For all of its talk about how modern and developed India is, the ancient caste system still lingers. The poorest and most vulnerable are still kept at the edges of society, albeit without overt classism existing today.
The recent outrage was caused by a twitter request in the city of Hyderabad for blood donation for a three-year-old child with a request that the donor should be only from the Kamma caste:
#Hyderabad ONLY Kamma Caste Donors, O+ ve blood needed at Max Cure Hospital. 3 yr old CHILD. Pls call 8063266677. Aug 19. Via ShekarNews
— Blood+ (@bloodplusapp) 18 августа 2016 г.
A flurry of twitter messages erupted in protest of the request:
@bloodplusapp i am O+ve and in Hyderabad. Buy will NOT give blood to these religious retards.
— aBBi (@SolidFumes) 19 августа 2016 г.
Because only Kamma caste blood has enriched stupidonium cavemenmentalityserum 21 https://t.co/fU1sa9wq94
— Kamlesh Singh (@kamleshksingh) 19 августа 2016 г.
What kind of sick, stupid mentality, would want to use blood donation to make a joke, https://t.co/8kPRKatVAV
— Ratnakar Sadasyula (@ScorpiusMaximus) 19 августа 2016 г.
This person would actually let their kid die than someone from a different caste provide blood. What a country. https://t.co/dcF2XOnK4j
— Akshat (@FarziVakeel) 19 августа 2016 г.
The Kamma or Kammavaru caste is centered mostly in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu.
