In January, 1924, the small Konkan town of Mahad in erstwhile Bombay province passed a landmark resolution: All public spaces, including water tanks, would be thrown open to people from all castes. Yet, opposition from some caste groups on the question of ritual pollution meant that practically, people from lower castes were barred from public water tanks. Exasperated, Dr BR Ambedkar led followers in 1927 to drink water from the tank. A decade later, the Bombay high court affirmed the
In January, 1924, the small Konkan town of Mahad in erstwhile Bombay province passed a landmark resolution: All public spaces, including water tanks, would be thrown open to people from all castes. Yet, opposition from some caste groups on the question of ritual pollution meant that practically, people from lower castes were barred from public water tanks. Exasperated, Dr BR Ambedkar led followers in 1927 to drink water from the tank. A decade later, the Bombay high court affirmed the right. The unfortunate link between water and misinformed notions of caste purity bubbled up to the surface this week when a nine-year-old Dalit boy died after he was allegedly beaten up by a teacher for touching a drinking water pot in Rajasthan. The teacher has been arrested and the administration has promised strict punishment for anyone found guilty. But unless this is accompanied by robust public messaging and a promise to investigate every complaint of caste bias, future acts of discrimination will be difficult to forestall.
A newly independent India promised social, economic and political equality to Dalits and made them equal participants in the nation-building process. Yet, as Dr Ambedkar warned, this freedom has been marked by a fundamental contradiction. While Dalits have ascended to the country’s highest constitutional and legal positions, everyday life for many continues to be roiled by hostility and prejudice. This contradiction, which can only have detrimental effects on national progress and the dreams of young people from these communities, can only be stamped out with collective will — to annihilate caste.
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