Caste divisions among Indian diaspora remain in Australia
Dec 20, 2024
Australian politicians’ inability to understand the complexity of the Indian diaspora is, in part, fostering division among these migrants, the Guardian Australia claims in analysis published on Sunday (December 8).
Writers Ben Doherty and Mostafa Rachwani say the diaspora is deeply divided – which should not surprise any educated person given that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has divided the country along religious lines in his bid to increase his poll numbers across three elections.
The authors point out that India has had four main social classes: Brahmins (priests and teachers) at the top and the Dalits or untouchables at the bottom. The other two classes are not mentioned.
Doherty and Rachwani spoke to a number of Indians; one, Dr Asang Wankhede, conducted a National Community Consultation on Caste Discrimination, and interviewed 146 Indian Australians.
Unsurprisingly, Dr Wankhede found that migrants had failed to abandon their attitude to discrimination based on caste. That plays out in the way Indians mix and mingle in Australia, with many of the same strictures they adopt at home coming into play in their new abode.
Doherty and Rachwani also discuss the issues around Sikh separatism that have led to murders in Canada and arrests in the US.
As an aside, the author has experienced caste discrimination in India first-hand while working for a rural development outfit in the 1980s. In the village where he lived, people were given different utensils to drink tea in the local tea-shop – high castes were given glasses, while the lower castes had to use stainless steel tumblers. There was also one set of benches for the lower castes and a second for the higher castes.
The author, being considered a member of the higher castes as he came from the city, was often told not to sit on the benches meant for those lower down the social hierarchy. In truth, these benches were much more comfortable! In the end, the author ended up sitting on the seat of his motorcycle just outside the shop while he consumed his morning cuppa – just to avoid offending either group.
Read the full article here:
Sam Varghese is an Australian of Indian origin who has lived in the country for nearly 26 years. He has worked as a journalist for more than 40 years and currently writes for the tech website iTWire. He has worked for the Deccan Herald and Indian Express in India, Khaleej Times in the UAE and Daily Commercial News (now defunct) and The Age in Australia.
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