Long before generating outrage became the rage for
those looking to make a big splash, politicians were doing it with incendiary
speeches and rabble – rousing rallies. They still do it, and the ramifications
are as bad as they have always been times three in the big bad world of social
media with its exaggerated focus on clickbait headlines and emphasis on ‘going
viral’ to capture the fickle public’s fleeting attention. It makes sense from a
political standpoint since divisive politics always serve to muddy the waters
with misinformation and draw attention away from a typical politician’s
multitude of misdeeds. From a practical perspective though, such ill –
considered words and deeds do a lot more harm than good.
Even a demagogue like Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister, MK Stalin, who claims to have called out an issue for the
purpose of liberating the downtrodden, has not managed to achieve anything
beyond arousing the anger of a large section of the populace. In addition to
being ineffective considering the larger problem he tried to address, the
minister (he holds the youth affairs and sports department portfolio) may have
just shot himself in the foot with his sally against Sanatana dharma.
Dissecting a dirty business
Udhayanidhi, the scion of the DMK party, put himself firmly
in the eye of the storm and stirred up controversy with his problematic
statements on Sanatana Dharma which he equated to malaria, dengue, and
mosquitoes, before calling for its complete eradication. In the face of
mounting fury and a Rs.10 crore bounty placed on his head (an unconscionable
and unpardonable call to violence by the chief priest of a temple in Uttar
Pradesh’s Ayodhya), Udhayanidhi held firm, refusing to apologise or retract his
remarks, insisting that he had only condemned caste discrimination and his
statements had been made in the interest of upholding humanity and human
equality.
On examining his provocative pronouncements at length,
one is forced to wonder why the honourable minister, if acting in good faith and
seeking to eradicate the caste system had simply said as much instead of using
the term ‘Sanatana dharma’ with its profound relevance to Hinduism, which in
turn has guaranteed that clarity be decisively removed from the equation setting
off a chain reaction of confusion and chaos. Hinduism’s overt and covert
endorsement of the caste system is a glaring issue but our collective persistence
in perpetuating this evil, despite knowing better is the bigger problem and the
minister is being disingenuous by refraining from saying it as it is.
As always, the great majority who have taken to social
media platforms to register their assent or dissent over this fracas in the
most flavourful language imaginable seem to have very little understanding of
Sanatana dharma and what it stands for in relation to Hinduism as well as the
critiques against it by social reformist stalwarts like E.V. Ramaswami aka
Periyar and Baba Sahib Ambedkar, whose teachings Udhayanidhi referred to in his
ill – advised call to eliminate Sanatana dharma and by extension an entire
religion.
Sanatana dharma vs Periyar and Ambedkar
A deep dive into the finer points of Sanatana dharma
as well as the teachings of Periyar and Ambedkar is beyond the band – width of
most who are too attention deprived to do anything other than form their
opinions based on headlines and even quicker to censure on the strength of a
succinct if misleading WhatsApp note. But it is important to do so to fully
understand this controversy and form an opinion that is not entirely lacking in
sense and sensitivity, all conspicuous by their absence not just in the
statements of Udhayanidhi but others like DMK’s A. Raja and BJP’s Home
minister, Amit Shah, and spokesperson, Amit Malviya.
In the simplest terms, Sanatana dharma refers to the
‘eternal way’ and implies the timelessness of the soul as it journeys through
multiple incarnations via the cycle of births and rebirths. Believers will talk
about the inherently diverse, tolerant, and pluralistic way of life embodied by
this faith which is traditionally in favour of incorporating noble ideals into
its belief system even if from other faiths. Detractors will point out that
Sanatana dharma emphasizes belief in the caste system as well as faulty notions
of purity which has subsequently resulted in the oppression and suppression of multitudes.
Neither side is incorrect though both are inaccurate if they fail to see what
Sanatana dharma stands for in its entirety. Choosing to adhere blindly to
everything it purportedly conveys without weeding out the problematic parts or
callously insisting on throwing the baby out with the bathwater are equally
worthy of condemnation.
As for Periyar and Ambedkar, the former was the
founder of the self – respect movement who advocated strongly against Sanatana
dharma which according to him was being used to keep the lower castes chained
to the needs of the privileged. He discouraged blind obedience to rites,
rituals, and superstitions, urging his followers to cultivate a spirit of scientific
enquiry, and a critical outlook bound by logic and rationale. Ambedkar, the
brilliant lawyer and scholar who played a key role in framing the constitution
blamed Sanatana dharma for the evils perpetrated against the ‘untouchables’.
Both men advocated strongly against the Vedas,
Upanishads, Puranas, Shastras, and Manusmriti while calling for a truly
democratic society where human dignity and equality would be upheld at all
costs. A lot of people today quote these two fiery thinkers and activists who
condemned the discriminatory nature of Hinduism but unlike Periyar, an avowed
atheist and Ambedkar, who embraced Buddhism, the intention does not seem to be
to eliminate the caste system but merely use it as fuel to keep the flames of
unrest and hatred burning bright in the interests of safeguarding a corrupt
system that has made a laughing stock of the true principles of democracy.
Excising caste from the core of Hinduism
Udhayanidhi’s statements could have made a powerful
case for the need to annihilate caste which is entirely doable if we come
together as a united nation against this ancient evil but by conflating caste
based oppression solely with Sanatana dharma believed to convey the essence of
Hinduism as opposed to viewing it as a preventable injustice wrought by
prejudiced and self – serving human agency which has cherry – picked through
and subverted the sacred texts for unscrupulous reasons of enslavement, he has
taken a Quixotic tilt at Hinduism itself which is ineffectual at best and hate
mongering at worst. Calling for the eradication of a religious way of life through
a sustained attack on one of its core tenets does nothing other than hold up a
mirror to the fact that we as a nation have little interest in tackling the
problem of caste with a firm hand. Instead, we content ourselves by saying
things for shock value, get bent out of shape over the inanities uttered by the
inept and carry on being uncaring about a pressing problem that is a matter of
national shame.
The caste – system championed by some has contributed
to endless exploitation and it cannot be glossed over or rationalized any more
than the latent homophobia and misogyny evidenced by other religions. This is a
many – headed Hydra that needs to be decapitated with Herculean labour. This is
a cancer festering away at the beating heart and soul of Hinduism that needs to
be excised immediately before it becomes even more malignant. This is what
needs to be done at the earliest but by persistently participating in screaming
pseudo wars over religion, genocide and the rest of the ridiculous rigmarole
foisted on us by self – serving politicians we are missing the forest for the
trees and have become equally complicit in preserving the very evils that have
enslaved us.
An edited version was published in India Today
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