Caste out

[Guest guest]

Caste out

 

Blatant rather than latent, caste is still alive – and kicking – in

the West. Nikki van der Gaag reports.

 

Davinder Prasad is very proud of his daughters. His oldest, Rena,

works in the media; the second is doing a degree in fashion and the

youngest, Indira, named after India's former Prime Minister, is still

at school. Davinder works as a laboratory manager in an American

aerospace company and his wife Vimla is a teacher in a primary school.

 

They live in a detached bungalow with beautiful wooden floors.

Goldfish swim in a tank in the living room and on the walls hang

wooden artefacts from India and a large framed photograph of the

family in front of the Taj Mahal.

 

They do not, however, live in India, but in Britain. And Davinder has

another, more unusual, preoccupation. He is one of the founders of

CasteWatch UK, an organization set up in 2003 to combat caste

discrimination in Britain.

 

It was something he had not expected to encounter when he arrived in

the country as a young man 26 years ago. When the Indian Diaspora

first started settling in the West from the 1950s onwards, caste was

not much of an issue. In any case, many immigrants were from the

lower castes, perhaps because, technically, the ancient Laws of Manu,

which many devout Hindus attempt to follow, prohibit the higher

castes from living outside the land of their birth. But as Diaspora

communities grew, so did caste distinctions. Sat Pal Muman reminisces

at a Dalit conference: `I remember 30 years ago, when the numbers

were small, there was a sense of kinship amongst fellow compatriots.

People were simply viewed as Indians or Pakistani first and language

or culture was only of secondary importance. As their numbers

increased they began to establish their own news-papers – some in

English, others in their local vernacular. They have established

temples, businesses, and now they run their own radio and television

stations.'1

 

While 95 per cent of Hindus live in India and 98 per cent in South

Asia, there are 4.5 million living in other parts of the world,

including a million in the US. Dr Ambedkar, a Dalit leader and

contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi, noted that `wherever a Hindu goes, he

[sic] will take his caste system with him.'

 

Davinder feels there is ample evidence for this. He shows me a

British school textbook on Hinduism, which describes caste without

challenging it in any way. `If I were writing that book I would point

out that caste was not a part of Hindu society to begin with. I would

say that it was a form of racial discrimination and that it was not

acceptable.' He also says that he was surprised to find caste

discrimination among Sikhs who traditionally reject such distinctions.

 

He has a file bursting with details of incidents, radio programmes,

newspaper cuttings and even a glossy leaflet from a Hindu temple in

London, all evidence of caste prejudice or discrimination. There are

as yet no statistics on this in the West. Stories remain anecdotal,

like that of the man, recently arrived in Britain from India, who had

a surname that belonged to a caste higher than his own. The people he

was staying with offered him all the help they could give – found him

a job, supported and encouraged him. A few months later, however,

during conversation, it came out that he was actually of a lower

caste than his name suggested and as soon as this was known he was

given the cold shoulder. It was a complete rejection. All of a

sudden, the support he had come to rely on was yanked away, he lost

his job and ended up looking for another place to stay.2

 

Caste permeates the whole Diaspora community. Everywhere in the West,

advertisements aiming to arrange marriages among the Hindu community

will advertise caste as part of the package – age, height, caste,

nationality, educational qualifications, profession, hobbies. Some

will state `caste no bar'; others, including those from so-

called `untouchable' castes, will make statements such as `Prefers a

Ravidassa girl, but will welcome other castes'; `Khatri Family

seeks'; `Jat Sikh educated family seeks ...'

 

Marriage matters

 

In North America, large meetings are held with the purpose of getting

young people from the same caste to get to know each other. In

Atlanta, the Patidar Samaj meeting drew 4,000 people and resulted in

100 marriages. Many people return to South Asia to marry someone from

their own caste. Parar Bagawar of the Suman Bureau, a matrimonial

agency in Britain, says: `People are still mentioning the issue of

caste and bringing it up when it comes to marriage and generally...

people don't want to marry into a lower caste. We also find that

those who originate from a lower caste prefer to meet someone of the

same background because they know that they may be victimized because

they are of a lower caste.' She says that only 25 per cent of

marriages take place across caste barriers.3

 

But Balbir Grewal of the Sikh Guru Granth Sahib temple in London

says: `Everybody should be proud of whatever creed or caste they are

and I think we should stick to it. It's like roots. How can you plant

a tropical plant into a cold country? If this carries on, the time

will come when nobody will know which background, religion or caste

they come from'.3

 

Many from the former `Untouchable' castes disagree. Their concern is

that as identity (both religious and ethnic) becomes increasingly

important, caste becomes more entrenched. Davinder Prasad

says: `Children today are asked at school: " What is your caste? " If

they don't want to say, then they are asked: " Why not? Is there

something wrong with your caste? " ' Vimla tells of an incident in

school where one little boy was biting his shoe and she overheard

another teacher say: `Stop it, you chamar [Dalit sub-caste]!' She

added: `I was shocked that this still continues.'

 

Increasingly popular among the young, Punjabi bhangra music often

celebrates the pride of jat or caste. (Jats are also a particular

land-owning feudal caste). Bobby Friction from BBC Radio 1's Asian

underground music programme notes: `There are many songs about jat

pride, about the life of a jat... jat nationalism is running rampant

in bhangra music now to the point where every bhangra album that

comes out in Britain has at least one track that alludes to the power

of the jats.'3

 

Religious fundamentalism

 

In the US, there are now many caste-based groups, such as the Brahmin

Society of America, the Rajput Association of America, Patidar Samaj.

Substantial amounts of funding are provided by them to caste,

political and religious groups in South Asia. Many fear that their

support for right-wing Hindu groups such as the RSS (Rashtriya

Swayamsevak Sangh) is leading to an increase in religious

fundamentalism and reinforcing caste in India. Angana Chatterji,

Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the California

Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, notes that such

groups `are utilizing religion to foment communal violence toward

organizing ultra right, non-secular and undemocratic nationalism in

India.' In addition, `justification of caste inequities,

subordination of Dalits, women, adivasis (indigenous peoples) and

other minorities, and the consolidation of a cohesive middle-class

base are critical to its momentum.'4

 

But, as in Britain, there are movements to combat caste in both the

US and Canada. The Chetna Association of Canada documents incidents

of caste discrimination. In the US, the International Bahujan

Organization (IBO) in New York has over 5,000 members.5 There is a

Dalit International Newsletter published in Connecticut, US, and one

in Britain published by the Dalit Solidarity Network. The first World

Dalit Convention was held in Kuala Lumpur in October 1998. It was

chaired by Senator MG Pandithan of Malaysia, and brought together

Indian Dalit leaders as well as many from the Diaspora. Following on

from the 2001 World Conference on Racism in South Africa, where

Dalits ensured that caste was given high priority, the European Union

and the United Nations have put caste issues – or `discrimination

based on work and descent' on their agendas. Dalits in the Diaspora

have also lobbied to ensure that international aid agencies employ

Dalit staff in the countries where they work.

 

They also want to ensure that discrimination on the grounds of caste

is against the law in Western countries. Davinder Prasad notes that

in Britain, where there are laws against discrimination on grounds of

race or sex, it is not unlawful to call someone an `Untouchable'. He

proposes that the Race Relations Act 1976 should be amended and

brought up to date to include casteism. `One of the main objectives

of CasteWatch UK is for there to be laws against caste

discrimination. If we could get it outlawed in the UK it would send a

signal around the world that this is not acceptable.'

 

He continues: `In this country we are British – and a Briton cannot

be an Untouchable. I want my children to think of themselves as

British. I want them to have the values of this society, this

country. I want them never to have to fear discrimination because of

their caste. And I want them to be aware of human rights, equality

and justice.'

 

 

Telling tales

 

These are just a few specific examples of caste-related incidents in

the West:

 

Arun K Sinha, a member of the kurmi caste, is the owner of a food

store in Manhattan, New York. He complains that wholesalers from

a `higher' caste insist that he pays cash rather than extending to

him the credit they give to merchants from their own caste.

 

E Valentine Daniel, a Professor of Anthropology at Columbia

University, says some Indian executives will not hire `Untouchables',

no matter how good their qualifications. `It's even more than a glass

ceiling, it's a tin roof,' he says.

 

A shopkeeper in Wolverhampton, England, tells of an incident where a

customer insisted that their change be placed on the counter to avoid

contact with someone from a lower caste.

 

On a factory floor, in Wolverhampton, England, women from so-called

upper castes will not take water from the same tap as a lower caste

person.

 

www.ambedkar.org/WorldwideDalits/castein_britain.htm