How India’s Most Downtrodden Embraced the Power of Statues
India’s so-called untouchables have shown there’s another way to resist historical oppression.
Garlanding a statue of Ambedkar.
Photographer: Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images
Over the last month, I have watched statues around the U.S. come down, some with broader support than others, as part of a loud argument with American history. What has struck me most is the juxtaposition with India, where the construction of statues, not their destruction, has been a method for dealing with our own struggles of racism and inequality.
In India, too, segregation and discrimination has persisted for centuries, based not on race but on caste. While, to an outsider, caste may seem invisible, it is instantly recognizable to Indians through names, dialect, food, addresses and other indicators. So-called untouchables — outcastes — are relegated to the lowest rungs of the social order because their traditional occupations are deemed to be polluting.