Author: Editorial
Publication: Free Press Journal
Date: June 1, 2007
URL: http://www.samachar.com/features/010607-editorial.html
You reap what you sow. Myopic politicians
competing for caste votes have for long ignored that basic law of nature.
Having progressively extended the reservation net far beyond the original
provided by the Founding Fathers only for the SCs and STs, they are now hard
put to contain the reservations genie.
More and more caste groups and subgroups are
baying for a slice of the reservations pie. The resulting problems are two-fold.
One, there is a court-specified limit on the extent of reservations. Two,
those who already have the reservations cake are loath to share it with new
claimants.
Not unlike the person who upon gaining entry
into a crowded train compartment joins those already there to prevent anyone
else coming in, in the case of Gurjars in Rajashtan granting them the ST status
will immediately invite the wrath of the influential and far more numerous
Meena community.
That is the crux of the problem confronting
the Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. She had promised the Gurjars
a demotion from the OBC to the ST category at the time of the last Assembly
election. But the BJP Government cannot seem to fulfill its electoral commitment
without inviting the collective wrath of the Meenas who constitute a significant
part of the all-India and State civil and police services.
Instead, the BJP Government has been stringing
the Gurjars along, setting up committees of officials and ministers to study
the issue. Meanwhile, the Gurjars have been getting frustrated, their frustration
fuelled further by the Opposition Congress Party.
It was that frustration that erupted in violent
protests in the State earlier in the week. The acts of arson leading up to
the police firing could well have been avoided had the authorities been alive
to the threat of violence by the malcontents among the protesters. A sensitive
magistracy armed with sufficient intelligence gathered in the field could
have prevented the loss of life.
Admittedly, the disruption of road and rail
traffic as a form of protest cannot meet approval of any sensible person.
The Gurjars could have organized a peaceful satyagrah in Jaipur in front of
the State Secretariat. But the hotheads were bent on a showdown with the administration.
The resulting firing in which several lives were lost, including that of a
policeman, has further aggravated matters.
On the third day, the fires had spread to
several parts of the State. Their caste brothers disrupted normalcy in parts
of Haryana and Delhi as well. Clearly, the agitation will get uglier unless
the Rajasthan administration is able to assuage the feelings of the community.
The offer of negotiations with the leaders of the Gurjars is a welcome step
but it is unlikely to result in a concrete solution. However care should be
taken to anticipate the reaction of the Meena community before any deal is
done in a hurry with the Gurjars under pressure.
Whatever the way current Gurjar agitation
pans out, the problem is deep-seated in the very heart of the Indian polity.
Policy-makers must grapple with the problem of diminishing returns already
visible in the caste or identity politics. Castebased reservations will only
accentuate divisions and tear the already fragile social fabric apart sooner
than later. Instead affirmative action based on a priori economic criterion
can be the way out of the gathering mess.
A poor Brahmin boy unable to compete with
his more fortunate caste brothers ought to be on the same footing in matters
of school and college admission and fees and government jobs as the son of
a poor Dalit. Also, why should the daughter of a prosperous Dalit, say, the
late Jagjivan Ram, continue to enjoy the benefit of reservations when the
same can be given to one of her less privileged caste-mates.
The short point is that reservations in jobs
and educational institutions cannot be the end in itself. These ought to be
a means to the `equalization' of the deprived sections with the rest of the
society. A lazy political class motivated by nothing higher than the en masse
votes of whole caste groups has caused the entire process of reservations
to be vitiated by anomalies.
The Gurjar violence in Rajasthan might serve
as a timely reminder if the entire political class sits up to devise a better
and more equitable method to dispense what is euphemistically called social
justice to everyone regardless of his caste. Otherwise, we are condemned to
see more and more of caste-fuelled protests.
