He was one of those political intellectuals who averred that caste, class and linguistic issues are all intertwined and after the independence of the country the upper caste, upper class, English speaking city dwellers had captured the power. He believed that India fell successively, to foreign conquest, not because of disunity of her leaders but because of the disinterestedness of her people (Lohia, 1963, 88). He said that in the context of India discussion of caste question is more important that of capitalism and socialism (Lohia, 1978, 50). He also said that English does harm to India not because it is a foreign language but because it is a language of a tiny minority of population which is using it for their own power and profit. It has become an instrument of domination. Lohia dreamt of an egalitarian society in which all are equal. To quote (Lohia, 2010):
On no account do the high castes comprise more than one-fifth of India’s population. But they keep to themselves almost four-fifths of the nation’s leadership. In respect of the top leadership of the four main departments of national activity – business, army, high civil services and political parties – the high castes easily comprise four-fifths … When more than four-fifths of a nation’s vital leadership is traditionally selected from among the one-fifth of its population, a state of atrophy is bound to ensue. Four-fifths of its population sinks into a state of listlessness and inefficiency. The nation is sick and continually on the point of death. To revitalize such a nation, a designed selection of leadership has to be made. At least half or sixty per cent of the nation’s top leadership must be selected by design from among the lower castes. This need not be done by law. It had better be done through a purposeful understanding … [T]he attempt to revitalize the nation’s leadership in terms of caste must be made again and again until it succeeds.
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