A Dalit Rapido driver has alleged that he was banned by Rapido for 100 years, because he asked 4 passengers to leave his car due the passengers using casteist slurs.
A Rapido driver, Ankit Kumar belonging to the Dalit community recently took to X and posted a video showing an exchange with the passengers in his car. the exchange showed Ankit in a verbal fight with the passengers of his car that were continuously using casteist slurs like 'Chamar' to refer to a man they were talking about.
Kumar asks the passengers to use the person's name rather than refer to him by his caste, which is an immensely degrading method of referring to someone, especially given the long history of the practice of untouchability and Dalits being cast out from mainstream society.
This altercation resulted in Ankit Kumar's Rapido account being banned for a century. After the passengers filed a complaint with Rapido, the company did not contact Ankit to seek his account of the incident and suspended his driver account for 99 years and 11 months, with the period ending on July 19, 2126.
Ankit Kumar also holds a diploma in mechanical engineering and is the primary breadwinner for his family. The incident has not only pushed him into financial uncertainty but also raised a larger question: more than seven decades after Independence, how long will India have to wait to truly free itself from casteism and untouchability?
This incident brings to light the recent Reservation Hatao Andolan taking shape in India. The movement demands for the removal of any sort of reservation based on caste. while the movement does not call for the complete removal of the caste system, it does demand for reforms within the caste system. But how do you reform withing a broken system?
The practice of untouchability and the existence of the caste system is something in India that has a long and painful history. The continued discrimination faced by caste communities is precisely why supporters of reservation argue that caste-based inequalities cannot simply be treated as problems of individual merit or economic disadvantage, it is not fight that can be fought with neo-liberal, individualist ideals.
As the quote says, "You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth", a Dalit cannot ask for justice from a system that was built against him. It is not the reservation that is harming the students but rather the lack of opportunities and the corruption of the system itself.
Incidents like that of Ankit Kumar expose the harsh reality of caste in India. His case calls for more than justice; it calls upon the collective conscience of a nation to confront not only the questions that have been raised, but also those it has remained unwilling to ask.