'Save Constitution, remove Manu statue': US Dalit, Hindu rights groups support campaign

By A Representative
In a major campaign, as many as 11,000 villages will light a lamp on November 26 to "honour and protect" the Indian Constitution, which is allegedly under great duress today. As part of the campaign, spearheaded by Martin Macwan of the Dalit rights NGO Navsarjan Trust, Gujarat, he has also sought support from all sections of public for the removal of the statue of Manu from the premises of the Rajasthan High Court.
Covid surges and other hurdles curtailed the planned conclusion of the campaign on August 15, 2021. However, in a "new' and "urgent" circumstance,Macwan has issued a fresh call to "protect and honour" India’s secular constitution on November 26, Constitution Day, the day that Dr BR Ambedkar presented the draft Constitution to the people of India. Contending that India's secular constitution is being pushed to "darkness", a campaign call claims, "Almost every pillar of democracy has been weakened or even removed altogether."
Meanwhile, two diaspora groups, Ambedkar King Study Circle (AKSC), California, and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), New York, have lent their support to Macwan's campaign, which includes garnering lakhs of ‘missed calls' in India. A joint AKSC-HfHR petition In the US, which has gathered 5,000 supporters, seeks to light a lamp on November 26 to honour the Constitution and say "no" to Manu on court premises.
The petition, floated by Raju Rajagopal of HfHR, and distributed though the Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre (PMARC), insists that "a public statue of the author of the infamous Manusmṛiti has no place in India’s pluralistic society", adding, "We support the call for the removal of Manu from the premises of the Rajasthan High Court."
The petition says, "We stand united in sending a message across the world that caste bigotry and violence against Dalits must end. We shall light a lamp on November 26, 2021 to honour and protect India's secular constitution", pointing out, Macwan, "recently wrote an Open Letter to India's Congress Party demanding that it order the immediate removal of the statue of Manu, considered to be the author of the Manusmṛiti, from the Rajasthan High Court."
The petition argues,"The Manusmṛiti is unarguably one of the vilest treatises among the body of Hindu scriptures. Many commentaries have been written about it and we will not repeat them here. Suffice it to say that it lays out detailed varna/caste rules and specifies consequences and penalties for trespassing them, including the misfortunes that may befall in one’s next birth(s). It also contains the most horrific and graphic descriptions of the prescribed treatment of the forebears of today's Dalits."
It recalls, 'In America today, a major effort is underway to recognize that confederate monuments aren’t merely historical in their intent, but serve as continuing reminders to Black America of the daily discrimination that they still face. The George Floyd protests and the resonance of the Black Lives Matter among all Americans has energized calls for the removal of all such monuments."

From Manusmriti

"It is in the same spirit", the petition says, "India must forthwith remove the statue of Manu, the most visible symbol of centuries of caste discrimination and atrocities on the basis of one’s birth. Most certainly, the author of the Manusmṛiti does not belong in a place dedicated to defending India’s constitution, which promises equality under the law to every citizen of India."
Seeking more signatures, the petition, forwarding the List of Initial Signatories of the Open Letter to the Congress Party from every State of India and from the US, says, "It is high time that each one of us who cares for India’s democratic and constitutional values does our part, however small it may seem, to end the caste system and its cruel vestiges."
It points out, "It may be worth noting that it was a small act of courage by a Belgian teenager, in front of the statue of King Leopold II that resulted in the current King of Belgium sending his 'deepest regrets' to the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the "suffering and humiliation" his nation inflicted while it colonized the region over a century back."
Also seeking support the missed call campaign that is underway by calling 9823157779 (India) the petition quotes Macwan for the support he received from diaspora groups for signing the letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for removing the statue of Manu. A copy of the letter has been forwarded to the Rajsthan chief minister and the Rajasthan high court chief justice.
"A total of 609 people signed the letter. We are updating the list as more than 150 signatories have just joined in", says Macwan, adding, "To ensure that this movement becomes widespread and reaches to many more especially the rural communities, we launched the missed campaign" whose update suggests "more than 20,00,000 people" have supported it.

Comments

Sri said…

If some body says save constitution remove Quran and Bible which anti women and anti human what does we say
Manu never write about discrimination of class caste race and sex

June 20, 2023

Dalit woman student’s death sparks allegations of institutional neglect in Himachal college

By A Representative A Dalit rights organisation has alleged severe caste- and gender-based institutional violence leading to the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman student at Government Degree College, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and has demanded arrests, resignations, and an independent inquiry into the case.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Domestic vote-bank politics 'behind official solidarity' with Bangladeshi Hindus

By Sandeep Pandey, Faisal Khan The Indian government has registered a protest with Bangladesh over the mob lynching of two Hindus—Deepu Chandra Das in Mymensingh and Amrit Mandal in Rajbari. In its communication, the government cited a report by the Association of Hindus, Buddhists and Christian Unity Council, which claims that more than 2,900 incidents of killings, arson, and land encroachments targeting minorities have taken place since the interim government assumed power in Bangladesh.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

Celebrating 125 yr old legacy of healthcare work of missionaries

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

ArcelorMittal faces global scrutiny for retreat from green steel, job cuts, and environmental violations

By Jag Jivan ArcelorMittal is facing mounting criticism after cancelling or delaying nearly all of its major green steel projects across Europe, citing an “unsupportive policy environment” from the European Union . The company has shelved projects in Germany , Belgium , and France , while leaving the future of its Spanish decarbonisation plan uncertain. The decision comes as global unions warn that more than 5,500 jobs are at risk across its operations, including 4,000 in South Africa , 1,400 in Europe, and 160 in Canada .

Search This Blog