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Vijaya, I can’t agree with you more on the fact that caste and religion are powerful identities in North and East India, but I am not sure if we can absolve the south as such. My last name making you believe that I hail from northern India is a direct corollary to this sad reality. I, however, grew up in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra which unfortunately is neither part of Northern India nor that of Southern. One can possibly condemn it to far less illustrious Central India. My rub with Southern India, though, has been limited: via brief stints in places like Mangalore, Bangalore, Mysore, and Hyderabad and through a variety of colleagues/friends hailing from all four southern states (while being in United States and India). I’m afraid, I found a majority of them equally steeped in caste consciousness of their own. Sporadic incidents of caste-based violence in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (the anti-Dalit violence in Dharmapuri district late last year being a case in point) also do not suggest otherwise to a “Northie”, if you will, like me. Also, lumping all four states together into an imagined entity called South India may very well be acceptable in popular culture but doing it in the realm of complex social realities seems kinda over-simplification to me. Lastly, my concluding comment was more of a musing than accusation which is gradually gaining acceptance within Indian left. If one still takes it as an accusation, the finger was pointed towards the whole spectrum of Indian left, and not just the “official” CPs in India. By being critical of the parliamentary left or the “official CPs” at times, if someone qualifies to be damned to far-left (or ultra-left), then I am the one. The sad part, however, is - the so-called far-left or ultra-left in India, too, can’t boast of being free from this malady. In Solidarity, Bharat ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
