The caste system
Many people, like Mayawati, etc keep bringing to the fore the issues of caste, but the truth is that caste is no more an issue. I don’t think it’s right to reserve seats and chairs for lower castes, who have a better deal just because they are born in lower strata of society.
In today’s article on honour killings in UP, in the TOI, the writer, Ms Gupta, quotes Hitler and says that idealism is the giving up of individuality for the collective upliftment. But this is totally wrong. How can the individual be given up for the benefit of society? And who decides which individual should be given up? Because if all individuals are given up, then there remains no society!!!
Agreed, that the traditional model of caste in suppressing women should be given up, but that has been done long ago. And in pockets of India that still have this practice, it’s a shame and a failure of reforms. It was not meant to happen!
Honour killings in UP are just testimony to the fact that the people over there are trying their level best to resist the change that a free market, employment and rapid social changes are bringing with them. People want to remain poor, that is why they resist liberal reforms.
The situation in the North stands testimony to the fact that more and more MCP men and patriarchs of the family are losing their ground and hence, in order to maintain some power and clout, they have brought about this rather crude form of honour killings.
Many people say that love knows no boundaries and is a great leveler, but the truth in today’s times is that even love is not enough to overthrow the power equations in family and societal situations. The ugly monster of caste can’t just be gotten rid of with sweet overtures of love and unity. We have to wage a sustained battle against those elements who want to keep caste alive and refuse to liberate themselves, and hence society!
