Casteless Society

Can you imagine Casteless society in India ? As per most of Indian this is almost impossible to  believe that India can ever be Casteless society. Caste system is rooted in every Indian whether he/she is  Hindu , Muslim, Sikh or Christians. In Hindus you will find Brahmins (Learned community), Kshtriya (Warrior Community) , Vaishnav ( Business community) or Shudra ( low caste community like manual scavengers). These basic Hindu caste are continuing from the ancient days, and presently there are many sub caste in each category. In Christians also there are Roman Catholics, Protestant, then there are new age Catholics. In India Christians are also divided like Anglo Indians, Goan Catholic, Keralite Catholic. Muslims are also divided into two main castes Sunnis and Shias and there are many sub castes. Sikhs are also divided into Sikhs who follow Guru Granth Sahib and there are other Sikhs who follow their guru are known as Nirankaris. These are the four major communities in India, and each is divided into many caste. In this scenario to envisage a casteless society is very big dream.

Now certain parts of Jind district (predominant Jat area) in Haryana have come out through their Khera Khap( comprising 0f 24 villages, with population of 2 Lakhs)  with a writ, villages under this writ would discard caste identifying surnames, allow inter caste marriages and oppose honour killings . Will this imply-has the deathly hold of caste on Haryanvi society loosened its grip?

As per Sudhir Pahalwan, the Khap’s head, “ That is the question the world is asking”. But ever step, however symbolic, counts in this state, among the most inflexible and harsh in its adherence to the caste grid. Pahalwan proposed this in the meeting in June, it was met with stunned silence. But several rounds of discussions resulted in nod for agreement that caste faultiness had to go. The Khera Khap’s decision is the first, that a caste council has admitted that Jat heartland’s deeply rooted caste divide is crippling the society in modern times.

Pahalwan(not a surname) is optimistic that the change  will come in gradual fashion, but is on its way. For long Dalits have been discriminated against. Surnames are identifiers of Caste. Removing them will allow us to make way for an equal society.

Actually the change of name is broadly in public and social space, and  not so much in documentation. Thus, caste names are being dropped, or replaced by village names, on face book and social media accounts, in post addresses, on visiting cards and residence name plates. And from cars, where of late it had become the in thing to put your caste sticker on rear windshield. However, this does not impact the non negotiable 3 Gs of Haryana: Gaon (Village), Gothra( ancestry) and gohand (neighbouring villages)- the three spheres where are marriages are disallowed by the community.

Some people are of the opinion that ‘dropping surnames will not change reality in small communities, everyone knows a person’s caste and the discrimination will continue’. Some Dalit leaders say ‘ Casteism will not go away by dropping surnames. Going caste free demands a change of heart. Are people willing to do that. Some people say ‘ We can drop surnames, but inter caste marriages can not be justified. There are cultural & financial differences that young people in love do not take into consideration when marrying.’

But villagers under Khera Khap are very optimistic ‘ Removing surnames can not be expected to succeed immediately, but this would usher change eventually. New borns will have only first name. The idea is to make everyone understand that we all are one.’

In Haryana the effect of this move is visible, now head of Hisar district’s Bhyan Khap, is all set to take this progressive idea, in Khap’s next meeting, where proposal for drop of surname will be tabled.

There are certain communities where there are no surnames, and village’s name is being used as surname or second part of the name. These communities are there in Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala and many parts of southern India. But still caste system is prevalent in those states, and the main cause is the Reservations, which are based on caste system.

Haryana  is having very deep rooted caste system, and this type of move from that area is highly laudable. In my opinion unless the Reservations based on Caste systems are not abolished, it will be very difficult to think India becoming a casteless society in near future.

What you say my friends.

Waiting for your views/comments/feed backs.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

23^rd July 2019