Casteism and Caste Intolerance in India: A Study on Casteism of Contemporary West Bengal

Abstract

‘Casteism’ and ‘politicization of caste’ are common phenomena of Indian society since the beginning of the twentieth century. Violation of social rights and caste discriminations of plural characters have added additional complexity to them. Casteism has thus appeared as a burden of postcolonial Indian society. As a subject of study, it is, however, not a comfortable one. Being a sensitive issue, it often gets mixed up with political, class, cultural and regional conflicts. Thus, academic scholars, general readers and policy makers do often face serious trouble in highlighting the basic premises of casteism. Academic studies on casteism and caste-discrimination in the context of West Bengal are also not free from this limitation. Moreover, there has been a common perception among the intellectuals as well as in the academic world that West Bengal is free from caste violence. Print, electronic and social media have also equally contributed to the creation of this perception in the late twentieth century, especially for considering ‘caste’ merely as a parameter of ‘class’. This ‘invented notion’ on caste has encouraged the people of the state to understand ‘caste’ simply as a social phenomenon irrespective of its social and class differences. However, it would be an utter lie to accept the general propaganda that casteism has no presence in West Bengal. Rather, our field surveys either through interviews or ‘face-to-face group discussions’ as well as contemporary media reports reveal that psychological, oral and behavioural casteism are social realities of West Bengal. Thus, this article is an attempt to highlight the nature of casteism and caste intolerance as faced by the Scheduled Castes (SCs) of West Bengal because of their birth in a particular sub-caste.