Marx had categorically observed that “The bourgeoisie...has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous “cash payment.”+ It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation...The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe.+

Despite the shrill voice of the VHP and Dalit organizations against the inclusion of Dalit Muslims (DM) and Dalit Christians (DC) in the SC quota, it is not an open-and-shut case. While BJP has traditionally opposed the demand, PM Modi may yet throw a surprise here.+ The caste groups lording over the SC quota are not traditional BJP voters. Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians are peripheral in the minority and anti-caste/social justice traditions. This may be an exciting entry point for the BJP, especially in the South.+

AIMIM spokesperson @syedasimwaqar has labeled the Pasmanda activists who attended the "Pasmanda Buddhijeevi Sammelan" organized by the BJP in Lucknow on October 16 as "anti-Islam and Shariat." He should apologize publicly to the Pasmanda community for this offensive remark.+ Or else he should also declare Maulana Syed Arshad Madani, Maulana Asad Madani, S. Y. Qureshi, Najeeb Jung, Shahid Siddiqui, and Arif Mohammad Khan as "anti-Islam and Shariat" for dialoguing with BJP/RSS. +

AIMIM के प्रवक्ता @syedasimwaqar ने लखनऊ में 16 अक्तूबर को भाजपा द्वारा आयोजित "पसमांदा बुद्धजीवी सम्मेलन" में शिरकत करने वाले पसमांदा कार्यकर्ताओं को "इस्लाम की नीति और शरीअत विरोधी" बताया है. इस अशोभनीय टिप्पणी के लिए वह पसमांदा समाज से सार्वजनिक माफी मांगें.+ या फिर मौलाना सय्यद अर्शद मदनी, मौलाना असद मदनी, एस. वाई. कुरेशी, नजीब जंग, शाहिद सिद्दीकी, आरिफ मोहम्मद खान को भी भाजपा/आरएसएस से संवाद स्थापित करने पर "शरीअत विरोधी" घोषित करें. +

In the first wave of Pasmanda mobilization (pre-1947), the Abdul Qaiyum Ansari-led Momin Conference challenged the Jinnah-led Muslim League and its demand for Pakistan. In the second wave (the 1990s-), the Pasmanda movement challenged the enclavist politics of Owaisi-led AIMIM.+ Muslim League charged the Momin Conference for going against the tenets of Islam when the latter supported the nationalist movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and Congress Party. +

Babasaheb Ambedkar:

"One thing I want to impress upon you is that Manu did not give the law of Caste and that he could not do so. Caste existed long before Manu. + He was an upholder of it and therefore philosophised about it, but certainly he did not and could not ordain the present order of Hindu Society. His work ended with the codification of existing caste rules and the preaching of Caste Dharma. +

Marx, Gandhi, Ambedkar, and Periyar have their “universal” and “particular” moments in their career.+ We are all familiar with the critiques leveled against them because of their Jewish-Bourgeoise (Marx), Bania-Hindu (Gandhi), Mahar-Dalit (Ambedkar), and Balija Naidu-Upper Shudra (Periyar) locations.+

Remembering Battakh Miyan Ansari (1867-1957), who saved Mahatma Gandhi's life during the Champaran satyagrah in 1917. Ansari, a pasmanda cook in the service of the British Indigo planter Irwin, revealed the plot to kill Gandhiji through poisoned milk at dinner. [See links below] scroll.in/article/834667…

The Abrahamic-Semitic traditions work with the idea of core revealed “truths.” Therefore, it becomes incumbent on the believers to convert others for their salvation. 1/n An inbuilt dynamic for expansion and conversion often results in colonization and violence, especially when combined with state power.

The Pagan traditions, which have no central “truth“ reference point, are conceptually more accommodative of diversity. 2/n

The “caste system” cannot reproduce itself without the complicity or consent of all castes at varying levels. Babasaheb’s articulation of the principle of “graded inequality” alludes to this fact. 1/n Caste is marked by relationality and popular internalization of caste norms/practices. If caste must be annihilated, then a restructuring of dominant norms/practices is in order. 2/n

Thread on #FatimaSheikh
I first read about Fatima Sheikh in a piece titled “Remembering Fatima Sheikh, the first Muslim teacher who laid the foundation of Dalit-Muslim unity,” authored by Siddhant Mohan and published in the TwoCircles.net, April 7, 2017. 1/n The title caught my attention because intuitively, I felt that Fatima Sheikh might not be the first Muslim teacher in the subcontinent, and Savitri Mai was not, in any case, a Dalit. 2/n

85-90% of Muslims are Pasmanda Muslims. They are native converts from Shudra, Dalit, and Adivasi social backgrounds. Most of them are highly marginalized and work as artisans, peasants, and the informal labor force. (1/n) Due to their socioeconomic location, the Pasmanda Muslims have been exploited during the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Sultanate, British Raj, and Independent India. In Fanon's terms, they can be characterized as the "wretched of the earth." (2/n)

#Thread I have seen the response of a few Ambedkarite-Buddhist friends on my recent social media posts on Buddhism, internal inequality among Bahujans, and so on. 1/n A few of them are unfair characterizations of my position, and I want to further reflect on these responses in a spirit of dialogue and learning: 2/n

With all their historical limitations, the Sangha, Church, Ummah, Commune, and so on were early attempts to forge non-hierarchical “communities of care.” 1/ They were subsequently transformed into narrow religions, ideologies, and identities that became a proxy for powerful interests in association with state power. 2/

A few Ambedkarite Buddhist missionaries, often from leading Dalit castes, exercise a sleight of hand when they advance Buddhism as the spiritual solution to suppressed sections. 1/ On the one hand, organized religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and so on are critiqued from the vantage point of Navayana Buddhism, Babasaheb's libratory reinterpretation of Buddhism. 2/

In the context of the unfortunate lynching of the Dalit-Sikh, my plea is that we should not miss the wood for the trees. +
#FarmerProtest #DalitSikh We are no longer confronted with the pre-1990s state of “passive revolution” where no single class—corporate-business, agrarian elite, bureaucratic-administrative, etc.—had acquired hegemony, and there was space for coalitions and negotiations. +

Babasaheb in AoC:
“Whether the Hindu religion was or was not a missionary religion has been a controversial issue. Some hold the view that it was never a missionary religion. Others hold that it was." + "That the Hindu religion was once a missionary religion must be admitted. It could not have spread over the face of India, if it was not a missionary religion. That today it is not a missionary religion is also a fact which must be accepted." +

शिया, सुन्नी, देवबंदी, बरेलवी, अहल-ए-हदीस, अहल-ए-कुरान, सूफी, वहाबी, सलाफी, मुताज़िला, अशरी, अरबी, फारसी, अहमदिया, बोहरा, खोजा, इस्माइली, अल्वी, हज़ारा, क़रामता, खारजी, इत्यादि. यह है उम्मत की एकता का हाल. 1/n मुहम्मद साहब की वफ़ात के बाद ज़बरदस्त संघर्ष होता है इमामत/खिलाफ़त के लिए. खुलफ़ा-ए-राशिदून में चार खलीफाओं में से तीन की अप्राकृतिक कारणों से म्रत्यु होती है. 1500 साल से मार-काट मची हुई है जिसमें मुसलमान ही एक-दूसरे को मार रहे हैं. 2/n

Remembering Maulana Ali Hussain "Asim Bihari" (15 April 1890-6 December 1953) on his birthday. Maulana Asim Bihari was one of the key members of the first wave of the Pasmanda-Muslim mobilizations in undivided India known as the Momin Movement (1913-1947). 1/n
#Pasmanda He was an excellent orator and mass organizer and was widely known as the “Gashti Safeer” (roving ambassador) of the Momin movement. Asim Bihari also edited the journal “Al-Ikram”. 2/n

#Ramzan_ruminations

Three verses from the Holy Quran:

1. Lo! Allah preferred Adam and Noah and the Family of Abraham and the Family of 'Imran above (all His) creatures. They were descendants one of another. Allah is Hearer, Knower. (Quran 3:33-34) 1/n 2. And (remember) when his Lord tried Abraham with (His) commands, and he fulfilled them, He said: Lo! I have appointed thee a leader for mankind. (Abraham) said: And of my offspring (will there be leaders)? He said: My covenant includeth not wrong-doers. (Quran 2:124) 2/n

Babasaheb Ambedkar, "Riddles in Hinduism" (Riddle#22):
"The Hindu Religious and Philosophic thought gave rise to an idea which had greater potentialities for producing social democracy than the idea of fraternity. It is the doctrine of Brahmaism […]. 1/n The essence of Brahmaism is summed up in a dogma which is stated in three different forms. They are—(i) Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma—All this is Brahma. (ii) Aham Brahmasmi—Atmana (Self) is the same as Brahma. Therefore I am Brahma. 2/n