by MUKUL DUBE
A friend who really should know better has accused me of making offensive statements. He thinks I said that Dalits *are* constituted differently and that they *are* a different species. Let me re-write yesterday’s message.
Some people say that Dalits are treated differently following the “logic” of caste. Others say that Dalits are put in a different compartment for reasons to do with race or something like it.
My view is that if only “Caste Hindu” men had not sexually exploited Dalit women, Dalits would truly have been turned into a species different from humankind.
The difficulty is that there can be no mating between species: so clearly the Brahmin, the Vaisya and the Dalit are one species. But that would not do at all, so all manner of imaginary differences have been dreamt up by the first named.
Mukul Dube can be reached at uthappam@gmail.com