reservation , monetary support from government for their son's college admission. They get it.
Whereas a poor forward caste person who earns Rs.300 daily wages is unable to provide for his son's education and his son also becomes a daily wage labourer.
Is this the objective our government of india ? Government is sowing , watering the plants of division ( sowed by britishers ) in the name of reservation policy.
Nobody should be discriminated on the basis of caste or religion. It has happened in history which is INHUMAN and must be corrected. Brahmins are also one of the culprits but not the only one. There were other major culprits, castes but nobody raises voice against those numerically strong people. Brahmins are mere 4 % of Indian population. More than 90% of village chieftains , kings were of dominant castes, numerically strong castes. Temple management committees were full of dominant caste members and headed by them. Acts of Untouchability were enforced by these rulers. Brahmins didn't had the position , authority , power to enforce those inhuman acts. True they were accomplices of the crime and ideally in the charge sheet they would be second or third accused. First accused were of dominant castes. Nobody dares to question them the first accused. Brahmins are made scape goats for the real culprits to escape.
Now after 76 years of independence due to Reservation policy from peons to chief secretary posts are 90% occupied by SC , ST , OBC , Minorities , dominant castes and 90% of MPs , MLAs , Panchayath members belong to same castes. Complete decision making is done by them. Brahmins are fully sidelined. Ideally there should be a just , equitable society. However still atrocities happen , corruption is rampant. Inefficiency in government departments is very high ? Why ?
A religious head of dominant caste is accused of atrocities against dalit girl in karnataka.
A lady dalit district collector was abused in karnataka.
A high court judge of dominant caste threatens dalit subordinate judge in Andhra Pradesh.
Just take the recent case of a village in Tamilnadu where dominant castes refused entry of dalits into temple and excreta was mixed in drinking water tank and all dalit villagers were made to drink that excreta water for weeks.
Where are the voices of Mr.stalin and other brahmin haters ?
A crime cannot be corrected by another crime. Hate , Vengeance doesn't bring happiness. Equality cannot be achieved by british seeds of caste division like reservation policy. It can be achieved by change of mindset by mutual respect , love , empathy between people which brings peace , prosperity and happiness. We respect all religions and castes. There are rich as well as poor in all castes and religions. Poor in all castes and communities deserve government support but rich does not deserve it.
Your's
Nagaraja.M.R
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