A Letter to Kangana Ranaut On Caste and Reservation
https://thewire.in/caste/kangana-ranaut-caste-dalit-reservation
'In
cinema, not a single big name is from a marginalised community. If
modern Indians have rejected the caste system, what explains this?'
25/Aug/2020
Dear Kangana,
I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to write to you about your tweet.
On August 23, Shekhar Gupta, the founder of The Print, shared an article by journalist Dilip Mandal titled “Oprah Winfrey sent a book on caste to 100 US CEOs but Indians still won’t talk about it.’
In a reply, you wrote:
“Cast 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, Let Go Of It, Lets Talk About It (sic).”
You continued:
“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
(sic).”
I come from the Dalit community. I’m the
first woman in my family with an M.Phil. My parents were manual workers,
and my mother continues to be. In the peak of the summer heat, she
carries loads of sand and stone for construction projects.
Neither of my parents are educated, but
they found ways to ensure all their children would be. Among my
siblings, I’ve studied the furthest. At an early age, I promised myself
that I would keep studying as long as there were higher levels to
achieve. I had yet to learn that the ladder I would be climbing was
covered with thorns on every rung.
You believe that modern Indians have
“rejected” the caste system. But even in the most progressive-liberal
space of an international media organisation I found modern Indians who
practise casteism. They couldn’t stand to see me as an equal, working in
the same team. I no longer work there now, and the reason, I believe, is my being Dalit.
In the cinema, not a single big name is
from a marginalised community. If modern Indians have rejected the caste
system, why is this?
To even begin to understand what it means
to reject caste, you could first reject your own Rajput pride. Those of
you who are so proud of your identities have turned even the names of
other communities into words of abuse. Do you remember what modern
Indians like Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Sonakshi Sinha and Yuvraj Singh
have said about looking like a “bhangi”? Actual people have this name,
and are abused for it.
This is the case in every field across the
private sector. Of the 31 judges in the Supreme Court of India, there is
one judge from a Dalit community, and two judges who are OBCs. There
isn’t a single Adivasi. Not a single editor in the mainstream media is a
Dalit. The only area where we have been allowed a foothold is in the
government, because the government’s hand is forced by reservations.
Also read: Alienated, Discriminated Against and Few in Number: The Bahujan in the Indian Newsroom
It’s only because of my experience, having
grown up in the metropolis of New Delhi, that I can tell you about the
importance of reservations. Crores of Dalits and members of Backward
Castes fear to even speak before savarna ‘upper’ castes – forget getting
education, or accessing the benefits of reservations.
§
Ms Ranaut, have you ever asked the castes
of those who clean your sewers? I’ll tell you – they are all Dalits. Why
aren’t any so-called upper castes doing this work for you, living and
dying in those inhuman situations? Learning about these realities of our
society isn’t very hard. If you are still not convinced, pick up any
daily newspaper – I guarantee you will find at least one report of a
caste-based atrocity.
Murders are committed because of caste. Some are “institutional murders”, where students like Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi
are pushed to suicide by casteist society. I have been on the path to
joining that list of names. ‘Modern’ Indians miss no opportunity to
harass and demean us. And even when we survive these pressures, society
keeps plotting to steal success away from us.
Also read: When Will India’s Educational Institutes Have Their ‘Dalit Lives Matter’ Moment?
Recently I read Waiting for a Visa
by Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. He describes seeing his degrees, his
qualifications, his competence, his education, all brushed aside because
of his caste. Those experiences ensured that reservations were
enshrined in the constitution. If not for that, marginalised communities
would never have been allowed to step forward as we have. It is only
because of reservations that I’ve been able to come this far. We are
because he was.
Society tells my community that we have no
rights to dream. Even if we get educated and secure a good living,
‘modern’ Indians conspire for our downfall. I was one victim, but I
don’t fear to speak this truth, because of the strength I get from
Babasaheb’s Constitution.
For reservations to end, it is from you and
your so-called ‘upper’-caste communities that the change must come. I
hope all the responses you have received will help you think about that.
Yours truly,
Meena Kotwal
Meena Kotwal is an independent journalist.Meena Kotwal
