Highlights
- JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit issued a clarification on her remark.
- She claimed what she said weren't her own thoughts, but she was paraphrasing BR Ambedkar.
- Delivering a keynote address during an event, she spoke about the 'caste of gods'.
JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit issued a clarification on her remark where she spoke about the 'caste of Gods'. She defended herself claiming what she said weren't her own thoughts, but she was only paraphrasing what BR Ambedkar said in his books. Her clarification came a day after her remarks during the lecture. She delivered the Dr B R Ambedkar Lecture Series titled 'Dr. B R Ambedkar's Thoughts on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil Code'.
"I was speaking on Dr. BR Ambedkar and gender justice, decoding uniform civil code so I had to analyze what was his thought so I was paraphrasing what he said in his books these are not my ideas," she said. "I also said that Hinduism is the only religion and a way of life. Sanatan Dharma accepts dissent, diversity, and difference. No other faith does it and it is to the credit of Hinduism that such great dissenters from Gautam Buddha to Ambedkar are celebrated," she added.
Referring to her remarks that all women, according to the ManuSmriti, "are Shudras", she said she was analyzing the work of Ambedkar. "He wrote a lot on ManuSmriti and it is he who said all this. I was only analyzing his viewpoint and he being the father of the Indian constitution and the chairman of the drafting committee- it is extremely important to understand his philosophy. When I was talking about gender justice it was very important for me to even analyze this point of view," she said.
What was the controversy about?
Delivering a keynote address during the event, JNU VC Pandit stressed on the need for caste abolition to make society better and said, "I don't think that Brahmins can sit in a crematorium. Lord Shiva wears snakes around his neck, sits in a crematorium, and wears fewer clothes, so he may be from the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community".
"We should understand the origin of our Gods anthropologically or scientifically. Anthropologically, Laxmi, Shakti and even Lord Jagannath do not belong to the upper caste. Lord Jagannath is from Adivasi (tribal) community," she added.
"....so there is a controversy but this is what Dr. Ambedkar has said so we have to look at it critically because he is one of the great dissenters. It is extremely important for modern India especially when we are going to the Amrit Kal and looking into some of our great nationalists who have written a lot. These were not my thoughts. I am not as great and original as Dr Ambedkar. As a good academician, I was just analyzing his views on gender and justice," she said the next day after a controversy erupted.
(With inputs from ANI)
