This refers to the editorial "Untouchability exists" (December 5). The US itself is not immune to feudal thinking. A white applicant from a pool of well-qualified people is 33 per cent likely to get an interview call, a Hispanic guy's chances are 25 per cent, and 16 per cent for blacks. They call this discreet discrimination.
Coming back to India, trade unions, auto-rickshaw stands and so on are affiliated to leaders with a caste tinge. Almost no Communist leader is there as a trade union leader in Chennai. And political parties thrive if and only if they accommodate this mindset of subtle casteism among their cadres - one reason Communist parties lost their membership base. The Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Lok Janshakti party are offsprings of urban casteism. All in the name of opposing "manu vadi" parties.
Education and urbanisation helped moderate the intensity of casteist practices of rural India. But, in urban areas too, groups are formed based on caste identities in all social spheres. A Brahmin boy is more comfortable with another Brahmin boy, as a non-Brahmin boy is with a non-Brahmin boy. Of course, some inter-caste mingling does take place, but that is a rare phenomenon.
Politics is partly responsible for this - society and politics compliment each other and hence a fair share of the blame falls on the society too. One way of dealing with this would be to leave it as it is. If caste conflicts are contained, that would be more than enough.
Indians are obsessed with caste right from birth. And when jobs, promotions, emoluments and so on are decided on the basis of caste, then it is too much to expect people to give up on it.
Some thought economic ascendance of disadvantaged groups would do away with casteism. But as your editorial argues, those gaining better income only tend to ape the so-called "upper castes". The argument that economic parity would do away with this scourge, then, is discredited.
But if Indians are particular about eliminating caste altogether, then caste as a factor must not be required at all for the citizens, for any purpose. There should be no benefits on the basis of caste.
Raghu Seshadri Chennai
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