Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi president Thol. Thirumavalavan on Monday said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent statement that caste and varna were things of the past, and they must be forgotten going forward, was “extremely amusing and makes a mockery of the state of things”.
In a statement, Mr. Thirumavalavan said there cannot be a more staged spectacle than such a statement, as the Hindu society cannot function at all if it were to avoid caste and varna, as it has penetrated every aspect of life from beginning to end, from top to bottom in society, and forms a part of its lifeblood.
“In direct contradiction to reality, Mr. Mohan Bhagwat calls these powerful, contemporary practices of everyday life “things of the past” and holds that they can be forgotten. This is ridiculous and a sham attempt at trying to hide social realities — as we say in Tamil, this is like hiding an entire pumpkin in a morsel of rice, an impossible trick. This also creates a conjuror’s trick of making it appear as though people like us are going on about something which does not exist,” he said.
Mr. Thirumavalavan said Varnashama was the primary root of this society; castes were the secondary roots; and kulam-gothram served as the tertiary roots, and that the heartbeat of Hindu society was the discriminatory concept of inferior-superior based on birth; and the living system based upon this hierarchy.
Taking on Mr. Bhagwat, Mr. Thirumavalavan said, “If he or his people had faced discrimination, humiliation, atrocities, poverty and torture, would he be able to call upon people to forget everything and rally together as Hindus? Can he live in a slum for a single day? Can he work for a single day as an agricultural labourer who tills the land, or as a cobbler who mends and makes shoes? Will he be able to survive? If he had been forced to live in those circumstances, would he be able to make such an off-hand, callous statement asking for caste and varna to be forgotten?”
Mr. Thirumavalavan said Mr. Bhagwat should come forward and acknowledge the pain-filled emotions of the affected people and uproot Sanatana if he had any integrity left in him.
