Caste, Religion and India. Separable?

“India is a divided society with unity, but with time these demarcations are harming us. Let’s give a thought upon these so we can be a great nation in years to come!”

“Vidya Sharma, India!” was something that pleased the coach Kabir Khan, we all remember that epic scene from the movie ‘Chak De India’ when the team members were asked to introduce themselves. All of us have watched enough patriotic movies and have enjoyed them a lot, but after the 180 mins show we are again Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians! Do we even realize how far we have come from being ourselves, from being just a human being, from being a native of our country, from being an ‘Indian’?

The Hindu parents won’t allow their daughter to marry the boy she loves. Why? Because he goes to a Mosque rather than a Temple. Well, the boy breathes the same air, he has been living for years drinking the water from the same land, he, too, is an Indian. Is that not enough?

The elder brother of a Muslim girl won’t let her go to her friend’s house, reason being, she is not a Muslim, so she might not prove to be a good friend.

Long before, we were divided on the basis of caste, religion, language and the region we live in. Soon, those divisions were the inevitable part of our customs and beliefs. Today, when we stand to be the fastest growing economy, one of the youngest countries of the world and the leading country in science, innovations, and technology we need to ponder upon how these religion and caste-based divisions are harming us, how we as a society, are degrading and how it is holding us back.

Moving on, the most severe problem our country is facing is the other side of a coin named, ‘Caste-based Reservation’.

Caste was an ancient Indian practice where people were divided in caste on the basis of the work they did. It was never a measure of respect or prosperity in the ancient society. Hundreds of years passed and soon these caste-based divisions were a practice of custom or mandatory part of our lives, shaming our society. After we gained our Independence to ensure socio-economic equality, reservation on the basis of caste was provided but after 70 years we are still fixed in it. It’s time when we have to rethink over the caste-based reservation and provide it on the basis of economic status. The reservation has helped but we still have people who are unprivileged, we need to drain out the people who are previously provided reservations making way for people who need it now.

The present reservation scheme is encouraging divisions among us, it parts us in high and low caste and degrades the feeling of oneness, unity, and equality. The Republic of India was established to ensure equality and we really need a revolutionizing policy on the caste-based reservation to keep up the promise of equality ensured by our constitution.

We proudly stand in the top ranks in many fields, but India is the fourth worst country in the world in terms of religious harmony, we have a history of worst communal riots that took away lives of thousands of people. The 1984 Sikh Riots, 2002 Gujarat Riots, and 2013 Muzaffarnagar Riots are some of its examples. Why are we so divided,  how a religion that is based on love can allow so much hatred and violence? Though the role of political parties cannot be ignored, religion is a political tool in India that is being used for over 70 years now.

Its high time we need to integrate as Indians and not be the part of creepy political games and motives. Being the responsible youth of the country we need to inculcate and trade the feeling of love unity and harmony in our society and ensure the integration of India as peaceful, harmonic and a country for everyone. Religion and Caste are a personal choice and belief bringing such identities in public should not be encouraged and all people living within the boundaries of our nation should be referred to as INDIAN only!