‘The myth of Durga and the saga of Bahujan resistance’
Bahujan Films
This short documentary (posted at the end of this note) named ‘Durga ka Mithak aur Bahujan Sangharsh ki Yatra‘ has its genesis in the OBC students of the country’s premier university, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, asserting their right to redefine the brahminical religious texts that portrays the brahminical hegemony of ‘upper’ castes in the Indian society.
These students believe that the so called Hindu gods and goddess and the festivals surrounding their myths are nothing but the history of ‘upper’ castes domination over the indigenous population of the country – SC, ST and OBCs and therefore the time has come to re-interpret these texts with Bahujan perspective.
In particular the myth of ‘Goddess’ Durga’s slaying of ‘demon’ Mahishashura is nothing but the brutal killing of a Bahujan king by an ‘upper’ caste Aryan woman through treachery, and therefore for all the indigenous population of the country a very sad day, unlike for the brahminical class that celebrates it with great pomp and show by giving it a religious fervor.
With this perspective, the student members of All India Backward Students Forum (AIBSF) came out with a poster in JNU campus trying to start a debate around the myth of Goddess Durga and portraying the true nature of brahminical class’s hegemony in the grab of Hindu religion and reclaiming the greatness of Sudra king Mahishasur.
However, instead of debate and logic, the brahminical students under the banner of a right wing student group ABVP, resorted to physical violence against the student members of AIBSF and assaulted them in the campus on 10 October.
It is unfortunate that the JNU administration has till now failed to provide justice to these students and has slapped a notice on the student activists of AIBSF instead of punishing the ‘upper’ caste students who resorted to physical violence, trying to intimidate the ‘lower’ caste students of the campus.
Undeterred by JNU administration’s casteist behavior and violence by ‘upper’ caste students, AIBSF celebrated ‘Mahishasur Divas’ on 25th October that was attended by hundreds of SC, ST, OBC students of the campus.
This documentary foregrounds the struggle of OBC, SC, ST students of JNU who are trying to fight the ‘upper’ caste hegemony in different forms including religion and educational spaces like JNU, New Delhi.
We, at Bahujan Films, sincerely salute the vision and mission of these students and express our solidarity with them.
[Read more about the recent events in JNU here and here]
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