Amidst the debate on the inclusion of caste in the national census, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has said that he does not believe in caste and neither does his family.
The 67-year-old veteran said that if asked about his caste, he will answer that he is an Indian.
"My Father never believed in caste and neither do any of us. He married a Sikh, I married a Bengali, my brother a Sindhi, my daughter a Punjabi, my son a Mangalorean, in his autobiography my father had expressed that future generations of his family should marry into different parts of the country. So far that tradition has been kept alive," wrote the actor on his blog.
Census enumerators came calling on the Bachchanhousehold, prompting the actor to express his views on the issue.
"Officials from the BMC, the Bombay Municipal Corporation, troop into Prateeksha to detail in on information. All kinds of information is sought name, place, age, dependents, place of birth, house, residence years. I wait for them to come to the crucial controversial one...caste. They don't.
"Wary of the sensitivity that this has raised recently by politicians, they keep away from it. I tell them irrespective of what the system decides, my answer is ready, caste, Indian," wrote Bachchan.
Political parties including Samajwadi Party, which has Bachchan's wife Jaya amongst its members, are demanding that caste be included in the ongoing census.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the government will soon take a decision on caste-based census in the country.
Deputy leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal-United (JDU) president Sharad Yadav are amongst those demanding that caste be registered during the census exercise. PTI
