Our Inspiration V.T.Rajashekar, the greatest living intellectual in India and the greatest intellectual in India after Buddha and Ambedkar gave a moving speech in Mysore University on the death anniversary of Babasaheb. We were not able to attend this meeting as we were travelling in China. But many of our dalit intellectuals were extremely moved by this great speech. Below are some snippets from this great speech titled – ‘The Crisis in Dalit Movement’.
VTR mentioned that Ambedkar is father of India while Gandhi is just father of nation. And Gandhi’s nation is just upper caste nation consisting of 15% population. But Babasaheb is the father of SC/ST/BCs and Christian/Sikh/Muslims plus Hindus, he naturally becomes the father of all the seven principal “nations” living in India — automatically becoming the “Father of India”.
Why are the Dalits still going to Hindu temples and praying for Hindu gods. Don’t they see how the Brahmins are crushing us. Convert yourselves to Buddhism. Of course true buddhism of Babasaheb and not the brahminical Buddhism which teaches meditation. We have many members from dalit families who go to all these temples like Tirupathi, Dharmasthala and Vaishnavo Devi. These people are killing babasaheb and his work. They will remain slaves always. We converted to Buddhism many years ago but now this fat pot bellied bania called goenka and the zionist controlled Dalai lama are preaching and controlling the Dalit Buddhists by teaching them Brahminism and Vipassna Meditation in the name of Buddhism. The Buddha asked the dalits to wake up and crush the Hindus. VTR spoke about this in great detail.
Babasaheb said “Untouchables are not Hindu and were never Hindu”. Did he not say that? How many dalits can touch your heart and confess that you are not Hindu? You have Hindu names, you worship Hindu gods, you go to Hindu temple, you observe Hindu festivals. Yes, you are Hindu.
Babasaheb asked us to quit Hinduism and embrace Budhism. Did we do it? When I was born I was a Hindu but later I kicked this gutter stuff.
At that time we had many revolutionary movements in the country. Several of our Dalit leaders like Siddiah and Joseph Dsouza of Dalit freedom Network have embraced christianity atleast they are better now. How many dalits still feel they are Hindus. Shame on them.
What about the reservations? Have we have been able to fight and force the govt. to implement the constitutional reservations? We need to fight for reservations in Private sector, which is a family enterprise of some upper caste businessmen?
Quite a number of the senior officers do not disclose they are Dalit. They put on nama, kumkum, go to Tirupati. Do all sorts of pujas to please Brahmins. But no amount of eating Brahmin shit will please the rulers. In fact such cowardly fellows will be the first to be slaughtered.
Do you know that in Yajnas and Yagas it is only the tame animals like cow, sheep, lamb that are slaughtered and eaten? They don’t touch lion and tiger. Babasaheb was a lion. But we his children have become like pig, sheep, lamb. Read Babasaheb’s book, The Buddha & His Dhamma. The Budhism he propounded in it is different from the Budhism our people are following. When we go to Budhist functions. The Bhikkus at the conversion ceremony insist upon vegetarian food. Babasaheb was a meat-eater. Budha died out of eating pork. But our Budhists propagate vegetarianism. Shame on them. We dalits should eat what is required for us. We should fight against the ban on cow slaughter. How dare the brahmins deprive us of our food.
The Mahabodi soceity teaches brahmin buddhism. Beware of them. There is a powerful movement led by Brahmins and a Marwari Goenka to propagate Vipassana (meditation). But this again is not Babasaheb’s Budhism. Nobody has seen Babasaheb doing meditation or writing or speaking about meditation. All nonsense.Meditation is Brahmin Humbug. But many of our highly placed Dalit officials have fallen a prey to Vipassana.
Do you know that Budha was holding kadga (sword) and openly waging war against Brahmins? That is why the Brahmins killed Budhism and reduced it a non-violent, vegetarian stuff and our people have fallen a victim to this totally false Brahminical Budhism.
In other words our people have failed in taking the right path even in Budhism. And those couple of people who became Budhists are under the grip of Brahminism.
Women make half the world. The Dalit movement and the Ambedkar thoughts are confined only to men. Even in houses where Dalit Voice goes, only the men read it and then sleep. Their women visit Brahmin temples and influence their children in Hindu superstitions. Our Dalit women worship Hindu gods in their houses.
When a person calls himself an Ambedkarite and if he cannot influence his own wife, how can he influence the society? How can he transform his people?
Look at the Hindu terrorist party, RSS. They catch hold of only youth and women. That is how they grow and we become weak and weaker.
It is true that Truth is with us, justice is with us, history is with us, number is also with us. Yes.
Brahmins have nothing and yet they win because they have the right strategies and tactics. Ideology alone is not enough to win a battle. You need right strategies and tactics.
Babasaheb had given us the strategies and tactics — “Educate, Agitate, Organise”. But we by-heart and sing Thri Sarana blindly without understanding its meaning.
Dalit movement failed because of male domination. Keeping the youth and women out, we have cheated our Father and killed the Dalit movement.
Yet another serious problem, which virtually our entire community has completely missed its attention caught in the fierce current of the money-driven society operated by the Brahminical rulers. Thousands and thousands of starving Dalits and Tribals and even Backward Castes in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP, Orissa etc. are rushing to big metro cities like Bombay, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad etc. In these cities they do get two immediate relief. They get enough to eat, their hunger problem solved, and they are saved from the daily caste atrocities, abuses which are essential part of their village life.
But in their natural abode of their villages they were conscious of their caste as they lived in the midst of their caste people and formed part of their caste struggle. Once they moved to the urban jungle they forget their caste and join the millions of struggling “poor”. It is a long jump from “caste” to “class”, leading to total transformation in their mental make up. This is exactly what the Brahminical rulers want. And they succeeded in killing their caste anger and pushed them to the urban jungle of “class struggle”. From caste oppression to class exploitation. Brahmins love this because it is easier to dupe those singing the song of class struggle. We have the famous example of W. Bengal and Kerala where the Manuwadi marxists have killed the Dalit movement.
Then we have the menace of NGOs which is the total monopoly of the upper castes. As they get foreign funds, the Home Ministry packed with Brahmins are very careful that these funds do not fall into the hands of revolutionary sections. We have hardly any Dalit NGO in India. Most of the NGOs being upper caste, they make a song and dance of the Dalit movement and dupe the Dalits.
Today these NGOs have become a real menace to the Dalit movement as they are deeply involved in spotting the best Dalit male or female youth and recruiting them. Once our youth join the NGO, the fire in them is dead. They will no longer use the word “Dalit”. They are called “marginalised people”. Their entire vocabulary changes.
NGOs are a real menace, seriously engaged by the Brahminical rulers to destroy the last remaining Dalit movement. I found the menace very serious in Andhra Pradesh — diverting our people’s anger from issue to non-issue.
But in today’s money-driven society who is interested in Babasaheb’s thoughts? Will it bring money? Will it bring power? No.
In the absence of both money and power — twin craze that is driving today’s society — I find a bleak future for our people. Babasaheb taught us about the value-driven society. But today that society is dead.
V.T. Rajshekar, The Second Partition of India?— Sunset on Dalit World, DSA-2000.
V.T. Rajshekar, Brahminism Swallowing Ambedkarite Movement?, DSA-1999.
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