India, Sept. 26 -- The recent debate over the 'creamy layer' within Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), coupled with allegations of caste discrimination at IIT Bombay, has once again thrust caste into the national spotlight.

But it has also exposed one of India's biggest myths that caste is the exclusive burden of Hindu religion.

For decades, Left-leaning intellectuals, pseudo-secularists and vote-bank politicians have projected caste as an exclusive Hindu disease.

This was not accidental. By singling out Hinduism as the exclusive carrier of the 'caste virus,' the Leftists could simultaneously keep Hindu votes divided while consolidating minority communities into obedient vote banks.

Meanwhile, Dalits within Islam and Chr...