India is a peculiar country and her nationalists and patriots are a peculiar people. A patriot and a nationalist in India is one who sees with open eyes his fellow men treated as being less than man, but whose humanity does not rise in protest. (Dr B.R. Ambedkar)

On December 22, 2025, the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Pawan Kalyan, made remarks that juxtaposed caste and the constitutional provisions for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC, ST) communities in a rather troubling manner. Kalyan argued that dedicated schools for SC and ST students would perpetuate caste and run counter to the objective of annihilating caste.

This position arises from a limited understanding of the foundations of Indian society, shaped by socio-political compulsions including a conscious attempt to sustain caste capital.

Kalyan’s comments cannot be seen in isolation. They are part of a widespread trajectory, that extends beyond Andhra Pradesh, to brush aside the brutality and persistence of caste in mainstream discourse in order to appeal to hegemonic caste pride.

This tendency has contributed, over the years, to the growth of narratives against affirmative action policies meant to counter caste oppression. It is naïve to assume that everyone in India rejects caste – while those who suffer under, struggle to dismantle it, those who benefit from, seek to preserve it, as it grants them hegemony, power, position and capital.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by NANDYAL PKFC (@nandyal_pkfc)

A post shared by NANDYAL PKFC (@nandyal_pkfc)

First in film, now in politics, Pawan Kalyan questions separate hostels for Dalit and OBC students.

Caste functions as the foundation of capital in India, operating as a form of social capital that largely benefits hegemonic castes. An individual’s progress is shaped by their position within the caste hierarchy. What matters the most is who you know and who you are rather than what you know. Caste capital operates through closed networks across socio-economic, political, educational and cultural spheres, reinforcing shared interests while keeping the marginalised groups excluded thereby limiting their upward mobility.

The absence of social capital continues to constrain the progress of these groups in every sphere, including education. This pattern has persisted for more than 3000 years, during which these communities have been denied access to assets, human rights, knowledge, dignity and even basic resources such as drinking water.

In response to this unequal structure, the Constitution introduced provisions aimed at improving the educational and economic conditions of marginalised groups. A recent Oxfam study, reported in The Telegraph in 2026, highlights the important and long-standing role of affirmative action policy in reducing socio-economic inequalities in India. Despite this, Kalyan, who comes from a Shudra background, questions the very basis of special provisions for SC and ST communities while extending support to reservation claims from his own caste, as reported by The News Minute in 2020.

Atrocities in Andhra Pradesh

In 2025, NDTV reported an upper-caste teacher brazenly abusing SC students regarding their caste at a government school in Yandapalli, Kakinada district. The school falls within the district represented by Kalyan.

In April 2025, Dalits in Mallam village in Kakinada district resisted and demanded justice after the suspicious death of an SC man. In response, as the Hindu reported, a “social boycott”........

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