"Hello, friends!" "Tea seller, Puncture repairer," "Ragpicker, Bardancer and Waiter." These are some professions jobs that some people have. "But in our country, these words are often used as insults." "In today's short Blog," I'd like to talk about social evil. That's Classism. "You heard that right, not Casteism," Classism. Casteism is when a caste is discriminated against. Or treating people from different castes differently. And spreading hatred against them. Classism is discriminating against people based on their social class. """If Narendra Modi wants to sell tea," "we'll get a place for him.""" """Ask me what was Sonia Gandhi's job." "She was a courtesan.""" """Poor people have this problem," we need to keep smiling. "Have you ever seen a rude poor person?""" There are many famous examples of this. "In 2019, BJP leader Tejasvi Surya" called the people protesting against CAA as puncture repairers. "In 2014, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had" "called Narendra Modi a tea seller," and said that a tea seller cannot be the Prime Minister. "Recently, another case was seen on Twitter,"
involving the co-founder of Alt News Mohammed Zubair. Zubair highlighted an older tweet of Times
Now anchor Sushant Sinha showing that he
had another viewpoint earlier and has
a completely different viewpoint now. Called
him a chameleon and that he keeps
changing colours all the time. "In
reply, Sushant Sinha called him a puncture-walah." Zubair's ancestors didn't repair punctures. "But since Zubair is a Muslim," using the word 'puncture-walah' as an
insult to Muslims is not only classist but has also become a religious stereotype
in our country. "Often, trolls
spreading hate on social media in the name of religion," use such language against Muslims. Calling Christians as 'rice bags' and Muslims as 'puncture-walah.' Every Christian isn't a missionary trying
to convert others. Nor is every Muslim's
job repairing punctures. These are
merely used to insult people and spread hatred in the name of religion. "In our country, Muslims are involved
in every type of profession," "chefs
in restaurants, soldiers, scientists, teachers, barbers, carpenters,
journalists." "Renowned
actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Irfan Khan and Aamir Khan," "Renowned singers like Mohammed Rafi,
A. R. Rahman," India's Antarctica
Man Dr Syed Zahoor Qasim. He led the
first expedition to Antarctica. Famous
businessman and philanthropist Asim Premji
"And obviously, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam," the Missile Man of India. Our former President. The same thing is in every religion. Creating useless stereotypes accomplishes
nothing. "But now, let's come to
the topic of the Blog." Classism.
"Even if someone is a puncture repairer," what's wrong with it? "Friends, I'd like to use another
interesting example here." It
happened a few weeks ago. "Recently,
the government launched a new train"
the Ramayan Express.
It takes one to 15 places associated with the Ramayan. Like Ayodha. "But hearing about this train
launch," one sadhu (hermit) came
forward to say that he wouldn't let
this train run. That he would go and
sit on the tracks to stop the train. What
was the issue? He said that he wanted
to protect the Hindu religion. How did
the launch of the Ramayan Express threaten the Hindu religion? It's very interesting. The issue was that the waiters on the train had a saffron dress code. And these hermits believed that such a dress code wasn't suitable for a
waiter's job. That it was an insult to
their religion. If the waiters wore
the saffron outfit. What do waiters
do? They serve food to the people. They don't steal someone's food. This shows a major classist attitude. These protectors of the religion do not
have a problem "when Pragya
Thakur, a terror accused," wears
a saffron outfit. And calls herself a
Hindu. Their Hindu religion isn't
threatened then. "Literally, a
politician who's a terror accused,"
does such things and they have
no problem with it. "But when a
waiter," "an honest waiter
who is just doing his job," "is
working hard to earn a livelihood,"
when he does his work and is good at it that threatens their fragile religion. Why?
Because society sees the job of the waiter at a low level. "Ironically, religion is used to
spread such a classist attitude."
"Had these protectors of the religion truly read up on their
religion,"
they would've known
what the religious scriptures truly say. "In Bhagwat Gita," "Krishna tells Arjun," "the highest devotee," looks for equality among every living
being. Swami Vivekanand talked about
the concept of God being in all of us.
But these people fail to understand it. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had famously said "If you're interested in the biography
of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam," I'd like
to recommend that you listen to the audiobook on him on KUKU FM. It is an insightful audiobook. "I think you've come to know about
KUKU FM," it is an amazing audio
learning platform on which you can
find many such biographies. "Normally,
you get a 20% discount" "but
for the first 1,000 subscribers to click on the link given in the
description" they'll get a 50%
discount on the annual plan. It means that the annual cost of KUKU FM
for you would be ₹199 only. Less than
the price of a movie ticket. The link
is in the description below. Do check
it out. Coming back to the topic. "In 2017, a Twitter handle run by
Congress' volunteers" posted a
meme on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Showing the Prime Minister of the UK
telling Modi """Stick
to selling tea."""
Congress distanced itself from this. "But the then Chief Minister of Gujarat
from BJP," "posted that it
is a classist remark," and
discriminates against poor people. It's
absolutely correct. "But some
months later," the BJP leaders
forget to check the classist mentality of their supporters. "Some months later, trending on
Twitter was #BarDancerSoniaGandhi."
It's something that's used against Sonia Gandhi calling her a bar dancer. "First of all, Sonia Gandhi has never
worked as a Bar Dancer." She was
an Italian. And her name was Antonia Albina
Maino. Her father was an Italian house
builder. "In 1965 she went to the
UK for her studies," it was there
that she worked in a restaurant. It's
said that she did serve alcohol in that restaurant. Some people exaggerate it to say that because she served alcohol she worked in a bar. Exaggerating it further to say that she was
a bar dancer. "If someone works
as a waiter," And she had this
side job when she was a student. It's
very common. "But if someone is
working as a waiter," What's
wrong with it? "Whether Narendra
Modi sells chai or Sonia Gandhi sells alcohol," "or the waiters in the Ramayan Express
serve food," to insult or
humiliate anyone for it is Classism. This shows a classist attitude. How does this attitude affect society? It's much more important. "Friends, we need to figure out first
" the amount of classist remarks
that we use in everyday life.
"We use words like 'stoner', 'slave' or 'nomad' in
jest." "When we want to make
fun of someone's clothes," we say
that the person is wearing clothes out of a slum. We call ragpickers as garbage-people. Parents admonish their children by saying
that if they don't study well they'll
become rag pickers. We love it when a "security guard, maid, barber," "air hostess, courier delivery
guy," address us as Sir or Madam. But can you imagine addressing them as Sir or Madam? Doesn't it sound unimaginable? Many people don't even greet them. "While they say Hi or Hello, on the
other hand" people simply ignore
them. Because people consider them to
be of a lower level. Of a lower
section of society. Do you know what's
unique in a classist society? The
people living in this society will
look at people inferior to them with disgust and ignore them. But in front of those that are superiors would become humble and servile. The hierarchy would be maintained. "Superiority complex is seen when
interacting with those below them,"
"And in front of those above them, they get an inferiority
complex." They fit themselves
somewhere in the hierarchy.
"That their
place is at a certain position," and
the people below them should be treated miserably. And that they need to be servile in front
of the people above them. There is a
thought-provoking film on Netflix regarding it The Platform. Watch it when you get the time to. "The progress of the country," the development in the country is terribly
affected by such things. Think about
it. "When a section of professions
would be considered to be so low in the country," that no one would want to do it. No one would work well at it. These professions wouldn't get respect from
society. They'd get lower salaries They'll be treated horribly. So they will work half-heartedly. "If there is no proper urban planning
in the cities of our country," "No
proper footpaths," "No
proper roads," "No good
sewage system," There's no proper
cleanliness. Who should be blamed for
it? Think about it. Thank you very much.