Maharashtra: The suicide of the 26-year-old Dr Payal Tadvi in Mumbai is a horrific reality we live to retell. A member of the Tadvi Bhil tribal community of Maharashtra, Payal was taunted as "nichle jaati ke log" by her castist seniors. It is not a small town or a village that we are talking about, the incident took place in Mumbai, a metropolitan and the city of dreams.
Her mother recounted that Payal would face regular harassment at the Topiwala National Medical College where she started her MD in 2018. Her seniors would apparently, without shame, say that she should not be allowed to study the course. While the young doctor chose death over a life of constant torture, she has left us with grave issues to ponder over-caste, inequality, unchecked bullying, and an elitist mindset.
Blind to caste or complete eradication of caste?
The idea of superiority and elitism has been ingrained in Indian society since time immemorial. History books tell us that women from lower castes were not allowed to cover their breasts as a form of respect to the upper caste. Backward classes and Dalit men and women were taxed for covering their chests, and only people of higher caste were allowed to wear blouses and shirts. The struggles of avarna women of Kerala is an important part of history which has now quietly been taken out of CBSE history books.
You can edit books and be indifferent to caste-but you cannot get rid of it even in the 21st century. While lawmakers work to the best of their ability to bring up the so-called "lower" castes, the "higher" castes take it to heart. Rather than changing their mindsets, they become even more aggressive. It is not age-old history we are referring to here. The recent cases of lynching and bullying in our nation are standalone proof of the existing castism.
Castism is everywhere
Payal is not the only person to face inequality. A Dalit couple was thrashed by a mob in Vadodara after the husband took to social media to state that a certain temple did not allow Dalits to enter and offer prayers. In another news, a Dalit boy was thrashed by an upper caste mob for offering a rose to a girl above his caste. The list is endless, but the issue is the same-a group of people who believe themselves to be better than the rest and consider it their moral obligation to thrash and bully them into subordination.
Expected subordination eats away at the progress we make every day
As long as people hold onto regressive cultural ideas and refuse to move forward, national growth on a whole will be held hostage. Hostage to castism, classism, patriarchy, and superiority. If these people one day wake up and ask why are we still not a progressive nation despite all the technology, we will point fingers at them and say, "You held us back because of your toxic ideology."
Source : iDiva.com
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