Caste permeates every pore of our society! Shame on our Nation!

Caste based Discrimination in Matrimonial Columns

“RC TAMIL BC PG Doctor 27, seeks RC PG Doctor groom except SC/ST. Ct:9842482474/a.geetharaj@yahoo.com” (Published in The Hindu dated 07-04-2013).

Even when it is a common phenomenon that untouchability had crept even into matrimonial portals, it is disheartening to notice that The Hindu becomes a source for untouchability to continue pervade the public sphere. The Hindu’s Matrimonial supplement (April 7, 2013) carried an advertisement “RC TAMIL BC PG Doctor 27, seeks RC PG Doctor groom except SC/ST. Ct:9842482474/a.geetharaj@yahoo.com” excluding Dalits and Tribals, thus discriminating against people on the basis of caste, thereby violating the letter and spirit of Articles 15 and 17 of the Constitution. Such an advertisement can only be construed as an expression of untouchability in a hidden, insidious way against the SC/STs.

Though excluding people based on caste from having matrimonial alliance is a personal choice, publishing it in a public medium is a blatant act of bigotry and oppression that causes great distress to the SC/STs who are hitherto socially marginalized in India. It’s an affront to the country’s Scheduled castes that the Hindu allowed its clients to post such entries quite often in the Matrimonial columns. I am afraid that the Hindu’s Secular credentials will be at stake if it continues to publish these advertisements quite inadvertently or to compromise with its secular stance for advertisement revenue. Though The Hindu does not endorse the content of any advertisement, it is the social responsibility of the editors to ensure that the advertisements are not contrary to constitutional values and to moderate the content to prevent the practice of untouchability.

Even when the constitution of India outlawed untouchability, untouchability is still rampant and is taking new forms particularly in media content. In fact, untouchability has not only survived the constitutional ban but taken new avatars in many parts of the nation. Dalit’s efforts to overcome deeply entrenched caste hierarchies and to assert their right to live with dignity become a dystopia with this kind of advertisements. Millions of SC/STs will be grateful to The Hindu if it sticks to its secular fabric and resolves by principle not to publish any such discriminatory advertisements in the future.