Regressive tradition

Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Stop the racial attacks” (March 31). Racial attacks on Africans owe their origin to our age-old regressive caste system. Casteism and apartheid are the two banks of the same river — hatred. There is a colour bridge between them. 

The bridge is built with prejudice — dark means lower castes and fair means upper castes. Indeed, the other name of caste is varna, which means colour. A recent study says that the practice of untouchability is still prevalent in our country which underscores the existence of caste hatred. On the other hand, matrimonial and fairness cream advertisements fan our fair mania. All-out efforts like monitoring such advertisements must be undertaken on war-footing to stop stereotyping human beings with the brush of loathe.