Though America has been fighting pitched battles against racism, the number of racists there has increased. The role of these racists has been very significant in handing over power to Donald Trump for which America has paid a very high price. The defeat of Trump in last year’s elections was seen as the defeat of American racists. It is true that his defeat was also a small ray of hope for the world. Ironically, India became a butt of joke when it came forward to openly support Trump who was recognized as a representative of racism. The slave mentality of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government towards the whites was what led to such a pathetic stand of India. This was not accidental.
Today, those who are nurturing caste system have settled in America and are indirectly supporting racism. In addition to the export of upper caste and upper-class people, casteism that has been exploiting this country for centuries is also getting exported to the US. Recently, American officials raided a popular Hindu temple in New Jersey, the Swami Narayan temple, as it was alleged that the temple administration were harassing Dalit workers. These Dalit workers were taken to America as ‘Unskilled Religious Workers’ for emigration purposes. But they were made to work in difficult situations and under extreme physical hardship for a paltry pay of one dollar per hour. Human right activists there have urged the government to consider both caste and racial discrimination in the case. This is not a rare incident in America. Over the last one year, the State of California has been trying to curb caste-based discrimination in different organizations. According to the 2018 survey, two-third American Dalits have been treated inhumanly in their places of work due to their castes.
Caste discrimination has been the worst gift that India has given to the world. It has now spread for over half the world. The number of South Asians has increased in all the countries and are occupying high positions in countries where they have been accepted due to which they have occupied positions of power. Due to this strength, they are in a position to follow the discriminatory tendencies that they have imbibed. In Sydney, Australia, Sikhs were attacked on the streets after tension arose between local Sikhs and supporters of Sangh Parivar organizations during March last year. In America’s Silicon Valley, an American engineer of Indian origin filed a legal complaint against Apple alleging that her superiors also of Indian origin were discriminating against her as she was a South Asian woman.
Though the United Nations has reiterated several times that the prevailing caste construct is a human rights violation, many countries do not have necessary laws to take on casteism. It is difficult for foreigners to understand caste the ways Indians easily understand it. That’s the reason why many foreign organizations have failed to protect the rights of the exploited communities of Indian origin. Casteism is not as simple to comprehend as racism To understand its complexities, one has to be well versed with India’s long history. With such a background, foreign governments are very confused about how to view the caste system that is being exported from India. It is not easy to fight the caste system in a country like America. And if anyone tries to create awareness against such discrimination, it will be opposed by none other than Indian Americans. In the Indian community in America, those who belong to the upper caste are strong with deep roots. And the influence of Hindu nationalist politicians on American Indians is increasing.
Talking about caste discrimination is viewed as being humiliating. For several decades, a few saffron organizations fought to ‘cleanse’ discussions about Hindu dharma from school textbooks and to remove the references to caste system. But it is true that we as Indians are pained that casteism is affecting the image of Indian engineers who are responsible for building the Silicon Valley. American educated elites are proving that the lack of education is not responsible for prevalence of caste mentality. But it is possible that the American administration takes a serious view of the discrimination against lower castes that takes place in several Indian engineering colleges whose engineering graduates aspire to settle in America. At the same time, America should help the world by coming up with new human rights guidelines that seek to stop caste discrimination from taking roots in its land.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
