Sir Syed Ahmad Khan of Aligarh Muslim University fame discriminated based on caste... ..~Some people may ask — Why should they be chosen on account of social position instead of ability? On this, gentlemen, I will say a few words. It is a great misfortune — and I ask your pardon for saying it — that the landed gentry of India have not the trained ability which makes them worthy of occupying those seats. But you must not neglect those circumstances which compel Government to adopt this policy. It is very necessary that for the Viceroy's Council the members should be of high social position. I ask you — Would our aristocracy like that a man of low caste or insignificant origin, though he be a B.A. or M.A., and have the requisite ability, should be in a position of authority above them and have power in making laws that affect their lives and property? Never! Nobody would like it. (Cheers.) A seat in the Council of the Viceroy is a position of great honour and prestige. None but a man of good breeding can the Viceroy take as his colleague, treat as his brother, and invite to entertainments at which he may have to dine with Dukes and Earls.~

--Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (Lucknow, 1887)