Are legal guarantees insufficient in abolishing untouchability?

In August this year, the performance of a “purification” ritual by certain Hindu groups in Uttarakhand , at the location where Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, who belongs to a Dalit community, addressed a public rally , led to a national conversation on the practice of untouchability. This discourse was shaped as Opposition Congress leaders accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation of practising caste discrimination . The Uttarakhand BJP chief defended the ritual, saying that it was meant to “cleanse” the area of the ideas that Mr. Kharge was espousing at the rally. After a sustained campaign from Opposition leaders and civil society actors, an FIR was registered in the matter . So, are legal guarantees insufficient in abolishing untouchability? Valerian Rodrigues and Disha Wadekar discuss the question in a conversation moderated by Abhinay Lakshman . Edited excerpts: