Eating beef is our right, says Kancha Ilaiah after launching Vaddarse Raghurama Shetty Trust

Bangalore, May 7: Eating beef is the undeniable right of Dalits, minorities and backward classes, who comprise the majority of the population of India, said Prof Kancha Ilaiah, Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusion, Maulana Azad Urdu National University, Hyderabad.

Delivering a lecture on “Are OBCs Ready for a Social Revolution?” after inaugurating the Vaddarse Raghurama Shetty Trust here on Sunday, he lambasted the 'conspiracy of a section of people' against the multi culture of the country.

“Since the time of Shankaracharya there has been a systematic conspiracy against the multi culture and food habit of the people of the country. However, we do not require anybody's permission to consume our favorite food”, he said.

'Philosophical Identity'

Mr Ilaiah said that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in India would not be ready for a social revolution until they construct their “philosophical identity” outside the Hindu fold.

“Mere political power will not do” for true liberation of backward sections”, he said.

He argued that while Dalits had found a way out of the Hindu fold through Buddhism, the OBCs were “stuck at the feet” of the Hindu hierarchical order.

He said that OBCs had failed to evolve a new cultural discourse of their own by building on the “philosophy of production”. Discovering their true roots in the production process of society, Prof. Ilaiah added, would lay the foundation for such a construction. He analysed that this, coupled with English education and greater exposure, could lead to change.

Prof. Ilaiah's summary dismissal of the role of socialist political leader Rammanohar Lohia in giving direction to the OBC-Dalit movement led to a debate after the lecture.

Ravivarma Kumar, former Chairman of the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission, said that disruption and annihilation of caste, as envisaged by B.R. Ambedkar and later thinkers such as Lohia, was the only way forward for social revolution in India. C.G. Lakshmipathi, writer, said that judging political leaders singularly on the basis of their caste backgrounds does not help build an egalitarian society.

Vaddarse Raghurama Shetty Trust, inaugurated by Prof. Ilaiah, has been set up in memory of journalist and editor of “Mungaru” Vaddarse Raghurama Shetty.