Ranchi, Oct. 12: If you thought socialism and casteism were antithetical, think again. Chances are that even the first citizen of the state will patronise the observance of a socialist thinker’s death anniversary from a caste platform.

Leaders of Jharkhand today told the world, perhaps for the first time ever, that socialist thinker Ram Manohar Lohia, who opposed caste values all his life, was a Vaishya. The Jharkhand Vaishya Samaj today observed Lohia’s death anniversary and Governor Ved Marwah graced the occasion.

Among the ministers present were Ramchandra Kesri, a self-proclaimed follower of Lohia and Karpoori Thakur, and Ramjilal Sharda, who claims to represent the Vaishya community in the Assembly. The gathering called for ushering in a caste-less, classless society.

Members of the Vaishya community used the occasion to honour successful members of the caste group. The Governor distributed souvenirs among the successful Vaishyas.

The organisers also propounded the concept of “roti beti” which called for marriages and solidarity among the sub-castes of the extended Vaishya community. All his life, Lohia stood for inter-caste and inter-religion marriages.

“The sub-castes should aim at ending divisions in the Vaishya community. There should be no problem in marrying a Jaiswal girl to a Sahu boy,” Kesri said.

“Lohia’s vision was not considered to be on par with the political atmosphere of those days. But whatever the leader said and believed in is a matter of fact and no one seems to put his words to practice. Discrimination persists people and there is a feeling of superiority and inferiority among the castes,” said Kesri.

The Governor said, “We belong to a traditional society where work was divided on caste lines. With time, caste divisions have eroded but not weeded out completely from society”.

There is still discrimination among people and very few people live their lives without following caste barriers.”