Re: "High caste" Hindu students refuse food prepared by Dalits
Come on Indians/Bhartis/Hindustanis or whatever, just follow your Bapu (Gandhi).
Will you deny his great teachings??
Are you against him or with him?
Can you ever change your mentality so it ignores his weird teachings and sick believes?
(I posted this on other thread as well....)
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** The claim that Gandhi worked for the uplift of Dalits (untouchables) is also a myth.**
Gandhi was a Hindu revivalist, who upheld every aspect of Hinduism including the caste system, which is the essence of Hinduism. His writings, speeches and statements confirm this.
I don’t believe the caste system to be an odious and vicious dogma. It has its limitations and defects, but there is nothing sinful about it.
Harijan, 1933.
I believe in Varnashrama (caste system) which is the law of life. The law of Varna (color and / or caste) is nothing but the law of conservation of energy. Why should my son not be scavenger if I am one?
Harijan, 3-6-1947.
He (Shudra, low caste) may not be called a Brahmin (uppermost caste), though he (Shudra) may have all the qualities of a Brahmin in this birth. And it is a good thing for him (Shudra) not to arrogate a Varna (caste) to which he is not born. It is a sign of true humility.
Young India, 11-24-1927.
According to Hindu belief, he who practices a profession which does not belong to him by birth, does violence to himself and becomes a degraded being by not living up to the Varna (caste) of his birth.
Young India, 11-14-1927.
As years go by, the conviction is daily growing upon me that Varna (caste) is the law of man’s being, and therefore, caste is necessary for Christians and Muslims as it has been necessary for Hinduism, and has been its saving grace.
Speech at Trivandrum, (Collection of Speeches), Ramanath Suman (1932).
I would resist with my life the separation of "Untouchables" from the caste Hindus. The problem of the "Untouchable" community was of comparatively little importance.
London Round Table Conference 1931.
I call myself a Snatana man, one who firmly believes in the caste system.
Dharma Manthan, p 4.
I believe in caste division determined by birth and the very root of caste division lies in birth.
Varna Vyavastha, p 76-77.
The four castes and the four stages of life are things to be attained by birth alone.
Dharma Manthan, p 5.
Caste means the predetermination of a man’s profession. Caste implies that a man must practice only the profession of his ancestors for his livelihood.
Varna Vyavstha, p 28, 56, 68.
Shudra only serves the higher castes as a matter of religious duty and who will never own any property. The gods will shower down flowers on him.
Varna Vyavastha, p 15.
I have noticed that the very basis of our thought have been severely shaken by Western civilization which is the creation of the Satan.
Dharma Manthan, p 65.
How is it possible that the Antyaja (outcastes) should have the right to enter all the existing temples? As long as the law of caste and karma has the chief place in the Hindu religion, to say that every Hindu can enter every temple is a thing that is not possible today.
Gandhi Sikshan, Vol. 11, p 132.
There are I am sorry to say, many Hindu temples in our midst in this country, which are no better than brothels.
The caste system can’t be said to be bad because it does not allow inter-dining and inter-marriages in different castes.
Gandhi by Shiru, p129.
If the Shudar (low caste) leave their ancestral profession and take up others, ambition will rouse in them and their peace of mind will be spoiled. Even their family peace will be disturbed.
Hind Swaraj.
The superiority of caste and race is deeply imbedded in the psyche of upper caste Hindus irrespective of their upbringing or the level of education or the place where they live. For example:
In the words of a socialist leader, Madhu Limaye, "Nehru practiced both racism and casteism, despite his modern upbringing and outlook."
Telegraph, Calcutta, November 21, 1987.
In a revealing passage about his "making", Nehru wrote, "Behind me lie somewhere in the sub-conscience, racial memories of hundred or whatever the numbers may be, generations of Brahmins. I cannot get rid of that past inheritance."
Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobiography, (1936), Delhi, 1980, p 596.
Sir V. S. Naipaul is a Nobel laureate in literature. His Brahmin ancestors were brought as indentured servants to Trinidad long time ago. He grew up in Trinidad and has spent most of his life in England. In his earlier work "An Area of Darkness, 1964" he was unforgiving of India. However, later on the "Brahmin" in him stirred up and came out spewing hatred and venom. He condoned the massacre of thousands of Sikhs in June 1984, when Indra Gandhi ordered a military attack on the Golden Temple complex the very day when thousands of Sikh pilgrims had gathered there to celebrate the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev (A Million Mutinies Now, 1990). In 1992 he justified the destruction of a 400 hundred year old mosque (Babri Masjid) by Hindu mobs lead by Bhartiya Janta Party (a fascist Hindu party) because of the mistreatment of Hindus by Muslim rulers centuries back in the past. He has become the darling of Hindu fascist organizations.
Mahatma Gandhi, whose Baniya (Vaisha) caste is two steps lower than the uppermost Brahmin caste, was a vigorous defender of the caste system.
The caste system, in my opinion, has a scientific basis. Reason does not revolt against it. It has disadvantages. ………Caste creates a social and moral restraint……I can find no reason for their (castes) abolition. To abolish caste is to demolish Hinduism. There is nothing to fight against the Varnasharma (caste system). I don’t believe the caste system to be an odious and vicious dogma. It has its limitations and defects, but there is nothing sinful about it.
Harijan, 1933.
Gandhi’s calling "Untouchables", as Harijans is a cruel joke on the "Untouchables’ by an insensitive and depraved man.
Harijan literally means "child of God". However, in India this label is used for the illegitimate children of temple girls (anchoress) fathered by priests. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the leader of the Untouchables vehemently opposed Gandhi’s use of Harijans for untouchables. Recently, Ms Mayawati, a leader of the Untouchables asked rhetorically, "If we are Harijans then what are the upper castes like Nehru, Gandhi and Patel? Are they *******s?"
That Gandhi was an "apostle of peace" is not true.
Gandhi was a "Hindu revivalist" and "Hindu politician" combined in one, who used nonviolence as a tool for political objectives. He used to coerce others to concede to his demands by threats of "going to fast unto death". He was no pacifist as is shown by his stand on the issue of Kashmir.
"One naturally thought that he would offer a nonviolent solution to the Kashmir issue and raise his moral stature. But no! He proved to be a false prophet. Seervai has documented that nonviolence with him was a political weapon. (H. M. Seervai, Partition of India, Legend and Reality, Bombay, 1989, p 172-173). He sanctioned the use of armed forces and laid the foundation of Kashmir problem which continues to haunt the subcontinent till today."
Sangat Singh, The Sikhs in History, 4th ed., 2001, p 258.
According to Seervai, in a meeting with Viceroy, Lord Wavell on August 27 1946, Gandhi thumped the table and said, "If India wants bloodbath, she shall have it and that if bloodbath was necessary, it would come about in spite of nonviolence." Wavell was dumbfounded at these words coming from the mouth of "apostle" of nonviolence.
Gandhi was a very cunning man. He was not satisfied with the title of "apostle of peace", he also wanted to project himself as a holy man, which for a Hindu required the practice of celibacy. He was a married man and proclaimed to be celibate at a relatively young age under forty. However, he used to test his celibacy by asking young girls to lie over him to find out whether he was in full control of his sexual feelings. I leave up to psychologists and psychiatrists to analyze what was in Gandhi’s mind and what happened to the emotions of those poor girls! He was always surrounded by women.
So what is Gandhi’s legacy to mankind? The obvious one is the partition of subcontinent into "Hindu India" and Muslim "Pakistan and Bangladesh". These three nations are a "living hell" for minorities. For example, India which claims with pride to be the biggest democracy in the world has killed more Indians in the last fifty years than the British colonists killed in 300 hundred years. More than 95% of those killed by Hindu governments are Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Dalits (Untouchables). While the populations of these countries are groaning under the weight of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, ignorance and disease, India and Pakistan have built nuclear weapons. The next nuclear war will most probably be fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir in spite of the fact that neither India nor Pakistan has ever asked the Kashmiris what they want.
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I am willing to debate these issues with any one, anywhere and on any stage.
With deep regards.
Baldev Singh, Ph.D.
316 R Glad Way
Collegeville, PA 19426.
(610) 454-1079
(An article "Gandhi as a Racist" by Dr. Velu Anamlai (USA) published in Sikh Virsa, June 1997, was consulted for writing this letter.)