Why does Arjun Singh love Reservation ???
This was way back in 1990. In UP, owing to the BJP, Sangh-Parivar sponsored Ram JanmaBhoomi agitation, a word like minority appeasement first entered the consciousness of a 13 year old that I was. I never understood why would a party go to extremes to appease a community forming 20% of population - to tell them that they were super special through blatantly flagrant means - even amending constitution to accomodate prima donnas (words like "Shahbano case", article 365, uniform civil code etc were hot those days) while continuously showing the middle finger to the 80% community. How could you afford to snub 80% to win favour of 20% was something I never understood.
Now I know, I was really innocent. I might have been an avid reader of newspapers and magazines, a staunch follower of political happenings even at that young age, but was too unripe to understand the intricacies.
The fact is that the Hindus are not a community - infact I am afraid, we never were a community. We are a collection of Brahmins, Thakurs, Baniyas, Yadavs, Kurmis, Kayasthas, Dalits etc. Thus, the 80% block I earleir thought existed is, in reality a collection of several 10%, 14%, 12%, 8%, 7% blocks. The logic of appeasement politics is simple - capture enblock 20% and tag along a couple of smaller blocks from Hindus. Thus we have a Muslim-Yadav combination for Laloo, Muslim-OBC combo for Mulayam, Mulsim-SC combo for Mayawati and so on. And though, it is fashionable to attribute all the gandgi to cow-belt politics, their counterparts in far away Bengal, AP, Kerala and TN are no better.
And herein comes the relevance of reservation as a political tool. Bring in reservation, divide the Hindus, create acrimony so that these 5-7-8-10-12% blocks remain water tight, create imaginary clashes of interest and then pose as the messiah of certain groups. Keep them divided for it is best if they remain divided.
Post Mandal-I, a lot of acrimony which had been created between the forward and backward Hindus was on the ebb by now. And then we have the Mandal bomb once again.
I sincerely want to believe that Arjun Singh is really moved by the plight of OBCs who have not been allowed to enter IITs and IIMs owing to the Manuwadi system which only focusses on performance in the Entrance Tests, hell, I even see tears in his eyes at the anguish and agony of the OBCs. My heart goes out for him.
However, there is a cynic in me who just stands in a corner giving a dry, twisted smirk.
Now I know, I was really innocent. I might have been an avid reader of newspapers and magazines, a staunch follower of political happenings even at that young age, but was too unripe to understand the intricacies.
The fact is that the Hindus are not a community - infact I am afraid, we never were a community. We are a collection of Brahmins, Thakurs, Baniyas, Yadavs, Kurmis, Kayasthas, Dalits etc. Thus, the 80% block I earleir thought existed is, in reality a collection of several 10%, 14%, 12%, 8%, 7% blocks. The logic of appeasement politics is simple - capture enblock 20% and tag along a couple of smaller blocks from Hindus. Thus we have a Muslim-Yadav combination for Laloo, Muslim-OBC combo for Mulayam, Mulsim-SC combo for Mayawati and so on. And though, it is fashionable to attribute all the gandgi to cow-belt politics, their counterparts in far away Bengal, AP, Kerala and TN are no better.
And herein comes the relevance of reservation as a political tool. Bring in reservation, divide the Hindus, create acrimony so that these 5-7-8-10-12% blocks remain water tight, create imaginary clashes of interest and then pose as the messiah of certain groups. Keep them divided for it is best if they remain divided.
Post Mandal-I, a lot of acrimony which had been created between the forward and backward Hindus was on the ebb by now. And then we have the Mandal bomb once again.
I sincerely want to believe that Arjun Singh is really moved by the plight of OBCs who have not been allowed to enter IITs and IIMs owing to the Manuwadi system which only focusses on performance in the Entrance Tests, hell, I even see tears in his eyes at the anguish and agony of the OBCs. My heart goes out for him.
However, there is a cynic in me who just stands in a corner giving a dry, twisted smirk.
posted by Prashant @ 11:06 PM
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