– Vidya Bhushan Rawat
We all have been discussing the brahmanical patriarchy or what is brahmanism and Congress leader C P Joshi proved our point. Though Joshi regretted for his statement after Congress President Rahul Gandhi openly showed his displeasure on it and said that his party reject such sectarian thoughts which hurt feelings of others, the fact is C P Joshi is not alone in such thoughts.
That only Brahmins can speak for Hinduism is a thought many people nurture and speak with. Joshi is not an ‘ordinary’ man but a senior Congress leader and look what he said : ” It is strange that Uma Bharti who is a Lodhi, and she talks about Hinduism, Modi ji talks about Hinduism. It’s only Brahmins who don’t talk about it. In 50 years they have lost their mind. The country is being misled… Religion and governance are two different things. Everyone has the right to practice their religion,”
“They say a Congress leader can’t be a Hindu. Who gave them the authority to issue certificates? Have they opened a university? If anyone knows about religion in this country then its pandits, brahmins,” he says.
Joshi is pained as how the Congress Party leaders have to prove their ‘Brahmanism’ even when they are ‘pure’ brahmins.
Just two days back Joshi spoke that only a Congress Prime Minister can build grand Ram Temple. And it is not that he was lying. He spoke from his heart and exposed the biggest mistakes that Rajiv Gandhi did by unlocking the doors. Joshi said :
“It was Rajiv Gandhi who opened the lock of the Babri Masjid premise and allowed religious rites inside the disputed structure. Only a Congress prime minister can get the temple built’.
Congress need to clean its party structure and their mindset. The party has already shown its dangerous Hindutva approach in Madhya Pradesh. Is it the duty of the government to build ‘gaushalas’ or temples. Mani Shankar Iyer handed over a campaign to BJP by calling Modi, a Chaiwallah and neech admi. The Manish Tiwari kind of ‘secular’ too feel that ‘brahmins’ are being ‘targeted’ for no fault of theirs. Advisers of the Party President want to prove him a Janeudhari and shivbhakt.
There is nothing wrong with your religiosity but please keep it in your homes. It is good that the party is trying to bring different segments into it but party need an open policy that it stand for all Indians and accept India as a coalition of not merely states but also different identities and ethnicities who must get fair representation.
Congress was a the party of the upper caste and definitely created to serve their interests during the British period. It has changed a lot but the brahmanical control inside the party is the biggest hindrance of its growth. Whatever Rahul Gandhi do, it need to reflected in power sharing inside the party structure. Over the years the Dalits and OBCs have shown preference to parties other than Congress whereever they have got the opportunity but whereever the mainstream national leaders and parties are not available, a majority of them go along with Congress. It is this vary reason that Congress party has not been able to make any progress in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar since 1989 as the party was unable to understand the growing aspirations of the Dalit Bahujan communities. Kanshiram’s slogan, vote hamara raja tumhara nahi chalega nahi chalega actually dented the Congress politics in the north. The party considered that V P Singh damaged them infinitely but it need to learn from that failure.
It is not that the regional parties have given fair space to Dalit OBCs. Frankly speaking in the South, Congress has better representation of these communities than parties like TRS.
If Congress really want to be a party of governance again, it must wake up to the realities of India that its Bahujan Samaj including Muslims and other minorities want fair representation in power. The reason for Congress party not going for an alliance with BSP in all the three states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattishgarh is the crooked planning of the savarna leaders who felt that the savarna samaj is deeply upset on the issue of SC-ST prevention of atrocities act and hence any alliance with BSP would wean away the savarana votes from the party. Actually, it is these calculations which pushed the party to not to go for the alliance.
It is sad reflection that rather than taking head on with the Hindutva forces, the party is playing hide and seek game. Congress need to come to Nehruvian secularism of aggressive brand, embrace Ambedarism and the thoughts of Phule to reach the wider audiences, give space to Dalits, OBCs, Muslims in the power structure rather than calculating things. In long term it would pay. Our nation want an ideological alternative to the Hindutva and its unholy alliance of priestly classes with that of the corporate world which is taking India back to the dark ages. India need a progressive secular inclusive political action where parties need to stand up with all the oppressed and those on the margins on their basis of their Indian identity, as citizen of India, not calculate the risk of not taking on the Hindutva. But for that, party’s leaders need to know the history of social justice and secularism and the benefits of the politics of inclusion. Can Congress ideologically challenge the Hindutva which is nothing but brahmanism ? For that to happen, Congress will have to shut the doors for the likes of C P Joshi who will continue to damage the party through their brahmanical complexes in public as well as in private.
