Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Good beginning

The demolition of a portion of the wall that separated Dalits from caste Hindus in Uthapuram, Madurai, by the Tamil Nadu government to express its solidarity with Dalits is welcome but not sufficient. Mental barriers such as caste arrogance, prejudice, and hatred which exist in the minds of the ‘upper’ castes need to be dismantled.

It is their deep-rooted prejudice against Dalits that makes them commit atrocities and deride them. Caste Hindus should not be allowed to violate the human rights of Dalits with impunity.

P. Nirmala Rao,

Guntur

Ending caste discrimination and social oppression is the objective of social justice. In this context, the demolition of a part of the Uthapuram wall signifies a positive development in the direction of changing the exploitative social order. The Hindu deserves to be applauded for its responsible journalism.

P. Venkatesh,

Salem

The partial demolition of the Uthapuram wall provides an impetus to the eradication of the remnants of the social evil of casteism. It is frustrating to find a substantial chunk of our elite offering grudging arguments in support of such demeaning tendencies towards fellow humans.

Though the move was belated, the Tamil Nadu government should be commended for initiating it after The Hindu brought the issue to the limelight and the CPI(M) pressed for demolition.

Kasim Sait,

Chennai

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