So-called high caste Yadavs at Laxmipur Baguwa in Janakpur have recently boycotted Chamars, one of the Dalit communities, for not scavenging carcasses. The editorial in the state-run centenarian Gorkhapatra daily has brought the incident to public attention.
Caste untouchability is an extreme form of Aryan racism dating back to ancient Hindu caste hierarchy.
Generally those enjoying political and socio-economic privileges in the two Hindu countries India and Nepal discriminate people as ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ on the basis of caste descent.
Caste discrimination is a serious human rights issue in India and Nepal where so-called ‘superior caste’ people treat so-called ‘inferior caste’ people as animals or sub-humans.
As part of caste discrimination, so-called ‘inferior caste’ people are treated as ‘untouchables’ (meaning ‘ritually contaminating by physical touch). Because of this deep-rooted caste discrimination, almost five million so-called ‘untouchables’ in Nepal have for centuries remained deprived of human rights.
These deprived people, who are excluded from political and socio-economic mainstream, are not allowed to enter public temples and shops in more than 3,900 villages in Nepal.
Chamars, also belonging to this so-called ‘untouchable’ category, were for centuries forced by village feudals to scavenge carcasses.
After ‘royal’ Nepal became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in May 2008, Chamars got excited enough to defy the deep-rooted anti-human rights imposed occupation of scavenging. As they decided to take up some other jobs by using their own conscience, the Yadavs punished them by boycotting them.
Boycott of so-called ‘untouchables’ by so-called ‘superior caste’ people refers to prohibiting the victims from using public facilities such as drinking water, transport, walking on the roads, buying food and medicine, going to school and farms and more.
Although such a gross violation of human rights has been editorially raised in the government-owned daily newspaper, no response from either the government or political leaderships in Nepal has been reported yet.
A similar anti-Chamar boycott was launched in Lahan, Siraha by so-called ‘superior’ caste people in 2001.