Sunday Special: Pak Hindus At Ayodhya

Welcome: Pak Hindu Pilgrims Get A Darshan Of Ramlalla

Over 250 Hindu pilgrims from Pakistan's were in Ayodhya last week. The group came from over 30 districts of Pak's Sindh province.

• Sindh is badly affected by forced conversions, especially of minor Hindu girls.

• Vast majority of victims of conversions are Dalits.

• Dear Readers: Please offer a quiet prayer for the safety and long term well being of these pilgrims and other bhakts of Shri Rama everywhere around the world.

• May the temple consecration be a turning point for victims of forced and devious proselytisation.

Thinkrupt: Democratising Hindu's religious orders

For today's Thinkrupt (a portmanteau of think + disrupt) - Aravindan, my old friend and colleague, believes we should 'democratise' all religious orders of Hindu society.

What it means: All Hindu sampradayas and institutions should be open to everyone irrespective of their jaatis.

• All Hindu institutions become caste-neutral and instead become sampradaya specific.

• A Shaivite of Dalit caste, for example, could join a religious matha that is today meant for specific land holding castes of a region.

• The way things have evolved Hindus have created generally caste based separate institutions following specified sampradayas.

• Such a democratisation will eventually lead of a 'casteless' society.

But this idea puts the cart before the horse. The Hindu reformist must work first towards the goal of making caste irrelevant in the social lives of ordinary Hindus.

• Institutional change will follow automatically.

• Lastly, a large part of the caste problem today begins with the OBC - Dalit fault-line - who is working on fixing this urgently?

A tragic suicide and a window into Dalit Politics

Rohith Vemula's suicide in January 2016 had created a nation wide furor - the University of Hyderbad student was alleged to have killed himself due to issues of caste discrimination.

The case has now come to a sad end. Hyderbad police have filed a closure report stating that Rohith Vemula was not a Dalit.

• His caste certificate was obtained fraudulently. He had feared his true caste would be exposed. 

• Police found no evidence for charges of 'abetment of suicide'.

• A slew of leaders and university admin were accused of being responsible for Vemula's death. Their names have been cleared after eight long years.

Counter-view: Politics in the name of Dalits today has long since descended towards merely adding to the increasing acrimony in society.

• Perhaps one aim of Hindutva and Hindu reform movement must also be to construct a style of Dalit politics that emphasizes bettering relationship with other castes.

Meanwhile, something for Sikh Leadership to act on

A 19 year old reportedly mentally ill boy was thrashed to death in Ferozepur, Punjab on Saturday (5 May)

His alleged crime is that he attempt to tear off pages from the Guru Granth Sahib at a Gurudwara.

More such killings. In January this year, a similar murder occurred in Phagwara.

• The Nihang reportedly later admitted that he acted on the basis of 'suspicion' of sacrilege.

• A newspaper report said that 14 such murders have occurred in last 8 years.