Monday Musings: Inter-caste marriages and India’s destiny

Young people are bound to fall in love with people from different castes and communities. This is India’s destiny as a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation. Indian families must accept this sooner rather than later

‘Will India Succeed as a Liberal State?’ was the topic of an illuminating lecture by the retired Bombay High Court judge, Justice Narendra Chapalgaonkar at Pune International Centre’s (PIC) fourth foundation day, about three-and-half years ago.

Mangesh Ransingh suffered 50 per cent burns and his wife died after they were allegedly set ablaze by the woman’s family members. (HT FILE Photo)

During that lecture, followed by a discussion, Chapalgaonkar explained that the core principle of liberalism is the protection of individual rights and freedom by the State. He then cited a comment that Jawaharlal Nehru had made during a conversation with the French minister and writer Andre Malraux. Nehru had said that “building a secular state in a religious society” was the most serious challenge he faced. Nehru could as well have said that the biggest challenge facing India was “building a liberal state in an orthodox society,” said Chapalgaonkar.

This was the period when the cow vigilantes had gone berserk and rationalists MM Kalburgi and Govind Pansare had been murdered in the previous months. The entire room was enveloped with gloomy thoughts about the future of India and speaker after speaker spoke of the dark days ahead.

Then came the brief concluding remarks from the PIC vice president Vijay Kelkar, who literally lit up the room with his optimism. Kelkar expressed confidence that the young people of India who constitute a large section of our 1.3 billion population, “will demand liberal systems to find their own place in the sun.”

In Kelkar’s view, liberalism for India as envisaged by Justice Chapalgaonkar is inescapable in spite of the regressive forces that will rise from time to time. This, he said, is nothing but a part the “manthan,” the churning of Indian society in its evolution as a better nation.

I agree with this fully, even as I feel that this ‘manthan’ is going to be painful for India because we Indians still haven’t learnt from some of the biggest lessons of history such as the horrific killings of Partition, and the centuries of discrimination under the caste system.

Even today, Hindu-Muslim hatred continues to plague Indian society just as we are gripped by the strangle-hold the stinking caste system. Our politicians indulge in the politics of caste, our communities demand reservations on the basis of caste and our parents decide marriages on the basis of caste.

In a matter of just 10 days, we have seen some horrific crimes against young people in love. People booked and arrested by the police for these crimes are not strangers or habitual criminals, but the very parents, relatives and siblings of these young people.

In the most recent case, two brothers and their cousin were arrested by Pune police for shooting at their 20-year-old brother-in-law because he had married their sister belonging to another caste about the year ago. The entire family was opposed to this inter-caste marriage

This case comes close on the heels of two recent crimes of family violence against youths entering into inter-caste marriage and inter-community love affairs. On May 1, a young woman died of burn injuries and her husband suffered about 50% injuries after they were allegedly doused with kerosene and set on fire by the woman’s father and uncles.

This was again the result of a family’s opposition to inter-caste marriage due to a misplaced sense of honour.

Another recent case related to Bombay High Court directing Maharashtra government to provide protection to a 19-year-old female student of Modern Law College who had reported death threats from her family because she was in a relationship with a youth from the scheduled caste.

The fact is that India is changing rapidly and there is considerable migration within the country, and within the state. Students by the thousands are going to other cities for higher education and employment.

Young people are bound to fall in love with people from different castes and communities and we already have numerous examples of successful inter-caste and inter-community marriages and relationships. As a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation, this is clearly the future of India…this is India’s destiny. And this is what needs to be accepted by Indian families and Indian society sooner rather than later.

abhay.vaidya@htlive.com