Valmiki community have Brahmin past says BJP leader Bizay Sonkar Shastri

NEW DELHI: BJP seems to be actively helping the Dalit community reimagine its history, particularly in times of communal polarisation in the electorally significant state of Uttar Pradesh.

Bizay Sonkar Shastri, a BJP national spokesperson and its eastern UP Dalit face, claims many sub castes of Dalits were initially Brahmins or Kshatriyas who were forced down the caste ladder to take up menial jobs because of Muslim invasion. This is the thrust of his new book, Hindu Valmiki Jaati.

The launch was timed to coincide with bypolls to 11 assembly and one Lok Sabha seat in UP on Friday. Shastri is from Rohania in Varanasi, a constituency going for polls. Meanwhile, four other constituencies in western UP were voting will take place have been severely hit by communal violence. “Three books have been launched by RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwatji. The books talk about our demand for social acceptability and our place in the society especially when many sub-castes of Dalits who were once upper castes (Brahmins and Kshatriyas) were actually forced to take up menial jobs just to save their religion,” said Shastri. He is also an ex-chair man of National Commission for SC & STs.

“India was subjected to foreign invasion for more than 2,000 years and it was primarily to loot its huge prosperity. Later during Mughal and other Islamic invasions, it was with the mindset to rule the country and propagate Islam,” said Shastri. Shastri said his “study on the Valmiki community (sweepers) reveals that the people of this community are related to almost 10 per cent of Brahmin community and almost 90 per cent of the existing Kshatriya community”.

Even defeated Rajputs who were Kshatriyas once were forced to become sweepers, according to Shastri’s book. The maximum exploitation of Kshatriyas occurred between the reigns of Qutubuddin Aibak and Lodhi or roughly 1200-1500, according to him.

The book quotes BR Ambedkar as saying, “Every community in India was self-respecting and consisted of warriors. Arms were possessed only by Kshatriyas and soldiers. The people were made prisoners only because they were unarmed. Had they been armed, the war would never have been lost. But the struggles that the Hindus underwent is an example for the entire world.”