All constituents of the Sangh Parivar have been protesting against demands for providing converted dalits the benefits of reservation. The RSS executive late last year in Dharwad in Karnataka went as far as to exhort dalit Hindus to come out on the streets and assured them the support of the Sangh. Sandhya Jain’s column is on this subject and she praises the National Commission for Scheduled Castes for joining issue.

The commission has “wisely asserted in December 2007 that dalit converts to Christianity and Islam do not suffer the same maladies as Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh dalits. In other words, Christianity and Islam must prove that they practice untouchability; that untouchability is valid in the theology of their respective faiths; before claiming the constitutional benefits reserved for former untouchables of Hindu society! And once they admit and prove that they uphold and practice untouchability, the law must crack down upon them.” Jain goes on to say that “those who have been lured to abandon the Hindu fold cannot avail of constitutional guarantees intended to uplift depressed sections of Hindu society...”

Leftward attack

In recent months, the Sangh and BJP have been focusing their energy on attacking Left parties. The Nandigram violence, nuclear deal debate and CPM’s internal debate on capitalism have provided fodder for the Sangh attack. At the BJP national council in Delhi, L.K. Advani said Indian politics was being “Kremlinised”.

The Organiser cover story is on the Left in Kerala: “Despite several jihadi strikes going on in Kerala for several years, both the CPM led regime and the Muslim League dominated Congress have done nothing, for fear of losing Muslim vote-banks. In fact, (Abdul Nasser) Madhani was accorded a royal welcome and Z category security by both the CPM and the UPA. After jihadis, it is now the turn of Maoists to establish roots in Kerala”.

... contd.