India is a land covered with beautiful mountains and hills, rivers and lakes, desert and fertile ground and surrounded by sea. It is an ancient land with a rich and diverse history. Many invaders conquered this land and imposed their ideology and hegemony for a period of time. The impressive imprint of many traditions remains visible in a subtle and grand manner, and themosaic that has resulted is a sight to behold. In the midst of geo-political upheavals, this land continues to baffle with its intrigued nature; the diverse culture and multi-religious society endures to co-exist in harmony for the most part. This land was and is a land of seekers, but politics have not played fair with India’s people. One big blot this land has carried for centuries is Brahminic hegemony. The caste system is a dehumanizing scheme, and those in the upper caste today dread they will lose the upper hand the waning hegemony has bestowed on them. What boggles the mind is how India, once the home of seekers of truth and freedom, has now become obstructionist and dehumanizing. Is it possible that India has lost its very soul? Is all that is left India’s skeleton? Contemporary society needs to examine these questions closely if India’s past as seekers of truth and freedom is to prevail. Unlike any other creature, man’s nature is determined by his desire to know the truth. Aristotle stated, “All men desire to know and the object of his desire is truth.” This desire is related to his ultimate redemption and happiness. No other creature can aspire to such a state, because only humans are endowed with rational souls that long for ultimate truth. The light that shines out from divine is the splendor of the truth. Every other truth is a fragment of the Truth that God is, and refers to him. In the gospel we find, Jesus say, know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Because man by nature is a social being, man’s life is defined by his relationship with others in the community. If man is to live fully in society, his focus should be on truth, justice, freedom and love. Human society is here only to facilitate people to seek truth in freedom. One of the most significant documents issued by the Second Vatican Council was Dignitatis Humanae, which declares that all persons are to be free from coercion in matters concerning religious belief and worship, so that they may seek the truth in a manner befitting their human dignity. It states that government oversteps its authority when it coerces compliance with or inhibits the free practice of a particular religion by its citizens. Christians in particular are exhorted to respect religious freedom as a human right, because coercion is fundamentally antithetical to Christian belief and tradition.
Brahminic hegemony falters on several counts. First and foremost, the caste system denies that all humans by their nature are endowed with dignity. If all men share the same nature, how is it possible to differentiate people based on caste? Denying the dignity of certain sections of society is tantamount to dehumanizing them. When all don’t share the same dignity in a society, how can that society be ruled by laws that apply to all? The Constitution won’t be applied to all in the same measure. How can such a society fight for human rights? Human rights emanate from the nature of man. The caste system not only dehumanizes a person here on earth, but also theoretically denies him dignity in death. Only Brahmins stand a chance for moksha; others have to be born again into the Brahminic fold to have any hope of eternal happiness. To this effect, Jesus addressed to Scribes and Pharisees, “Neither you will enter the kingdom of God nor will allow other to enter.” The rise of Buddhism and Sikhism was a revolt to Brahminic hegemony, yet, people of this land have not opened their eyes to the reality of the harm that Brahmanic hegemony does to people’s ability to seek truth. Dr. Ambedkar was correct when he said that wiping out the dehumanizing and oppressive caste system was to kill Hinduism. It might be shocking, but not surprising (for Gandhi considered black-Africans as the scum of the earth) that even Gandhi opposed Dr. Ambedkar.
Cow politics is connected to Brahminic hegemony. Banning cow slaughter subjugates those living on the low strata of this caste society, and projects the supremacy of Brahmins. Remember, no earthly creature is superior to human beings. If at all man desires to respect a creature, then he should respect other human beings, because man is the living temple of God. The absence of truth darkens the mind. Such darkness then causes man to worship wrong things and beings, like cows and bulls, that have eyes but cannot see, and have ears but cannot hear. It is sad, but not surprising, that even Gandhi could not conceive post independent progressive India as anything but a Hindu nation – Ram Raj. Such scruples led to the breakup of the land on the basis of religion. Fortunately there were many other prominent leaders, who understood the nature of man and that of the country,India embraced secularism. The godfathers (who had zero contribution to freedom struggle) of the present political dispensation felt that Gandhi betrayed their trust and so they killed him. The irony is that Congress party later succumbed to the Brahminic hegemony and played cow politics, by passing laws banning cow slaughter. The soft Hindutva embraced by Congress party has now come to haunt them. Cow politics is not going away anytime soon, so long as people prefer the darkness of falsehood over the light of truth,and false sense of empowerment over freedom.
Globalization and modernization have trigged an erosion of the Brahminic hegemony, which has caused great panic to the upper caste. Fear is caused not only because the people from the lower strata of society are enjoying economic prosperity, and considerable freedom, but also because women are being liberated as well. In conjunction to the above development, the cow vigilantes and anti-Romeo squared and other such groups are mushrooming. Trying to restrict people’s consciousness by banning choice will not encourage humans to seek perfection, but rather will stifle reason and the search for truth it enables. At this crucial time in history, the opposition parties and those who care about the secular fabric of the nations have to create a positive narrative, otherwise the present discourse will devour this nation. Therefore, it is incumbent on government to uphold the dignity of all its citizens and diligently exercise its authority to promote the common good. This means government must respect everyone’s rights to life, to physical integrity, and to fundamental freedoms, namely, freedom of conscience, of thought, of expression and of religion. If this spirit is promoted among people of all faiths, the whole country could rejoice in unison. For then the religions of this great country could make war, not on each other, but on the giant evils that afflict mankind.
