Caste or Jati wasn’t a concept I knew much about. I was raised in a Muslim household, with one of the tenets being that all Muslims are equal in the eyes of God, and I always thought it wasn’t something we, the modern, well-educated Indian Muslim practised. I thought Caste was a relic of the archaic Hindu belief system and was practised only in villages, and was on its way out in our modern Indian society. Even though keenly interested in politics, I did not think caste in India was a big issue anymore. I thought these wrongs were made right. We have been giving them reservations for almost 70 years now. What more do these people need? Why do they keep bringing up their caste? Are they not encouraging the caste system by doing so? I mean, I don’t bring my caste into conversation, why do they?

And then I started researching more on it. I started to read about the experiences of Dalit and lower caste people in modern India, written by themselves. I started to read about the history of these people. And let me tell you, I had to dig deep because you don’t read about them in the annals of history as deeply as other figures and movements. There was maybe a passing, small paragraph about them in my school history book, and that too was in relation to Gandhi. The more I read, the more disillusioned I became.

One of the early realizations that I had was that the caste system is akin to our own homegrown, made in India, vocal for local, slavery system. The upper castes just gave this system a little makeover so that it can continue to thrive in the modern world, but the core value of the exploitation of the poor and lower castes remained the same.

It very much exists in all spheres of Indian society. Caste is so deeply rooted, no religion in India is immune to it. Even religion like Sikhism, which was created partly in opposition to caste-based atrocities, now practises caste as well. Similarly, Muslims practise and uphold caste hierarchies, with Ashraf being at the top. But also, communities like mine, Dawoodi Bohra, who continue to enjoy the privileges of their Brahmin Hindu ancestors, even after conversion. Similarly, lower caste even after conversion to other religions like Islam or Christianity, who in practice should be opposed to it, continued to be plagued by the horrors of their low birth status.

As I kept researching, another major realization struck me, that I did not have the knowledge of, or about caste system; it wasn’t because it stopped existing, it was because of my privilege and my standing as an upper caste. I did not have to remember my caste or talk about it for me to benefit from it. My ancestors did a pretty good job of reminding the lower caste of their status in society, so I did not have to anymore. It’s the lower caste that needs to remember their place.

The fall of the Mughal Empire and the rise of British rule in India is marked by the spectacular fall of Indian Muslim elites. Having enjoyed immense prestige and power even though being a minority in the country before, they were now left with neither prestige nor power. They knew that the power that they enjoyed could not be replicated again, so it was better to hold on to the privilege instead, in a society that was deeply unequal, and so began the collaboration of the Indian Muslim upper caste and elites with that of the establishment.

Upper caste Muslims, if not actively supporting caste, definitely did not oppose the system that they benefited from. And as the British started to instigate religious disharmony in India, with a false narrative of temple destruction and invasion by Muslims, most of these elites stood by and watched, preferring instead to send their kids to English schools and colleges to accrue more privilege, then to counter this hate-filled narrative.

During our struggle for independence, which saw the cost of this hatred, the division of our country on religious grounds, Muslim elites stood by and watched as thousands of poor and lower caste Muslims were massacred. Even after, in free and newly formed democratic- secular India, pogroms against poor and lower caste Muslims continued to happen, with the same silence from the elite Muslims.

If anything, Upper caste, elite Muslims took pride in the fact that they were not like the poor lower caste Muslims with their deep religious ties. They tried to mould themselves into modern Indian Muslims, became atheists, secular, wine drinking, poetry writing, art making community, for the friendship of the upper caste Hindus. Their cultural Muslim identity too gauche for modern India.

This transformation did help them; they became pioneers of art and music. They dominated cinema. And the prestige they lost, especially after partition, started to come back. But these happy days weren’t going to last.

The forces of Hindutva that were dormant until Indira Gandhi came out in full force after the emergency. The anti-congress wave that gripped the nation was the perfect fertile ground for the indoctrination of the young Hindu mind. They started stirring communal poison in our society. The fruits of the labour of this hate-filled politics will not see mainstream success until 2014, but it did see to violence against lower caste and poor Muslims in greater numbers, with massacres like those in Nellie, Hashimpura, and Bhagalpur. But still, the elite Muslims who were the representatives politically chose to hide, thinking that they would never be touched as long as they maintained the complicity by remaining silent.

But that all changed in 2002. When the Gulberg society was attacked. A gated community, with upper-class and upper-caste Muslim inhabitants, where an ex-MP, with political connections, was killed with impunity, and houses were burned to the ground. It was the slap in the face of the elite Muslims to stir them awake. It was the first time that they realized that the Brahmanical order that gave them privilege would not protect them anymore. However much they try and distance themselves from the poor “too Muslim” populace, the Hindutva forces will never accept them. And this is the reason why the Gujarat riots became such a big deal. State-sponsored violence against Muslims in India was not a new phenomenon; what was new were the victims. And till this day, the Gujarat pogrom is considered a blight on modern-day India.

Now that the Indian Muslim is finally awake to the Hindutva forces, forces that primarily aim to impose and codify the Brahmanical Varna order, it is only through solidarity with lower castes and Dalits that we can fight them. Muslims in India are a minority, and elite Muslims are a minority within a minority. Even then, they hold significant political power. But instead of uniting with others who are fighting the same enemy, they have often focused on creating a separate Muslim identity, emphasizing differences rather than what unites us.

If Muslims in India truly want to fight fascist forces, they have no choice but to make their politics inclusive. This means building solidarity not just within Islamic communities, but also with marginalised groups from lower-caste Hindu and Dalit communities. It is only through becoming caste traitors that we can finally have a new society that will not be based on exploitation and violence, a society that is truly free.

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Why does the Hindutva brigade support Zionists? As a former colony of Britain, India should unequivocally understand and support the struggle of the Palestinian people. And that was the case for the longest time. But in recent years, something has changed, and if you're like me, you must have had this question. If you think it's because they hate Muslims, then I would tell you that it's only partly true, and the answer is quite complicated and can be observed in history, and like all the conflicts of the modern world, this can also be traced back to the British.

When the British came to India, they found a peculiar society where the ruling class was Muslim, but the majority was non-Muslim. The concept of a unified Hindu identity did not exist, and society was governed more by caste than by religion. Hinduism did not have set rules of worship, unlike the Abrahamic religions, and this the British did not understand. They sought the help of brahmins, the so-called custodians of the Hindu religion, to categorize the population so they could exercise better control over them. In Varna order, they hit a jackpot. This thinking that some people are superior solely based on their birth was exactly the kind of thinking that complemented the racist British ideology of white supremacy, and helped justify British rule in India.

During the World War II, we know that Hindutva leaders like Golwalkar spoke positively about race pride and endorsed Nazi ideology. So, how does it work? How does endorsement of Nazis, go together with endorsing Zionism. From the outside, these are opposite viewpoints. One wants to exterminate all jews and establish a superior Aryan nation, while the other one calls for an ethno-religious state for Jews. But if one were to take a closer look, it’s hard to ignore all the similarities.

Zionism was born out of the last vestiges of a dying empire. Encompassing all of it worst vices in one ideology - Antisemitism, that Jews did not belong in Europe, colonialism, that encouraged settler occupation, Racism, that demeans and dehumanizes native Palestinian (read non-whites), Christian fundamentalism, that holds bible as the only and absolute truth, and expansionist militarisation, that breeds regional conflicts and instability.

It’s on the back of this ideology that the state of Israel was founded. And it’s the same ideology that was praised by the founders of Hindutva outfits as well. Hindutva Brigade believes in the Varna system, does not believe in merit, and believes that some human beings are inherently low just by their birth, and so, of course, feels threatened by religions like Islam and Christianity as they destroy these underlying ideas. Hindutva brigade, which comprises upper caste Hindus at its head and leaders, enjoys the same amount of privilege as that of a rich white man in America or Europe. Thus, it’s no surprise that these same Indians support anti-immigration laws in a country where they are an immigrant themselves. This level of cognitive dissonance can only come from the generation of privilege and exploitation of lower castes.

Hindutva, like the state of Israel, believes in ethno-religious superiority, believes in expansionist military action, with its fantasies of Akhand Bharat. They want a state like Israel for themselves, where minorities (or anyone they don’t like, really) can be disappeared, killed, or deported. They love the idea of a state that exercises its right to exist solely through military might. They have already started this project by taking over the big media first, influencing the masses, then by corrupting our institutions such as the police force, schools, colleges, ED. They want to arrange our beautiful, diverse society back into the varna order, where upper castes Hindus can finally and fully treat the lower castes and minorities with impunity.

These forces did not participate in the national struggle for independence, but continue to corrode the values enshrined in our constitution, which we sought with the blood and sweat of our forefathers.

We should always be wary of the people who view even the innocent children through a lens of suspicion and would actively call for the killing of these children. We should fight these forces that are trying to normalise this behaviour and are celebrating the collapse of international law and world order. The only good news is that, however much the corrupt media try and amplify these evil voices, the ground reality is that most ordinary Indians continue to feel for the Palestinian cause and so continue to defy and rebel against the Hindutva brigade.

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