V. T. Rajshekar

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V. T. Rajshekar
V. T. Rajshekar

V. T. Rajshekar, in full Vontibettu Thimmappa Rajshekar, also known as V. T. Rajshekar Shetty, (born 1932) is an Indian journalist who is the founder and editor of Dalit Voice[1], which has been described as "India’s most widely circulated Dalit journal".[2] He was formerly a journalist on the Indian Express[2], one of India's leading English language daily papers, where he worked for 25 years. He is the founder of the "Dalit Voice" organisation [3], a fringe wing of the broader movement for Dalit interests.[4].

He is also the author of a great number of pamphlets and books, mainly published by his own organisation.

Contents

[edit] Positions

Under Rajshekhar's leadership the Dalit Voice organisation formulated an Indian variant of Afrocentric pseudohistory, similar to that of the Nation of Islam in the USA.[5] Dalit Voice has published articles about "Zionist conspiracies" regarding Hitler and the Third Reich[6][7]. They have also supported the Iranian regime and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the holocaust[8]. He was also the first to claim that the Jews and the Brahmins of India have the same ethnic origin. He alleges that Jews are "oppressing the Muslims" today and the "Brahmins are persecuting the original inhabitants of India".His allegations are perceived as anti-Semitic, as well as anti-Hindu, and anti-Brahman[9], including his claims that the famous hoax book Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a real Jewish conspiracy [10] and has made allegations that Indian Jews were "join(ing) hands (with Hindus) to crush Muslims, Blacks and India's Dalits"[11].

In 1986 Rajshekar’s passport was confiscated because of ““anti-Hinduism writings outside of India.” The same year, he was arrested in Bangalore under India’s Terrorism and Anti-Disruptive Activities Act. Rajshekar told Human Rights Watch that this arrest was for an editorial he had written in Dalit Voice, that another writer who republished the editorial was also arrested, and that he was eventually released with an apology. [2].

In other broadcasts, V.T. Rajshekar called Brahmins "The Jews of India" on the grounds that a "Jew is one who is a born Jew. There is no conversion to the Jewish religion". He thus alleges that, since "a Brahmin is one who is a born Brahmin", they are "as bad as the Jews". He has made conspiratorial allegations that both have joined hands "in a big way" in USA, England and Europe[11].

Rajshekar also copies traditional anti-Semitic canards. To quote him, “The First World War, the Second World War, the establishment of Communism, the rise of Hitler, were also systematically planned and executed by Zionists.” With his sex scandal, Bill Clinton was the “victim of a Zionist conspiracy”, for the Zionists, who “control the entire American politics, economy and the media as well”, are “angry that Clinton refused to finish the ‘demon’ of Islam and render all-out support to Israel” [12][citation needed]. Rajshekar’s constant railing against the "CIA-Zionist-Brahminical world conspiracy"[citation needed] has earned him a mention in a recent authoritative survey of contemporary anti-Semitism[4]. The survey quotes:

The phenomenon of anti-Semitism in a vocal though marginal and unrepresentative section of the Dalit movement is attributed somewhat patronizingly to the “mental confusion among India’s poor Dalits”.[4]

V.T Rajshekhar is not a Dalit himself, he comes from the prosperous upper caste Bunt [13] community. Though Rajshekar calls the Bunts a "backward" community this view is probably not shared by most members of his caste[14]. Given his upper caste origins, many of his detractors have questioned his commitment to the Dalit cause[15].

His views have support among fringe elements such as Islamist and radical Ambedkarite Neo-Buddhists, but are widely rejected by mainstream authors and scholars.

See also: Conversion to Judaism
See also: Religious conversion#Conversion to Hinduism

[edit] Dalit Voice

Main article: Dalit Voice

Started in 1981, Dalit Voice is 25 years old and has become the country's oldest and the largest circulated journal of the Bahujan Samaj.[citation needed]

The writer Koenraad Elst has criticised the publication for having anti-Hindu views. [9], counter-claiming that claims of racism in Hinduism are a "crank ideology".

[edit] Caste - A Nation Within the Nation

This book was published by the 'Books for Change'. The book declares the Indian castes as nations within the 'nation' of India. The book recommends the strengthening of each caste, thus demanding the continuation of the caste system, rather than its eradication. Rajshekhar further demands that the Dalits be deemed superior to all other castes and build a segregated Dalitist state in India[16]. He has expressed similar views in interviews as well[17].

[edit] Books and pamphlets

  • Brahminism : father of fascism, racism, nazism: Bangalore : Dalit Sahitya Academy, 1993
  • Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar: clash of two values: the verdict of history. Bangalore: Dalit Sahitya Akademy, 1989
  • Dalit: the black Untouchables of India (foreword by Y.N. Kly). Atlanta; Ottawa: Clarity Press, c1987 ISBN 0-932863-05-1 (Originally published under title: Apartheid in India. Bangalore: Dalit Action Committee, 1979)
  • Apartheid in India: an international problem, 2nd rev. ed. Publisher: Bangalore: Dalit Sahitya Akademy, 1983
  • Who is the mother of Hitler? Bangalore: Dalit Sahitya Akademy, 1984
  • Ambedkar and his conversion: a critique. Bangalore: Dalit Action Committee, Karnataka, 1980
  • Caste - A Nation within the Nation- V.T. Rajshekar
  • Development Redefined - V.T. Rajshekar
  • Weapons to Fight Counter Revolution - V.T. Rajshekar
  • Shape of things to come - V.T. Rajshekar
  • Grave - Diggers of History - V.T. Rajshekar
  • Why Dalits Hate Hinduism? - V.T. Rajshekar
  • India as a Failed State - V.T. Rajshekar
  • Brahminism - V.T. Rajshekar
  • Aggression on Indian Culture - V.T. Rajshekar
  • India's Intellectual Desert - V.T. Rajshekar
  • The Zionist Arthashastra (Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion) - V.T. Rajshekar
  • India's Muslim Problem - V.T. Rajshekar
  • Judicial Terrorism - V.T. Rajshekar & Iqbal Ahmed Shariff
  • When Dalits Disobeyed Final Words of their Father - V.T. Rajshekar
  • Dalit Voice - A New Experiment in Journalism - V.T. Rajshekar
  • In defence of Brahmins - V.T. Rajshekar
  • West Losing War on Muslims - V.T. Rajshekar
  • Muslims and Mustadafeen - V.T. Rajshekar

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dalit Voice About Us
  2. ^ a b c Human Rights Watch Article
  3. ^ Dalit Voice Website listing Rajshekhar as the founder
  4. ^ a b c Poliakov, Léon (1994). Histoire de l’antisémitisme 1945-93 (P.395). Paris. 
  5. ^ African Studies Review, Vol. 43, No. 1, Special Issue on the Diaspora (Apr., 2000), pp. 189-201online
  6. ^ dalitvoice.org
  7. ^ Google Cache of Dalitvoice article See "Abuse of History" Hitler not worst villain of 20th century as painted by "Zionists"
  8. ^ Defeat in Iraq & fall of Bush: India warned to quickly adjust to big changes in WestDalit Voice Article
  9. ^ a b [1] Ayodhya and After, Koenraad Elst (Chpt 14)
  10. ^ Dalit Voice, 1-12-1991##
  11. ^ a b Dalit Voice, 16-1-1993##
  12. ^ Clinton, victim of Zionist conspiracy?” Dalit Voice, 1-9-1998.
  13. ^ Bunt
  14. ^ [2]
  15. ^ Dalit Voice Vol 24, No. 15 see "'Socialist Brahmin' calls DV casteist" and "Editor answerable only to DV family , not prostitutes of vaidiks"
  16. ^ Rajshekhar, V T . 2004. Caste a Nation within a Nation 'Recipe for a Bloodless Revolution. 'BfC'
  17. ^ Interview by Yoginder Singh Sikand
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