Is India More Casteist Than Ever Before?

This week, the video of a young woman went viral on social media, in which she was pleading with her powerful politician father to back off and stop threatening her for marrying a man from a scheduled caste. The story of Sakshi Misra and her husband Ajitesh is right out of a bad Bollywood film - her father is a BJP lawmaker from UP, her husband Ajitesh was beaten up in the Allahabad High Court the other day - but it's a story that also represents the very cruel reality of caste in India. Our leaders often make big proclamations that India's caste divide is narrowing, that caste is slowly beginning to matter less in the way people vote, but is that true? When Mr Modi won his massive mandate in May, he said in his victory speech that "Only two castes will remain in this country: the poor and those who contribute whatever little to free the country from poverty." But is that narrative reflective of the reality on the ground? On the other hand, politically, the emergence of leaders like Chandrasheker Azad, who have challenged the BJP's brand of politics has also created a stir, but has it really made an impact? In this new India, is caste discrimination more entrenched than ever before?