Merit, My Foot (1987) is significant prose work of Rajshekar through which he attacks not only casteism but also the deterministic idea that merit and efficiency are genetically conditioned. This work also opens an attack on Brahminism and it proposes the idea that each caste in India represents one nation. These ideas are elaborated in Rajshekar’s later works.

Merit, My Foot considers casteism as a form of discrimination based on skin-colour and the advances the fundamental anti-racist argument that intelligence is determined by environment and not by the birth. Rajshekar argues that genetic factors like caste and skin- colour are not the critical factors which decide personality and performance of an individual. According to Rajsekhar, the notions of efficiency and merit are the myths created by the upper caste Hindus to keep away the Dalit from certain significant jobs. He also observes that such myths about race and caste are concocted by the upper caste rulers to enslave the vast majority of the Indian population.

This book has two “forewords” written by the author – one for the first edition and the other one, for the second edition. In the first foreword, Rajshekar talks about casteism seen in the cultural front. He explains that the ruling class control the brains of 85% of the population with the help of cultural expressions such as mass media, literature and films.

Rajshekar also expresses his concern for the bias seen in the administration of educational institutions. In this foreword, he explains how caste war takes place in government offices and educational institutions between the employee belonging to the reserved castes and the employers from the open category. He considers this discrimination at the work place as ‘Government Brahminism,’ a practice through which the upper caste officers convert reservation issues into national crisis, by pointing out that the employee appointed under the reservation lacks merit and efficiency. Rajshekar points out how the rhetoric of merit and efficiency is pointless in the social context:

However, we want to warn our people (SC/ST/BCs and minority) accused of meritlessness and inefficiency that the upper caste merit-mongers are not going to be convinced by learned arguments and scientific reasoning. (MMF: 2)

Rajshekar is also of the opinion that the anti-reservation agitation is an aggression against the oppressed people. Further, he believes that the caste war is a manifestation of the war between nations. He explains:

Anti-reservation agitation, therefore, shows the upper caste aggression against Dalits. That means it is a caste war between the upper caste (Aryans) haves and SC/ST/BCs and minority (non-Aryans) have nots. We welcome this war. Because it is only through caste war, caste can be destroyed. (MMF: 3)

The second foreword of the book considers the political crisis of India as an outcome of Brahminism in politics. Rajshekar points that the major political parties in India have been supported by the casteist ideology. He explains:

Many top leaders of the country’s two brahminical parties, -the Congress, India’s original Brahminical party and the Bhartiya Janata Party of Hindu Nazis –are facing serious corruption charges and the country’s Supreme Court is bent upon sending them to jail. (MMF: 4)

According to Rajshekar, India’s international relation too is dictated by the upper caste Hindu ideology. He considers the Muslim hatred of certain Hindu leaders as the manifestation of the intolerance of Hindu dictators. According to Rajshekar, India’s conflict with Pakistan is a needless enterprise to distract the attention of the Dalit and the oppressed to an international issue.

The second foreword also mentions the basic thesis of the work that merit and efficiency are two myths created by corrupt Hindu politicians. Rajshekar also makes a prophecy that twenty first century India will be based on Dr. Ambedkar’s vision, if robbers of the nations are identified and isolated. He observes:

If we don’t complete this job of booking the robbers in the next four years and simultaneously prepare our people by “educating” them and then helping them to graduate to “agitate” and then “organise”, we cannot usher in the “Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Era” which has to begin with the 21st century –only four years away. (MMF: 5)

Merit, My Foot holds one of the basic theories of Rajshekar that casteism is a form of racism. He points out that the dominant culture in India is racist as it privileges the fair skinned rather than the dark skinned Indians. Rajshekar explains, how merit theory and racism rule the dominant culture:

Through the media they own ,the books they write, the films they produce, the religion they preach schools and colleges they run, the upper castes (Hindus) have injected so much poison of ‘merit theory’ into the blood of each and every Indian that the very victims of this theory have come to accept it as true.(MMF:6)

Rajshekar also exposes the unscientific principle that equates merit, efficiency and brain to the skin-colour.He argues that it was under Aryan influence, this obsession with skin-colour has been encouraged, and he discusses how such discrimination operates Indian society:

If we look at matrimonial advertisements in leading daily papers .we can see parents desiring to have ‘fair’ girls, of course from their own sub-caste (Jati) for their marriageable sons.Persons, born fair, consciously or unconsciously begin to entertain ideas of superiority. White races have always looked down upon darker groups. Such racist ideas of superiority naturally lead of purity, segregation from contact or free intercourse with the darker nations. (MMF: 7)

Rajshekar considers Aryan invasion as the first instance of racism in India subcontinent. He explains why Aryan invasion should be considered as a racist move:

When the Aryans met the dark-skinned natives of India, there were prolonged conflicts.Budha, the dark-skinned tribal king with an Afro-hairstyle, led India’s first and most ferocious fight against the racist Aryans. Slavery or castes are the results of fair skinned Aryan invasion of India. (MMF: 7)

Rajshekar also reminds that Aryans had used their literature and cultural practices to denigrate the natives of India by certainly referring to the dark skinned natives and their Gods as the negative ‘others’ of the Aryans:

Aryans literature called the dark-skinned native gods of the original inhabitants as rakshasas, demons, daitya, asuras, pisachies, vanaras and attributed all barbaric qualities to them. (MMF: 7-8)

Rajshekar also opens an attack on the social standard of beauty that propagates racism and casteism. He says that the purpose of media and literature in a conventional society is to manufacture religions, Gods and sacred literatures that protect the racial supremacy. He explains how culture and literature legitimize racism and casteism:

Literature and mass media make us believe that without a fair skin we cannot conceive of beauty. Beauty means white and white means beauty. An ideal beauty must have a fair skin.Art, beauties with a skin colour of ivory, rose or lily. All Aryan gods and goddesses are fair-skinned. (MMF: 9)

According to Rajshekar, racism in India is not merely a cultural phenomenon as it affects the psycho-pathology of the Dalits. He believes that Dalit and dark skinned subjects internalize an idea of beauty that would force them to worship fair skin. He explains the psychological dimension of casteism which is also a form of racism:

Not only during marriage a fair coloured girl is chosen, but even when a baby is born the first question that is put is about its colour.Our brains have been conditioned to believe that only White is beauty and Black is ugly. This is called brain-washing. (MMF: 9)

Rajshekar also attacks the fundamental belief of racism that birth decides personality and efficiency. He argues that more than the genetic factors, post-natal environmental conditions such as nutrition, health, climate and education condition the intelligence of an individual. He observes that environment is more significant than the birth:

In conclusion, it is now evident that although the genetic structure predisposes, it is the environment that is the decisive factor. (MMF: 13)

Rajshekar’s views on race and values are similar to that of Kancha Ilaiah.In his noteworthy work, Post Hindu India, Ilaiah defends the variety in races and emphasing that each race has its own value system and intelligence Ilaiah opines:

Like animals and birds, each human race developed its own instincts. Work ethics, notions of morality and immorality, beauty and ugliness differ from race to race. (Ilaiah: 2009:205)

Ilaiah also explains casteism in terms of the Brahmin psychology which promotes the fear and hatred for the ‘other’:

Brahman instincts have a strong tendency towards self-love and hate for others. That instinct was formed as a consequence of the Brahminical culture of negating production food, and they acquired the characteristic of parasites. The Brahman community constantly looks at its own self with an innate fear that was formed out of its parasitism. All parasites suffer from a constant fear of individualism.Parasitism and individualism are antithetical to each other. (Ilaiah: 2009:206)

Rajshekar too upholds Ilaiah’s view that Brahminism and Aryanism have created a spiritual and cultural fascism in India. He considers Hinduism as a system of Gods who propagate timidity and insecurity among Brahmins themselves.

Rajshekar also takes up the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate in this book. In the making of intelligence, he argues that heredity may be a significant factor but environment is more important. He also believes that both Hinduism and Aryanism ignore the latter factor. Rajshekar takes a Darwinian view of Casteism and explains that denial of nutrition has been a major reason for the inferiority of the untouchables of India. He explains how deprivation and exploitation lead to enslavement of a caste or race:

The Untouchables and Tribals are denied protein which is a must for the growth of brain. They are denied human rights. With such enslavement of mind and body, how can they possess ‘merit and efficiency’? The society denies them environment so that they will continue to be slaves. (MMF: 14)

Intellectual fascism which Rajshekar points out is reflected effectively in Kancha Ilaiah’s work too. Ilaiah explains how a Brahmin as guardian of knowledge society exercises intellectual fascism:

More significantly, the goondas operate by silencing the victim with a fear of life, safety and modesty. This process of silencing the victims is a carefully crafted act. Since the purpose of the goonda is to extract wealth for his livelihood and luxury, he consciously crafts the method of circulating and withholding information in a selective manner. First, a goonda spreads several rumors about his power-physical, mental, as well as organisational. Second, information regarding his weaknesses, like how many times he was beaten or defeated by the rival or neighboring goonda, or what kind of weaknesses and diseases he suffers from, are systematically hidden from the people.(Ilaiah:2009:211)

Rajshekar rules out the scientific the scientific basis of such an intellectual prejudice. He indicates that all arguments based on racial purity are unscientific. He says:

No race is pure. Racial pride is the result of pure prejudice. And prejudice comes out of hatred. All ruling classes build a theory suited to their needs and try to give a ‘scientific’ backing to it. Merit and efficiency is a pure Aryan invention, aimed at maintaining their monopoly hold on the non-Aryan original inhabitants of India-Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Castes and Muslims, Christians, Sikhs.(MMF:15)

Like Frantz Fanon in Wretched of the Earth, who had pointed out that intellectual penury as a sign of neo-colonial deterioration, Rajshekar argues that India after Independence has been suffering an intellectual bankruptcy. He explains this intellectual backwardness of the nation:

A ‘nation’ gets stronger when it values its intellectuals and honours them. The community that does not permit flowering of a genius will be naturally backward. What is the use of acquiring a mountain of knowledge by one or a few? It is the acquisition of knowledge by a majority of the community that will be of real and lasting value. That is why knowledge is not assimilated by the people of India on a large scale. And that is why India has become famous as a beggar nation. (MMF: 18)

According to Rajshekar, one of the reasons for this intellectual poverty is the discrimination of non-Brahmin scholars. He explains how Dr. Ambedkar was a victim of such a vilification when he was alive:

That is why India did not see a second Babasaheb Ambedkar. Babasaheb was nourished by the British who spotted his genious. A Maratha ruler educated him and the British gave him all the opportunities. But it was the advent of the ‘Brahmin rule’ after 1947 that hastened his death. Had India received ‘independence’50 years before 1947 perhaps we would not have even seen Babasaheb? He was a product of the environment. So too Periyar E.V.Ramaswamy, RM.Lohia, Shyam Sunder, Narayana Guru, Even Mahatma Phule. (MMF: 18)

This kind of intellectual hegemony practiced by the ruling class, Rajshekar reminds, aims to eliminate opposite ideas. Kancha Ilaiah reflects a similar view, while talking about the intellectual fascism practiced in India:

One of the main functions of intellectual goondaism has been to eliminate the opposite idea that comes in to existence, particularly in a written form. Elimination of radical or rational thinkers at each stage of a given society took place in many societies and in all religions. But the intellectual goondas in India, with the help of spiritual fascism, Eliminated the opposite idea of the opponent, even if it was /is the most socially relevant and universally valid idea, became the primary function of intellectual goondaism. (Ilaiah: 2009:213)

Rajshekar too explains how such intellectual goondaism is propagated through Brahminical education system which brainwashes young minds to grow into lifeless morons. He also exposes the knowledge industry that reduces learning into appearing for examinations. He explains how India has become an intellectual wasteland due to the discrimination in higher education:

Knowledge has come to mean just passing examinations and earning money. A person is considered ‘successful ‘in life if he makes plenty of money. How he acquires the money is never questioned. That is why intellectual professions do not attract the best talents. The rush is for medicine, engineering and the latest craze is for management and computer courses. (MMF: 19)

Monopoly of knowledge by one community is a kind of discrimination because it hides from the majority the knowledge about various diseases, hygiene and medicines. Rajshekar says that the so called merit-mongers of the nation do very little to battle contagious disease like malaria and chickenpox.

Rajshekar exposes the merit-efficiency theory even further and argues that all theories of racial purity and racial superiority are the results of a biased view of science. He draws parallel from the white-black race relation to illustrate the Aryan-Natives relationship and tries to establish the point that such differences can only lead to hatred and violence. He explains:

Upper caste writers and journalists, even religious leaders, have flooded the country with such poisonous literature on their racial purity, racial superiority. To maintain this purity ,they enforced segregation, segregation from contact with so called inferior races, sowing seeds of racial hatred,conflict,inflicting inhuman violence on the non –Aryan peoples of India.(MMF:25)

Rajshekar also considers racism and casteism as the result of the fear complex of the ruling class. He believes that the caste Hindus are scared of the cultural plurality of the Dalits and hence they try to control such a variety of heterogeneous people by using the dictates of Hinduism. This, Rajshekar reminds, which privileges the Brahmin law-giver, is not different from racism which privileges the white law-maker. Rajshekar discusses the fear-psychosis that propels racism:

Racism is rooted in prejudice and hatred which in turn is created by fear and insecurity. India’s upper castes are today suffering from such a serious fear complex. They feel threatened. That is why they are pouring out one after other prejudice converting India into a vast slaughter house. (MMF: 26)

Rajshekar also examines caste-relations in terms of production and consumtion. He argues that the Dalits and Bahujan constitute the major workforce of the nation though the trade is monopolized by the higher castes. He discusses this pattern in detail to illustrate the point that casteism is also a form of economic exploitation:

Our people –SC/ST/BCs and minorities-are the producers and upper castes are the consumers. This jealousy, this heart-burning against reservations will have to stop. If it does not stop, we will get it stopped. This mindless monopoly of goods and services can be stopped only through reservations which are our human rights. (MMF: 30)

Finally, in his Merit, My Foot, Rajshekar tries to establish an argument that the Dalits in India should reject the Chaturvarna system of Hinduism because they are not really Shudras. Rajshekar explains the problems with the term Shudras and the reason why it should be discarded:

The moment we say we are Shudras (meaning illegal children from the concubines of Brahmins-in other words bastards), we become part of the BSO (Hindu).We are not bastards.SC/ST/BCs know their parents. How then we can be Shudras? We are neither Shudras nor Hindus. (MMF: 38)

Rajshekar also defends reservation and maintains the views that anti-reservation propaganda is a Brahmin conspiracy. So he believes that reservation is an agency to gain fundamental rights. He explains the real meaning of ‘reservation’ and how it would empower Dalit-Bahujan subjects:

The untouchables have never complained that they are suffering from poverty .Their complaint is that their human rights are denied. Reservations are expected to fill the gap.So, through reservations they are fighting only for their human rights. Once we regain our human rights through reservations, we automatically become rich. (MMF: 39)

What Rajshekar tries to establish in Merit, My Foot, is to substantiate an argument that science and knowledge system in India circulate the myth of upper caste intellectual superiority. This myth, Rajshekar argues, is then driven into the minds of Dalit-Bahujans to create an intellectual apartheid .This view is very similar to that of K.Balagopal who has reflected on Brahminical monopoly. What Balgopal says of merit is precisely what Rajshekar reflects. One can observe the similarity of these two writers:

Thus the Brahminical theory of knowledge continues to shape the curriculum of our schools and colleges and it is proficiency in this knowledge defined as book learning that is being called ‘merit’.(K.Balagopal:2010:29)

Rajshekar, thus in Merit, My Foot urges the reader to recognize the ridicules snobbery of the whole debate about merit. According to him, myth of merit is a product of the undemocratic educational culture that has the dubious legacy of Chaturvarna system. He also establishes the point that the cultural life in India is still caste-determined and hence it is the political duty of Dalit Bahujan to use their caste identity in the struggle for their socio-cultural liberation.

Rajshekar’s views on these issues are rather very straightforward characterizing his style. Iqbal Ahmad Sherriff explains how Rajshekar style is committed to directness, as he is not bothered about a diplomatic approach to social issues since he does not write for money. Ahmad observes:

Rajshekar has a forthright style of expression, the like of which can not be found anywhere else. He hits straight at the point without mincing words. He condemns other writings-where the writer uses a forest of words to make one single point-because the writer is more interested in hiding rather than exposing the things.Besides, they are professional writers. They write for money. (Sheriff, Ahmaed Iqbal.:2009:113).

Though Rajshekar exposes the hegemony and discrimination inherent in Brahminism, one will have to keep in mind that what Rajshekar attacks is a particular mind set rather than any particular caste. In these three works discussed in this chapter Rajshekar has tried to expose the ideology of Brahminism that has created a major social divide. Hence, one can say that Rajshekar has tried to expose the anti human practices in Brahminism rather than trying to create a false polarization between Brahmins and lower caste Hindu. Iqual Ahmed Shariff point out Rajshekar’s approach is more ideological and less caste-specific:

Wherever the word Brahmin or Brahminism is used in the book is not directed against any particular caste or a member of the caste. But is used in the context of a mindset which discriminates humanity based upon colour or birth.These words transcend caste and religion and hence ought to be understood in the said context. (Sheriff, Ahmaed Iqbal: 2009:117).

The work discussed is the reflection of Rajshekar’s commitment to powerful positive ideology of Ambedkarism which he proposes as an antidote for Brahminism and all negative, repressive and regressive ideologies.The three books considered in this chapter, in a way, touch upon this binding ideology of Ambedkarism as Rajshekar uses Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s views as a touchstone for religious philosophy, spirituality, political, economic and intellectual traditions and nationalism

References:

Primary Sources:

Rajshekar V.T. Merit, My Foot. Bangalore: DSA, 1987.

(The quotes from the text has been indicated with page number/s in the brackets in its respective places and it has been acronymed as, M.M.F)

Secondary Sources:

Ambedkar, Babasaheb. Writing and Speeches Vol.I. Mumbai: Maharashtra Govt.Publication, 1979.

Ambedkar, Babasaheb. Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah, Jalandhar: Bheem Patrika Publication, 1978.

Ambedkar, Babasaheb. Writing and Speeches Vol.III, Mumbai: Maharashtra Govt. Publication, 1987.

Bhattacharjes, Hindu: Feb, 17 1999:7

Eleanor, Zelliot. From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on Ambedkar Movement. New Delhi: Manohar Publication, 1992.

Illiah, Kancha. Post Hindu India. New Delhi: Sage, 2009.

Khaire, Harish. The Times of India: Jan 21, 1988.

Balagopal, K. Reservations A Socio-Legal Perspective. New Delhi: Critical Quest, 2010.

Omvedt, Gail. Dalit Visions: New Delhi: Orient Longman. 2006.

Sheriff, Ahmaed Iqbal. VTR: Friend Philosopher and Guide: Bangalore: Dalit Sahitya Academy, 2009.

Author – Dr. Grishma Manikrao Khobragade, Assist Professor