If Egypt had dalits, it would be really difficult to imagine movement as militant and powerful as India's emerging in Nasser's bureaucratic authoritarian system, even though Nasser himself was not of the traditional elite.

And yet, although Egypt today is a very unequal society in terms of wealth and power, different classes interact socially on a much more equal footing. The semi-feudal deference the poor show the rich, which you can still see in India, is much less pronounced.