RSS Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi cautioned the Government of India to be alert of the designs to destroy the country’s social fabric. In a statement issued from Rajgir, Bihar, on October 11, he said: “In the aftermath of the Durban Review Conference held in Geneva in April 2009, reports have appeared suggesting renewed attempts to bring caste into the ambit of racism. It is worthwhile to recall that similar attempts were made by certain Western powers and the NGOs sponsored by them at the time of the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) organised by the UN at Durban in South Africa in August-September 2001.
“The Government of India took a rational and well-reasoned view that equating caste with race is grossly incorrect and would defeat the very purpose of obliterating racism in the world for which the conference was convened. Many eminent sociologists and scholars too have opined that the attempts to equate caste with race are politically mischievous and scientifically nonsensical.
“It is clear that the attempts to internationalise the caste issue are very much on. Certain European powers and their cohort NGOs are using the DDPA document’s wording like ‘decent’ to buttress their claims that caste too is a form of racism. Unfortunately, certain statements attributed to the present High Commissioner of the UNHRC also indicate her interest in this direction. Such indiscretion on the part of the UNHRC leadership is fuelling many controversies. It is becoming detrimental to the very mandate of the UNHRC and winning sobriquets like ‘hate fest’ to it.
“I urge the Government of Bharat to be alert to these designs. Caste is an internal matter of our country and we have addressed problems entailing it to the fullest through various constitutional safeguards like the Civil Rights Act (1954) and the SC&ST Act (1978) etc.
It should be borne in mind that all efforts to internationalise caste are designs to weaken our national solidarity and destroy our social fabric. They should be opposed by all right-thinking citizens on all for a,” Shri Joshi said in the statement.
(FOC)
