Rahul Gandhi seems to have a lot of time these days that he has undertaken to study Vedas, Gita, and Upnishads. There is no harm in taking the time to read books and cogitate over the important ideas. It is a great cause. But the idea of reading Vedas, Gita, and Upnishads and the public statement that he wants to read them makes this a political act. A personal spiritual exploration is welcome and it is laudable as we all need a vision of life to live by, and at times, die for. In India, except the Upper Castes (and among them just a minuscule) have read any Vedas. If we take a nationwide survey, I reckon 99 percent of the Indians have not seen the Vedas. They only heard from the propaganda that the Vedas are great book and that they contain knowledge. Those who have critically studied the Vedas found out that it is nothing but the utterances of the nomads. There is no knowledge in the Vedas that can guide the modern human being. If the books are to be read, there are many great books on very many topics that one can read.

The Gita is a war book, which is also an argument in favour of the caste system. Remember “Yada Yada hi…blah blah” and it refers to the Varnashrama Dharma. In fact, all the Brahminical texts are one long argument for the caste system. This way or that way they would like to teach India’s gullible masses that these are great books. They are not. Just think about the justification of violence in Gita. You kill your own brothers because no one dies in the end. The soul is eternal. There is no need of laws. It is the Karma that takes care of everything. This is obnoxious and against the rule of law. The Gita is the post-Buddhist justification of the caste system with the weak clutches of Sankhya Philosophy of Kapila.

Upnishads are mostly secular. They have very little to do with the Brahminism. Most of the Upnishads came from the Shramana, a few from the Buddhists tradition, like Mundaka (head shaved mendicants) Upnishad from which we get our “Satyameva Jayate”. After the Islam came to India, we have “Allah Upnishad”. They are mostly secular commentaries.

So let us return back to Rahul Gandhi and his interest in reading the Vedas, the Gita, and the Upnishads. I reckon from whom he will study it. Will he go to the RSS headquarters where Bhagwat thinks that the Vedas are superior to the Science and can offer him purified “Gaumutra” for his long innings in politics based on Vedic science? Or whether Rahul Gandhi plans to learn statecraft from the Gita and slay his fellow Congressmen as no one killed in the end. The Congress elites are as much responsible for the development of Hindutva as the members of RSS are. Remember, how the timing for the coronation of Nehru was chosen by consulting the religious seers and calendar. Also, remember how Nehru gave “Bhoj” to the poor Brahmins!!

The Indian Upper Caste elites have fooled India’s SC, ST, and OBCs for a long time. None of these communities could read the Vedas, the Gita, and other Brahminical scriptures. They were debarred from reading it. It all began with the quest of the modern Hindus to stand up to the colonial masters. The modern Hinduism developed in response to Christianity and it is in fact modeled badly on Christianity. Raja Ram Mohan Roy wrote “Gift of Monotheism” to invent Hinduism. Then we know the sequence of organisations the Brahmins created starting from the “Brahmo Samaj” to “Arya Samaj”. And how that process of Hinduisation started with the advent of the Press and Bania money, particularly the “Gita Press”.

The process was taken to a new height when Gandhi took Hindutva to the new height by integrating it with nationalism. “Hind Swaraj” can be interpreted as “Savarna Swaraj” by just a cursory glance at it. It can be perhaps the mockery of human intelligence the way these books are written. And there is no objectivity to the claims made in these books. They are highly subjective and can only be understood by the people with special power. Science works differently. The truth must be attested by all and must be replicated or modeled. All the Brahminical texts fail these simple tests. It is important for Rahul Gandhi to revive the Congress. He should not get frustrated because he can gather enough stream if he continues to go against the RSS full throttle and build the constituency of the Muslims and Dalits with sincere efforts by orienting the Indian National Congress on the constitutional lines.

RSS mouthpiece realising that they cannot override humans with the cows are coming up with the statements against Gauraksha. The RSS’s greatest quality is the flexibility in all matters including religious, but inflexibility in giving up the Brahminical power, which makes it dangerous than any fascist organisation that survived on the earth. Rahul Sanskrityayan showed in his remarkable book “Ganga to Volga” as to how the Brahmins subtly changed even the idea of God to suit the time and the society.

The positioning matters in politics as it does in the businesses, however, the wrong positioning can not just distort but can also destroy what is left of the Congress.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist