Why doesn’t the BJP, which brags so much of inner-party democracy, simply not go ahead and hold an election to elect its next leader, instead of humiliating L.K. Advani from below while trying to anoint a leader from above?
R. Jagannathan, in DNA, suggests that the reason may be caste. Centuries of caste-based protection has made Indians reluctant to change; afraid to abandon the old even after it has outlived its utility. Therefore, he says, we are afraid of the outcome of democracy.
“Caste is like the shell of the tortoise. When faced with predators, the tortoise withdraws into its shell. Caste was the protective shelter under which the Indic peoples withdrew when confronted with the radical new ideologies of Christianity and Islam. So successful has caste been as protector, that even the others have adopted it. Caste now permeates Indian Islam and Christianity, not to speak of Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. Put another way, caste is a force independent of Hinduism.”
Read the full article: BJP’s succession blues
churumuri 
India is uncomfortable with democracy because of caste? I wonder how such articles get published! I can see the value of a polemic based on substantiated logic and evidence but force fitting one’s pet theory to explain all situations is beyond ridiculous. As in this case. Obviously Mr R Jagannathan is more than clueless about societal evolution that influence and determine social behaviours, cultures, rights and freedoms. Perhaps he’s ignorant of the situation in Russia, China, Latin America, Africa and even Singapore?! Is caste the reason there too? Is it because the intellectual bankrupt cannot develop anything beyond caste – the favourite tool of Hindu self-flagellation? We’re still a feudal non-secular society in the throes of a huge socio-cultural shift and with a less than perfect justice sytem. Am appalled at the quality of public discourse!
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Related topic- Population genetics and caste
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7263/abs/nature08365.html
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Lovely. Mr. Jagannathan’s argument is very persuasive.
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Not quite related. But interesting nevertheless – a talk from psychologist Steven Pinker now Harvard professor from MIT before that on ‘Jews, Genes and Intelligence’:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3554279466299738997#docid=6037708729636407580
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@Gaby,
one finding in that research.. we inbreed a lot ;) No wonder our coountry is so messed up..
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