Jignesh Mevani, the controversial casteist MLA from Gujarat, took to Twitter to express his joy at the UPSC topper expressing his gratitude towards his girlfriend for his achievement. Mevani said, “Since we believe in the annihilation of caste, which is not possible without falling in love and going for intercaste marriage, we appreciate this gesture.” He also expressed his desire to meet the couple.
I would love to meet you two;
Pyaar, Ishq, Mohabbat Zindabad!— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) April 6, 2019
It’s unclear whether Kataria, the UPSC topper, and his girlfriend are from different castes as her name is not mentioned in the linked report. Even if both of them belong to the same caste, it still appears extremely troubling that even romance is being politicized.
It’s also not clear how intercaste marriages help in the ‘annihilation’ of caste as caste is transmitted through the male lineage, so the wife automatically picks the caste of her husband and the child grows up accordingly.
The incident also reveals the current crisis in modern politics as elected representatives appear eager to even politicize romance for the sake of electoral gains. It also appears rather unfair to reduce the entirety of Kataria’s achievements to his caste and use him as a prop for a particularly aggressive brand of identity politics.
Under any circumstance, the politicization of romance does not appear to be the smartest way to annihilate caste. However, indulging in bizarre behaviour appears to have become the norm for Mevani and not the exception. He had once resorted to using children to peddle his disruptive political agenda.
