“What does the word Shudra mean and why does it have a condescending connotation to it while Phule uses this word positively?” Rahul Gandhi asked a delegation of Marathi authors, poets, students and columnists led by renowned linguist Prof. GN Devy. The question had come as a response to a remark “The Warkari tradition had enabled a shudra, Shivaji to become a king”.This was an illustration of the issues raised by the delegates including caste-based discrimination, religious polarisation, CAA, NRC, Farmer suicides etc.
Laxmikant Deshmukh, one of the representatives expressed that the country needs a leader who will protect the freedom of expression, and under whose regime they will not feel threatened to write freely about the issues that face the country. Someone who will protect the pen culture and condemn the gun culture. He praised Mr. Gandhi’s courage to name the RSS categorically for their role in spreading hatred and threatening the Constitution.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s question the representatives said that Shudra means one who works with their hands for productive work. However, there was strong resonance about the negativity attached to the word and the fact that the word came to prevalence owing to Manusmriti.
When Mr. Gandhi asked “As I am doing the yatra for the past 66 days, meeting thousands of children on the roads and I ask them a question- What do you want to become? I get nothing beyond five answers — IAS, Government job, Doctor, Engineer or Army. Why is it so far that only two children answered beyond these 5 categories?”
“Why should there be lack of honor in doing productive work with your hands that adds to the development of the country, of humanity?” Said a concerned Rahul Gandhi as he cited the example of a young girl who broke into tears when she awoke to the reality that there are only 150 appointments of IAS officers every year contrary to her belief that they were a lakh per year. Inferring that honor is earned when dreams see the light of the day, he added that the only solution to all the issues raised by the delegation was to reverse the attitude that producing with own hands is a bad thing.
Triggering a debate worth delving in with the who’s who of the literary world of Maharashtra, Rahul Gandhi went on to join the evening leg of the yatra at kalamnoori, the land of sufi saint Noori, on Saturday, the 66th day of the yatra. The yatris will rest and rejuvenate on November 13th — a rest day for the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
