Chapter (9) - Racism in different countries - an Overview

RACISM IN INDIA:-

=================

For those who think there has never been Racism in India:-

Many of my indian friends were messaging me on social media about my wrong selection of writing a book on Racism. They would like to give a reason that racism exists only in the western countries like the US and some european countries but not in India and that it is an irrelevant subject in India. I completely disagree with that. 

In fact, Racism has been present in India since thousands of years now. In India there has remained this system of Varna Vyasvastha - the administration of society through division of work based on castes, which was brought into existence by the great and divine Rishis (saints) and scholars of India. Their purpose was very noble as they wanted to distribute all the total functions done by all people into specific category for a particular group of them, so that all do not have to perform all kinds of functions. But little did they know that this very Varna Vyasvastha would become the root cause of widespread racism and discrimination throughout India later on. 

All people were divided into 4 castes primarily - the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas and the Shudras by them. The Brahmins were considered to be among the topmost as far as the quality of work is considered. Their functions were mostly related to religion, religious preachings as well as social teachings. They worked as Pujaris (priests) of temples. Even the powerful kings (Kshatriyas) bowed down to them, paying respect to their vast knowledge-base and took their advice on almost all important matters related to state.

Then came the Kshatriyas i.e. the kings, the emperors, the royals. Their primary function was to protect the people of their province/state from foreign aggression and in the process prevent any kind of slavery/subjugation of their citizens. In return, the citizens would accept them as their Rulers and respect their might as Kings. These Kshatriyas were mostly very brave and they had the power to freely order their masses as and when required, to follow a certain set of rules, which they felt were most suitable at that particular time. 

The next in line was the Vaishyas (the baniyas). These were merchants. Their primary function was to conduct business affairs, earn lands and property and thus become rich. They were supposed to obey the brahmins even if they were richer than them (the brahmins were full of knowledge but not as rich as them). And of course they were supposed to obey the Kshatriyas, the powerful kings.

The last among all, in this Varna-Vyasvastha was a group called Shudras. These shudras were the cleaners of the society. They cleaned roads and public places with sweeping tools, were financially very weak, led lives full of poverty and misery and were intellectually & physically considered much weaker than the people from above-stated 3 varnas (social groups).

Huge amounts of atrocities have been recorded to have been inflicted upon the Shudras by the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas alike. I am a brahmin myself, but I do not hesitate to say that among those who tortured the shudras very heavily, the brahmins were the foremost. They simply made the lives of shudras, "living hells". If a brahmin would just be coming out of his home, after taking a bath and he saw a shudra on the road, he would reprimand him heavily asking why he came right in front of himself!! What an unreasonable piece of argument that is!! A public road is nobody's private property yet the brahmins behaved as if it was theirs first and then for others. They would desire that if a Shudra guy sees a brahmin fellow coming out of his house, then he should walk away or hide himself somewhere so that the brahmin can not see himself, as by the mere sight of the shudra, the brahmin would lose his physical purity!!! This was the height of racism prevalent in the indian society for hundreds of years, back then. Not just that, the brahmin would complain this matter to the king and ask for a suitable punishment for that shudra person. The king also would rule in favor of the brahmin and not hesitate to pass an unjust verdict of punishing the shudra for a thing which can not be described as his fault at all!! A slight mistake committed by a shudra fellow would result into a heavy punishment imposed on him, whereas the brahmins would always be forgiven for most of their encroachments of law. The girls and women of the shudras could be captured for very minor crimes, not allowed any explanations whatsoever and then raped by men from the upper class (the brahmins and the kshatriyas). Their men were killed or hanged to death for minor breach of law. Thus racism has existed in the indian society as well, for thousands of years. The greats like Gandhiji, Lala Lajpat Rai, Dr.B.R.Ambedkar and others tried hard to eliminate this discrimination in the 19th and 20th century as a result of which, after India's independence in 1947, racism shown towards these lower caste shudras has finally come to an end.

Now let us see, how the Britishers behaved towards their dependent, slave indians, once India got gradually colonized by them under the british rule, after the battle of Plassey in 1757. The manner in which these britishers insulted, mentally and physically hurted, abused and killed tens of thousands of indians in the 190 years between 1757 and 1947, is definitely comparable to the atrocities of German Chancellor Adolf Hitler on the German jews during the period between 1933 and 1945. 

The britishers were totally merciless towards their indian subordinates, in that they framed such laws that were highly discriminatory by any standard. Any indian was not allowed to travel First Class in a rail compartment, despite paying due charges for that. Indians could not walk on the pavements (footpaths) specially designed for a leisurely walk of the british elite that lived in India. Heavy taxes were levied on them despite the fact that they lived in abject poverty. They were forced to buy goods and services of the East India Company (owned by the britishers) which included FMCG items of daily use as well as clothes, etc. If some indian would try to oppose any law, he would be subjected to dire punishment. Any attempt to protest the british rule in India was crushed down with a very heavy hand. The Jalianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919, in which more than 100 indians were shot dead upon the orders of General Dire for an offence as little as not following the order of a get-together, is one such example of the extreme nature of torture and inhuman behavior of the britishers, while ruling India. Undoubtedly, they have committed innumerable crimes against humanity in the most dastardly and condemnable manner, while they were inside India, for about 200 years. This was nothing else but Racism of the worst kind, as they believed the indians to be a race, that was inferior to themselves in all possible parameters - by color of skin, mental abilities (intelligence), external appearance, education and physical strength.