Has Maharashtra’s social reform movement failed to end casteism?
Has Maharashtra’s social reform movement failed to end casteism? CAMIL PARKHE | Tuesday, 27 September 2016 AT 02:07 PM IST goo.gl/WEzfbe Camil Parkhe , Maharashtra , social reform , Ratnagiri , Veer Savarkar , casteism When Veer Savarkar was interned at Ratnagiri from 1924 to 1937, being banned from undertaking any political activities, he utilised this period for ushering in social reforms within the Hindu community. One of his major initiatives during this period was building Patit Pavan temple at Ratnagiri with a view to open doors of temples to people even belonging to the then untouchable castes. Savarkar was against the barriers of castes which had divided the Hindu community, banning physical contact with the Shudras, attending meals or entering into matrimonial ties within different castes of the Hindu community. A few decades later, ‘Prabodhankar’ Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, father of Shiv Sena fou...