Calling them Upper & Lower castes? What! Even today?
“There is no Racism”, does anyone in the west get away with this statement? But in India they do, they do so even after stating — “There is no Casteism!!” It’s like stating that Earth is not round, because I don’t see it. What they fail to realise is that they don’t see it because they are deeply positioned into it, same is the case with the Caste, it so deeply rooted onto our grounds that we don’t see it! One in four Indian’s have confessed to have practiced untouchability! [Source: The India Human Development Survey (IHDS-2)] I am referring to untouchability which is an extreme form of caste discrimination and which is a constitutionally abolished practice, yet 25% Indians have practiced it. So, we can imagine how many Indians practices Casteism which is not yet illegal! And yet go around claiming “There is no Casteism!!”
This ignorance absolutely comes from the position of privilege, a privilege of access to the education for over 110+ generations versus access to education for about 2 to 3 generations, and this is just one example from a box filled with many such examples. So much so that the lid refuses to close. Which reservation can bridge this privilege? and would let us close that lid? The west calls this - White Supremacy while in India we call it the Upper Caste! Upper? What makes someone Upper, and the others as Lower? It’s a definition directly adopted from Manusmriti and we are still commonly appropriating that definition?
We should instead start terming it as — “Privileged Castes and the Oppressed Castes” and not as Upper or Lower. This is important, as many of us who remain silent don’t realise that our silence makes us complacent! This in a way also encourages a section of people who have now come out in open and are rallying their support for the criminals of Hathras in the name of caste, while initially they rallied around saying this, — Crime has no Caste! Like they do in the west, these men and women have to be named and shame. Only then may be we would not see anyone supporting the perpetrators of women’s dignity in the guise of caste!
Talking about oppression of women, the oppression of women in India is very different from that of the rest of the world. If we are going to see this from the lens of western world and apply the same measures and principles to address it, we will be caught in the prism of viewing the entire issue from the west’s perspective, which may most likely not solve our problem. Now, why do I say it’s different? Rest of the world oppresses women as an acquired practice being carried out for thousands of years, but Indians have a revered book ‘Manusmriti’ written in 5th Century that talks about, Rules for Women as well as Rules to be followed by the Four Castes. So, the oppression of Women and the Deprived Castes have its roots in Manusmriti.
Both the Caste and the Women oppression in India derive its principles from one book and so are deeply intertwined. They can’t be solved in isolation, both have to be seen as one problem as they are a part of the same issue called oppression rights derived from a holy book! In rest of the world its men who majorly oppress women but in India, its women who equally oppresses themselves and other women of their family. Its same as the deprived castes when they oppress themselves by thinking that they are born to do only a particular kind of work, and that they can’t enter a temple etc., etc.,
This tuning of mindset has happened over centuries and doesn’t usually happen unless it is told to them that its God’s wish, which Manusmriti , does so well.
I shouldn’t really be taking this as an example, since everyone’s struggle is different but as some of our urban audiences connect better with this example plus this also tells us how grave Casteism is, so I am quoting this example — The LGBT community who are close to ~25lakhs in India, annually conduct multiple Pride walks across India, which in my opinion they should do more. But, when the deprived castes did something equivalent to this in Bheema Koregaon, it turned violent as they were not allowed to take that procession! Many activists are still in prison under UAPA, in fact this week a 83yr old activist was arrested in connection to Bheema Koregaon! So, this struggle is so much bigger, so much more rigid, as we are fighting against an institutional framework that is thousands of years old!
Further more the deprived castes are not even allowed to ride a horse during their weddings, they were not allowed to wear decent clothing, which is a reason why Ambedkar used to always wear a western suit as a mark of protest. Even today they are not allowed to sport moustache — a reason why Bhim army chief Azad sports big moustache as a protest!
I can cite many more stories, many more such stats. But the real question is, will India and Indian’s ever change? Will they ever consider everyone as equal? Will we ever talk of inclusiveness based on caste?
-Harish Bheemarthi