There is greater consciousness of caste in Indian society today compared🅺 to the decade after independence, Congress MP and author Shashi Tharoor said here on Saturday.
Speaking during a discussion on “The lost legacy of Ambedkar” at the Tata Literature Festival, he said now every caste is conscious of its identity, and this "identity label has become a marker for political mobilization."
There is greater consciousness of caste in Indian society today compared🅺 to the decade after independence, Congress MP and author Shashi Tharoor said here on Saturday.
Speaking during a discussion on “The lost legacy of Ambedkar” at the Tata Literature Festival, he said now every caste is conscious of its identity, and this ";identity label has become a mark🤪er for political ꦕmobilization."
Tharoor's book "Ambedkar: A Life”, a biography of Dr B ܫR Ambedkar, was launche🔥d during the program.
“Ambedkar wanted to completely destroy the caste system and he will probably be horrified to realize that, if anything, th💝e caste system is more and more entrenched in the political parties,”🏅 he said.
To a question from the audi🐎ence, Tharoor, the third-term MP from Thiruvananthapuram, noted that the political parties which are against discrimination or untouchability nonetheless seek votes in the name of cas🐼te.
The caste system is "far from annihilated", he addeဣd.
Both Ambedkar andꦑ Jawaharlal Ne🌱hru wanted the caste system to disappear from India and the latter thought that with modernisation it will disappear, Tharoor said.
Ambedkar fought for "annihilation of caste" because he felt that as long as the consciousness of cast🌳e system existed, oppression would also exist, he said. Caste is very much a feature of matrimonial pages, he pointed out.
Going forw𒆙ard, "all we can hope is that caste becomes a benign label of ide🉐ntity like an old school tie," the Congress leader added.
-With PTI Input