New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice Chancellor Shantisree Dhulipudi Pandit said on Monday that The Hindu scripture Manusmriti classifies all women as “Shudras”.
His keynote address BR Ambedkar Lecture Series – Organized by Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in New Delhi – Pandit, JNU first female VCHe said that according to Manusmriti, there is no prescribed caste of women.
“Therefore, no woman can claim that she is a Brahmin or anything else,” the VC said. She was speaking on the topic ‘Dr BR Ambedkar’s Thoughts on Gender Justice: Decoding of Uniform Civil Code’.
“I believe that marriage itself casts the caste of husband or father on you. I think it is extraordinarily regressive,” said the professor.
He further said that men have abducted all religions. “When women demand their rights, all religions become weak. All the gods become even more fragile. You think that if a woman wants maintenance from Rs 60 to Rs 125, then religion is in danger. How can it be that when a woman demands her rights, everyone gets gang-raped?
Pandit said, Ambedkar was an eminent thinker and advocate of women’s rights, who was ahead of his time. “Simone de Beauvoir said, ‘Women are born, not born’. Ambedkar was of a similar view.”
Pandit also attacked the prevalence of the caste system as a way of life in today’s times. His speech included references to Death Earlier this month, a nine-year-old Dalit boy in Jalore, Rajasthan.
The VC further stated that the Hindu gods are not Brahmins, and that “the gods do not come from an anthropologically high caste”.
“Anthropologically, scientifically… please look at the origin of our gods. There is no god Brahman. The highest is Kshatriya,” she said, “Lord Shiva must be of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes because he is in a graveyard sit with the snake…they have given him very few clothes to wear.I don’t think brahmins can sit in graveyard.
“So, why are we still continuing this discrimination, which is so inhumane,” she asked.
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‘Uniform Civil Code not Hindu Bill’
The JNU VC also elaborated on how Ambedkar envisioned a Uniform Civil Code. He said, Ambedkar saw the UCC as an individual law, which is devoid of religion and gender bias.
“If we look at the UCC from the perception of Dr. Ambedkar, it is not a Hindu Bill. The UCC proposes to enact and enforce individual laws for citizens irrespective of gender, religion, gender and sexual orientation. Personal laws are governed by their religious texts, except the Hindu Code Bill,” she said.
The professor argued that since India has a common criminal code that does not discriminate on religious grounds, it should also have a uniform civil code of conduct. He said that the UCC election should not be contested on this basis.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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