'Touch Me Not?'

There have been numerous soap operas and advertisements that promulgate that Chivalry should get equal. And, that’s a good thing, undoubtedly. Yet, insomnia and guilt have been constant companions when the sight of hundred migrant labourers’ plight flash before the eyes. The concept and practice of ‘untouchability’ has made itself to the top amongst all this, and contributes immensely to the mulling over. 

‘Casteism’ adds a grand seasoning too, where, in this era of globalisation and in the 21st century, a Dalit is being shot as his family had gone to fetch water from the hand pump. Yes, you read that right. SHOT. KILLED. A DEAD MAN, whose cause of death (if at all, hypothetically his body underwent a postmortem) would be his race, and at the most a heart failure or a deep state of shock. 

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Talking of our very own Fundamental Rights, a stringent emphasis has often been given to Article 15, that prohibits any form of discrimination on the basis of age, gender, racial background, caste or creed. Yet, why such horrendous breach of law, and that too over a natural resource?

There is a wave of justifications for cert. Yet, the grey matter seems to be opaque enough to second any of it. Where is the equality that we have been raising slogans about? When all we have is bloodshed prevailing in the name of racism in bold capital letters. It’s no secret that any form of crisis is like an acid test for humanity in its purest form. 

As mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, more than the social distancing, what makes the migrants labourers' pain so acute is that the majority of them are tribals or Dalits. Unfortunately, the lack of empathy, especially visible among the middle class towards the migrant workers, has a rigid place that has resulted in more bitterness. 

While the intelligentsia have been advocating for social welfare programs, that would talk about protecting the interests of the weakest sections of the society; the social media has been flooded with images of many migrant workers that returned to their villages and kept quarantined, and kept under serious pressure. What is scary and bothering here is whether the ramifications of COVID-19 would give an opportunity to bigotry that would validate untouchability. 

A more deepened question that arises here is what is the root cause of all such evil practices? Who are we to decide who belongs to a higher caste and who doesn’t? Similarly, is there is no alteration in the primitive mindset that has been held onto for years, then what good is it belonging to the upper caste? Is it doing any good to the mass or the society at large? Is bigotry and fanaticism really getting us anywhere?

The greatest takeaway from the pandemic is that it has shown the world that no one is actually immune to the ill effects of it, and that it affects everyone irrespective of their caste, gender, or social status. This pandemic has given us an opportunity to unite beyond the cocoon of casteism. Ironically, COVID-19 has truly made us the ‘untouchables’ of the modern era!