Racist and blind to it: Indians face the mirror

RACISM VS CASTEISM: Experts on CNN-IBN say Indians should not confuse racist slurs with caste slurs.

          

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Millions of cricket fans across India are enraged that off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been accused of racism and banned for three Tests. Fans say there is no evidence against Harbhajan and no Indian can ever be racist.

“India’s national commitment is against racism. Our national struggle is based on values that negate racism,” the Indian cricket board has said while rejecting the allegation against Harbhajan.

But is that always true? Does a radio jockey calling Nepalese chowkidars and spectators teasing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds with monkey chants prove that we are racist or is it just the misbehavior of a few Indians? Are Indians unaware of their internal racist bias?

CNN-IBN’s Senior Editor Sagarika Ghose asked this on Face The Nation to Dipankar Gupta, who teaches Sociology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Professor Kancha Ilaiah, a Dalit activist and writer, and former cricketer Maninder Singh.

Cultural clash

Australians say ‘b*****d’ is not that offensive to them as ‘monkey’, the slur Harbhajan allegedly used against Symonds.

Indians would regard ‘b*****d’ very insulting but ‘monkey’ not that offensive. So is this controversy merely a play of words or is it a misunderstanding between two cultures?

“A word doesn’t become racist because two people suddenly decided it to be. A word becomes racist because of convention and a large number of people agreed that it was racist. The term ‘Paki’ is racist but Brit is not, the term Caucasian is not racist but the term ‘Negro’ is. Monkey is not a racist term in India,” said Gupta.

However, in the racism allegation against Harbhajan, Ilaiah reminded, “It is important to consider how Andrew Symonds perceived that word.”

“Symonds is a Black and ethnically he has been denied historical rights. He has alleged that he has been called a monkey because he is a Black person. That is very important,” he said.

“In India, Brahminical forces consider ‘Chandala’ as a positive word but Dalits, tribals and other backward classes consider it as completely abusive. Our casteism is transcending into racism,” said Ilaiah.

But is sledging on the cricket field really racism?

Former cricketer Singh said players use abuses to “hurt the opposition” and break their concentration. “Symonds hasn’t taken too kindly to whatever has happened. His complaint is based on what he thinks,” said Singh.

“If Harbhajan has said that word (monkey) — and I am sure he has not — he did not do it with the intention that Symonds has taken it to be. Harbhajan said something in Hindi or Punjabi and Symonds has taken it in the sense of what it means in English,” he said.

Remember Jade Goody

Ilaiah found no merit in the logic of the comparison between Goody and Symonds.

“The whole question of racism is being taken as a national issue. We protested and made a big issue of (British celebrity) Jade Goody abusing Shilpa Shetty on reality show Celebrity Big Brother. Then why don’t we give the same benefit of doubt to Symonds and ask Harbhajan to apologise? Why are we not doing that?” he asked.

Gupta disagreed with the view that ‘monkey’ is racist. “It is an unwise term to use — it should not have been used — but it is not racist. Cricketers use highly objectionable terms, including incestuous ones, on the field and say that is part of the game. If that is part of the game then how come calling someone a snake, a rat or a snake in the grass is not racist. We should not confuse racist slurs with caste slurs,” he said.

Ilaiah responded by saying there is a “very close interlink” between caste and race. “The upper castes in India, whether they are in cricket or in academics, have no sense of guilt. This is a country, which drinks buffalo milk but worships the cow because it is a white animal. The buffalo cannot be worshipped because it’s black. This is the kind of racism that has gone into upper caste minds,” he said.

What then would be the best solution to the present crisis between the Indian and Australian cricket teams?

Singh thought the best solution would be that Harbhajan and Symonds say sorry to each other.

Gupta accepted that India has a “racist and hierarchical” society but again insisted that any abuse or slur is bad. “Sledging is something that the Australians started. How come abuses that hurt very deeply are allowed and this one word becomes an issue,” he said.

Ilaiah stuck to his view and concluded the show by saying, “These two things (abuse and racism) cannot be equated. The BCCI and Harbhajan must say sorry.”

SMS result on question of the day: Are Indians unaware of their internal racist bias?

Yes: 83 per cent

No: 17 per cent