A notion of purity and acts of violence have formed the very basis of this land. Our progressive Constitution and secular institutions were put in place after Independence to undermine the orthodox individuals and groups propagating the religious/caste divide. But those who were given the responsibility of creating a society based on equality, themselves had a deep interest in maintaining the status quo because they derived their social status from others being considered “impure”. This is how Dalits were betrayed in independent India. Their perpetrators were assigned as their saviours.