Thursday, December 13, 2007

Castes and sub-castes as “federation of free nationalities”

Only a person of Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar’s stature can alert the city intellectuals, both the Marxist/secular/liberal, and the libertarian variety, not to pretend to wish away the caste system. By highlighting the fact that caste fraternities are not only “building blocks of mass politics” but also instruments of social capital, he is forcing us to think the whole issue anew. [Why intellectuals have no mass base ET 5 Dec, 2007]

If we take the liberty of transposing crudely one of the key ideas that Sri Aurobindo popularized, the castes and the sub-castes can be seen as welcome corporate formations. They can exist as a “federation of free nationalities” both competing and co-operating with each other. [TNM, Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad] 8:13 AM 7:59 AM

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