An Ideological Revolt of Kancha Ilaiah

FALSE IMPRISONMENT
ANALYSIS AND CASE STUDY
Submitted by
ADARSH PATEL
ballb(hons.) regd. Id. :
221fu01019
Submitted to DR.
PRAVEEN KUMAR
DIRECTOR
VIGNAN INSTITUTE OF LAW
as internal assessment work
JANUARY 30, 2023

AN IDEOLOGICAL REVOLT OF KANCHA ILAIAH
INTRODUCTION
Kancha Ilaiah, who calls himself Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, is an Indian writer in
English and Telugu, a political theorist and a former professor of Political
Science at Osmania University, Hyderabad. A majority of his literary and social
works are concerned with the rights of the Dalits and the alleviation of their
suffering. His book Why I am Not a Hindu: A Sudra Critique of Hindutva
Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy was published in 1996 as a systemic
critique of Hindutva hegemony and Brahminical practices inherent in the Indian
society, which made the “Dalitbahujans” easy victims of social oppression.
Preface
In the preface of the book, the author narrates the story behind the creation of
the book where he states that his “constant interaction with the Dalits in Dalit
and civil rights movements” has helped him to build a discourse comparing
their economic, cultural, political and societal orientation with that of the
Hindus, or the Brahminical Indians per se. Ilaiah condemns the several
‘traditional’ (read hegemonic) practices that constitute the Indian social fabric
and tries to bring down the tall tower of Brahminical imperialism.
In the Introduction, the author explains how the Dalitbahujans have constantly
been otherised by society since ancient days, mostly by Hindutva politics. He
boldly remarks that “the very sight of its saffron-tilak culture is harassment to
us” and argues that the Sudras and the Ati-Sudras own an original religious,
economic, political, social and cultural philosophy of their own, which differs
vastly from the Hindu philosophies. Thus, they need not be incorporated or
absorbed into the body of Hinduism and Hindutva at all. He derecognizes the
word ‘Hindu’ and puts emphasis on the Dalitbahujan traditions, and at the end,
proposes that time has come when the flag-bearers of brahminism “must learn
to listen and to read what we have to say”
opinions
For one thing, this book is really more about: a.) why dalitbahujans shouldn’t be
considered Hindu, and b.) why following the dalit cultural framework would be
better for India than following Hinduism. That’s not to say that the book doesn’t
count off many theological points that rub the author the wrong way, socio-
politically speaking. It also displays no shortage of anger (which one could
certainly be argued is righteous, but nonetheless detracts from the feeling of
scholarly objectivity that one might hope for in such a book.) But, at the end of
the day, this is a book about caste, and how the system is used by the few to
oppress the many. [It also turns out that both books cast themselves in
opposition to the Hindu nationalist movement.]
In short, the author argues that the “high castes” of Hinduism (i.e. Brahmins and
Kshatriyas) are parasitic, misogynistic, violent, oppressive, corpulent, and
demanding of “spiritual fascism.” On the other hand, the Dalitbahujans are
painted as productive, egalitarian, democratic, creative, less materialistic, and
capable of creating a sustainable path toward a healthy India of the future. I
don’t know whether I came away with a much better insight into the truth of the
situation, but as a social scientist I learned that what is true is often not so
important as what is believed to be true – the latter can have huge impacts
regardless of its objective truth. I say this because the author does make a lot of
gratuitous assertions – unsupported statements — and these are particularly
difficult to process when they address the motives of high caste people. He also
sometimes whitewashes the “sins” of other religions to make the argument that
Hindus are the worst / most unreasonable of all religions.
Conclusion
Why I am Not A Hindu has been carefully crafted by Ilaiah in an attempt to
remind the Hindus (read Indians) of the implicit and explicit forms of
Brahminism practiced on a daily basis and how on social and political levels
such a practice inevitably marginalizes the Dalitbahujan community. One finds
a conscious appeal running throughout the book to 'dereligionize' the term
‘Brahminism’ from its Hindu paraphernalia and to portray it as the character of
every powerful social class. For Ilaiah, the term refers to the manipulative
practices of the socially influential people in India to hold their reins over the
the Dalitbahujan and Hindu ways of life have been minutely observed by the
author. Having a Dalitbahujan background, he is able to provide first-hand
testimony to the contrasts these two communities have historically put forward.
It may be argued that, sometimes, Ilaiah sounds quite partial towards the
Scheduled Castes while critiquing the Dalitbahujan and Hindu systems side by
side. However, apart from that, his critique of various aspects of Hindutva
ideology has almost no logical fallacies and the facts he highlights are veritably
worrying for all well-wishers of India. Living in the twenty-first century when
the country is almost entirely saffornized, the book Why I am Not a Hindu can
be a real eye-opener, pushing one to read the Indian polity between the lines,
and to try and change it.

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FALSE IMPRISONMENT

ANALYSIS AND CASE STUDY

JANUARY 30, 2023

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