Say no to the very principle of caste based quotasDo not compromise. The offer to increase the number of general quota seats is a ploy to appease the striking medicos. This would also mean a proportionate increase in the number of quota seats. Are the Group of Ministers (GOM) taking everyone for a fool that they come up with as ridiculous an offer as this to placate the Excluded Castes & Communities* (ECC)? None should fall into the trap of these obviously preposterous proposals of sick and small political brains.
The ECCs should get ready for a fight to the finish, however bloody it gets. All ECCs should be up in arms, and not just the medicos, against the ‘quota politics’. Other Business Castes (OBCs) need no special aid and support. They did not even agitate for it.
Quota politics has always been at the heart of the political strategy of the Congress party and the rest of the secularist politicians. They have been working ceaselessly at dividing the Hindu body politic. That is why they talk about multi-nationalism and multi culturism all the time. They always wanted to replicate the Tamilnadu experiment across the nation.
What can stop them now?
The only thing that can make them rethink and deter from pursuing their vote bank agenda now is a widespread and bloody mass agitation, and a total non-cooperation movement with the government, right to the grass roots levels. The ECCs have no other option before them. It must be a decisive fight for their self-respect and survival. If they do not dig in and fight now, everything will be lost. They will be turned into second-class citizens in their own country. The very idea of a nation is in danger here. All the ECCs, wherever they are, will have to rise and fight and demand the final burial of the quota regimes of varying kinds. They should be ready to carry on pitched battles in streets, lanes, by-lanes, on village pathways and in muddy fields. This government will have to be brought to a standstill in an unprecedented manner.
July 2006 should be the month of a great uprising.
Let smiles vanish forever from the faces of some of these self-righteous politicians in the month of July. They must shiver and shit in their pants, pyjamas, and dhotis at the intensity and ferocity of anti-quota agitation. The ECC youth of the north Indian states have to play a very important role here. They should network now. Even the primary school kids must participate in active non-cooperation and organised resistance. It is the question of their survival. They may not even get primary education if quota politics succeeds. They will be discriminated against and mistreated right from the day they seek admission to nursery schools. Those who think private sector schools will not be subjected to quota restrictions are living in a fool’s paradise. They will be, if the vote bank politics succeeds this time.
It was a mistake to let OBC quota be allowed in government jobs.
Everyone should have anticipated the cascading impact of such a move. Since the ECCs know the dangerous and unjust ramifications of the quota politics now, they should be able to see what the future holds for them if it succeeds this time. It will be as bleak as black. There will be no education, jobs, and political role for ECCs in future. Some of them, who still have a few acres of land, will lose that as well to the Naxalites. Even the bastardised class of politicians like Arjun Singhs, and V.P. Singhs will become irrelevant and marginalised. Let me quote from a khullamkhulla article yet again to describe the ‘grim’ future scenarios for the ECCs: -
“1. The reserved quota in educational institutions will not be confined to fifty percent cap. The Tamilnadu blueprint will be repeated all over the country. Millions of young people will be denied education since OBCs, STs, and SCs will be free to compete for non-quota seats as well. This would mean leaving a meagre five to ten percent seats for upper caste and casteless students.In view of this, the ECCs must understand that NOW is their last and only chance to save themselves from ultimate disenfranchisement as the citizens of this country.2. There will soon be a demand for caste-based reservations in private sector jobs, the judiciary, the armed forces, and the administrative services. Such reservations for SCs and STs are being contemplated for a long time now. Meira Kumar, the minister of social justice and empowerment, has already made important legislative and administrative moves. The scope will be expanded to include OBCs as well. More than fifty percent jobs will be reserved officially. Belonging to certain castes and tribes will be the most important criterion and qualification for appointments to these jobs. Here again, the meritorious SC, ST, and OBC job seekers will be free to compete for the general category jobs. Upper caste youth will have very few jobs available to them, including the lowliest of low ones like a peon’s, and toilet cleaning.
3. The next logical and certain step will be the reservation of seats in the elected bodies for the OBCs. Fifty percent of the seats in the Parliament, legislative assemblies, panchayats, municipal councils, and other elected bodies in the country will fall under the reserved quota. It will be done in spite of the fact that more than 25 percent of our elected representatives are already OBCs. Such reservation may even take the number of OBCs in our elected bodies to fifty percent since these castes are free to contest the seats in unreserved (general) category as well. It would effectively block the entry of upper caste politicians in our elected bodies.
You have to look at these emerging scenarios from the perspective of an upper caste teenager, job seeker, and politician to feel their sense of horror and absolute despair. Cornered and hounded like this, they will have no option but to kill or get killed to save their honour and life. The smart-ass OBC thinkers and ideologues of today must understand this. They must not stretch things too far.”
Quotas are another name for the ‘proportional representation’ idea of those who divided India once. It is devious, dangerous, and divisive.
Every quota politician quotes the population figures in support of caste-based reservations. This used to be Jinnah’s and Ambedakar’s argument in pre-independence confabulations with the British. Jinnah finally succeeded and Pakistan was created. The Indian states that had Muslims in majority voted for a separate Muslim nation. In a way, it was an expression of the ‘proportional representation’ idea. And Ambedkar and his ilk got their reservation for SCs later as a short-term measure that has been turned into a perpetual benefit. None is even mentioning a time frame in case of the OBC quota. Quotas in educational institutions and jobs are just a step short of ‘proportional representation’ in the democratically elected bodies. The seeds of this have already been sown. On the issue of women’s reservation in the parliament (yet another bad idea), many OBC politicians have been demanding a quota for OBCs, SCs, STs, and minority women within the proposed over all 33% quota. They are waiting for this to happen to raise their demand for OBC quota in the elected bodies. The ECCs and the nationalists must not ignore this kind of political strategy because it will surely lead to legitimate and constitutionally valid dismemberment of our nation state on caste, creed, and regional lines. Today it is quotas for the OBCs. Tomorrow there will be a demand for the Marathi, the Tamil, the Telugu, the Kannada, the Oriya, the Bengali, and the Bhojpuri quota as well. There may be further caste and regional divisions and new categories of quotas will be created to evolve new electoral arithmetic leading to disastrous consequences.
The ECCs and the nationalists must get into a ‘do or die’ mode on the quota issue.
It is a question of the future of our nation and coming generations. Quotas will stunt our growth. They have no justification - human, moral, or economic. They will sow the seeds of permanent hatred and social divide. And above all, they will destroy the Hindu body politic. What all the enemies of this country could not achieve in thousands of years, some of our own people have done it in one stroke. One would prefer a communal divide to a caste divide any day. It probably is the time to start a war with Pakistan to avoid an internecine war within our polity.
Hinduism is under a very serious attack from within and without.
The pope’s aggressive and blatant call for the freedom to proselytise and convert and his open castigation of the anti-conversion laws promulgated by the BJP regimes is another ominous development. It brings to the fore the dangers we face today. The ‘divide and rule’ policies of the UPA government are pitting one brother against another within the country and are aimed at dealing a grievous body blow to the Hindus. At the same time, external forces inimical to the unity of Hindus are waiting like bloodthirsty vultures for an opportune time to strike. The newfound aggression of the Roman Catholic Church has much to do with Sonia Gandhi’s ascendance to power. There is a grand design at work here. One is surprised at the non-response of the VHP, the RSS, and the BJP to these challenges. They seem to have gone into a state of coma. The leadership of all these organisations are obviously bereft of new ideas and approaches. They don’t even respond to the direct attack of the Pope vigorously. Is Advani after the Christian votes now?
OTHER RELATED LINKS
Stop the Reservation Drama
Bribe, divide, and rule
