Reform polls to end casteism: Ramachandra Guha

KOZHIKODE: Holding free and fair elections is the most remarkable feat of independent India in the last 70  years, opined noted historian Ramachandra Guha. Addressing the Kerala Literature Festival at the Kozhikode beach on the topic ‘India@70’ on Saturday,   Mr Guha said that Indians feel more free when they are at the polling booths. He also called for reforming the election process to shift the  focus  from caste politics to  education, development and growth.  Mr  Guha, who favoured a two-party system,  said that Kerala had made remarkable progress  in many fields due to the system.

“When two candidates are in the fray, one has  to get more than 50 percent votes and for that the party needs to address major  issues like development,” he opined. Indians, especially dalits and women who were under oppression for thousands of years, are now enjoying more freedom  compared to 5,000 years back.  However, adivasis are still invisible and more has to be done in that regard.  “Hinduism contributed to the oppression of lower castes whereas both Hinduism and Islamism contributed to women’s oppression.   In the last 60 years, the link between caste-occupation and family- marriage has been  losening,” he added.

Referring to  freedom of expression, he said that though Indians enjoy freedom to move and work, artists, writers and film makers do not have the same freedom of expression  compared to Sweden or Norway. Though religious freedom in India is a bit dodgy, linguistic pluralism works well.  “The last British Commander-in-Chief of India, Claude Auchinleck, once said  India is a subcontinent with many countries with different languages and cultures and that a single nation cannot exist binding all these units together. We proved that language doesn’t define national integration. Even the Hindi chauvinists failed to impose  Hindi across the country,” he added.

Referring to Indian economy, Mr Guha said that unemployment is a social concern  as majority of the unemployed  are becoming tools of organisations or people with vested interests. “From Raj Thackeray’s goondas to Jellikkatu protesters,  the majority are  18-30-year-old youth with no permanent jobs,” he added.   The Left parties have done well  in Kerala but failed in dealing with industries and entrepreneurs. He added that while the Left and the BJP have ideologies,  the Congress lacks  a theory as well as an ideology.