I don’t need to tell anyone as to how important caste calculations are in any Indian election. Even a school going child knows it. But let me tell you why it is so important.

First, let me list out all those stamps which basically give a person some identity. The first is his name, then his gender, his profession, his mother tongue, his town / city of residence, his state, his family, his religion, his country / nationality and of course his caste. Now here is the funny thing which escapes most people’s attention. Indian constitution has given the right to its citizens to change practically anything and everything about himself.

You can change your name and can be called by another name from tomorrow. You can divorce your wife and marry someone else. You can stop being a writer and become a singer. You can change your city and settle down in another city and call that place your home. You can stop speaking Telugu and can register yourself as a Konkani in the next census. You can change your state of domicile. You can change your faith to become a Muslim or a Christian from tomorrow. You can always leave India and take another nation’s citizenship and stop calling yourself an Indian.

The only thing the Indian constitution does not allow you to change is your caste. If you are born in a Brahmin family, you can’t become a Reddy or a Dalit. You have to live with your caste till you die.

The Indian constitution probably thinks that caste is the most fundamental identity a person has, which can not be changed under any circumstances. In other words, your caste is cast in stone.

Is this right and is this correct ?

I am not a constitutional expert. But I wonder, what is so great about caste that while a person can change his name, wife, profession, state, language, city, faith and even nationality,  there is no provision in the constitution to ask his caste to go to hell.

Given this constitutional rigidity, why will not our politicians divide us on caste lines when we are already bunched at birth and will remain so till we die !! I don’t really find fault with them.