In a country fragmented by caste, religion, and gender divides, it’s almost shocking when the age-old bias of colourism resurfaces in public discourse. Recently, Kerala’s Chief Secretary Sharada Muraleedharan reignited this conversation when she was subjected to a deeply personal and distasteful remark, that her tenure was as “dark” as her husband was “fair.”In a poignant response, she recalled the ridicule she has faced since childhood due to her dusky complexion, memories so raw that she once pleaded with her mother, “Can I be born fair-skinned next time?” Her experience instantly evokes the legacy of Rosa Parks, a symbol of defiance against racial discrimination whose story still resonates in Indian schoolbooks. In 1955, Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, igniting a movement that reshaped civil rights history.
We now stand in 2025, an age where humanity speaks of colonizing Mars and designing sentient robots. Yet, back on Earth, we are still shackled by primitive prejudices based on skin tone. Robots might not discriminate, but humans certainly do. And if a woman of Sharada’s stature must endure such humiliation, one shudders to imagine the plight of millions of underprivileged girls navigating a world that equates fairness with virtue, beauty, and success.
The obsession with fairness has not only been normalized but weaponized by the market. Fairness creams, once a staple of colonial hangover, continue to dominate ad spaces with newer packaging but the same toxic messaging. Even global brands have tapped into this insecurity. In a particularly tone-deaf campaign, a moisturizer targeted at African-origin women promised to “whiten” their skin, as if fairness were a badge of honour.
Munroe Bergdorf, a celebrated model and activist, called out the cosmetic industry for perpetuating this bias. She rightly argued that when entire campaigns profit from making people hate themselves, the line between commerce and cruelty is breached. “Skin-lightening creams,” she writes, “are not just physically harmful, they’re morally bankrupt.”
History echoes with similar injustices. In 1893, Mahatma Gandhi was thrown off a train in South Africa for refusing to vacate a whites-only compartment. That singular act of discrimination lit the flame of a global resistance. Today, the battleground has shifted, but the fight remains the same: to dismantle the deeply embedded social architecture of racial and skin-based discrimination.
Across centuries, colourism has persisted like a shadow, quiet but omnipresent. Market forces and unregulated social media platforms continue to exploit it, often targeting women first. Ironically, men with darker complexions are often spared the same scorn. The standards for beauty and worth remain disturbingly unequal.
Sharada’s social media post may be deleted, but what truly needs erasure is the mentality that sustains colourism. A society obsessed with fairness must confront the darkness within its own conscience. And if the world only learns through economic consequence, then let there be a “Heavy Tariff” on prejudice.
NOTE: This piece reflects the author’s independent views and is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue around prejudice, societal standards, and ethical representation. Discrimination based on skin tone, whether implicit or explicit, has no place in a just society. Awareness is the first step toward transformation.
