A post is trending on X, in which user Anuradha Tiwari posted her photo with a two-word caption. The storm that erupted after this is not taking the name of stopping. From #BrahminGene, the debate reached the point that reservation on the basis of caste is dividing Hindus. According to India Today Group, reservation on the basis of caste is dividing Hindus. gautam shankar While talking to Anuradha on this issue, I wanted to understand whether caste based reservation should continue or if any change in it would be better.
About the two-word post with the picture showing triceps with Brahmin genes, did you think it would go so viral that it would lead to a debate on caste privilege and identity?
To be honest, this was a very innocent post. I talked about Brahmins because I am proud of my heritage, as we all should be. But the moment we say the word Brahmin, it acts as a trigger for many social justice leaders. But this time the hate went beyond limits. I started getting trolled. I started getting a lot of emails. But as the post went viral, for the first time, people from the general category, apart from Brahmins, started coming together. They took a stand and trended the Brahmin gene along with their pictures. Now we will not tolerate any more hate. We can be proud of our identity just like you are proud of yours.
What do you have to say about people who are alleging that the Brahmin gene is being portrayed as if it means superiority.
Being a Brahmin is no longer associated with superiority. Today they are doing all kinds of jobs like toilet cleaners, rickshaw and taxi drivers, artisans. They are extremely poor but still no government benefits reach them because they belong to the so-called privileged caste. You are taking all the facilities by showing your caste, I am just writing about my caste. Why are you so angry about this!
What do you think, why is there hatred towards Brahmin community in the current situation?
To understand this, you need to know the proverb – To kill a snake, cut its head off. Similarly, if Hindus are to be eliminated, then Brahmins will have to be eliminated. During the British Raj, St. Francis Xavier had told someone in a letter that if there were no Brahmins, I would have converted all the Hindus of India to Christianity. He admitted that during his stay in India, he could convert only one Brahmin.
These days also the anti-Hindu forces understand this and hence attacks on Brahmins are increasing. Unfortunately all this is happening under the nose of the government. This is vote politics. Brahmins are only 4 to 5 percent so you can say bad things about them. They are labelled as exploiters, so curse them more. This will not affect the vote bank of the governments. They justify all their social schemes in the name of ending Brahminism.
How was your childhood and life as a Brahmin? How did you become the CEO of a content writing company?
Being a Brahmin is not easy. You are called by many names like Pujari, Brahman, Manuwadi. Unnecessary hatred is shown and then as soon as it comes to jobs, reservation comes in. I studied in a government college, got admission there on the basis of merit. But I could not get the college or the subject I wanted to study. At the same time, my classmates, who studied in expensive private schools, got admission through reservation. I completed engineering and started my own business.
For the last two years, I started speaking about reservation on social media, that too when my cousin could not get admission in IIT due to this. I started speaking then. In two years, I made many posts on the difference in cut-offs, difference in school-college fees, discrimination in schemes.
Writer Chetan Bhagat is also reacting to your post on X. He started the Hindu Jeans hashtag and said that the caste issue is dividing Hindus. On this you said whether hatred against Brahmins is uniting Hindus. Is reservation bringing Hindus together? Tell me, will Hindus unite if reservation is removed?
We have to understand that reservation has divided Hindus more than even the British could. This is the reason why the caste system is still in place. You have to show your caste certificate for everything, be it education or job. You tell me how this is uniting Hindus. And we have had reservation for several decades. But how many communities have actually come out of backwardness! In 77 years, not even a single reserved category has been changed to general category. Instead of reducing reservation, we are continuously increasing it. So much so that everyone is fighting to come into the backward class.
On X you said that Brahmins are the new Jews. What does that mean?
The same tool kit that was used for the Jews is being applied to the Brahmins here today. They are being blamed for every problem. Unemployment is because Brahmins are taking all the jobs. They are the reason for poverty. They are the reason for discrimination in the society. The situation with the Jews also started in the same way. But the limit has been reached when politicians are talking about the massacre of Brahmins on camera and no action has been taken against them. No arrests have been made. In elite colleges like JNU, slogans like freedom from Manuism and Brahminism are being raised and there is no action. No party, no leader is talking about this.
Reservation is still in place even after so many years of independence. Do you think reservation should not have been there at all, or should it be abolished now because backward classes have equal opportunities.
Reservation is increasing, which means that this model is not working. The cut-off for a government teacher’s job is 0.5 marks. The cut-off for PhD in DU is even zero marks. Now imagine that children are being taught Physics or Maths by school teachers whose marks are zero or 0.5. This is what was seen in the recruitment for government jobs in Odisha. On the one hand you say that we have to become a developed country by 2027, on the other hand such teachers or doctors are being recruited. In such a situation, what will be the future of the country!
In one post you said that the upper castes get nothing from the system, neither reservation nor free things. We earn everything on our own so we have the right to be proud of ourselves. But tell me, how will there be a balance in this?
If three people in a family are getting reservation, then it is very clear that this is vote bank politics. Why are the children of IAS officers and doctors getting reservation? They have all the facilities. They are studying in good schools, taking coaching from big institutes. But still they are taking reservation. Take Tina Dabi for example. Her parents were also civil servants. But still she took reservation and became an IAS. In my opinion, there should be one family-one reservation.. If someone in the family has already taken reservation, then they should be brought into the general category. This can be done by linking it to Aadhaar or PAN card, but only if there is intention.
There is a lot of talk about caste census. Do you think it will lead to a decline in our economy?
Caste census is a tool to harass the general category by increasing reservation. What will be the result of this! I have many acquaintances who are from the general category, are successful and have left the country. Look at the CEOs of any top MNC, they are all Indians and from the general category. So what do you want? Should the general category leave the country? Will this lead to a developed India? On one hand you ask Hindus to unite and on the other hand you want to do caste census. Why do you want caste data? Any Hindu who needs help should be helped, no matter which caste he belongs to.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)