India-Bigotry in India

[Susheel]

Well, India has hit a new low as keyboard warriors vie with each other about how bigoted they can be. Poster proudly announces how he cancelled his food order after his request for a Hindu delivery person (specifically non-Muslim) is denied. The company essentially told him that they would rather do without his custom:
https://scroll.in/latest/932360/zom...fter-customer-wants-food-delivered-by-a-hindu
There is no way I will say that casteism and religious intolerance was never a problem in India. However, the current government has contributed greatly to validating this bigotry. This is benign...however currently people are being beaten up and murdered on suspicion of cow smuggling/slaughter and for not using a hindu salutation.

 

[sarge]

Well, India has hit a new low as keyboard warriors vie with each other about how bigoted they can be. Poster proudly announces how he cancelled his food order after his request for a Hindu delivery person (specifically non-Muslim) is denied. The company essentially told him that they would rather do without his custom:
https://scroll.in/latest/932360/zom...fter-customer-wants-food-delivered-by-a-hindu
There is no way I will say that casteism and religious intolerance was never a problem in India. However, the current government has contributed greatly to validating this bigotry. This is benign...however currently people are being beaten up and murdered on suspicion of cow smuggling/slaughter and for not using a hindu salutation.

The Republican Party in the US actively courts racist voters by formulating campaign strategies to attract them......and then does it’s level best to deliver on its promises. While every Republican voter is not an active bigot, every active bigot is a Republican voter. They represent fully one-half the population of the US.

That’s right, at the moment racism on an institutional level is the policy of the executive branch of the government and the upper half of the congress.


I have no experience with India, but it doesn’t sound like your problems are much worse than ours.

 

[Susheel]

There are a lot pf parallels between the right wing dominance in governments across the globe.

 

[crescent]

I have no experience with India, but it doesn’t sound like your problems are much worse than ours.

India has periodic bouts of communal violence, such as the riots in Gujarat that left over 1000 people dead. Violence between castes also exists (10 deaths in 2018), albeit with a lower death toll. This sort of bigotry by politicians feeds into that, making such violence much more likely.

The U.S. has nothing on that scale. The worst of the riots in Furgeson were far less deadly than some of the riots in India that never even made the news over here.

The level of bigotry-related violence in India dwarfs that which the U.S. currently experiences. And their current political leadership encourages it.


The Indian Dalits attacked for wearing the wrong shoes

Two Dalit men in the southern state of Tamil Nadu were killed by upper-caste Hindus after a Dalit man sat cross-legged in front of them during a temple ritual.

The upper-caste Hindus called it a "dishonourable and insulting" gesture. About 15 of them went to the Dalits' neighbourhood and mounted an ambush. In addition to the two men killed, six others were injured and houses were damaged, according to police.

Caste hatred in India - what it looks like

Sagar Shejwal, a 24-year-old nursing student, travelled to the town of Shirdi in May 2015 to attend a friend's wedding. During the trip, Mr Shejwal went to a liquor store with two of his cousins and his phone started to ring while he was there. His ring tone was a song that paid tribute to Dr B R Ambedkar, a Dalit icon and revered Indian leader.

According to the police complaint, a group of eight men who had been drinking outside the shop objected to the ring tone and asked him to change it. The verbal spat reportedly turned violent and the men allegedly hit Mr Shejwal with a bottle, kicking and punching him before taking him away on a motorbike.

Police say they found his body hours later in a field.

Manik Udage, 25, was allegedly beaten to death with a steel rod in 2014 because he had organised a grand event to celebrate the anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar's birth.

Nitin Aage, a 17-year-old boy from a village called Kharda, was found hanging from a tree on 28 April 2014.

According to the police, Nitin had been seen speaking to a girl from an upper-caste community at their school. Three men, including the girl's brother, had allegedly been harassing him for some time because they suspected he was in a romantic relationship with her.

Police said he was first beaten at the school and then allegedly taken to a property owned by the girl's family where he was strangled to death. They believe he was hanged from a tree to make it appear as if he had taken his own life.

The 13 men who were accused in the murder were acquitted in November 2017. Nitin's family has been demanding a retrial since then.

Sanjay Danane, 38, was found hanging near the school where he worked in 2010. His parents allege that he was killed by his upper-caste colleagues because of a dispute at work and that they staged the death to resemble a suicide.

Police arrested about 18 people, including teachers, board members and the school's principal. They have since been granted bail.

 

[Susheel]

India has periodic bouts of communal violence, such as the ...
The Indian Dalits attacked for wearing the wrong shoes

Caste hatred in India - what it looks like

All true....

 

[sarge]

India has periodic bouts of communal violence, such as the riots in Gujarat that left over 1000 people dead. Violence between castes also exists (10 deaths in 2018), albeit with a lower death toll. This sort of bigotry by politicians feeds into that, making such violence much more likely.

The U.S. has nothing on that scale. The worst of the riots in Furgeson were far less deadly than some of the riots in India that never even made the news over here.

The level of bigotry-related violence in India dwarfs that which the U.S. currently experiences. And their current political leadership encourages it.


The Indian Dalits attacked for wearing the wrong shoes



Caste hatred in India - what it looks like

10 intra-caste deaths in a year in a country with India’s population? I’m not willing to look it up, but I bet local government officials in the US committed more racially motivated deaths than that last year, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of population.

Not trying to one-up you, but I think you may be under estimating the scope and depth of racial unrest in the US.

I do appreciate your well researched point, however. As I said, I am virtually ignorant of India.

 

[jimbob]

10 intra-caste deaths in a year in a country with India’s population? I’m not willing to look it up, but I bet local government officials in the US committed more racially motivated deaths than that last year, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of population.

Not trying to one-up you, but I think you may be under estimating the scope and depth of racial unrest in the US.

I do appreciate your well researched point, however. As I said, I am virtually ignorant of India.

The BJP are Hindu fundamentalists. In a country with a large Muslim minority and a history of sectarian violence.

Intra-caste deaths are class-based not racist. And ten seems possibly an under-reporting from my understanding* of the situation - unfortunately.


*listening to BBC World Service

 

[mgidm86]

The Republican Party in the US actively courts racist voters by formulating campaign strategies to attract them......and then does it’s level best to deliver on its promises. While every Republican voter is not an active bigot, every active bigot is a Republican voter. They represent fully one-half the population of the US.

That’s right, at the moment racism on an institutional level is the policy of the executive branch of the government and the upper half of the congress.


I have no experience with India, but it doesn’t sound like your problems are much worse than ours.

You think there are no bigots that are Democrats? Wow!

The topic is India but in just two posts we've made it about America. Applause.

 

[a_unique_person]

Well, India has hit a new low as keyboard warriors vie with each other about how bigoted they can be. Poster proudly announces how he cancelled his food order after his request for a Hindu delivery person (specifically non-Muslim) is denied. The company essentially told him that they would rather do without his custom:

https://scroll.in/latest/932360/zom...fter-customer-wants-food-delivered-by-a-hindu

There is no way I will say that casteism and religious intolerance was never a problem in India. However, the current government has contributed greatly to validating this bigotry. This is benign...however currently people are being beaten up and murdered on suspicion of cow smuggling/slaughter and for not using a hindu salutation.

It's a popular political model these days. Stir up populist hatred to get votes. They do it because it works.

 

[a_unique_person]

The BJP are Hindu fundamentalists. In a country with a large Muslim minority and a history of sectarian violence.



Intra-caste deaths are class-based not racist. And ten seems possibly an under-reporting from my understanding* of the situation - unfortunately.





*listening to BBC World Service

The rape of the lower castes is only recently becoming a visible issue even though it has always been there.

 

[The Atheist]

Well, India has hit a new low as keyboard warriors vie with each other about how bigoted they can be.

I find myself frequently shaking my head at India. With all the problems you have, it's a bit sad so many people make stuff up to harass a different caste.

 

[deadrose]

The Indian Dalits attacked for wearing the wrong shoes

Two Dalit men in the southern state of Tamil Nadu were killed by upper-caste Hindus after a Dalit man sat cross-legged in front of them during a temple ritual.

The upper-caste Hindus called it a "dishonourable and insulting" gesture. About 15 of them went to the Dalits' neighbourhood and mounted an ambush. In addition to the two men killed, six others were injured and houses were damaged, according to police.

Just a wee nit-pick here. In the article, the part about wearing the wrong shoes is further down in the text. What these men did that was so dreadful was showing the soles of their shoes to higher-caste men. In a lot of cultures, that's a grave insult, which is why throwing a shoe at someone, or striking them with a shoe, is so shocking.

Susheel, please correct me if I'm wrong. My expertise is just from knowing Indian people since I was a kid, and living in an area with a large Indian population.

 

[Mike!]

The Republican Party in the US actively courts racist voters by formulating campaign strategies to attract them......and then does it’s level best to deliver on its promises. While every Republican voter is not an active bigot, every active bigot is a Republican voter. They represent fully one-half the population of the US.

That’s right, at the moment racism on an institutional level is the policy of the executive branch of the government and the upper half of the congress.


I have no experience with India, but it doesn’t sound like your problems are much worse than ours.

On that one you couldn't possibly be more wrong. I know plenty of solid democrat voting union member bigots. The idea there are no racist democrats is laughable.

 

[Susheel]

Sorry...didn't have access to net for three glorious days.
Casteism in India has always existed, however, since the Independence struggle there has been an effort to curb its excesses and also eliminate it, which becomes rather difficult since in most cases a person's surname is actually a caste marker. Centuries of social conditioning has made the upper caste populace quite comfortable with their entitlement and in many cases see any move for affirmative action as a threat to their entitlements. The state is such that over 80% of the senior administrative posts in both private and public sector institutions are dominated by the upper castes...so are the judiciary and various other public bodies. The link below reflects the general mentality of those in these positions:
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/sto...c-judge-glorifies-brahmins-1572781-2019-07-24
The article above illustrates the current situation. The current government has unabashedly spoken of the return to a Hindu India and a key part of Hinduism is caste...in fact casteism seems to be the only common factor in the practice of Hinduism across the various cultures. This has validated the extremely casteist factions of the populace...particularly in the Northern States...what we refer to as the cow belt.
To add to this...while casteism is considered a predominantly Hindu bane, the attitude has sifted in to the other religions...Christianity and Islam. I guess one should expect the practice to seep in after more than a millennium.
The situa

 

[Susheel]

Casteist oppression is not just the violence...which yes is terribly under reported. In many villages there are strictures as to what a person from lower castes can and cannot do, wear and say. Caste based invectives are the common method of emotional torture by teachers in rural schools...they literally for children to drop out. In the 90s a research scholar at a university was dragged down from the bus he was travelling in and beaten up for daring to wear trousers...his crime was two-fold...1) He wore trousers (his caste was required to wear the dhothi gathered at the knees) and 2) He dared to better himself and have aspirations.
Again, there is no denying that this has always existed...however, there is definitely sanction from the centre as seen from the feeds from the BJP IT cell.

 

[Baylor]

The Republican Party in the US actively courts racist voters by formulating campaign strategies to attract them......and then does it’s level best to deliver on its promises. While every Republican voter is not an active bigot, every active bigot is a Republican voter. They represent fully one-half the population of the US.

That’s right, at the moment racism on an institutional level is the policy of the executive branch of the government and the upper half of the congress.


I have no experience with India, but it doesn’t sound like your problems are much worse than ours.

 

[Baylor]

On that one you couldn't possibly be more wrong. I know plenty of solid democrat voting union member bigots. The idea there are no racist democrats is laughable.

It is. It's amazing how far people go to deny reality. Unbelievable you see these delusions go mostly unchallenged on a forum for self-styled skeptics.

 

[The Atheist]

To add to this...while casteism is considered a predominantly Hindu bane, the attitude has sifted in to the other religions...Christianity and Islam. I guess one should expect the practice to seep in after more than a millennium.

The saddest thing of all is that the world was starting to make some progress on racism 20 years ago. Somehow, it's come roaring back into vogue, riding on the back of nationalism.

Good deal - a marriage of two unwanted cousins.

At least you can rest assured it's not a lot better elsewhere.

 

[casebro]

On that one you couldn't possibly be more wrong. I know plenty of solid democrat voting union member bigots. The idea there are no racist democrats is laughable.

What about the possibility of Racist Vegetarians?

 

[ponderingturtle]

The U.S. has nothing on that scale. The worst of the riots in Furgeson were far less deadly than some of the riots in India that never even made the news over here.

Well not lately but 100 years ago when we were great we could give them a run for their money.