'No God Is A Brahmin,' Claims JNU Vice Chancellor, Highlights 'Gender Bias' In Manusmriti: Report

Pandit spoke on the topic "Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's Thought on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil Code."

JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit.

Hindu Gods do not anthropologically stem from the higher caste, according to JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, who delivered the keynote lecture at the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment's B R Ambedkar Lecture Series, Indian Express reported.

Pandit spoke on the topic "Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's Thought on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil Code."

The JNU VC further stated that the "Manusmriti" classification of all women as "shudras" is "extraordinarily backward."

“All women, according to the “Manusmriti”, are shudras. So, no woman can claim she is a Brahmin or anything else. I believe it is only by marriage you get the husband’s or the father’s caste on to you. I think this is something extraordinarily regressive,” she was quoted by Indian Express in its report.

In her lecture, Pandit mentioned the recent death of a nine-year-old Dalit child in Rajasthan after he was reportedly beaten by his upper-caste teacher.

“Unfortunately, there are many people who say caste was not based on birth, but today it is based on birth. If a Brahmin or any other caste is a cobbler, does he immediately become a Dalit? He doesn’t…. I’m saying this because recently in Rajasthan, a young Dalit boy was beaten to death just because he touched the water, didn’t even drink, touched the water of an upper caste. Please understand, this is a question of human rights. How can we treat a fellow human being in such a way?” she said.

"If Indian society wants to develop well, elimination of caste is tremendously crucial," she remarked, referring to Ambedkar's seminal "Annihilation of Caste." I'm not sure why we're so attached to this identity that is so unfair and uneven. And we are willing to kill someone to defend this "artificially formed identity."

On intersection of caste and gender, she said, “If you are a woman and you come from the reserved categories, you are doubly marginalised. First, you are marginalised because you are a woman, then you are marginalised because you come from a so-called caste, which is given all kinds of stereotypes.”

Buddhism, she claims, demonstrates the acceptance of dissent in "Indic civilisation."

“I think Buddhism is one of the greatest religions because it proves that the Indic civilisation accepts dissent, diversity and difference. Gautama the Buddha was the first dissenter against what we call Brahminical Hinduism. Please understand he was also the first rationalist in history… we have a tradition revived by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Pandit said.

Pandit, who speaks Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Hindi, Sanskrit, and English, previously taught at the Savitri Phule Pune University's Department of Politics and Public Administration.

 

She was appointed as JNU's first female VC in February for a five-year term. International relations, Asian studies, culture and foreign policy, conflict, violence, and gender are among her study interests.