Michael Vaz
On Monday the newspapers were upbeat with the news of Krishna Kolhi, for being the first Hindu Dalit woman to be elected to the Senate, Pakistan’s upper house of Parliament. Significantly, this valiant woman is a striking example of how with the ‘never say die’ spirit a person even with all the hurdles can achieve success in life. Despite being a Dalit Hindu in a Muslim country that is always at loggerheads with her community and experiencing bonded labour in early childhood and being imprisoned for nearly three years in a private jail, she braved the calamities and even after early marriage, pursued her studies and completed her masters in Sociology.
She joined the Pakistan People’s Party and has tirelessly worked against bonded labour, sexual harassment at work places and for the rights of women and underprivileged. After her election she has assured that her resolve would be to fight against child marriage and forced conversions in Pakistan.
While commending her great achievement as a Dalit woman in Pakistan, it is felt expedient to comment on the caste system prevailing in our own country, where despite all the laws, no efforts are spared by the caste-savvy people to downgrade people based on their caste credentials and suppress them on some pretext or the other. Tragically even after seven decades of independence we hear of incidents wherein some elderly Dalit is being beaten to death for entering the locality of the high castes or a Dalit boy being mercilessly lynched for playing Holi with the upper class or a Dalit girl being raped or a Dalit lady being branded as a witch and burnt or someone else denied entry in a temple.
It is unfortunate that people are so sensitive to the caste system despite knowing that it is purely a coincidence of birth that has separated one from the other.
No matter what are the shortcomings of Pakistan, it is sure to score higher compared to India on caste based system. We need to question ourselves – should we continue with the millennia-old caste system despite all its pains of discrimination? We should eliminate the caste system! Let there be none of upper caste or lower caste but all as one undivided community of humanity. Will it gel well with our caste sensitive politicians? Will the high castes be prepared to give up their egoism? Likewise will the low castes be agreeing to forgo the benefits showered on them through reservation policy? That defines the determinant over this malady!
