To talk or write about castes or casteism,is like walking on a tight rope under the sword of Damocles.So sensitive and sensational the topic is!.But in a potentially caste oriented country llike India,where racial ramifications are less,one could see every now and then,the cobweb of castesim being dusted off,not to clean the dust,but to aggravate fumes into flames to the extent of stirring the hornet's nest.
The cobweb of casteism is an entangled web of caste supremacy vs caste legitimacy, caste suppression vs caste revolt,caste hierarchy vs caste anarchy and above all,caste reservation vs caste relegation.Though mankind has progressed a lot from the stone age,survival theories continue to be intact,while only the application of those theories keeps changing to suit the changing trends.
Politics has messed up with castes as much as it has done with religion.This messing up was necessitated for the survival mechanism of the political parties,to make themselves viable and reachable to the various blocks of society.However,beyond the intervention of politics,society itself has been conditioned to cast its position,as the saviour of those clubbed to its specific name and type.Perhaps that is why Swami Vivekananda called caste"a social institution"
There were days when caste and its vocation,were seen to be the inseparable links of its name and type.It is still a mystery,if vocation determined the caste or caste,its vocation.We can call it a vicious circle like the chicken egg situation.If one's caste is to be determined by one's vocation,then one will have to carry on the same vocation for the sake of one's caste.
It was then the individual in everybody woke up and began to ask,"if I have to do a job only in order to justify my genetic link to my caste,then where are my interests about my career?Why should my caste decide what I should do?"It was the dawn of rationalism that began to ask many more questions such as "How can any one call my caste lower,just because I do low level jobs?or Why should I do low level jobs,to make my caste low?"
The seeds of rationalism were sown and the trees of rationalism began to grow dense and defensive,so as to display their protective might against the upper rungs of the caste ladder,who could climb to their desired heights,by successfully stepping on the lower rungs,through survival strategies,in the name of religion and its sanctity.The much trodden lower rungs slowly began to break,to shake the caste supremacy,in the form of a long waited rebellion.In doing so,the lower rungs of the ladder also had to smash the physical distance concept between castes,evolved as the oxymoron of truth,that all castes are like the branches belonging to the same tree of humanity.
Thanks to the spread of human rationalism,the advent of caste legitimacy,became an unprecednted blow to caste supremacy.Rationalism set right the broken ladder of the caste hierarchy,beginning a new dawn for collective bargaining and for a balanced coexistence in lieu of subsistence.India had to re-lay the social map,to stigmatize the physical distance norms,that were once more contageous than the existing social distance predicament,imposed by a pandemic.
Social resistance moves and social justice movements against caste based suppression, were carried on,in the form of stage plays,street shows,public speeches,film themes and print missiles.It was a kind of social renaissance that was taking place and this yielded rich dividents by way of massive educational opportunities for all,towards resourceful streamlining and neutralization of the lopsided social advancement of some castes,at the cost of others.
Subsequently,new generation think tanks of the upper caste lobby gradually started extricating themselves from casteist tendencies and caste prejudices.Technology boom and overseas job opportunities have also paved the way for the coming together of most Indians to many common platforms.These meeting points have facilitated a caste-free exchange of ideas,skills,emotions,creativity yardsticks and sharing of intelligence, towards offering solutions for various career and social issues.
But there is now a new kind of caste orientation in India,flaming conflict of interests between the middle and lower rungs of the social ladder.The feet of the middle rungs seem to be kicking the lower rungs in the form of love jihads and honour killings.In fact,the fire burns as much hot between the middle and the lower rungs of the ladder,as it did during the prevalence of last century's Manusmriti dharma of the four varnas,leading to prejudiced divisions between the upper and lower rungs.This new kind of flaming up of caste hostilities,hails from the rocking instances of enforced intermingling of castes,through 'unpalatable'love marriages.
It needs a revival of rationalism yardsticks,to sincerely assess the conflict of interests between the middle and lower rungs and logically scrutinize how much and how deep each one's caste interests caused the conflicts.A closer scrutiny will also unravel the political webs behind the love jihads and the innate caste prejudices,failing to control the flames.The cobweb of casteism rquires another dusting,to clean the caste ladder, without weakening the social gains made during the past several decades.
It is indispensable that the caste ladder is reinforced again,with reasonable cushion effect to all the rungs,so that the climb will be evenly easier for all.This cusion effect should be embedded with a deep sense of humanism,to treat all as equals,in order to make the concept of reservation,conceive itself and deliver its goods to all those who need it not only socially,but also economically,because it is ultimately economics that builds the entire fabric of a strong and healthy society.
However,in this programming,it should be reasonably ensured that the hard earned gains of social jutice,do not back track to the deplorable days of caste labelled education and employment.Any changing educational policies should first and foremost guarantee,that the social benefits gained through prolonged struggles of the mariginalized sections of society,are not eroded by elite programming with a hidden agenda.
To conclude,a civilized society is that which periodically cleans its cobwebs of casteism and still retains the legitimacy of rights,of each caste.Finally,if we can form an egalitarian society without any caste labels,it will be the most desired attainment of peace and harmony,as the succulent fruits of civilization.
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