Nepal, Aug. 10 -- India in 1955 passed the Untouchability Act to eradicate the caste system. Decades later, the world's largest democracy's battle against this deeply flawed social hierarchical system is nowhere close to end. 'Upper castes' still rule the roost while Dalits remain at the bottom of the social structure.

Even as the old-style hierarchy remains, Narendra Modi's rise to power in 2014 has expedited the growth of a composite Hindu identity. Such an identity, created with electoral politics in mind, is pitted against India's religious minorities. As India flirts with militant nationalism and majoritarianism on the back of a Hindu identity, the secular character of the Indian polity is under threat. The Modi era calls for a fres...