Anthropologically no God is Brahmin; Lord Shiva must be a SC or ST, says JNU VC Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit

New Delhi: JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit courts controversy by saying that no God is a Brahmin and that “anthropologically” Gods do not belong to the upper caste.

Referring to the recent violence involving a nine-year-old Dalit boy, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice Chancellor said: “Most of you should know the origins of our gods anthropologically. No god is a Brahmin. The highest is a Kshatriya.”

Speaking at a programme organised by the Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi, Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit further said, “Lord Shiva must be a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe because he sits in a cemetery with a snake and has very little clothes to wear. I don’t think Brahmins can sit in the cemetery.”

Delivering the Dr BR Ambedkar Lecture Series titled ‘Dr BR Ambedkar’s Thoughts on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil Code’, the JNU VC said that “status of Shudras given to women in Manusmriti” makes it extraordinarily regressive.

“Let me tell all women that all women, according to Manusmriti, are Shudras. So no woman can claim she is a brahmin or anything else and it is only by marriage that you get the husband or father’s caste on you. I think this is something which is extraordinarily regressive,” she added.

“Anthropologically” gods, including Lakshmi, Shakti do not come from the upper caste, she added.

Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said that the greatest tribute to gender justice would be to implement a uniform civil code. “Uniformity of laws is meant to make people progressive and broad-minded. …unless we have social democracy, our political democracy is a mirage,” she added.

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“In fact, Jagannath has tribal origins. So why are we still continuing with this discrimination which is very very inhuman? It is very important that we are rethinking, and reorienting the thoughts of Babasaheb. We do not have any leader of modern India who was such a great thinker. Hinduism is not a religion. It is a way of life and if it is the way of life, then why are we scared of criticism,” the JNU VC said.

“Gautam Buddha was one of the first to wake us up on the discriminations which are embedded, structured in our society,” she added.

Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit and her controversies

It is worth mentioning that it is not for the first time that Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit has stirred controversy by her statements.

A report by DNA dated 5 August, 2011, has said that in that year when Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit was a professor at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), she faced allegations of corruption. She allegedly granted admission to 1,800 Indian students on seats which were allocated for Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) violating rules.

In February this year, days after she was appointed as JNU VC, a Twitter page @SantishreeD, made tweets condoning Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, criticised BJP’s opponents, slammed Shaheen Bagh protesters farmers. After the issue caught attention and lead to controversy, the Twitter handle was deleted. She had later clarified that she never had a Twitter account.

With inputs from agencies

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