Dalit rights activists demand Ambedkar's statue should be higher than Sardar Patel's

Symbolic burning of Manu Smriti on a four feet candle light

Senior Dalit rights activists in have Gujarat declared that, while they do not oppose Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s decision to build the world’s highest statue in the memory of Sardar Patel, they would want that Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue should be even higher. Making the announcement amidst a huge applause by the Dalits from several villages that had come to attend a non-political meeting at Badarkha village, south of Ahmedabad, senior human rights activist Martin Macwan, founder of Navsarjan Trust, said, “Dr Ambedkar’s contribution stands taller as he fought casteism in all its manifestations and created a constitutional framework for India providing equality to all.”
Attended, among others, by Prof Sukhdeo Thorat, former Universities Grants Commission (UGC) chairman, top sociologist Prof Ghanshyam Shah, social worker Indukumar Jani, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sukhdev Patel, and Navsarjan Trust’s executive director Manjula Pradeep, the meeting saw symbolic burning of Manu Smriti, the well-known Hindu treatise, which gave the “law” that had sought to “ligitimise” social discrimination in Hindu society and tried to validate the supremacy of upper castes over Shudras, who it said should be treated as untouchables, and treated as slaves.
Written in the first century BCE, the Manu Smriti, said Macwan, was first burnt by Babasaheb Ambedkar on December 25, 1927, as his mark of protest against the oppressive culture it had sought to perpetuate. “It was burnt page by page”, Macwan said, adding, “Manu Smriti not just discriminates against Shudras and provides a complete guide of oppression, it is equally anti-woman. It calls for cutting the head of a Shudra in case he establishes relations with a Brahmin girl.” The meeting was called on the anniversary of the burning of Manu Smriti. "Similar symbolic burning is taking place in one lakh villages across India", he informed the audience.
Pradeep, who spoke next, cited instances of Manu Smriti seeks to discriminate against women. The Code of Manu states, she pointed out, "In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, then to her sons; a woman must never be independent. There is no God on earth for a woman than her husband... She must on the death of her husband allow herself to be burnt alive on the same funeral pyre. That everyone will praise her virtue."

Martin Macwan

Indukumar Jani said, one of the most unfortunate aspects of the present scenario is that those who praised Manu Smriti once are today seeking to acquire power, propping up their candidate, Narendra Modi, as India’s Prime Ministerial candidate. “Reacting to Dr BR Ambedkar’s effort to give the country a new constitution, one of RSS’ founders, Guru Golwalkar, insisted that there was no need for constitution. He wanted the country to adopt Manu Smriti was India’s constitution, instead. The need of the hour is to reject RSS’ candidate who would want to install Manu Smriti over India”, he said.
Thorat said, it would be wrong to confine Ambedkar to someone who fought Dalit rights alone. “He had a much wider vision. As chairman of the Constituent Assembly, he was instrumental in coming up with several laws that gave women equal rights, such as the Hindu personal law. He was equal participant in national construction as well by being instrumental in some of the major dams that exist today in the country. Gandhiji recognized him as a great patriot. His contribution equaled for Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru”, he said.

Comments

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Whither Jeffrey Sachs-supported research project which 'created' Gujarat model of development for Modi?

Even as Donald Trump was swearing-in as US President, a friend forwarded to me a YouTube video in which veteran world renowned economist Prof Jeffrey Sachs participated and sought an answer as to why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "afraid to fly" despite being invited to Donald Trump's swearing in ceremony. This took my memory to 2003, when I -- as representative of the Times of India -- had a short tet-a-tat along with a couple of other reporters with Sachs in the chief minister's office in Gandhinagar.

No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.

Busy taking books to the needy, this rationalist exposes miracles in a superstition-infested Gujarat society

I knew his name as a campaigner against the sheer wastage of the large amounts of ghee brought by devotees from across India for a major religious ceremony conducted every year in Rupal village, near Gandhinagar, the Gujarat capital, on the ninth day of Navratri. I had seen him at several places during my visits to different NGO meetings as well as some media conferences.

'Potentially lethal, carcinogenic': Global NGO questions India refusing to ban white asbestos

Associated with the Fight Inequality Alliance, a global movement that began in 2016 to "counter the concentration of power and wealth among a small elite", claiming to have members in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, and Denmark, the advocacy group Confront Power appears all set to intensify its campaign against India as "the world’s largest asbestos importer".

To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...

Beyond the Sattvik plate: Prof Anil Gupta's take on food, ethics, and sustainability

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather lengthy comment (I don't want to call it a rejoinder) on my blog post about the Sattvik Food Festival, held near the Sola Temple in Ahmedabad late last year. It came from no less a person than Anil Gupta, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), under whose guidance this annual event was held.

Would Gujarat Governor, govt 'open up' their premises for NGOs? Activists apprehensive

Soon after I uploaded my blog about the Gujarat Governor possibly softening his stance on NGOs—evidenced by allowing a fisherfolk association to address the media at a venue controlled by the Raj Bhawan about India’s alleged failure to repatriate fishermen from Pakistani prisons—one of the media conference organizers called me. He expressed concern that my blog might harm their efforts to secure permission to hold meetings on state premises.

Sattvik Food Festival: Shouldn't one question notion of purity, cultural exclusion in food choices?

Recently, I visited the Sattvik Food Festival, an annual event in Ahmedabad organized by Anil Gupta, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). I have known Prof. Gupta since 1993, when I sought an appointment to meet him a few months after joining The Times of India in Ahmedabad—one reason why I have always been interested in the activities he is involved in.

Search This Blog