In India the most oppressed and deprived groups of people are Adivasis, Dalits and Muslims. In that order. It is said that the present day Adivasis and dalits are mostly the descendants of those people who had been living in India from before the arrival of Aryans. They put up resistance to Aryan advance and dominance but were vanquished and put at the lowest of the social and political ladder. Some of them later got converted to other religions such as Buddhism, Shikhism, Christianity and Islam, to escape the curse of being conquered and enslaved. I guess the 80% of Indian Muslims are the descendants of native Indians who were lower caste dalits and untouchables and most of whom got converted to Islam at different times of history for its apparent promise of non-discrimination to escape casteist oppression, humiliation and injustices or political reasons including the temptation to belong to the community of power-wielders and other subtle forms of coercion . The are called Ajlaf (wretched) by the Ashrafs. The rest 20% of the Indian Muslims (or less) are the descendants of the princes and soldiers who came to India for conquest and some priests accompanying them. They call themselves Ashraf meaning nobles and they are also sub-divided in ethnic lines as Sayeds, Shaikhs, Turks, Mughols and Pathans. The caste continues in various forms in all religious communities in India. And so the oppression.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:50:49 +0000
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