Self-respect is the key
The Self Respect Movement Started in 1925 by Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy(also known as Periyar), who was an Indian social activist and politician. The aim of the movement was to help the backward cast to get equal human rights and also help them understand the concept of self-respect in the society of the cast system. This was started in Tamil Nadu, India, and was declared a genuine, nonpolitical freedom movement. Periyar even went against the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and told the society that neither of their motives would help make India get rid of their problems.
Some of the amazing principles and ideas from the movement were that there should no kind of inequality among people; caste, religion, varna attachments should be eradicated, and unity prevails among the people.
Other than this, Brahmins were ruling in the high-level positions in the government, which resulted in biasedness and so Periyar wanted to change it which would allow non-brahmins to acquire the positions and make the government balanced. Other than this, the movement was considered to have deep feminist values because it promoted the idea of contraceptives and celebrating sexual and reproductive choices, which would allow women to have birth control, also allowing women to marry and remarry as many men as they want to which made the movement revolutionary.
All in all, Periyar was way ahead of his time, and his ideologies seemed amazing but at the same time unachievable. Even today people are fighting for equal human rights and it seems impossible to eradicate the caste system and religion, because of the rising tensions and politics. One can only dream and hope that one day every human would be educated enough to understand and remove these boundaries, tags, and barriers that are being set upon us and be free.
