Meira Kumar a leader or a Dalit leader
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
One thing that has been troubling me from the day Meira Kumar's name first made the rounds for the post of speaker of the Lok Sabha was the constant reference as to why was she being called a Dalit leader. Is that all her identity. The fact that she is well educated and is a former foreign service bureaucrat is all overshadowed by the fact that she is Dalit.
Why is it that Manmohan Singh is not called a Sikh prime minister? He belongs to a community that has borne the brunt of partition, terrorism and Operation bluestar still when his mind is comes up we remember a economist and not a sikh. Why this difference?
My belief is that the sheer fact that a dalit can assume such a high post makes us proud. If we delve a little reason is not all that hard to come by. The fact is that we the middle class are closet casteist. We don't admit it but still we are. We can let a 'dalit', people who should ideally be untouchable, rise to this level is a reason to be proud of. Whoever thinks so is casteist. If you are not one Meira Kumar's caste should not matter to you.
Why is it that Manmohan Singh is not called a Sikh prime minister? He belongs to a community that has borne the brunt of partition, terrorism and Operation bluestar still when his mind is comes up we remember a economist and not a sikh. Why this difference?
My belief is that the sheer fact that a dalit can assume such a high post makes us proud. If we delve a little reason is not all that hard to come by. The fact is that we the middle class are closet casteist. We don't admit it but still we are. We can let a 'dalit', people who should ideally be untouchable, rise to this level is a reason to be proud of. Whoever thinks so is casteist. If you are not one Meira Kumar's caste should not matter to you.
