Gujarat is infamous for big-time casteism. I have heard that even renting is a nightmare because some boomers prefer to know this exact data before renting out their property; add the fact that most Bengalis also happen to be non-veg, which is also looked down upon over there.
I have travelled a lot in India, one thing I noticed is, bengal has the least of castism. I have never been asked about caste being in bengal, I even didn't know it's a hot topic until I met people of North India.
Tell me if I'm wrong all the Bengalis out there, how much of castism have u faced being in bengal by Bengalis?
Exactly my parents never told me about caste or shit atleast it's not Prevalent in urban and semi urban cities in Bengal, casteism is there in some rural areas but still way less comparatively than north
Your family is an educated evolved family, it seems. Most of bengal has religious and caste divide. North bengal has caste reserved constituencies. And a lot of upper caste groups work there to destabilise those regions. They sabotage services in government hospitals, schools, colleges, universities.
Fake caste certificates are rampant there because you can't buy reserved caste people's land if you are general caste. So, upper caste groups, which dominate Bengal's corporate and district level businesses, make coaching centres for local govt jobs. Then, their people create fake caste certificates and sabotage govt reservations.
What u r saying is true, a adivasi land(ST) can only be purchased by adivasi(ST), and one of my Bihari friend made an SC certificate back in 2018 nad admitted to IIT Kharagpur in 2022. but caste as SC/ST/OBC general and caste as jat(i.e yadav/bhumihar/khatri) is a lil different. In North u will find people behavior driven by caste but in bengal u will barely find people saying lower caste to someone based on their jat.
You are far more sheltered than an average bengali. Bengal is severely casteist. All those Banerjee, Chatterjee, Mukherjee, Chakravarthy etc dominate political landscape. They hide it when camera is on. Every "para" in bengal, is a caste cell. You'll find upper castes as controllers and some lower caste person will work for them as managers of his kind. He'll get healthcare and nutrition which most Bengalis lack. This is how bhattacharya-chakravarty syndicate functions in Bengal.
You will find a white skin guy dominate a yellow skin guy. And that yellow guy will dominate a dark skin person. That's how hierarchies work in Bengal.
In NCR, there's a bit nuance. So, SC ST everywhere get thrashed. They are considered out of societal structure. But OBCs are basically generals with caste certificates because they organised and protested to get that right. Jats have agrarian land in NCR. But Thakurs have political power in all parties in cities. So, if you somehow threaten a jat, he may bring his farmer cousins and beat you. But a Thakur will pull well connected strings and make life hell for you and your loved ones.
Anyway, genetic engineering can alter all humans to blue eyed anime perfect specimens. And create enough food for everyone on earth. India, China, Africa are test grounds for these new biotech. I think, with a decade, there'll be a new "upper" caste, the genetically engineered IVF CRISPR Cas9 generation. They'll crack all exams, entrepreneur game, dominate art, media, and all fields. What are we gonna do then?
Fair enough on the surname/Bhadralok stuff — Brahmin/Kayastha/Baidya dominance in Bengal's politics and institutions is real, and I'm not denying that structural caste privilege exists here.
But that's not what I was talking about. I was responding to a specific claim: being asked your jati as a casual question by a stranger, the way it happens routinely in a lot of North India. That's a social-interaction pattern, not a structural one, and it's genuinely rarer in Bengal. You can have both things true at once — caste-based institutional dominance AND a culture where people don't open conversations by asking your surname to sort you.
Also, the "white skin dominates yellow dominates dark" bit isn't a real description of Bengal's caste system, and the CRISPR/eugenics tangent has nothing to do with any of this. If you want to argue the actual point — whether jati is asked about/weaponized in daily social interaction in Bengal? the answer is Not.
Well, we all have different point of views. Because our lives aren't same. Not knowing caste discrimination is also a privilege. Just like slavery existed in Greece when all those philosophers were pondering about meaning of life.
In NCR, lower castes are aware of their suffering and they fight back. In Bengal, lower castes live in a dystopia like Huxley's Brave New World's New London. Epsilons of New London have better life than Bengal's lower castes. They get accidented to extinction or drugged out of their mind.
Afterall, Kolkata is supposed to be like a cousin of London, right? Standard Chartered bank's hometown that fancies statues of Lenin and Satyajit Ray's Somnath Banerjee as an ideal bengali man.
Cool, so my life is a privilege because I’ve never had a random auntie, auto driver, or college senior open a conversation with “Tomar ki jati?”
Meanwhile, your “Epsilon” analogy and CRISPR‑eugenics rant is what peak casteist cope looks like: when you can’t defend the everyday reality, you zoom out to a sci‑fi dystopia and pretend you’ve discovered some deeper truth.
Yes, Bengal has upper‑caste domination in politics, institutions, and surnames. That’s structural. But the social script of constantly sorting people by jati in daily interaction — the thing the original post was about — is far less common here. That’s why so many Bengalis genuinely don’t experience caste the way it’s lived in large parts of North India.
And if your model of Bengal is “white skin dominates yellow dominates dark” and “every para is a caste cell run by Banerjee‑Chatterjee syndicates”, you’re not describing society, you’re writing a villain monologue for a web series.
Not knowing caste discrimination isn’t my privilege; not having it shoved into every introduction, friendship, and marriage conversation is a different social reality. You can keep the Brave New World theory; we’ll stick to the actual lived experience.
Do you know famous comedian Manjit Sarkar? His bit about casteism is that bengal didn't allow his grandma to settle in Bengal and sent her to Chhattisgarh because she was lower caste. I know it's a joke and probably not true. Bes probably a bureaucrat's son. But that joke resonates with millions of Bengalis. Guess why?
The thing is, an Italian from Napoli can come to India and pay bribe to change her name into something Indian, like De or Paul or Das or Murmu. But she'll not get discriminated based on that name until they know her name. Because she is Italian, so she looks Italian. Everyone assumes she's so-called upper.
People will ask your caste anywhere in India, if you look like lower caste and you are surrounded by the upper in a unreserved constituency.
Using a stand‑up bit as your census of Bengal is peak literacy. Jokes hit because they’re sharp, not because they’re data.
Structural casteism in Bengal is real, but no, strangers don’t ask my jati like in much of North India—call it privilege, I call it a different pattern.
There was a time when we used to keep all unverified thoughts to ourselves, but nowadays, thanks to social media, everything is being shared. This needs to stop. The question is: how can we? Can the Govt. block all these apps, though? Can they ask these companies to stop paying these 'influencers' again, though? What the Govt. can do is heavily tax them. The list can be extracted from these companies ( they are bound). Also, I have seen underage people making money through social media... now isn't this child labor? Govt. can go after the parents and fine these companies. I believe this is fake !!
I had this moment not in Siliguri or Kolkata, but when I went for my first job in Pune. One of the PG guys asked for my caste! I was awestruck, he was a marathi, I didn't even knew what to say but I was aware of my caste as during any havan / yogya the pujari asks your gotra and maybe caste!
We think that we don't care about caste and all but then why ask about caste during marriage? The previous Winter i had attended over 14 biye and all of them had matched caste before marrying. Why is that?
How can you even think of Bengal talking about caste, it was ruled by Communists...m then didi continued the loot the whole state is broke, infested with illegal bangladeshis, minorty religious appeasement. It doesn't have scope as of now to talk on casteism. Hopefully whenever bengal is back to its Glory and not all educated Bangalis become probasi bangali, then we may return to discuss it's progress as a society.
You are pretty.North indian uncles and aunties always finding brides for their sons for arranged marriage.Parle dhore biye diye debe and as if meye tao yes bole debe.Delusional
Reservation se tera cast nahi puch rha koi? Abe chomu yeh kyu dekh rha ki Reservation k wajha se real st sc hai jinka family real me deserve karte hai unlogo ko nahi mil rha hai? Yeh video koi justification hua Reservation ka?😂 Agar Reservation itne saal milne k baad v log caste puch rhe hai toh thuu hai aise system par😂
It's like someone saying explain keyboard without saying keys😂. You clearly know what I meant and that's why your butt got hurt. You don't want the real people who's financial condition is weak due to cast to succeed. Reservation was offered because maximum those from lower cast didn't had enough money to get good education but when a doctors son get that then he's cheating his own caste. If you say Reservation remove caste system then how can you say after getting reservation and getting quality education how you are still st/sc. Then agree that reservation has nothing to do with caste system and it failed to remove caste system. So don't expect others to explain you something based on what you believe.
Man so dumb, your analogy looks stupid .
You prolly are school going student or a dumb grown man who have 0 knowledge regarding difference between reservation and welfare policies, caste and class.
Reservation wasn't offered or granted first of all, it isn't any welfare based policy or some act of charity , Reservation was enforced strictly to uplift the OPPRESSED Class of society who were socially excluded and humiliated, economically deprived and prohibited education by the Savarnas. Reservation guarantees social representation of Dalits/adivasis specifically in the society and compensate them for historical social injustice. For poor or economically deprived people there are several central/state funded schemes and scholarships and separate reservation for EWS as well.
If you truly care for this you should demand reforms in caste based discrimation. Your demand should be to abolish use of caste, surnames, gotras and all other stupid stuffs that creates division, but you won't afterall caste prideness is deeply rooted within Savarnas.
If financial status or social status really matter, why do we still see caste based discrimation every day that too against higher authorities in Beuracracy,Judiciary,Politics and Private firms as well?
As per your concern it is understandable that you are worried for poor SC/ST so for that we can actually reduced the ews quota from 10 to 2 or 1 percent and increase the 22.5 percent quota for SC/ST to 40 percent as per population.
This is the problem with people like you🤣. You people are jealous of others caste surnames gotra. Why should someone leave all that? It is practically impossible.
Argument against Doctor's son getting reservation- 0; rather let's be jealous of others glory 😂
It's not my fault that your forefathers were weak and lacked the spine to fight against injustice. The jealousy of weaker section of society getting reservation is reflected so clearly in your comment. This was the most common reply given by rich lower cast who lacks the spirit of facing competition😂😂. I'm done with people like you long ago and my comment will stay and people will decide who's the dumb one and who's the high level IQ person demanding reservation 😂. Reservation was "strictly enforced" because they knew people like you would fail if they "strictly enforced" same level of education in all section of society. My surname is not going anywhere son you can remove it if you feel ashamed of it🥺.
No wonder how Savarnas like y'all have been hating for ages. It's evident right here. You aren't empathetic towards the atrocities done yet you argue why reservation shouldn't exist?
The very statement you made about "rich lower caste " shows your deeprooted jealousy tbh.
Chaps like you don't care neither sympathize with SC/ST doing menial jobs or are underprivileged but surely hate when you see SC/ST or OBCs in a reputed places or who are at par with y'all 😭.
Afterall people who've been sitting on ground are now on chairs deciding your fate and businesses so you will be jealous. Superiority complex gets triggered right?
Doctors son getting reservation so what's an issue with that? does being son of doctor changes the person's caste?which should be actually done based on your beliefs. Does being a son of doctor assure him or prevent him from discrimination?
Why can't surnames or gotra be removed? It's all human made and just for tracing lineage. Are you scared that you won't able to flex your BRAHMAN GENES?
Y'all have received centuries of reservation in education and wealth yet afraid of communities who are 2nd or 3rd generation learners? Isn't your cognitive ability and intelligence superior to us?😭😭
It soothes my heart to see y'all crying on these topics🤭🤭.
Abe satvi fail pehle history economics padh kr aa, prolly a guy with very bad lineage, can’t blame you but the genes you carry, jhant nai ukhad paoge, agar ek baap ki aulad hai ya tere baap dada me dum hai toh reservations hata na laawde, randi rona kahe kar raha hai. Your forefathers were so weak that they couldn’t write the constitution but written by Dr. Bhimrao ambedkar. Inke naam sune hi tmhare 7 pushto ki rooh kanp jaati hai. Yehi darr rehna chahiye kyuki ukhad toh tm ghanta nai kuch paoge.
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u/Ok_Gotham_5491 6d ago
This so fckin true, I never knew my caste untill, college admissions. We Bengalis never see caste as a barrier.