From your Brown Pundits reputation, @razibkhan , I expected lot more nuance but this is very disappointing.
You only made a passing reference to massive reverse discrimination against the UC. And you didn't mention the rapid social progress in India.
On top of denying how Brahmin privilege is systemically absent or has been reversed, you contributed to scapegoating of Brahmins who are a small minority that has been at the receiving end of populist politics in India for decades especially in the South which you focused on.
You focused too much on Rao and her personal circumstances and wealth. You only named Brahmin last names. From the article an unfamiliar reader would get the impression that endogamy and discrimination were exclusive to Brahmins. Isn't this patently untrue?
American society sees the colour of the skin more than anything else, so why wouldn't a Brahmin have the same experience as anyone else from India? With this same experience, why then is it strange for them to fight against discrimination? Btw, aren't there many white liberals?
You seem to be lamenting that UCs are among the leading voices amongst Indians. But you mentioned that some 25% of Indian immigrants are UCs; why then be surprised when there are many of these among leaders? And don't Brahmins have a long history of being reformers in India, too?
You portrayed Brahmins as the landowners, but do you see any evidence today of extraordinary inherited wealth among Brahmins compared to some other castes? Or is there evidence from the past that they were the wealth 1 percenters so to speak?
Given your Bangladeshi and Muslim heritage you should've been more careful than an Indian writing about this simply because you haven't experienced any of this firsthand and probably don't even have family that can speak to their fisrthand experiences.
The article would've been much better had you not focused on Brahmins so harshly and directly. Imagine writing about American Jews this way while mentioning their popular last names!
Very disappointing that you are adding fuel to the fire of #AntiBrahminism
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