By Justice Kaju
These days laws are being made in some states of USA against caste discrimination.
More than 20 orgs join hands to form America Against Caste Discrimination
SB 403: California Senate passes Bill banning caste discrimination in state
Seattle makes history, first in U.S. to pass bill banning caste-based discrimination
California’s caste-discrimination bill SB 403 passes Judiciary Committee with an 8-0 vote
I submit that such laws are largely gimmicks. Caste and caste discrimination can only be ended by changing the mindsets of most Indians, and this requires a mighty historical social revolution in India.
http://justicekatju.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-caste-system-in-india-this-is-old.html
The truth is that most Indians who migrate to the West carry their caste baggage with them wherever they go.Â
To give an example, in USA there is an organization called TANA ( Telugu Association of North America ) consisting mainly of people from Andhra/Telengana belonging to Kamma caste. There is also an organization called NATA ( North American Telugu Association ) consisting mainly of Reddy caste. There is even an association of Komatis ( Vaishyas of Andhra ) and a Telugu Brahmins Association in USA.
https://www.guidestar.org/profile/54-1994983
There is even a Brahmin Samaj of North America, and other caste organisations.
https://bsna.org/
I was informed by a reliable friend who lives in Fremont, California, USA that some time back a cricket match was played in Fremont between a team of Reddys and a team of Kammas ( Reddys and Kammas are castes in Andhra Pradesh ), which was abandoned midway as a result of a physical fight between members of the two teams.
I was shocked on hearing this. How could casteist teams be formed in California, and how could a fight take place between them in California ?
This shows how deep rooted casteism is in India. People who travel 13,500 kms ( the distance between India and California ) can still not leave behind their caste baggage, despite coming to a highly developed country.
Can socioeconomic evils can be abolished simply by making laws against them.? I submit that they cannot, and it is silly and puerile to think they can.
Supposing a law is made abolishing poverty and unemployment ( which too result in social discrimination, as caste does ). Will that abolish them? No, such a law will remain on paper only, and unimplementable. Jobs are created and poverty abolished when the economy is rapidly expanding, that is, by rapid industrialization, but the Indian economy is presently stagnant.
Similarly, caste and caste discrimination cannot be abolished by merely making a law against them. They can only be destroyed by a mighty united people’s revolution which destroys the present semi-feudal society in India and replaces it with a new modern society led by modern-minded patriotic leaders.
In the Indian Constitution, it is written that India is a secular country. However, the ground reality is very different. In fact, India is a very communal country, in which most Hindus are communal, as are most Muslims. So, the Constitution is just a piece of paper, whose provisions may have nothing to do with ground realities.
Similarly, Articles 14 to 18 of the Indian Constitution proclaim equality in India. But the caste system, which has been coming down from centuries, makes a mockery of these provisions.
When I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court one day a High Court Judge who was a Dalit came to meet me with his wife. His wife was an upper caste Hindu, and she told my wife that she had a love marriage with that Dalit Judge. But when they married, her relatives performed her funeral rites, saying she was dead for them, and thereafter had nothing to do with her.
 Even today for a Dalit boy to fall in love with or marrying a non-dalit girl is often inviting a death sentence ( ‘honor killing’ ). Dalits are regularly discriminated, assaulted, and insulted in India in several ways even today.
I submit that great social evils cannot be destroyed by merely making laws against them, but by historical social upheavals of the people.