The saying ‘don’t judge the book by its cover’ is passé. Award-winning Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has updated it. Now we should say, ‘don’t judge a book by a tweet’. The book in question here is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Pulitzer-winning African-American journalist Isabel Wilkerson, which Oprah Winfrey sent to 500 American CEOs and leaders. Kangana Ranaut’s response to the book was not only ill-informed because she based it on a tweet, but was classic upper caste obfuscation that many Indians are hard-wired with.
Kangana Ranaut is an upper caste Indian like many others – Shashi Tharoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Nitin Gadkari – who say they believe in a casteless society and are caste-blind. They say with pride that they don’t recognise caste. This is the same mentality that forces you to look at the BJP’s politics as patriotic and the Congress as a national party, but the BSP, the SP and the RJD are labelled ‘casteist’ parties.
But every upper caste Indian’s rejection of caste is basically rejection of caste-based discrimination, a cloak used to cover up the atrocities that mostly go unreported unless they involve heinous acts such as public flogging in Gujarat’s Una. The oft-repeated claim that caste “has been rejected by modern Indians”, as Kangana said in one of her tweets, is a convenient assertion only found in privileged upper caste circles whose members begrudge the reservation system. A look at some of Kangana’s tweets shows what most upper caste Indians believe.
1. Cast (sic) system has been rejected by modern Indians, in small towns every one knows it’s not acceptable anymore by law and order its nothing more than a sadistic pleasure for few, only our constitution is holding on to it in terms of reservations…
2. Especially in professions like Doctors engineers, pilots most deserving people suffer reservations, we as a nation suffer mediocrity and brilliance finds a reluctant escape to The United States. Shame
3. Cast (sic) in Hinduism supposed to be your Guna/Quality not your identity, I am born to fight, I can handle pressure I suppose I have good leadership qualities I do believe my gunas are of a Kshatriya, most members in my family don’t feel the same, I am Bhartiya that’s my only identity.
4. …there are many ways of uplifting the oppressed other than gifting them the ranks they don’t qualify for, learn to earn your worth that’s what I stand for, reservation works on the same law as nepotism, undeserving gets the job cos of which Nation suffers, SIMPLE.
5. …let’s establish a system which makes our Nation the best, if you wanna talk about individuals I know thousands of Doctors, IAS officers, judges, engineers whose children drive Audi and getting reservations.
Also read: Oprah Winfrey sent a book on caste to 100 US CEOs but Indians still won’t talk about it
The normalisation of denial syndrome
Kangana is amplifying six basic arguments that caste-discrimination deniers make.
1. Caste is a thing of the past and in modern times, Indians do not practise caste.
2. Caste is an issue only where it concerns the reservation policies envisaged in the Indian Constitution.
3. Reservation is against meritocracy and results in brain drain.
4. Reservation is akin to nepotism.
5. Rich people are reaping the benefits of reservation.
6. Caste has nothing to do with one’s identity. It is related to one’s qualities (guna).
Kangana has stated the commonly held beliefs of the upper caste people who are opposed to the idea of egalitarianism and the constitutional idea of reservation in jobs and education. Children in upper caste families grow up listening to these ideas from their elders. These ideas become their pool of knowledge. They normalise such ideas by repeating them among their peers, and they do it because this is an integral part of their primary socialisation — rejection of caste to project oneself as ‘modern’. It is not a surprise that Kangana said these things. To the best of her knowledge, she is saying the “truth”.
It is also true that she or her parents or her relatives might not have killed or raped or discriminated against lower caste people. So, why should she own the blame for the horror that India’s caste system brings to millions of people? In one of her tweets, she asks if she should take revenge on every man because women have been discriminated against for centuries.
If Kangana had bothered to first read Isabel Wilkerson’s book, she might not have said such things regarding caste and reservation.
Also read: Why upper castes polish shoes or sweep roads when protesting quota for Dalits and OBCs
Quota, a support system
In her book, Wilkerson tells us a story of an old house, which looks perfect from the outside but when checked with infrared guns, scores of cracks and ruptures appear. She narrates the story of the house – “Many people may rightly say, ‘I had nothing to do with how this all started. I have nothing to do with the sins of the past. My ancestors never attacked indigenous people, never owned slaves. And, yes. Not one of us was here when this house was built. Our immediate ancestors may have had nothing to do with it, but here we are, the current occupants of a property with stress cracks and bowed walls and fissures built into the foundation. Unaddressed, the ruptures and diagonal cracks will not fix themselves. The toxins will not go away but, rather, will spread, leach, and mutate, as they already have’.” She argues that there is a problem in the house and that needs to be fixed.
In the case of India, reservation in jobs and educational institutions is only one of the mechanisms to fix the problem of the system of caste-based discrimination. It might not have fixed the problem of upper caste hegemony and might not have delivered the desired results. But to do away with the reservation will be akin to removing the ventilator of the patient, without making any alternative arrangement.
And yet Kangana and others will continue to oppose the reservation system — though you won’t hear them say anything against the Narendra Modi government’s 10 per cent quota for the upper castes.
Also read: Not a single Dalit in 60% of Kolkata’s neighbourhoods. How caste divides Indian cities
The invisible privilege
But if Kangana is unable to see the problems of the caste system, then it is not entirely her fault. It is an invisible knapsack of power and privilege that is passed down from one generation to another. Caste works like an invisible code or, as Wilkerson says, like the grammar that “we encode as children, as when learning our mother tongue. Caste, like grammar, becomes an invisible guide not only to how we speak, but to how we process information, the autonomic calculations that figure into a sentence without our having to think about it.” Or as feminist author Peggy McIntosh argues, while discussing White privilege, that it’s like “an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious. (It) is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks.”
Although, in India, the caste system many times works in a very crude, raw and violent manner. Cases of caste atrocities abound, especially in rural and semi-urban settings. But in the case of NRIs, urban Indians and Gen X, Y and Z, it works mostly in a subtle manner.
Invisibility of caste makes it more lethal, more dangerous and gives it longevity. As Wilkerson says, it’s in the bones. “Caste is the infrastructure of our divisions. It is the architecture of human hierarchy, the subconscious code of instructions for maintaining, social order.” Caste is not always visible. It’s not required. “They are like the wind, powerful enough to knock you down but invisible as they go about their work.” Just take Kangana for instance. She wields her Rajput identity at will. She did it at the time of the release of her film Manikarnika. In normal times, she acts ‘Indian’ or casteless.
Also read: Lagaan to Dhadak: Bollywood has a Dalit problem and it refuses to fix it
The opportunistic system of caste
Caste system in India asserts itself at opportune moments. For instance, dominant caste groups asserted themselves while opposing the caste census in 2011 or at the time of the enactment of 10 per cent reservation for them in 2019. Once the caste purpose is served, the upper castes recede into hibernation and the caste system suddenly becomes non-existent. When the caste system lies dormant, the dominant groups claim that caste is a “thing of the past” or “caste system exists only in the villages” and so on.
Kangana’s claim of castelessness is fluid. She claims that though she has all the qualities of a Kshatriya, her only identity is that of an Indian. But her claim of castelessness is a privilege only upper caste Indians enjoy. The nomenclature of the general caste in itself is the biggest manifestation of this privilege. Satish Deshpande argues that “the privileged upper castes are enabled to think of themselves as ‘casteless’, while the dis-privileged lower castes are forced to intensify their caste identities. This asymmetrical division has truncated the effective meaning of caste to lower caste, thus leaving the upper castes free to monopolise the ‘general category’ by posing as casteless citizens.”
Wilkerson argues that “caste system works in silence, the string of a puppet master unseen by those whose subconscious it directs, its instructions an intravenous drip to the mind, caste in the guise of normalcy, injustice looking just, atrocities looking unavoidable to keep the machinery humming, the matrix of caste as a facsimile for life itself and whose purpose is maintaining the primacy of those hoarding and holding tight to power.”
This invisibility of caste has made the upper caste Indians oblivious to the horrors the caste system perpetuates. Writer Dhamma Darshan Nigam says that “for such people, manual scavenging is just an occupational hazard and sewer deaths just another occupational fatality. Caste-based atrocities are very normal and Dalit-Bahujan (identity) politics is the worst thing happening to India, caste-based reservation are a loot of national treasures.”
At the time of the last decadal census, a group of upper caste influencers opposed the enumeration of castes, formed a coalition, and named it Meri Jati Hindustani. As if only lower castes have caste identities and all the upper caste people are just Indians and nothing but Indians. They are not Brahmins, not Kshatriyas — regardless of the amount of pride (or hurt) they invoke, regardless of the claims, by Lok Sabha speaker no less, that ‘Brahmins are superior’ — they are just Indians. Kangana should be happy that she is not alone in her utterances regarding castelessness.
The author is the former managing editor of India Today Hindi Magazine, and has written books on media and sociology. Views are personal.
Dear half literate and half sensed Mandal-sahab, if you say that Caste is a thing of the past and in modern times, Indians do not practise caste, then why are you spreading hatred on her on caste ?
So, you also need to find out from your patents that what invisible codes they had passed on to you for injecting you for hatred and jealousy to her in her success while you are hated throughout as a commu-neech ???
Kangana Ranaut was born in an Indian upper class family and brought up with all comforts. It is fact that she never come across the real castiest society except metro based second and subsequent generation scheduled caste families. In addition, she might have come across some drawing room discussions on casteless society and came to the conclusion of so-called castless modern society. But she doesn’t know anything about feudal rural India, whose roots are based on casteism through the ages.
Before, we talk about caste, let’s have a look at untouchablity.
There are different forms of discrimination in different societies across the world. For instance, slavery in the west, more particularly in US.
But untouchablity existed nowhere in the world except
India.
An untouchable was never allowed to live in the main stream society. They were forced to reside outside the village .
Even after the independence, the untouchables/Dalit students were never allowed to sit in the classroom and specific place was earmarked to them near entrance of the class room in primary sections and a separate bench on the backend of class room. They were Otherwise singledout, physically, mentally, humiliated in all walks of life and deprived off all the social comforts.
She also uttered about the competence of reservation candidates in higher echelons of administration.
Here I wanted to make it very clear on this. Competence is neither inherent character of any class or community. Competence depends on the understanding of the facts and ground realities.
A person good at studies may not be a best administrator, which was proved number of times in the past and there is no record of incompetence of any officers hailed from reservations. Instead there are officers with great track record, when compared to their counterparts.
It is very pertinent to mention that the threshold level of marks/ or grades stipulated for promotion to next higher class is same for everyone and no concessions were given to anyone. Then there is no point in saying anything under performance and higher performance. Because the level of support and training is different for an upper class and a dalit and they are not equally placed.
I can confidently say that there good number of people in every field, who are continuing with the system with the name of #Caste tag and with support of Godfathers.
But the officers from reservations don’t have neither of the them.
There is no field in India,which is free from caste discrimination including government offices. And I don’t deny the contribution of legendary personalities like BD Sharma IAS, SR Shankaran IAS and PS Krishnan IAS, who contributed much for uplifting downtrodden
Therefore the statement of Miss Ranaut is not fact based.
Caste had existed in Hindu society as a result of misconception and misinterpretation of religion.
Real Hindu scriptures, which are NOT FORMED BY human minds and are ETERNAL IN NATURE with NO TIME LIMIT, are explained in VEDAS and its core theory in VEDANT and partly in SRIMAT BHAGWAT GEETA too, it eleborates another system, i.e. VARNA system, based on intelligence of individuals completely unrelated to birth or the father/mother/family.
Unfotunately Hindus do not read them, rather they read human written (Rishi Parashar / Rishi Bhrigu / Rishi Manu) time limited book Manusmruty, in current Indian language, which speaks on caste and its systems. Hindu’s have picked this up, possibly due to its availability in Indian languages.
THATS WHERE THE PROBLEM IS.
Eternal and TRUE HINDU TEXTs never propagated any birth related social system, e.g. casteism, rather it strictly propagated against any birth related system. Kindly refer VEDANT or even Srimat bhagwat Geeta, chapter 18, clauses 40~45.
Well I love your answer and fully agree by it, except the part where you chose to ignore her claim of the ‘modern’ society being casteless. She made no claims about rural India. Caste system is a headache not just for the so called lower castes but also for the so called upper castes. Specially today’s generation which believes in choosing life partners of their choice. Also, its been 70 years of reservation for a society which had a greater poor population belonging to the so called lower castes, in order to bring them up the financial strata. When do the people of India finally want to give up on the system? If the so called lower caste people have no choice in their caste, the same goes for the so called upper caste people too. Everyone supports the EWS quota, and if the majority people in the country who are poor, still belong to lower castes, then they will be covered under the EWS quota. Why should generations of a. Lower Caste Family be unfairly supported by a quota they don’t even need?
I am absolutely disgusted after reading this article. You need Kangana’s name to run your unethical company. I guess someone at the top is paying you guys to write these articles. I wish there were rules and regulation for media in India. You guys need to be shut down completely. This is the reason we are losing good engineers and doctors because nobody wants to stay in India. There are no rights for people who have no or less money.
There should be an option to declare oneself as Casteless as an identity. As long as Castes as an identity is there,it carries baggage of low/high. You can see the system is itself status quoist in terms of Social Realities. Progressive people of all castes should be allowed to create new social identities not rigidly based on birth. It is high time have A truth and reconciliation is held between Upper and Lower castes while understanding each other and acknowledging each other’s truths. This can happen only in progressive sections of all sections of society. As long as these emotions of “venom” or “Superiority” are there no far reaching solution can be reached. Jai Hind!
After Yogi’s election, Prannoy Roy interviewed him on NDTV. Yogi’s opinion was asked on caste. His reply was caste was a very good system to regulate society, but he was against casteism. What is the meaning ? It was coded language. When Yogi said he was against casteism, the meaning was he was against caste based reservation. Kangana and most caste Hindus think the same way.
Golwalkar wrote the whole world could come to India and learn how to run society efficiently with 4 castes !
Caste is tied with the Hindu belief in reincarnation and karma. Those who are low castes are paying for sins in a past life. It is not provable but they are supposed to abide with the regulation.
Gandhi wished to keep caste, but within a manageable framework.
Ambedkar wrote that Hindus could not be reformed of caste, and he said conversion is the only way out to end it.
Well I love your answer and fully agree by it, except the part where you chose to ignore her claim of the ‘modern’ society being casteless. She made no claims about rural India. Caste system is a headache not just for the so called lower castes but also for the so called upper castes. Specially today’s generation which believes in choosing life partners of their choice. Also, its been 70 years of reservation for a society which had a greater poor population belonging to the so called lower castes, in order to bring them up the financial strata. When do the people of India finally want to give up on the system? If the so called lower caste people have no choice in their caste, the same goes for the so called upper caste people too. Everyone supports the EWS quota, and if the majority people in the country who are poor, still belong to lower castes, then they will be covered under the EWS quota. Why should generations of a. Lower Caste Family be unfairly supported by a quota they don’t even need?
Dear full mad half paki half chinese commu-neech Ros-golla, , YOUR ONLY CURE IS TO Cancel your chinese DAD and get an Indian dad, so tell your avaya clad paki mom to delete you, do the impregnation act with a Hindu dad under cover of avaya to reproduce you and cure your mental disease.
A question should be asked as to why other communities do not support the Dalit movement or for that matter, any movement by any ‘other’ community. Why do so many ‘whites’ support the ‘black lives matter’ movement? The reason why the Dalit’s or so called backward castes have not been able to achieve the support of the ‘other’ communities over the last 70+ years is that most of their struggle has not been for equality. It has been mostly focused on reservation and more specifically reservation in the name of caste. The demand has been to be identified with their caste and to claim benefits associated with the caste. This persistently reiterates disability to compete, to challenge, to be considered at par with the so called ‘upper caste’. This creates a divide of ‘us’ versus ‘them’. It can never promote a casteless society. If the same amount of struggle had been focused to draw the attention of the larger public on specific instances of atrocities eg. Social boycotts of Dalits like not giving access to community water or roads in specific areas, physical torture or intimidation or police brutality (as has been done in the black lives matter movement) the whole country would have stood beside the affected Dalit population. If the community could have acknowledged their backwardness, but at the same time acknowledged that certain people in other communities may also face handicaps, then the entire structure of reservation can be modified towards addressing each socio economic handicap eg. by giving additional points based on underprivileged education, location such as rural, tribal etc, family background, parents education, financial aid etc and after giving such points have all students compete at par with enhanced marks based on individual handicap. This could have ensured that the truly underprivileged get benefits while at the same time remove reference to particular castes i.e. continuing to acknowledge the handicap suffered by the individual. This would force the ‘others’ to acknowledge the ‘merit’ of the individual. Unfortunately today, even the competent among the ‘reserved’ class struggle to prove their merit as it is assumed that they reached their position only because of reservation and therefore, they must not be as competent as the’upper caste’. Further, those among the community who have achieved a certain level of success should publicly declare themselves as equal as forego the rights to reservation for themselves and their future generations. This will encourage the entire country to stand with the community. It is the educated among the community who must take this step forward for change. Equality and respect should be asserted by oneself and not demanded from others.
Many whites support the BLM movement because they have a Christian mindset. They are willing to acknowledge their past and apologize for misdeeds. They also freed themselves from excessive control by their priests and moved towards Renaissance, Scientific and Industrial revolutions. Not to forget the class rebellions like the French and Russian revolutions.
Here in India we are now seeing a revivalism of ancient thoughts and ideas which are not relevant to economic and social progress in the 21st century. No doubt led by the political influence of the RSS on their political arm BJP. Upper castes are not willing to acknowledge the discrimination that was practiced in the past. They denied education to the lower castes. They got land grants from kings. They glorified their own caste and their gift of storytelling ensured that priests are highly respected but those doing dirty jobs are not. in fact even today many of them justify that the caste system was a necessary practice. Or they will divert by saying casteism never existed in Bharat, it was introduced by the colonisers in India!
Removing reservations will not be enough to create a casteless society. People will still marry within their caste. Only when there is a large scale intermarriage of people across castes will the idea of caste be gradually thrown into the dustbin of history with each succeeding generation. Societies that are economically developed today both East and West are all truly mixed societies.
“Even the competent among the ‘reserved’ class struggle to prove their merit as it is assumed that they reached their position only because of reservation and therefore, they must not be as competent as the’upper caste’. ”
You are incorrect that OBC and SC/ST are totally undeserving of getting into premier institutions
The cutoffs for engg/science are high even for obc sc st in the nation’s top colleges like IISc IISER IIT and NIT
KVPY ENTRANCE EXAM 2019 results
(This is the nation’ exam to get into prestigious IISc and IISER colleges)
Cutoff marks to qualify for interview call:
SA stream – Gen/OBC 44 SC/ST 32
SX stream – Gen/OBC 59 SC/ST 43
As you can see cutoff for Gen and OBC are same. 90-95% of Gen category kids will not even be able to achieve the SC/ST cutoff marks! I know how tough this exam is. It as tough as JEE Advanced which is the exam to enter IIT. The maths section in this exam is tougher than JEE Advanced maths.
So some of those OBC SC and ST (even if few ) who qualify are brighter and have worked extremely hard than many many upper caste kids who fail to qualify the KVPY exam!
It is simply not true that because of reservation the standards of our top Tier-1 colleges are getting diluted.
Today there are enough colleges to secure admissions . While it may be true that it is easier for an SC or OBC kid to get a better college than an upper caste kid this may be true for Tier 3 and Tier 4 colleges but definitely not Tier 1 and Tier 2
It is the not-so-intelligent upper caste kids that complain about reservation. For the brightest upper caste kids there are enough seats for them in Tier 1 and Tier 2 colleges and reservation certainly does not affect their merit. The really good students do not suffer. In case students from any caste don’t do well in these top colleges after entry they will jave to drop out and will fail to get the degree.
In any case a degree from a top college is not enough to become successful in life and career. There are many kids who graduate fro.m ordinary colleges and end up very successful and rich as compared to those from top colleges. Take the example of Satya Nadella who is the CEO of Microsoft. He neither went to an IIT or NIT.
Whole point of Hinduism is caste support. Consider this:
– oldest Veda is mere 500 year old.
– no archeological proof of Hinduism beyond 1000 years.
– all older than 1000 year temples are actually Buddhist temples.!
– Hindus killed Buddhist priests with abandon. 50 gold coins per head.! Needless to say without priests it because open for occupation. Buddhists were promptly branded lower castes and banned from temples while priests converted Buddhists idol to Hindu gods.
– if you really want to know Hinduism then you must study Veda. Of course Brahmins have ready made defence in advance “they will claim it is changed”.!
Ask them ” certified” copy of Veda and they will never ever tell you. Because the whole point is manipulation.
And mind that Brahmins call themselves Brahmins. Not Hindus.! It is superiority system put in place.
Btw, banana…. Is 10 year old Brahmin really superior to even 100 year old rajput? What does it say about rajput? Is rajput really an upper caste?
Only Brahmins are upper caste.!
And mind that British used to say that Brahmins don’t have judgemental temperament and cannot do justice. And once they go somewhere then they fill the system with other Brahmins.
E.g.. Moguls courts. IB, indian courts. All power positions. Is it not a reservation? How can all power position in IB go to only Brahmins?
And yes, you heard it right…. Foreign invasion increased manifold with the entry of Brahmins in Indian society. They used invaders to end culture that was here and rise behind the scene. Look at any historical significant event and you will find Brahmin behind the curtain. E.g.. Who forced moguls to kill two sons of 10th Sikh guru? Succhanand? There are too many names to remember.
Who helped humayun with gold? It was vajpae communities. Otherwise humayun had lost india and was penniless.
Right now they introduced taxes on labour making sure working class remains poor and supports rich property holders who hardly pay any taxes. All taxes must be paid by property holders only. End taxes on labour and these behind the scene power manipulators will be exposed in a day.
bullshit opinion hindu hater communist.
HEY MAD D0G RAY, VEDA 500 YEARS OLD ? WHO TOLD YOU ?
Your full mad half paki half chinese commu-neech mom, who cleans gutter?
YOUR ONLY CURE IS TO Cancel your chinese DAD and get an Indian dad, so tell your avaya clad mom to delete you and do the impregnation act with a Hindu dad under her avaya to reproduce you, and cure your disease, commu-neech bitch.
Dear full mad half paki half chinese commu-neech RAY OF FRUSTRATION, YOUR ONLY CURE IS TO Cancel your chinese DAD and get an Indian dad, so tell your avaya clad paki mom to delete you, do the impregnation act with a Hindu dad under cover of avaya to reproduce you and cure your mental disease.
Is it clear to you RAY OF FRUSTRATION???
luppy luppy
Basically, the comments on this essay by Dilip Mandal say that he should stop moaning about dalit oppression and start teaching those who think they are dalits the ability to study better, work hard and get on with life without reservations. India is never going to be a casteless society. No place in the world is casteless. Your jati will always matter. But if you try to make political capital out of the jati then you are likely to be booted out like the Yadavs of UP have been. Reservations have only strengthened caste animosities.
I don’t think kangana or some of the people in comment section can understand or feel what’s it’s like to be discriminated on caste basis..I personally feel kangana is an attention seeker and doesn’t deserve any reply..
Reservation is representation the society which was denied freedom, fraternity and equality from thousands of years. Who brought this law they were not doctors, engeneers but modern indian founders. They all were barristers. Before getting freedom they fought against social inequality. This law not came in a night. It prepared and debated and made amendments then came in actions. Before comment first all of us read our constitution and the nation mirror called preamble.
Why some wear a dirty string around their body to wear caste..
Its god who created caste ( chaturvarnyam mata srushtam) and how can we abolish it.. its against god wish
As per santatana brahmin hindu dharma people are born of shudra yoni because of thier paste sin and no one can change it..
If RSS ( the main beneficiaey of this propaganda) really want to get rid of casste let them appoint all dalit poojaris in ram temple and temple like thirupathy etc..
Mr Mandal, would you have reached where you are today, if you belonged to upper caste ? You would have been a mediocre clerical staff somewhere, without these privilege of writing your logic-less articles in this magazine. You know for uppercaste persons, it has been extremely hard to make their voices hard and to get acccess the magazines and news channels. The reality is you are the new Brahmin who don’t want his privileges to be taken away. So as long as this Caste identity is there, it suits people like you better. Do you seriously want to be a poor uppercaste nobody ?
I agree with Kangana. She spoke her own truth. I abhor discrimination against Dalits, it’s stupid and barbaric. But at the same time., it IS nepotism and discriminates against Meritocracy. What l can’t understand is why EVERYTHING is the fault of Modi. Journalists with SUCH STRONG BIASes as you shd shut yourselves down
Useless waste hate material, communal propaganda of venom spreader, dilip mandal, what do you mean by hindu caste ? Where did you find it in Hindu scripures anti hindu dilip mandal? This is how dark trecherous commu-neeches spread venom against Hinduism.
Haa and your ancestors passed their DNA to you, of course.
After getting preferential treatment, all your life, you are still fretting?
Yes, because she challenged the reservation system of actors relative only rule in bollywood. Anyone want talk about merit, they are branded as upper caste. It is just mindset of people like this author that make these people poor. Not the caste.
What do you say about “meritorious” dumb judgements passed on from time to time?
Oh… “merit” is just what you say? Indian merit system is dumbest in the world.
Author’s conclusion is filled with paradoxes and contradictory points. Author of this article has frequently targeted people who have voiced their opinion against caste based reservation in educational institutions and Jobs. On one hand so many people talk about abolishing caste based discrimination and on other hand justify caste based reservation in educational institutions and Jobs. Giving more reservation can never be a solution to caste based discrimination. What the author fails to understand or intentionally avoids is that the solution to caste based reservation is very fundamental. Children irrespective of caste should have access to quality primary, secondary and High school education. If quality education is provided in the beginning then a child, irrespective of caste, creed, colour, race, will not need any reservation to get admission in graduate courses in various Government colleges. Current caste based reservation system will only create more problems than solutions. Caste based reservation is like a band aid over a wound which needs surgery. In current times more relevant issue is the gap between the rich and the poor. Hunger, poverty, illness dont have any caste.
Bakwaas article…..it is sure he is paid for it
Shame on you don’t deserve to be called author. Without meeting parents of someone you are giving such a cheap and derogatory comment trpe title to your article. Actually you are lobbist and modern day cheap journalist(presstitute). Tell us straight who is paying you.
I would like to tell a story here-
There was a man who had a young child. He used to beat the child everyday and in the night used to give the child a chocolate before sleep. Then next day the same cycle repeated..The child was used to it,, never liked the beating but was happy for the chocolate. Later on other children from locality also wanted to have chocolate,, even if it meant getting a beating at the hand of their parents.
Now look at this story in this topic’s context- Beating is the social oppression faced by people (I would not like to use lower caste, or upper caste as I don’t believe anyone is lower or upper in any way)
Chocolate is reservation. No one is trying to stop the beating,,they are made happy with chocolate..Other people also want to join the bandwagon,,want to prove that they are also underprivileged and want this chocolate (case in example-andolans by Jats and many categories to get included in SC/ST/OBC)..
Now some points-
1. Nothing is against any specific category,,all are equal, should be treated that way,, unfortunately that’s not the case and we understand that completely. No one is undermining anyone’s struggle or fight for getting success
2. Reservation by definition means creating inequality,, giving preference to one over other,, whatever may be the reason,,so one cannot fight inequality with more inequality
3. Giving reservation to people at university means saying, it’s ok to be oppressed for 18 yrs but don’t worry, we will compensate,,and then later on also you will be oppressed,,but don’t forget we did give you an advantage. My point is, such social discrimination should be stopped at one’s birth,,never should be faced by anyone.
4. To remove such deep rooted mindsets, you need to enlighten people (which requires a large scale effort, not just one token).And what’s the point of such tokens,if in the end such people will still have to face discrimination in college, jobs etc. Imagine a doctor educated from AIIMS, and going back to treat in a village,,and no one coming to him for treatment as he belongs to such underprivileged category. All efforts gone waste
5. Reservation in a limit is ok as long as it’s directed towards poor and needy..But please think- does it really end up being utilized by them. Most of the time, it is used by people who are decently well off,,and don’t actually need it..and that’s why the distress,,coz people can’t see the difference between families who utilize the benefit vs those who can’t
6. Reservations have reached 50%. Way too high!!
7. Everybody’s struggle is real,, whatever be the category,, all kids have to study equally..So let’s respect everyone’s hardwork. There is no hatred towards anyone,,all my best friends belong to reserved category and I loved them
8. The frustration and maybe the disappointment is towards the system and not people. The system which couldn’t correct the root cause and is taking no effort as well.
9. A system which has failed to correct things will do nothing if carried forward for next 50 yrs. So time to change and look for better options which helps everyone in the society.
10. Can we all take a pledge that if someone in our family has used the benefits, we will not use it again??If that’s done, it might help.. But unfortunately, that’s not what’s happening in reality. Same families have been unfairly using it again and again
11. My firm belief- a factor which is not in your control (caste, color, gender etc) should never decide if you get a advantage or disadvantage in life. Your merit should..
Rahi baat benefits ki, it should be only reserved in real sense for the needy (which can belong to any caste, creed, age, gender).
Everyone has struggled hard to get where they are, both you and me. So let’s respect everyone’s viewpoint but also recognize drawbacks of a system, even if means giving up our own benefits.
DEAR NEHA,
Caste had existed in Hindu society as a result of misconception and misinterpretation of religion.
Real Hindu scriptures, which are NOT FORMED BY human minds and are ETERNAL IN NATURE with NO TIME LIMIT, are explained in VEDAS and its core theory in VEDANT and partly in SRIMAT BHAGWAT GEETA too, it eleborates another system, i.e. VARNA system, based on intelligence of individuals completely unrelated to birth or the father/mother/family.
Unfotunately Hindus do not read them, rather they read human written (Rishi Parashar / Rishi Bhrigu / Rishi Manu) TIME LIMITED BOOK MANUSMRUTY (It is NOT valid now,i the age of free marriage) in current Indian language, which speaks on caste and its systems. Hindu’s have picked this up, possibly due to its availability in Indian languages.
THATS WHERE THE PROBLEM IS.
Eternal and TRUE HINDU TEXTs never propagated any birth related social system, e.g. casteism, rather it strictly propagated against any birth related system. Kindly refer VEDANT or even Srimat bhagwat Geeta, chapter 18, clauses 40~45.
You commu-neecheIDIOTs do have the the habbit of vomitting communist policies, strtegies and spread venom on Hinduism without trying to understand it, the greatest religion ever created on Earth.