Nobility

Published on 7th October, 2017, in the Economic Times. The World Arya Vysya Mahasabha in Andhra and Telangana is furious with the provocative assertions of Dalit writer and intellectual Kancha Ilaiah. In his book Post-Hindu India, Ilaiah describes the mercantile caste (vysya) of India as 'social smugglers' who essentially generate wealth by nefarious means, hoard wealth away for use of their families and do not share it with the rest of society. There are calls for criminal defamation against the writer, who now fears for his life and has placed himself under voluntary house arrest. The sweeping generalisation resonates with the tendency to paint the ..