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Revision as of 16:27, 27 August 2006 by Hornplease (talk | contribs) (trying to compromise on NPO)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Kancha Ilaiah is the Chairman of the Political Science department at Osmania University, a social activist and author. He is a major ideological figure in the movement that calls itself Anti-Brahmanism, and is often labelled as anti-Hindu by his critics. He was born into Kuruma Golla, an 'other backward caste' (not dalit) family on October 5 1952 and was brought up in a small south Indian village. His family's main profession was sheep farming. He earned his doctorate degree in political science at the Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. His Ph. D thesis was based on Gautama Buddha's political philosophy.
He is an outspoken activist in the Dalit-Bahujan (Scheduled and Backwards Castes) movement. He has criticized the practices of caste and untouchability. Recently he testified before a subcommittee U.S. Congress against the practice of untouchability and urged the US Government to work with the Indian government to end what he said was the persecution of Muslims,Christians, and other oppressed people groups in India. His description of the relationship between communities in India has been criticised by righwing columnist Francois Gautier as being biased and unrepresentative .
He joined hands in this campaign with the All India Christian Council, headed by Dr. Joseph D'Souza and other Indian Christian activists . Ilaiah and D'Souza are associated with the USA based Dalit Freedom Network, a charitable organization working for the rights of India's Dalits - believed by some to promote aggressive missionary activities - which actively participated in the Californian Hindu textbook controversy, opposing edits proposed by Hindu advocacy groups and scholars. They believed that the edits promoted a "biased Brahminical view".
According to Joseph D'Souza, Kancha Ilaiah has served as the "influential ideologue" for the "Quit Hinduism" movement leading to a mass rally on Dec 6th, 2002 .
He is the author of several books written in English, including
- Why I Am Not a Hindu: A Sudra critique of Hindutva philosophy, culture and political economy
- God as Political Philosopher--Buddha's Challenge to Brahminism
- Democracy in India --- A Hollow Shell (edited by Arthur Bonner)
- Buffalo Nationalism--A critique of spiritual fascism
His book, Why I Am Not A Hindu has been a best-seller in India and is widely read around the world. However, it has also drawn severe condemnations from Hindus and Hinduism experts, who note that the book reflects a shallow understanding of Hindu religion and blissful ignorance of all positive aspects of its philosophy and mythology.
The book basically explains the life-experience of the Dalits and Other Backward Castes and alleges that their poverty-ridden experience holds little connection to the Brahmin religious experience. By explaining this dichotomy from his own personal experience as an OBC, he advocates the "Dalitization" of Indian culture. As Ilaiah claims, the Dalit philosophy prizes productivity over personal pleasure and values the graciousness of community over the "elevation of Brahmin men" at the expense of women and Dalits/OBCs. Ilaiah asserts that this shift in societal thinking will enable India to become a more prosperous and egalitarian society.
Ilaiah is a controversial figure because of what some have called rabidly anti-Brahmin rhetoric and hypocritical methods of argument.
Kancha Ilaiah's attacks on Hinduism: Quotes
- "Shout that we hate Hinduism, we hate Brahmanism. Capture the Hindu temples by expelling the Brahmins from them".
- "Yes, I hate Hinduism".
- "Hinduism is a religion of violence".
- "For Hinduism, for Hindu dharma, resolving of a conflict is only by killing".
- "If a Dalitist state and society is established I think we will see a very bright future for the whole country."
- "Hinduism has destroyed all positive elements that normally exist in a human being"
External links
- Interview-1
- Interview-2
- Interview-3
- Kancha Illiah-4
- A Critical Review by Shri M. V. R. Sastry-5
- Interview-6
- Ilaiah's article on reservations-7
- David Frawley-8
See also
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