The millennials or the post-millennials often claim that caste-based discrimination doesn’t exist but daily newspaper reports never fail to debunk their claims. A recent act of temple purification in Uttar Pradesh proved how we are still not free from the beast of caste and moreover, from the demon of untouchability. The temple was purified when a Dalit MLA visited the temple. The woman held an office of power still she had to face discrimination pertaining to her caste. Imagine how difficult it would be for a common person from the so-called ‘lower’ social strata to enter the temple when an MLA’s visit resulted in cleaning and purification of idols.
Not only are such incidents insulting but they also leave the victim in havoc and with low self-esteem. Several such cases have been noted where the person was denied entry because of his/her belongingness to a particular caste. Dr B.R. Ambedkar who was one of the most learned men of his times was denied water by his colleagues. In the modern India where we try to follow first world nations, we never fail to implement our bigoted practices. This is not for the first time that such a case has happened: we still people keep separate utensils for the house helpers. Such practices are just creating a wider gap in the society and nothing else. Education alone is not the way out to solve this humongous issue; even the most educated class also don’t hesitate to pass caste based comments. In recent days, many of the abusive words are heavily caste based. Hence, to say that we are a caste-free society would be a big fat lie. And, we would never be one but we can obviously become caste desensitized so that we no longer pass snide remarks which have linkage to a caste or at least the next Dalit MLA would not have to go through similar caste-based humiliation or any other person for that matter.