Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Inventing Tradition

Suraj Bhan, chairman of the of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, has apparently got the blessings of the Sankaracharya of Sringeri Mutt, to remove disparaging remarks about the Dalits from the scriptures:
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Bhan said that references like dhol ganwar shudra pashu nari, sakal tadan ke adhikari (drum, illiterate, Dalit, animal, women, all are fit only to be beaten) in Ramcharitmanas should not be allowed in print in a society with a Constitution giving equal rights to all.

And the following is a telling comment on the prevailing state of affairs- of course, its probably only the tip of the iceberg:
Recalling tales of tsunami survivors from upper castes refusing to share relief camps with Dalits, Bhan lamented, "Untouchability was in their minds despite having come back from the jaws of death.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

near to haryana is panjab .here after a long up heavels new congress state president is from dalit shamsher singh dullo ex mp a close associate of Mr Baent sing A person from lower caste S/C this new in punjab politic especily at a time when theC.M is Raja amrinder sing

Anonymous said...

Bullshit! The word Shudra does not translate to Dalit. It translates to Shudra (of course)!

In your effort to promote Dalit victimology, you are becoming pretty dishonest.