Stop the Reservation Drama
Let us not play with fire for nation’s sake
 

Stop using religion, caste, clan, and region columns in official forms. Derecognise and decimate sectarianism and discrimination of all kinds in the official establishment as well as society.
 

Proponents of caste based quotas are advancing fantastic arguments. They are talking about creating a level playing field. Who says that the so-called OBCs did not have a level playing field? They always had. They are talking about ‘accumulated injustices’ of hundreds of years that rendered them infirm and thus they could not compete with upper caste kids. This is a damn lie. They know it yet they do not desist from playing their political game. They are creating a myth by trying to equate the OBCs with SCs and STs, which they are not. They are not Other Backward Castes. They are Other Business Castes in fact. They have enjoyed hundred percent reservations in profitable and secure family jobs since ages.

How can you consider a dairyman, a trader, a jeweller, and a vegetable grower & vendor, and a barber backward? These are highly specialized professions and business activities. The only difference is that you did not have to go to an IIM to acquire the skill and knowledge set to perform these jobs. Your family was your university and as you grew up you also acquired the necessary wherewithal, skill, and customer friendly attitudes. Had these castes been so backward, they would not have been dominating the political spectrum post independence.

If they are talking about the kids of the English speaking urban elite, the ‘infirmity’ argument holds some water. But this is not a caste issue. Why seek reservation in the name of caste then?

Vernacular medium kids from all castes as well as dark skinned, not so well fed kids from small towns and Kasbahs face this problem. They find it tough to penetrate the well protected and nurtured exclusive upper class networks in every walk of life -- political, social, cultural, economic, administrative, as well as philanthropic- in spite of being talented, hard working, and competent. The policies of the UPA government are furthering and strengthening that divide. The UPA ministers and leaders freely follow this exclusivist approach. Look at all of them and their backgrounds. They are elitist to the core. The Congress party was and is the party that has always been led by such suave and sophisticated, corrupted to the core, English-speaking high-class gentry. The ones who did not come from such backgrounds, and yet could rise to the helm of the party, were finally dumped unceremoniously into the dustbin of the Party’s history. Can we forget Shashtri and Rao and what was done to their memory and legacy?

So, what is the solution to the problem?

There is only one solution. Promise and provide every kid in our country – rural, urban, upper and lower class, Hindu, Muslim, Chamar, Aheer, and a whole lot of others – the same high quality education at primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels. Create a system that saves our kids from discrimination of all kinds as far as their basic education and health are concerned.
 

Nationalize the education and health sector, employ the best of the managers (selected on merit alone), and develop highly efficient, and quality conscious public utility services. Ban exclusive schools and colleges and turn the existing ones into first-rate public schools. Invest in the necessary infrastructure with all that tax money that is being squandered on unproductive political projects. There are examples that can be followed. We are good copycats. We are copying everything from the west, from fashion to film ideas and management theories and literary phrases. Let us copy the education system of Canada this time. Let equality in basic education and health be the birth right of all.

It can be done. Had I been the Prime Minister of India, I would have done this first instead of throwing money into useless employment guarantee schemes and this and that Rajeev, Nehru, Indira, Priyaka, and Rahul Yojanas, all exercises in looting the treasury by corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, and government contractors. I would have put hard working and result oriented guys like Nitin Gadkari (The Ex-minister of Maharashtra, responsible for in time construction of the mammoth flyover projects) on the job.
 

 Favouritism, nepotism, and vote bank politics have led to a huge waste of our precious resources.

Why do we have politicians in the ruling dispensation fighting over a ministry like the Railways? Solely because it is the largest employer of people in the world. You can mint money here as well as do sundry favours to your undeserving constituents. The trend was set by the Congress party since Nehru’s time. Ministerial berths were not allocated according to the competence and acumen of people. The caste, the religion, the region, the loyalty, and the money factors played the most important roles in this exercise. The Ministers were expected to do personal favours disregarding the criterion of merit to consolidate their hold over their constituencies and also to amass wealth for themselves and the party.

Quota politics is the most heinous and dangerous manifestation of this approach.

Why is it that someone like Chidambaram, who sounds and appears like a sane guy, supports caste quotas so vehemently? Chidambaram is also a product of the Congress school. Look at the convention of presenting a budget, again a Congress legacy. What is this exercise all about? It has nothing to do with sound economic principles. It is all about favouring a few and distributing largesse at the expense of larger national interests. Whatever debate and discussions take place on budget and its impact on our economy are all meaningless and illogical exercises. The wise men should know this. Why should Chidambaram or Manmohan have any problem with quota politics? Justice and national good are hardly their concern. And even to imagine that Congressmen will ever live by principles will be a blasphemous blunder.

There is a need for students and the rest of Indian population to unite and fight a sustained and high intensity campaign against caste quota politics as a matter of principle. It is a NOW or never scenario.

Not to do so will be a big mistake. Please read an earlier khullamkhulla article on the final ramifications of caste based quotas. As soon as the universities and colleges open after summer vacations, students should organize and wage their battle. Student Bodies that are affiliated to various political parties cannot come to the fore in this for obvious vote bank reasons. The students of professional courses have their limitations too. They cannot carry on with their struggle beyond a point, as they will have much to lose in case ruling governments, mostly dominated by caste quota proponents, come down heavily on their agitation.

The gauntlet will have to be picked up by the rest of the students, particularly the lumpen among them.
 

They have nothing to lose and everything to gain here. And it should be a widespread, ferocious, and relentless struggle waged right down to tehsil, kasbah, and village levels, making it impossible for the brute police machinery to tackle the situation using lathis, water cannons, tear gas, bullets, and curfews - all very effective implements of mob control in urban concentrations, rendered useless in Kasbahs and villages. It should be a mass agitation that should envelope the country, the north Indian states in particular, like a wild fire. Stupid and puerile ideas like burning candles should be avoided. None actually cares for that kind of symbolic copycat crap.

Students and people should start doing the groundwork now.

They have two months, June and July,  to network and evolve the contours and details of their agitation programme. These are  crucial months because the movement should begin as soon as the admission procedures are over. Not a single student should be seen in their classes. They should all be on the streets, and they must ensure that the government comes to a standstill. The self-employed professionals like the lawyers, the doctors, the teachers, and the rest should carry forward the initial burst of protests later. Police brutalities would provide them enough reasons and motivation to act. Women will have to come out as well.

Effective networking is the real problem here. I am convinced of the truism of the old maxim though. Necessity is the mother of all inventions.

Something must emerge out of all this confusion. When student doctors are ready to face the tear gas, and cane and cannon charges, anything can happen. Intelligentsia has to play a crucial role here; especially the academicians who are in direct touch with their own counterparts nationally and their students locally. It is their responsibility to evolve the network, strengthen it, and provide an intellectual foundation to sustain it over a long period. They should form Sangharsh Samitees (Struggle Commitees) without losing time. Once the students get drawn into organized conflicts, their parents will not lag far behind. They too will come forward and thus the agitation will gather a mass and momentum that cannot be crushed or suppressed by the establishment.

What happens if the OBC students decide to resist such a mass movement?

Some of them can only play mischief and pranks at the behest of fellows like Arjun Singh and the rest. They know in the heart of their hearts that quota politics is immoral and unprincipled. Anti-reservationists should act with the courage of their moral and principled convictions.

This is the time for some selfless action. The country needs it. Some of the trends and unjust practices that have been set in motion by the self-serving political establishment have gathered a kind of momentum that seems irreversible now.

Well organised disruption of the proceedings is the need of the hour. It may din some sense into the insensate minds of vote bank politicians. One can never be certain if this will bring about a change in ‘dog after the free chicken leg’ mindset. Democratic governance can be used to turn us into dogs.  Politicians dangle the chicken leg in front of the electorate to win elections and we run after them for freebies without realizing that it is our own sweat and blood that produces them. The OBC quota proponents are behaving like dogs.
 

Unhe muft ka maal nazar aa raha hai, isiliye unka dil beraham aur deemag beimaan ho gaya hai.

I hope July 2006 gets really hot for the likes of Arjun Singhs and makes them sizzle and burn. We must not buy the argument that an increased number of seats will solve the problem. It is not a fight for a few more seats in some professional courses. The idea of  'caste based quota' in the name of social justice is a bad one in principle and practice. It should be rejected in toto. The constitutional amendment  to this effect was a fraud played on a large section of our society. It was done stealthily without proper debate and discussion. The present parliament had not sought the mandate to do so from the people. Moreover, if the brute majority acts unjustly and amends the Constitution for vote bank considerations, it defiles and destroys its(the Constitution's) soul by disregarding the tenets of justice, equality, and freedom. And we must protest and rise against such a dastardly deed.

Those who constantly talk about good governance, bijali, sadak, and paani should know that the meaning of life goes beyond these little things. Justice, liberty, and morality are the core elements of our social living. And no sacrifice is great enough to safeguard them.

RKS

Related link
Bribe, divide, and rule