Religious violence in India is justified by Right Wing forces in the name of “Shuddhi” movement, or Reconversion movement. This is a historical blunder. This venomous campaign against conversion has a caste angle to it. Conversion viz., to Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam, and others is a history of resistance, by the most oppressed of caste system, against it. One needs to ask how one was converted to Hinduism. Conversions were found as one of the means to escape caste oppression and subjugation, thereby foregrounding agency, so as, to socio-politically critique Brahmanical Hinduism throughout history. However, such conversions were met with violence from Brahmanical Outfits (Right Wing Extremists). They constantly invoke the identity of a constructed “majority” - converted through project “Hindutva.” In reality, caste-Hindus are a negligible but powerful minority. They generate a fear psychosis among the converts through the threat of violence. Kandhamal is one such incident in history. On 25th August 2008, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal perpetrated violence, where over 50 Dalit Christians were killed and 50,000 Christians were displaced from their lands and their means of livelihood. It is one among many incidents that faced the brutality of Brahmanical Caste-Hindus. Recently, the furthering of many more KANDHAMALS was signaled by Rajeshwar Singh, Coordinator (Western UP), religious Awakening (an affiliate of RSS). On August 07 2014, while speaking to “The Hindu,” he said: “On December 25, the day when Christians convert people to their religion, this year, we will do the reverse – by converting them back to Hinduism. In two-three years, the rural hinterland will be free of Christians.” “On December 23, the martyrdom day of Swami Shraddhanand (the leader of the 19th century Shuddhi (re-conversion) movement) we will convert Muslims to Hinduism in at least 50 locations in west UP,” How will you convert? “It will be a test of who is stronger. Hindus or them. You just wait and watch.” Today, even when Dalit settlements are wooed by saffron elements, the history of struggles for emancipation, and the violence against it, should be remembered. If not, tomorrow we would be held responsible for furthering many more Kandhamals silently. Annihilating the “Hindutva” project can be the only solution to awaken the masses. “Mission Ambedkar” can be our knife to tear-off Project Hindutva!
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 11:06:24 +0000
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