Jack Dorsey, CEO, Twitter was in the news for holding a placard with words ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’. It was gifted to him by women activists with whom he had a closed-door meeting on his visit to India. It triggered the 9-6 troll mobs who slandered him and labelled him as a racist. The reason why he was trending, begs us to question, is India a ‘tolerant’ ‘pluralistic’ ‘democratic’ republic’ with freedom of expression? And the alacrity with which Twitter apologized begs us to question, is Twitter a ‘modern age’ tool for the desecration of antique cobwebs and a guarantor of ‘freedom of thoughts’?
It was no wonder the opposition to the post came from the personalities considered as the most ‘articulate’ voices of the right. This triggered the pandemonium as the troll army took this as a signal to hurl ‘abuses’ and spread ‘libel’ as their means to lodge their protest against ‘hate mongering’.These are the same actors which went mute when, ‘lynch mobs’ were on a riot, an 8-year-old teen was raped and killed in a temple, the constitution was attacked, women were blamed for their rape, and minorities were attacked. Yes, the same voices are now ballyhooing to resist and oppose themes which they consider will ‘destabilize’ the Indian nation. Irony! What a single placard impelled them to speak of protecting the nation, hundreds of lynchings and vandalism could not do.
The most strange thing is this entire episode is that this 5% minority( they call themselves) are so touchy and virulent over a naive placard written with delible ink. Inspite of the fact that historically ‘Brahmanism’ does not singly refer to any community but refers to the cancerous tumor which has spread across every Indian community. No doubt, the originators of this disease have lent their name to the term, but does it demand such virility?
The presence of Brahminical patriarchy is flagrant across every society in India and obsessively invoked by every one of them. It is all-pervasive and hideously hidden that it seems normal to every Indian. Like how a girl’s favourite toy in India must be a ‘pink barbie’ whereas a boy should be a ‘red car’. There are several other examples of Brahminical Patriarchy entrenched in our society that it looks so normal.
A woman’s favorite and most preferred occupation must be at home in cooking, washing utensils, swabbing floors, changing napkins of kids and cleaning toilets; a man’s occupation is outside and he should earn, earn, and just earn.
A girl in India who spends a lot of time at her home is ‘perfect’ whereas a man who spends most of his time at home is imperfect.
A girl should not remain outside late night and must dress properly to safety her; a man can roam like a wild dog at any time and his promiscuity is just a symbol of his masculinity.
These are ‘Brahminical Patriarchy’ which is dominant across India but why this term was connoted and alluded to a 5% minority is intriguing. It is in the theme of the right-wing fanatics who just wait for a chance to lap up on any issue to just show themselves as the true protectors of Indian ethos and culture. But it was such a shame and ignominy and a slap on their face when at the time they were rabble-rousing a 14-year-old teen, belonging to a non-brahmin family, became a victim of ‘Brahminical Patriarchy’. A tree fell on a 14-year-old girl and killed her on spot when she was made to sleep alone in a thatched hut, because she was menstruating.
This is just one of those many incidents which occur due to our total repudiation of rationality and humanity and naked embracing of societal values. Bigoted customs which are egregious are many which have been steadfastly followed by Indians generations after generations in the name of values and conventions. In many parts of India, the first intercourse between a man and a woman is done on white cloth which is inspected by the village elders after the union. On the absence of blood stains, a divorce is decreed, as virginity is considered a inexcusable propriety of women. As a nation, we must feel ashamed and indignant about the continuance of such doleful and baleful customs. Instead, we have a right-wing mob which enthusiastically justifies such cretinous customs. And every time the rest of India remains silent, they are too supporting these decadent practices. The voice is to raise, not to surrender.
Tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.
Karl Marx
It has been more than a month since the Supreme Court threw open the Sabarimala Temple to women belonging to the menstruating age. Yet, no one has entered the premises of the sanctum as the right wing mob has waged a war and has refused to yield way. The ethos and culture they have vowed to protect is not Indian but alien to the ‘sanatana dharma’ of ours.
If Men could menstruate, menstruation would become an enviable, worthy masculine event,…[people would use it as] proof that only men could…be priests, ministers…or rabbis
Gloria Steinem(If Men Could Menstruate)
The people at spearheading the campaigns to protect the customs and values are just working to protect the status quo- woman is the slave of man. The customs and practices are just a rue to safeguard this ossified status quo.
It was not surprising when the Jack Dorsey was questioned if he would hold a placard advocating hatred of jews. The propensity of the trolls to make irrational claims is not unfounded as they fail to realize that ‘Brahminical Patrirachy’ is not a superficial theme of the Brahmin society or the Indian society in general. It is a vice which has its imprints deep within the system. Till today, a marriage of a woman in Brahmin households is called a ‘kanya dana'(woman donation). The woman is considered as an object, a property of a father given to another man, her husband, her future owner.
I free her from here, but not from there, I have bound her firmly there, so she through the grace of Indra she will have fine sons.
Translation of Sanskrit sloka(chanting) during marriage ceremonies
Patriarchy is inherent in our everyday practices and values we have inherited. And to deny it is an act of treachery. And to defend it is an act of moral depravity. The accident between the right wing trolls and Twitter was treacherous and depraved.
Least bothered about the pretensions of the bigot and the reticence of Twitter – Smash Brahminical Patriarchy, it is long overdue.