While the COVID 19-pandemic and self-isolation have generated anxiety and mental-health challenges in North America, a group of oppressed people in the world’s so-called largest democracy has been enduring social ostracization for centuries.

Dalits continue to face blatant discrimination under a brutal caste system practised in Indian society in accordance with orthodox Hindu traditions despite tall claims of country’s progress.

April, which is also celebrated as Dalit History Month, not only revives ugly memories of the past when the community was subjected to the most inhuman treatment, it brings into focus how little has really changed over the years.

One of the most well respected Indian scholars and the architect of the Indian constitution, Bhim Rao Ambedkar, was born on April 14, 1891. A diehard Dalit activist, he faced caste-based oppression while growing up in the western state of Maharashtra and experienced humiliation on many occasions even after he started working.

Dalits are the lowest on the ladder of caste structure that puts the priest class on the top, followed by rulers and traders. Those below in this hierarchy are considered as untouchables.

They have been forced to survive on menial jobs, such as scavenging, cleaning gutters, and removing human excreta and dead animals.

Society, despite many constitutional safeguards, hasn’t transformed much over the years and most of these people are not allowed to escape this situation.

So much so, they do not even have access to drinking water from public wells, leave aside the question of letting them into temples in several parts of India.

Strict laws against untouchability have not deterred self-styled custodians of upper caste interests from denying them equal rights. Dalits are still seen as “polluters” and discouraged from engaging in any physical contact with upper caste people.

Ambedkar was frequently forced to sit separately from the upper-caste kids at school. Though it was long time back, this situation hasn't entirely changed. Only last year, a school in Uttar Pradesh segregated Dalit students from others when serving the mid-day meal.  

This explains why they are usually forced to live on the peripheries of towns and villages away from the mainstream.

Whereas some affirmative action has helped some Dalits get into Parliament and be appointed to top positions, many of these people have been appropriated by the ruling parties of the day and rarely raise tough questions about these ugly realities.

Unlike Ambedkar, who faced many challenges for talking back to power, these spineless Dalit leaders have succumbed to the current right-wing Hindu nationalist government under which the attacks on Dalits and other minorities have spiked during the past several years.

It is pertinent to mention that Ambedkar’s grandson-in-law and renowned author and activist Anand Teltumbde was arrested on April 14—the same day Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dalit President Ram Kumar Kovind were paying tokenistic tributes to Ambedkar. 

Teltumbde’s only fault was that he had raised his voice against growing attacks on minorities and political dissidents through his writings. A real Ambedkarite found himself in jail under malicious charges for merely standing up for the constitutional rights of the citizens of India.

Coming back to COVID-19, the present crisis has made the lives of Dalits even more difficult by further strengthening the walls of caste system.

The pandemic has also increased privileged society's dependence on them to work at the frontlines without proper equipment, leading them to be exposed to the infection.

Next time when you hear about polls and surveys suggesting that some of us are suffering because of loneliness and boredom, consider those Dalits.

Think about how they have been living for so long with such pain caused by the structures of society. It’s time to use our privileges to lend our voices to their ongoing fight against this barbarity.