QUESTION FOR S.C. PANDA

Submitted by DANIEL REDMOND (United States), Nov 19, 2009 at 04:27

I am well aware of the long-standing rift between Muslims and Hindus dating to well before the official "partition" of India and Pakistan. Assuming that you are a Hindu, I am wondering what your thoughts are on the plight of the Dalits of India? A century ago there were an estimated sixty million of them, known variously as Pariahs, Dalits or simply "the Untouchables." Nothing has changed in their lives other than their numbers, which have increased. Today the conservative estimate is that at least 160 million of India's people have been relegated to the lowest rungs of society under the oppressive caste system imposed by the Hindu religion.

Hinduism may not seek to convert the world through violence, as does Islam, but it has crushed countless people under the boot heel of its own twisted system of social oppression which condemns millions of people to lives of misery based upon a belief that in some "former life" they've committed and unpardonable sin.

Any thoughts on the subject?

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