Some people, especially Gandhians, believe that Caste is bad only because it creates overt discrimination against Dalits.
Which makes them say that Caste can exist if the discrimination against Dalits can somehow disappear.
They're wrong. Totally wrong.
The vision of our Constitution is to create a democratic society.
Caste, as a social institution, is inherently anti-democratic. Its structure is anti-democratic.
Democracy requires free association, equal social status, and open channels of interaction between social groups.
There must be social endosmosis—the free flow of interaction, ideas, and relationships across social boundaries.
Caste destroys these channels by creating hereditary, closed communities whose boundaries are reproduced through endogamy and enforced social separation.
The problem with caste is not merely that it discriminates, but that it institutionalises separation.
Even without overt discrimination, a system that determines social membership by birth and restricts free association remains anti-democratic.
Where birth determines social boundaries, fraternity cannot flourish; without fraternity, democracy remains incomplete.