Caste still a factor in Bengal

Caste and West Bengal has been an unfamiliar juxtaposition. Caste rarely makes it to the news in the state. However, in March this year, the plight of around 130 Dalit families who were denied entry to a local temple was widely reported.

- NIRUPAM HAZRA

Caste and West Bengal has been an unfamiliar juxtaposition. Caste rarely makes it to the news in the state. However, in March this year, the plight of around 130 Dalit families who were denied entry to a local temple was widely reported. Discrimination based on caste is not that rare in many other parts of India; however, West Bengal was long considered as an exception. This perceived exceptionality was built upon several factors.

To understand the contours of caste in West Bengal one has to look back to the history of the region. In undivided Bengal under colonial rule, dominated caste or so-called lower caste communities like Namasudra and Rajbanshi tried to battle social constraints and economic deprivations through organized movements. But partition and concomitant communal conflict threw asunder - both spatially and politically - the lives of a large number of depressed class people. In a volatile communal environment, the primacy of caste identity was overshadowed by the quest for religious solidarity.