(Satish Chennur*)
In recent times, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is thinking out of its ideological box.
It is desperately reaching out to political outfits which neither agrees with their ideology nor shares similar political interests.
One such incident happened in Kerala recently, where the party central leadership decided to field 49 year old Tushar Vellapalli from Wayanad parliamentary constituency, who happened to be part of progressive self-respect movement led by Narayana Guru.
This was a swift response from BJP to disturb Rahul Gandhi’s foray into the South.
Tushar Vellapalli is the vice-president of Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) which is affiliated to Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), one of the successful radical self-respect movements in south India in the early days of 20th century.
SNDP and Narayana Guru names goes hand in hand for fighting against caste discrimination practised by the Brahmins and relentlessly fought for the dignity and welfare of the lower castes, especially the Ezhava caste.
Narayana Guru, who shared and travelled with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, engaged himself in critically engaging with the Brahmanical philosophy, primarily questioning the hierarchical practices, such as untouchability, temple entry, discrimination at wells, challenging the Hindu social order, and importantly he also has fought for the annihilation of caste with much conviction.
In the due course, his writings, speeches became very popular to such an extent that the glorification of Brahmins was thoroughly challenged and neutralised.
Tushar coming from such a vibrant political and cultural background decided to align with BJP led NDA, which ideologically and politically represents the interests of upper castes and attempts to maintain the Hindu social order by prescribing the majoritarian ideas, in other words, nothing but following Brahmanical ideas.
This ideological bankruptcy from both the groups hampers the democratic spirit and dilutes the spirit of anti-caste ideology in India.
(*Satish Chennur, Assistant Professor of Sociology,Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC),Kolkata, West Bengal)