Why aren't Indians sensitive to home-grown 'racism'?

The statements, with their clear pro-white bias, are considered racist. The New Zealand High Commissioner to India was summoned by the Government of India which lodged a formal protest.

An important strand is noticeably missing from the discussion on the subject. This is about India’s own and arguably more ancient caste system. Interestingly, the original name of the caste system in Sanskrit - varna — means colour. Understandably, many Indians have condemned Paul Henry’s statement. To be fair, many Indians might not have thought about the issue in terms of the caste system with its ‘untouchables’ and the treatment that continues to be meted out to the so-called low castes.

As minority immigrants in English-speaking or European countries, Indians are understandably sensitive to the issue of race and the treatment they receive. Even this sensitivity, I would argue, has its roots in the caste system and the habit of looking at the society and people in hierarchical terms. An inevitable result of this conditioning is hypersensitivity to any slurs or insults.

In this respect, Mahatma Gandhi has some lessons to offer. Gandhi had a transforming moment in his life when he was thrown out of a first-class railway compartment in South Africa.

Coloured people were not allowed to travel in first-class compartments. Then, Gandhi was a successful lawyer. He was not yet ‘Mahatma,’ — a title Rabindranath Tagore gave him later. Gandhi was travelling first-class clad in a western suit. Obviously, he was enjoying his professional success in a fairly conventional manner.

The sudden expulsion from the train compartment had a tremendous impact on Gandhi. He had to wait all night in a small railway station in South African countryside, shivering in the cold. The event can be identified as crucial in the transformation of Gandhi’s personality — it awakened him to the cruelty of racial discrimination and was a major influence in turning his focus on the poor and the oppressed people everywhere.

In India, Gandhi quite naturally turned his attention on the so-called untouchables. Adopting Jesus’ vision, Gandhi coined the term ‘Harijan,’ which means in original Sanskrit ‘children of God,’ to refer to the untouchables and devoted a considerable part of his mission working for their uplift.

As decent human behaviour goes, Gandhi’s logic is compelling. He was against treating anyone else in a way he did not like to be treated. This is the standard advocated in that great code of human conduct — the New Testament — about doing to others what you would have them do unto you (Matthew 7:12).

Refine thinking

The recent Paul Henry episode is an opportunity for everyone to reflect, and refine our thinking, on the complex subjects of ethnicity and human comity. To be clear, India has made some progress in the recent decades. Caste prejudices and the hierarchical vision are not, currently, as dominant as they used to be — although caste has emerged as a major factor in the vote bank politics of Indian democracy.

But the economic conditions of the lower castes are quite appalling. There can be little debate that the participation of the traditional lower castes in the economic and social systems of the country continues to be at abysmal levels.

They supply the menial labour for the comforts of the rich and the middle-class. Regrettably, due to economic and social reasons, lower caste children continue to be deprived of opportunities for decent education, which alone can break the cycle of poverty and ignorance.

The pitiable conditions of the lower castes are a grim reality to the present. This was highlighted by the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution in its report submitted in 2002. This reality about the life of lower caste people has its origin in the caste system itself and its elitism.

The society as a whole must take responsibility for the poor and their conditions. In this setting it would be cruel, not merely inappropriate, to speak of free markets and individuals pursuing their self-interest. It is like putting a group of lame people in a race with trained runners.

Let us get back to Paul Henry and his question to John Key which was rather tactless (perhaps deliberately so). In multiracial societies like New Zealand there is, I think, a need for such issues to crop up now and then. They can be a trigger for introspection, and hopefully improvement.

Who knows, this could even be a part of nature’s grand design. For Indians, the episode provides an opportunity not just to complain against racism overseas, but equally to think about the conditions in India and contribute their mite to the improvement of the conditions of the less-privileged.