Dealing with Lee and Manu in public spaces: A study in contrast

A few politicians in the U.S. have summoned the courage to remove confederate symbols and to apologize to the African American community for the dark history of slavery.

India refuses to even remove the most visible symbol of caste bigotry, and Hindu spiritual leaders have never come together to issue a genuine apology to the victims of caste violence over the centuries.

It has been six months since Martin Macwan of Navsarjan Trust and Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK) in Gujarat, and a member of the HfHR Advisory Board, renewed the call for the removal of the statue of Manu from the premises of the Rajasthan High Court.

His plan included a nation-wide movement, which was to have culminated today, December 25th — the day in 1927 that Dr. Ambedkar set aflame a copy of the Manu Smriti. 93 years after that symbolic act of defiance to awaken people’s consciousness to the evils of the caste system, we seem to have made little progress on the removal of untouchability and violence against Dalits.

Here are some grim statistics from the state of Gujarat published in 2014 by Navsarjan Trust, which the state refused to table in the legislature. Martin says that little has changed in people’s attitudes since that report:

In 98.4 per cent of the villages surveyed, inter-caste marriage was prohibited, and inter-caste couples would be subjected to violence and would often have to leave the village. In 98.1 per cent of the villages, a Dalit could not rent a house in a non-Dalit locality. In 97.6 per cent of the villages, Dalits touching the water pots or utensils of non-Dalits was considered defilement.

A practice most prevalent was the failure to serve tea to Dalits in non-Dalit households. Even if tea was served, it was done so in a separate cup called “rampatar”—vessel of Ram.

In approximately 96 per cent of the villages, Dalit labourers were served lunch separately from other workers. Any leftover food touched by them was thrown away, untouched by any non-Dalit. Further, in 94 per cent of the villages, when the community gathered, Dalits were asked to sit in a separate place to eat, to bring their own plates, or to eat after non-Dalits had finished.

…in almost all of the villages surveyed (97 per cent), Dalits were not allowed to touch articles used for religious rituals. In 96 per cent of the villages, non-Dalits would not come to Dalit localities to perform religious services.

The team spoke to 5,462 respondents in 1,589 villages over a two-year period.

Unfortunately, the COVID lock-downs in India have prevented visible public actions on Martin’s call. However, over 100,000 people have responded to his ‘missed call’ campaign, signaling their support for the removal of the Manu statue.

HfHR, with the support of Ambedkar King Study Circle (AKSC), sought to add diaspora voices to Martin’s call through a change.org petition. But, that too had to pause due to the slow-down in India.

It is worth noting that in stark contrast to India’s handling of its dark history of caste, a few politicians have paid heed to civil rights activists and have had the courage to remove visible confederate symbols, which were a daily reminder of continuing anti-black racism. The recent removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from the Capitol Building to a museum in Virginia was not an action directed by the Congress, but a sensitive and voluntary move by the state of Virginia, as this report elaborates:

The removal of Lee’s statue from the halls of Congress follows a unanimous vote by a Virginia state commission in July. “We should all be proud of this important step forward for our Commonwealth and our country,” said Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in a statement. “The Confederacy is a symbol of Virginia’s racist and divisive history,”

Even more admirable is the decision of the state of Virginia to replace the Robert E. Lee statue with a monument to Barbara Johns. As a 16-year-old in 1951, Johns led a two-week walkout to protest the substandard educational conditions at her all-black high school. Her spontaneous courage may have ultimately led to the decision to desegregate America’s schools.

Robert E. Lee’s statue, after being removed from the U.S. Capitol Building (click on photo for the full video), and a statue of the purported author of Manu Smriti still standing outside the Rajasthan High Court

The removal of Lee’s statue was also celebrated by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “The Congress will continue our work to rid the Capitol of homages to hate, as we fight to end the scourge of racism in our country,” Pelosi said in a statement. “There is no room for celebrating the bigotry of the Confederacy in the Capitol or any other place of honor in our country.”

Don't you wish that the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and its High Court would feel similarly about Manu on the premises of a hall of justice?

On this symbolic day of Dr. Ambedkar’s act of defiance in 1927, let’s come together to raise the consciousness of the international community about caste by signing the petition below. Let’s stand in solidarity with Martin’s call to remove and confine the statue of Manu to a museum, where it can better tell the story of caste to our future generations.

Let is make 2021 the year when we seek India’s unconditional acknowledgment of the horrors of the caste system and demand that Hindu spiritual leaders summon the honesty and courage to speak out against caste without any ifs and buts.