The caste system is one of the greatest social curses of India, and is a huge stumbling block to our nation’s progress :
https://indicanews.com/justice-markandey-katju-caste-still-deeply-entrenched-in-indian-society
A scientific analysis of it is therefore imperative if we wish to abolish this evil which has plagued us for centuries.
The caste system, though originating in race, subsequently developed into the feudal, occupational division of labour in society. In other words, every vocation became a caste, as explained in the article below :
http://justicekatju.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-caste-system-in-india-this-is-old.html
Caste in India, in feudal times, became a product of small-producer feudal agricultural economy. However, even after Independence in 1947 and abolition of the zamindari system ( by zamindari abolition laws etc ) rotten, poisonous ideological survivals of the old, feudal society, in the form of casteism and communalism, have persisted in the minds of most Indians. This is because, as historical experience shows, even after the substructure ( the economic system ) is radically altered, the superstructure ( the customs, laws etc in a society ) corresponding to it often lingers on for decades thereafter.
I may illustrate.
I had been invited by Dehra Dun University a few years back to give a talk on the Constitution. The University hall where I spoke, having about 300 seats, was jam packed, and many were standing. In the front row were seated the professors of the University, many having Ph.Ds from Harvard, Yale or the London School of Economics, and wearing fine suits and ties. Behind them were Associate and Asst Professors, and behind them the students.
Among the things I said was ” I can prove in 2 minutes that these professors sitting in the front row having Ph.Ds from foreign countries, and wearing lovely suits, have gobar ( cow dung ) in their heads ”.
This statement must have shocked many in the audience, but then I said ” Just ask them one question : if their daughter wishes to marry a dalit, will they give consent ? ”.
And then, after a short pause, I added ” Not one will give consent. In fact some may even resort to ‘honour killing’ of the couple ”.
I then said ” It did not even take me 2 minutes to prove my point. A man with a casteist mindset, does he not have gobar in his head ? ”.
I may give another example. When I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court, one day a High Court judge, who was a dalit, came to meet me at my residence in the evening, with his wife, who belonged to an upper caste. They had a love marriage about 30 years back.The wife of that judge told my wife that when they were married her family members performed her funeral rites, and thereafter maintained no contact with her.
Youth are expected to be more idealistic, but most Indian youth are as casteist and communal as their elders. This is evident from the numerous inter caste clashes and atrocities against dalits in Indian University campuses.
https://www.fairplanet.org/story/dalit-scholars-protest-exposes-casteism-in-indias-higher-education
Even Muslims in India and Sikhs, whose religions are against caste, in practice follow the caste system
https://nayadaur.tv/04-Feb-2020/india-must-embrace-guru-nanak-s-teaching-of-service-to-mankind
In the feudal age caste was a progressive institution, as it introduced a rudimentary kind of division of labour in society, explained in the article below :
Today, however, it is totally reactionary and evil. But how can it be abolished ?
” The force of habit of millions and tens of millions of people is a most terrible force ”, said Lenin. Changing people’s mindsets is ten or more times more difficult than changing the environment
https://indicanews.com/justice-markandey-katju-changing-peoples-mindsets
It is only a mighty historical people’s revolution which can destroy caste, but, as explained in the article below, every great revolution is preceded by decades long ideological revolution, waged by patriotic intellectuals
https://indicanews.com/on-the-ideological-revolution-which-india-is-going-through
This great people’s struggle and people’s revolution must be waged unitedly by the people, but caste divides our people, and often even makes us fight each other
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste-related_violence_in_India
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43773607
Therefore the caste system is one of our nation’s greatest enemies, and must be destroyed at the earliest
