The regulators in the state of California have recently filed a lawsuit against Cisco Systems, that an engineer faced discrimination because he was a Dalit Indian. The engineer was an immigrant to the US and worked in Cisco in the city of San Jose. Two other Indians who worked in supervisory roles in Cisco are apparently named in the suit. The organization which was working with the state for this lawsuit has roots in a remote place called Tamil Nadu in India (more on that later).
Discrimination based on caste continues to pose formidable challenges in Indian society even in the 21st century. A section of the society classified as Dalits has been victims of this discrimination for over centuries. Although successive governments, reformers, and social organisations in India have taken several efforts to legislate a ban, alleviate and eliminate such discrimination, it still exists in one form or the other across India.
What is shocking is the usage of terms like “Agraharam”, reveal the true intent of the author against the Brahmin community and his ulterior motive to tarnish the image of the community.
Unfortunately, though, the same individuals and organisations use such events to foment trouble in society. What is more, is that they use such news items as a tool to deepen caste divisions further by attacking people of castes they hate. They are the ones to have jumped on to this news to divert the attention to accomplish their sinister designs. A recent article in the Washington Post in the US and NDTV in India is from one such familiar figure that spews caste venom and deliberately targets a particular community[1].
A small diversion here. To give a 101 to the newbies out there – Tamil Nadu is a state in the nation of India of about 80 million residents who speak the language Tamil. This state has a history of violence and hate campaign against the Brahmins, a traditional upper caste in India, who have more or less been eliminated from all spheres of influence and marginalized in the state. This anti-Brahmin movement was not born out of love for the Dalits or the marginalized caste, but was a power-grab by other castes in the hierarchy, to grab political and administrative power. The members of this movement are anti-Dalit and anti-Brahmin in equal proportions. Past positions of this movement include continued support for British imperial rule and opposition to India’s freedom (advocated by FDR and the like of him), calling for the annihilation of Brahmins similar to the holocaust, and more recently a separate Tamil Nation carved out of India, supporting the dreaded terrorist organization LTTE in the process.
While the lawsuit details are yet to be fully disclosed, the author of the article arbitrarily jumps to his own conclusion that they are Brahmins and pins the blame entirely for the alleged caste discrimination in workplaces on Brahmins. What is shocking is the usage of terms like “Agraharam”, reveal the true intent of the author against the Brahmin community and his ulterior motive to tarnish the image of the community.
While one of the alleged offenders in the lawsuit has a surname of a Tamil Brahmin, the other is not even of Brahmin origin. However, the author conveniently harps on the former alone is not coincidental and amply reveals his true intention of hitting the already marginalised Brahmin community. Anyone who is aware of the political history of Tamil Nadu knows ulterior motives and the continued cowardly act of castigating a particular community to accomplish their political gains.
As a noted writer, Jeyamohan states, during the British Raj, Brahmins in Tamil Nadu held a substantial presence in the government services and prospered to a certain degree because of their early adaptation of the English language. One must remember that the British displaced the Telugu/ Kannada kings in Tamil Nadu and came to power. Therefore a section of the Telugu/ Kannada speaking OBC population of Tamil Nadu nursed grudges against the Brahmin community. This was brought to the fore by the late E V Ramaswamy Naicker aka Periyar and his Justice Party starting from the 1920s was surreptitiously used as a political tool to bring the Dravidian parties to power starting with DMK assuming power in 1967. The grand old Congress party too failed to recognise the evil designs of Dravidian parties for decades and ultimately succumbed to their sinister designs in Tamil Nadu.[2][3][4]
Ever since, successive political leaders in Tamil Nadu, have been successful in creating an ecosystem of hatred against the Brahmin community. This bogeyman of Brahmin domination is a consistent theme harped on especially during pre-election times just to curry favours or whenever their existence is threatened in one form or another.
As a result, Brahmins were totally eliminated from a majority of the sectors across Tamil Nadu. They are not represented even to their population size in state government services today. Professions like law, medicine, state services, media, movies etc., all are out of their reach for even meritorious candidates. As a result, most of them have moved to the private sector or emigrated abroad or other states in search of greener pastures.
Countries across West Asia, West and Europe do not discriminate against individuals based on religion and caste where merit is the sole criterion that has edged other considerations. Even today, US Presidents harp on merit-based immigration to make America great again.
Unfortunately, social media and paid media have overpowered truth and reality in society today.
An interaction with Tamil Brahmins across the world will invariably reveal the persistent harassment and non-recognition in their own state and country which was prevalent only during Nazi days. To put it baldly they are refugees in their own state and neglected in all areas.
It is widely known that caste discrimination against Dalits, was all along deliberately perpetrated by almost all communities in India. Even today in Tamil Nadu where caste politics rules over everything, most of the clashes in the deeper south happen between members of the OBC communities and the Dalits. Brahmins are nowhere in the picture and neither mentioned nor referred to.
Unfortunately, social media and paid media have overpowered truth and reality in society today. The author of the Washington Post article has deliberately twisted facts and diverted the agenda from the core issue of fighting discrimination against Dalits, towards spewing venom with ulterior motive on Brahmins for the best reasons known to him only. The sinister designs and hatred towards the Tamil Brahmin community are apparent throughout his scurrilous writings.
There is no denying that when India is moving towards a $5 trillion economy and digitalisation era, it is absolutely necessary to nip such miscreant’s evil designs in the budding stage itself in order to herald a new India where equality of all religions reigns supreme.
People of western nations like the USA must be aware of the politics surrounding the caste card which is originating out of India. They must be careful not to fall prey to forces that have ulterior motives but are hiding behind the mask of “helping the “lower” castes”. They must keep caste out of the national discourse and out of this nation. All men are equal as enshrined in the US constitution.
References:
[1] India’s engineers have thrived in Silicon Valley. So has its caste system. – Oct 28, 2020, Washington Post
[2] திராவிட இயக்கத்தை நிராகரிப்பது ஏன்?-1 – Feb 2, 2010, Jeymohan.in
[3] திராவிட இயக்கத்தை நிராகரிப்பது ஏன்? 2 – Feb 3, 2010, Jeymohan.in
[4] ஒடுக்கப்படுகிறார்களா பிராமணர்கள்? – Dec 13, 2014, Jeymohan.in
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In Tamil Nadu even among Iyers and Iyengars there is no unity. They are utterly divided even among themselves along several lines. In bureaucracy also they always did Salya Sarathya by quoting colonial era rules to stop any good work. They became slaves of colonial era rules to project themselves as rule bound and strict without showing any empathy for human suffering. They never realised that rules which are not progressive need to be changed and not to be followed blindly to increase human suffering. Simply put they were foolish people without any bad intentions. People like Rajaji, R Venkatraman, C Subramanian, our Subramanian Swamy are a handful exceptions. Thankfully software industry greatly helped these people to escape the witch-hunt of anti Hindu parties of TN.
Tamil Nadu needs its own Hindu party with no Hindi baggage. BJP in TN will actually perpetuate DMK rule. Even unattached common man will side with them due to fear of Hindi imposition and insult to Tamil pride. Any and every mistake by BJP will be exploited by Dravidian ecosystem to strengthen itself. Every statement by a Giriraj Kishore or a Sakshi Maharaj will help them.
A Hindu party for TN and Kerala, blessed by Virat Hindu Dr Subramaniam Swamy, will be a game changer for Hindus of South India. It can co-exist with BJP in the south.
In deep sleep, we don’t have a caste or religion or any identity. Ponder.
Except in USA a person has to convert to Christianity to get elected or have to be anti Hindu. There are many examples of this. Merit works in private enterprise only not even in immigration where the waiting time for a Indian is up to 30 years.