Decades after abolishing caste, India remains addicted to its habit of 'othering' others
its cousin “them,” sounds an innocent word. Given the wrong context, though, even a simple pronoun can turn insidious. Since a pack of suicide-bombers, claiming to act in the name of Islam, killed 261 people on Easter morning, Sri Lanka’s 2m Muslims have collectively felt that turn. After a thousand peaceful years as a minority in the island country “they” have quite suddenly become aliens, perhaps to be tolerated, but not to be trusted.
The signs of rejection can be stark, such as when rioters have torched Muslim property. But mostly they appear by whisper and insinuation. Lists ripple across Facebook, detailing shops and businesses to avoid because they are Muslim-owned; rumours circulate that the free meals served by a Muslim-run charity at public hospitals are doctored to make non-Muslims infertile.
This is compounded by a school system that perpetuates division. Most Christians and Muslims go to “their” schools, while Tamils and Sinhalese are naturally separated by the language of instruction. Sinhalese students learn that the great warrior-king Dutugemunu defeated a foreign ruler, Elara, protecting Buddhism and uniting the country. Tamil students read instead that Ellalan—as he is known in Tamil—was a wise and just king who ruled Sri Lanka from 205.
The same may be said of Sri Lanka’s immensely bigger, kaleidoscopically more diverse northern neighbour, India. Decades after establishing a secular constitution and abolishing caste—and with it such categories as the “criminal tribes” and “martial races” beloved of the British Raj, India remains addicted to its habit of othering others. A simple glance at recent headlines is revealing.
And as in Sri Lanka it is not just ignorant people who partition “us” from “them.” When India’s freshly elected parliament convened in mid-June, and one of its handful of Muslims stood to take his oath, taunting cries of “Jai Sri Ram” rose from the ruling party’s benches. Eroding the secular basis of citizenship, the government plans to speed the naturalisation of Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain and Christian refugees, but not Muslims.
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