Let progressive ideas spread across India

A native of Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district, Mukundhani Singh Yadav, has been performing ‘Kathakalakshepam’ (a form of religious storytelling) with his team for the past 15 years. He has been receiving good reception. Recently, he was invited to perform a two-week ‘Kathakalakshepam’ in Tandarpur village in Etawah district of western Uttar Pradesh.
On Saturday, he was brutally attacked by a gang. They snatched his belongings including cash, and shaved his head. While registering a police complaint, Yadav said that he was attacked only after the gang confirmed that he was not a Brahmin. A video recording of the incident has been going viral on social media platforms, sparking controversy not only in U.P. but across the country.
There is no doubt at all that the attack on Yadav is against the Constitutional principles of caste and religious neutrality. Incidents like this are incited by using caste and religion as tools in politics and at all levels. Not only that, it also acts as an action that encourages social division. The central and state governments must never allow such things.
Legal measures must be continued to establish that all castes are equal in spirituality. The Tamil Nadu government went one step further and enacted a law that allows people of all castes to become priests. Accordingly, even non-Brahmins are now working as priests in temples, and they are carrying out their duties without any hindrance. The state government is also keen on establishing equality by ensuring that people of all castes can worship in all temples.
We must strongly condemn all those with such backward ideology that they cannot even tolerate a non-Brahmin performing ‘Kathakalakshepam’. Spiritual leaders must raise their voices, and stringent action should be taken against them.
As per the Indian Constitution, anyone can pursue any profession. To reinforce this, states like UP must enact further legal measures. As a first step, will all states follow the path shown by Tamil Nadu and legally implement the idea that anyone from any caste can become a priest?
To make it possible, awareness against superstitious practices must be intensely carried forward. Only then will the situation of "Progressive here, backward there" change, and progressive thinking will sprout across the country.