[Shaahayda Rizvi]

#4441

Hello Nandu,

I enjoyed reading your article. Great background. No disagreement with the background.  That caste prejudices exist in many other places besides higher caste Hindus (Brahmins) – No disagreement with your conclusion.  I accept all three:

1.Accept the fact that Hinduism is not all Brahmin propaganda. It has got all of India in it. What has happened is that the Vedic religion has appropriated and standardised it. We must oppose this standardardisation and decentralise our culture.

2. Caste and patriarchy are not just Savarna things. Each caste oppresses the castes below them. And almost all communities oppress their women. There is no easy, one-stop solution to this – this imbroglio has to be unravelled one knot at a time. Education holds the key.

3. Islamic fundamentalism is as dangerous as Hindu fundamentalism. There should be no compromise (not even political soft-pedalling) when faced with it.

How do you propose to implement these policies, that is, of decentralisation, education and opposing Islamic and Hindu fundamentalism?

I’d argue that Law is the key.  As Joe Campbell said, “  …In America we have people from all kinds of backgrounds, all in a cluster, together, and consequently law has become very important in this country. Lawyers and law are what hold us together. There is no ethos.”[1]  Similarly in India, there is immense plurality in backgrounds, religions, ethnicity, languages, customs, and traditions. There is no ethos. But the big problem is promulgating the laws and then overseeing the law enforcement in India.

Questions I ask are: 1) What sort of laws? 2) Who should enforce 3) How to enforce 4) Who should oversee the law enforcement.
[1] Campbell, J., & Moyers, B. D. (2005). Joseph Campbell and the power of myth with Bill Moyers. New York, NY: Mystic Fire Video.