Regarding Gautaman Bhaskaran's July 7 article, "Battles with racism in India's own backyard": I understand that the Dalits in India have suffered a lot through no fault of their own. Even after the many years since India got its independence and despite the efforts afoot to improve the lot of Dalits and bring them up to the level of the "upper" castes, their condition is far from an acceptable level. I also believe that policies such as reservations (for jobs and university seats) must continue for some time to come, although many strongly oppose this.
But I feel that many people in the Dalit communities who have done better, partially because of their own capabilities and hard work, have not shown a proper attitude. Instead of letting the less fortunate among them receive the benefits from reservations and other facilities, members of the community who have already advanced claim them, thereby denying help to truly deserving people — for whom the help was really intended.
Nevertheless, the fact that we in India practice some sort of "racism" ourselves doesn't remove our right to condemn the same by others, despite the adage "Physician, heal thyself!" If one had to be perfect before criticizing others, nobody in this world could criticize anybody.
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