Who are these “caste Hindus”?
…or The Great Joke that is Indian Media – Part XI
Excerpt from an OpEd in the Indian Express (emphasis mine)*:
This (Dalits entering a temple) could have made news 60 years ago. And even then, it would have been shocking. For the fact of Dalits entering a temple to make headlines in the 21st century only goes to show that untouchability is far from a bygone evil.
The injustice is so stark, the story makes easy telling.
When a group of Dalits had previously tried to enter the Ekambareshwarar temple in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam district, they found it locked…After many rounds of negotiations with the village panchayat, a group of Dalits reattempted entry — this time under police escort — only to have stones hurled, and the situation spiralled out of control.…It is, in these extremely imperfect and regrettable circumstances, a relief that on Tuesday a group of 80 Dalits, under full police escort and accompanied by district officials, finally entered the temple and prayed. But prayers are not enough, if the government wants to prevent a repeat incident. The law is not the problem.
As it is, many of the caste Hindus in the village apparently piped down after they were told that their actions were illegal and merited consequences — an example of how the law can be made to work.
So who exactly are these caste Hindus?
A news-report in the Times of India casts some light (emphasis mine):
The event (Dalit’s attempt to enter the temple) was part of a series of such temple entry programmes in protest against caste discrimination that prevents Dalits from entering temples in several parts of Tamil Nadu, the state that saw the Dravidian movement in the ‘60s that opposed caste suppression, but has done little to end discrimination.
The Vanniyars of Chettipulam near Vedaranyam — designated among the most backward communities — had initially agreed to permit the Dalits into the Arulmigu Kamatchiamman Sametha Ekambareswarat Temple during peace talks organized by the administration days ago. But, on Wednesday morning, they gathered in large numbers in front of the temple and went berserk at the sight of police and revenue officials escorting the Dalits.
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Why did the editorial writers at Indian Express not mention this? What was the point about using the words “caste Hindu”? Were they not aware of the identity of those who were opposing temple worship? or is it so much easier (and tempting) to write “caste Hindus” and forget about it?
*Thanks to Sh Chowgule for flagging this on a Yahoo! group
Related Posts (do read if you have the time): “The great joke that is Indian Media†series:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.
Shantanu,
I would like to assume that IE just wanted to write ‘upper’ caste Hindus, but just forgot to write ‘upper’. A typical typo I would not be surprised to see our media making.
Otherwise, the sentence just does not make any sense.
Even if IE wanted to mean ‘casteist hindus’ (and which, I think, is how you are interpreting it as), ‘Caste hindus’ is still grammatically incorrect!
Sorry Harshit!
This word is not a typo and is frequently used also on TV.
The reasons are deliberate, of course.
I came to a stage , quite awhile ago, where I could not bear to read that paper anymore.
I have seen the phrase ‘caste Hindus’ used instead of (presumably) ‘upper-caste Hindus’ several times in national newspapers.
I agree with the above comment that such use is deliberate.
Are OBCs, MBCs etc., etc., are caste hindus ? After all who are caste hindus ? (Perhaps there may be some casteless hindus too). Obviously Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Banias etc., etc., are supposed to be caste hindus. But where does Vanniars belong ? As usual MSM are indulging in suppressio veri and suggestio falsi. They are not going to leave any chance to throw stones at the so called caste hindus ? If this helps in harvesting of more souls they are going to be sufficiently compensated.
By the way why the so called secular government do not take any stringent action even after 60 years of independence ? Why don’t the authorities simply say that wherever the dalits (who are in the hindu fold) are not allowed into any temple, such temples will not have any reason to exist. I am a strong believer in God but I favour the demolition of such structures (if such a structure is not a privately owned property) where people are discriminated against. God can never be anywhere near such a place.
Shantanu,
Sure, media needs to be held accountable.
What distresses me more is one community restricting other community for temple access. Reminds me of the court case that in Karnataka High Court between two Vaishnava sects about how to anoint (what shape of Nama) Yoga Narasimha at Melkote.
The irony of this whole situation is that we take pride (justified in some sense, perhaps?) in resolving God-related-disagreements in a peaceful manner (to an extent?) instead of declaring the other as infidel and employing suicide bombers.
I am guessing that there is some history between these communities of past mutual hate-exchage and temple/god is just a pretense of settling old scores. But then, I may be wrong.
In Tamilnadu, cate Hindu means all hindus other than Brahmins.If Brahmins were to oppose temple entry of Dalits,there would have been Hulla Bulla and would have been arrested.
Progressive Brahmins from Tamilnadu have lead Dalits to the temple long ago.In the clashes between so called caste hindus and Dalits the Brahmins are not involved as a rule.
Venkataraman
I always thought that the word caste hindus, as opposed to naming the caste, in a newspaper’s way of trying to implicate brahmins in the controversy ,thus cementing further hatred for the brahmins. Naming Vanniyars or any of the other OBCs is always risky because they hold great political clout.
Dravidian politics always blamed the caste system on the brahmins and hinduism, spreading the myth of an egalitarian society prior to both of these. Well, the rationalists have been in power for more than 30 years, and nearly all the brahmins have left. So where is the egalitarian society? Perhaps we need to examine the dravidian movement for what it really was. The castes who are currently called OBCs had been in power during the various times prior to the British. Yet, when the British came, they favored the brahmin community and empowered them. This really got the OBCs riled up. So the dravidian movement was the reclaiming of lost power under the guise of an equality movement. That is why OBC’s are not interested in uplifting dalits–they despise them as much as they accuse the brahmins of doing so.
Thanks all for the comments..and for the insights into the situation on the ground – Venkataraman and Harapriya.
I think they want to create the image that the Dalits are completely outside of the caste system even lower than the so called sudras. They want to create the image that Dalit is NOT a caste identity, but any other caste is a caste identity.
Why don’t you write a letter to the Indian Express and ask them what does ‘Caste Hindus’ mean in their own definition?
dear shantanu,
i have reprodued below a letter published in the “Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi – Vol 67. This is just two of numerous occasions where he uses the word “Caste Hindu”. The second repeatedly talks of an Hyphenated relationship between “Caste Hindus” and “Harijans.”.
387. PUNJAB HARIJANS AND WELLS
I gladly publish the foregoing12. I am asking Lala Mohanlal, theSecretary of the Punjab Harijan Sevak Sangh, to deal with the letter. All the needs of Harijans in the matter of wells that come under the observation of the local Sangh will certainly be brought to the notice of the Punjab Sanitary Board. The Harijan Sevak Sangh’s policy is not to duplicate the work done by the Government but whereverpossible to supplement it. The Sangh is building wells only where necessity is proved. I may mention here, that though in law everywhere in British India public wells are open to Harijans in common with the others, in practice it has been found that Harijans are forcibly debarred from their use by caste Hindus and sometimes even others. Harijans dare not use these wells without inviting severe corporal punishment from caste Hindus. So far as my information goes, things are not very different in the Punjab.
Harijan, 13-7-1935
1This was a letter dated June 28, 1935, from K. A. Rahman, Secretary, Sanitary Board, Punjab, not reproduced here. The addressee, who had read an article about drinking-water for Harijans in the Punjab in Civil and Military Gazette, dated June 27, 1935, had pointed out that “in recent years lakhs of rupees have been spent in providing good drinking-water for villagers†and that there was no “distinction between Harijans and non-Harijansâ€.
VOL. 67: 25 APRIL, 1935- 22 SEPTEMBER, 1935 Pages 247-248
636. Notes
HARIJAN DAY
The Central Office of the Harijan Sevak Sangh has issued the following circular:
The Harijan Sevak Sangh will complete the third year of its existence by the end of September, and the Poona Pact agreed to by the leaders of caste Hindus and Harijans was signed at Poona on the 24th September 1932. It is therefore natural that the end of September, and more specially the 24th of September, should be considered an important date in the life of the Harijan Sevak Sangh. The Executive Committee of the Sangh which recently met at Wardha has therefore resolved that the 24th September be celebrated both by caste Hindus and Harijans all over the country in the following manner
Harijan, 14-9-1935
VOL. 67 : 25 APRIL, 1935 – 22 SEPTEMBER, 1935 Page 413
Very interesting indeed….thanks for the excerpts Sridhar