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By: Shachi Rairikar
May 21, 2007
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(The author is a Chartered Accountant working in a software company in
Indore, M.P., India and manage www.indpride.com)
For decades dalits have been converting to Christianity or Islam in
the vain hope of being liberated from their dalit status. The
proselytizing forces of these foreign faiths market their religions as not
recognizing the caste system and giving equal status to all. Only after
conversion do the dalits realize the fraud that has been perpetuated on
them in the name of equality when they find discriminatory treatment in
Christian and Muslim societies and even their places of worship.
And this is not a new phenomenon. Many decades ago Dr. Ambedkar had
studied the plight of dalits converted to Christianity and observed,
“Indian Christians like all other Indians are divided by race, by
language, and by caste. Their religion has not been a sufficiently strong
unifying force as to make difference of language, race and caste as though
they were mere distinctions.” The same was the case with the Muslim
converts. He said, “Everybody infers that Islam must be free from slavery
and caste. (While slavery existed), much of its support was derived from
Islam and Islamic countries. While the prescriptions by the Prophet
regarding the just and humane treatment of slaves contained in the Koran
are praiseworthy, there is nothing whatever in Islam that lends support to
the abolition of this curse. But if slavery has gone, caste among Muslims
has remained.”
Dr. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism was his way of revolting against the
caste system in Hinduism. When he announced his intention to convert to
another religion in 1935 many Christian and Muslim leaders and
organizations tried to lure him into their religions. To those people he
said, “We are fully conscious of the fact that go anywhere we will, we
would have to fight for our welfare if we took to Christianity or Islam.”
For 20 years he studied all the alternative religions for the purpose of
conversion. Christianity did not satisfy the criteria laid down by him for
determining a true religion. About Islam he wrote, “The brotherhood of
Islam is not the universal brotherhood of man. It is brotherhood of
Muslims for Muslims only. There is a fraternity but its benefit is
confined to those within that corporation. For those who are outside the
corporation, there is nothing but contempt and enmity.” He was of the
opinion that “Islam can never allow a true Muslim to adopt India as his
motherland and regard a Hindu as his kith and kin.”
But the most important factor that desisted Dr. Ambedkar from converting
to Christianity or Islam was that both these religions were foreign, born
outside of the Hindu civilization. Adopting these religions would de-Indianise
the dalits, which would be against the national interest. He wrote, “If
the depressed classes join Islam or Christianity, they not only go out of
the Hindu religion, but they also go out of the Hindu culture. What the
consequences of conversion will do to the country as a whole is well worth
bearing in mind.” So after the detailed study and great introspection, he
chose Buddhism, an offshoot of Hinduism. The Dalai Lama has considered
Buddhism a part of Hinduism. He has said: “When I say that Buddhism is
part of Hinduism, certain people criticize me. But if I were to say that
Hinduism and Buddhism are totally different, it would not be in conformity
with truth.”
Dr. Ambedkar himself perceived Buddhism as a part of the larger Hindu
family. When he introduced the Hindu Code Bill in Parliament, he included
the Buddhists, the Jains and the Sikhs in the Hindu fold. On being
questioned for doing so, Dr. Ambedkar replied, “The application of the
Hindu Code to Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains was a historical development and
it would be too late, sociologically, to object to it. When the Buddha
differed from the Vedic Brahmins, he did so only in matters of creed, but
left the Hindu legal framework intact. He did not propound a separate law
for his followers. The same was the case with Mahavir and the ten Sikh
gurus.”
The Christian and Muslim proselytizers have no interest in the welfare of
the dalits or the integrity of the nation. Had their concern been genuine
they wouldn’t have permitted the caste discriminations to be carried over
to the church or mosques. All they are interested into winning converts
and increasing their numbers. The dalits are the soft targets whose
impoverished conditions are exploited to change their religion. Pope John
Paul II had exhorted the bishops to target the dalits for conversion. He
had said, “At all times, you must continue to make certain that special
attention is given to those belonging to the lowest castes, especially the
dalits.” It is common to see the different Christian and Muslim religious
organizations boasting of the number of converts they had obtained and
competing amongst themselves as to which religion has the largest number
of followers. For them, it is just a number game.
The demand for reservation for dalit Christians or Muslims arises not out
of sympathy for the depressed classes but out of the fact, as confessed by
the president and founder of Gospel for Asia K.P. Yohannan, that the
denial of affirmative-action benefits for dalit Christians and Muslims is
“a huge, huge roadblock for masses of communities to embrace the Christian
faith.” Reservations and privileges for dalit Christians and Muslims will
only strengthen the dubious designs of the proselytizing forces that are
using dalits for furthering their goals. Dalits converted on the false
promise of equal status in a casteless society, must be reconverted to
Hinduism. The dalit icon Babu Jagjivan Ram had said, “…we oppose the way
in which conversions are done. Therefore, we have to reconvert those who
might have been converted by deceit or under some temptation.”
R. Thirumalvalavan, leader of the Dalit Panthers Party of India, said,
“For emancipation of dalits, conversion is not the solution.” The solution
lies in the comprehension and adoption of the real essence of Hinduism by
all the Hindus, irrespective of their caste.
Hinduism perceives divinity in everything, whether living or non-living.
One of Adi Shankaracharya’s finest poems, Manisha Panchakam, was inspired
by his dialogue with a chandala, a member of the lowest caste. Once, when
Shankara was on his way to the temple after a bath in the Ganga, he found
a chandala with four dogs blocking his path. He got furious when the
chandala refused to step aside, and asked him to do so. The chandala
asked, “If there is only one existence, what is it that you want to drive
away: My body or my soul? If it is my body, both your and mine are made up
of the same physical elements. But if it is my soul, it is also no
different from yours. How can therefore be any distinctions of caste and
creed?” Filled with remorse, Shankara prostrated himself before the
chandala, thinking: “He who has learnt to see one existence everywhere, he
is my master—be he a Brahmin or a chandala.”
The need of the hour is a collective effort of all sections of the Hindu
society to reinstate the true spirit of Hinduism. Dalit activist and poet
Namdeo Dhasal says, “Yes, I do feel that the fight to eradicate caste has
to be fought by dalits and caste Hindus together carrying forward the
tradition of Adi Shankara, which got broken somewhere in between.”
Shachi Rairikar
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