Hinduism must get rid of its hateful caste system, says David Haslam
Saturday November 18, 2006
The Guardian
The ongoing conversions of Hindu Dalits to Buddhism and Christianity, most recently at Nagpur, India in October, touch upon the sensitive issues of interfaith relations and faith’s role in the struggle against caste discrimination.
“Discrimination by work and descent”, as the UN calls it, affects up to 200 million people in India and over 250 million worldwide, including groups in Japan and Africa. It can be a vicious, exploitative and demeaning system and constitutes, arguably, the greatest violation of human rights today.
The Nagpur event attracted around 10,000 people. Some 30,000 were converted to Buddhism in the state of Karnataka earlier this year. The mass conversions took place against a background of threats by extremist Hindus, anti-conversion laws and state interference. Some 500 Dalits (formerly called “untouchables”) were baptised, 9,000 became Buddhists. The Lord’s prayer and Buddhist mantras were chanted. A Muslim leader spoke out against caste.
Six Indian states have anti-conversion legislation, masquerading as “freedom of religion” laws - despite the Indian constitution’s commitment to genuine religious freedom. The fate of those who converted at Nagpur remains uncertain, especially if they return to Gujarat, where permission from the authorities is required to change religion and where the right-wing Hindu BJP is in power. The BJP and its partner organisation the RSS have been the most militant in opposing conversions over the past few years. Churches have been burned, priests and missionaries murdered.
The Nagpur ceremony took place on the 50th anniversary and the site of the announcement by Dr BR Ambedkar, the Dalit hero, that, although he had been born a Hindu, he would not die one. He and 50,000 others then converted to Buddhism. Udit Raj, one of the leaders of the current conversion movement, believes the 200 million Dalits will not escape from caste bias until they free themselves from an ideology of enslavement. Dr Ambedkar bitterly argued the point with Gandhi, who, although against untouchability, supported caste as a social and economic system.
The matter is further complicated by the view of some Dalit activists that Hinduism is not a religion at all. They argue there is an ideology called Brahminism, created and sustained by Brahmins to bolster their social and economic position. The psychology of caste, they say, is rooted in the Hindu scriptures, the Rig Veda and the writings of Manu. These are derogatory about Dalits, teaching that the Brahmin came from God’s head, the Kshatriya from his arms, the Vaisya his thighs and the Sudra his feet. Dalits do not figure and are therefore sub-human and polluted. The temples, gods and traditions of Hinduism, say these critics, are simply trappings that enable the upper castes to retain status.
Now that caste is climbing the political agenda, with India’s bland report to the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination being vigorously challenged, the issue being raised at the annual EU/India summits and a three-year UN human rights study reporting in 2007, faith leaders need to examine their positions. Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs are becoming aware of a common interest in eliminating caste.
The question is starkly put by Dalit leaders. Can Hinduism exist without caste? Can caste exist without discrimination? Moderate Hindus are placed in a very difficult position and need urgently to demonstrate that Hinduism can be transformed in a way which entirely eliminates the shameful effects of caste.
· Rev David Haslam is a Methodist minister and co-convenor of the International Dalit Solidarity Network