How to be true Indians

How to be true Indians

This is the modern age of equality To be true Indians we must change our mindsets and genuinely believe in equality But do most indians genuinely believe in equality ? I am afraid the answer is no. Most Hindus and most Muslims do not genuinely believe in equality. Let me try to prove this.

Let us take Hindus first.

Most Hindus believe that the Scheduled Castes are inferior. The test of this is whether non- SC Hindus would object to their sons or daughters marrying SCs. Most would certainly object, obviously because they regard SCs as inferiors.

I had in earlier posts given two examples. One was about a lady OBC Professor with whom I spoke. She claimed to be liberal and modern minded, but when I asked her whether she would permit her daughter to marry an SC boy she immediately said no. So even the so called backward castes regard SCs as inferior. The other example was of the Madras High Court SC Judge who had married a non-SC lady, and the lady's family performed her funeral rites on her marriage and thereafter had nothing to do with her. Any number of similar examples can be given. In many parts of the country if a non-SC boy or girl marries an SC both are killed as an 'honour ' killing.

Does this not prove that most Hindus do not believe in genuine equality, and regard SCs as inferior ?

Now let us consider Muslims. Most Muslims have castes, and Sayyids, Sheikhs and Pathans regard themselves as superior to Ansaris, Qureshis,etc. and would normally not marry with them, although Islam teaches equality of men. 

Moreover, Muslim Personal Law treats Muslim women as inferior, because while Muslim husbands can orally divorce their wives giving no reason, Muslim wives cannot do so, and have to file a petition in Court which may take several years to decide ( after appeals and second appeals), and then, too, the outcome is uncertain because they have to establish by evidence one of the grounds mentioned in section 2 of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939.

Also, Muslim daughters get only half of what their brothers get to their father's property.

When I said this a fierce attack was made on me by many conservative Muslims alleging that I am against Islam. I have many Muslim friends, and I am not against Islam, but I am certainly against inequality. The Muslim Personal Law is an unjust law as it treats women as inferior, and so it must be abolished ( just as the old Hindu Law was abolished by the Hindu Marriages Act, 1955 and the Hindu Succession Act, 1956).

So if Hindus and Muslims want to become real Indians they must change their mindsets and practice and genuinely believe in real equality. Hindus will become real Indians when they stop regarding SCs as inferior, and marriages between non-SCs and SCs take place on a large scale. Muslims will become real Indians when marriages between the so called 'upper caste' Muslims and 'lower castes' take place on a large scale, and when a large number of Muslims demand abolition of the unjust Muslim Personal Law which treats women as inferior and get it abolished by legislation which abolishes oral divorce and makes Muslim men get a divorce in exactly the same manner, and on the same grounds, as Muslim women. Also, daughters should get the same share as their brothers to their father's property.

Until that day arrives, I will not regard most Hindus and most Muslims as real Indians.

I know I will be fiercely criticized for saying this, but that does not matter. I have been called a maverick, a publicity seeker, a crazy person, a person with a hidden agenda, and even a dog ( by one Chief Minister) in the past, so by now I am quite used to such vilifications and abuses. I will continue saying what I regard as in the national interest.