Author: Naagesh Padmanaban
Publication: IndiaCause.com
Date: June 8, 2006
URL: http://www.indiacause.com/columns/OL_060608.htm
The anti-reservation protest in India has
attracted wide attention and anger among most Indians. Almost all reasonable
citizens and non-citizens have condemned the move to establish quotas in educational
institutions. Many have written on this issue. The common theme has been to
expose the attempt by Arjun Singh and his backers to divide India on caste
basis under the guise of affirmative action. There was rising public anger
against Arjun Singh for designing a problem which was at best forgotten and
against a weak Prime Minister whose repeated assurances on the issue fell
on deaf ears. We have seen how these gambles have already snow balled into
a disaster for the present government. The issue is now being considered by
the supreme court of India.
The visuals - of doctors being lathi-charged,
women students being water cannoned or fasting students lying in shamianas
- have evoked strong emotions across the country . Middle class India - that
symbolizes today's India - sympathized with the striking doctors. The issue
is far larger than a problem the doctors and would be doctors alone had to
fight. The middle class automatically identified the problem as theirs too.
Even corporate India had a stake. The middle class in India has been sized
by several market research estimates at about 300 million. Assuming a 10%
margin of error, the middle class translates to at least 270 million Indians.
Even if we assume only 50% of this group is against reservation - I am being
very conservative here - this still is a huge number - 135 million Indians
had every reason to be angry. In other words, here is an emerging constituency
of almost 10% and counting of the total population thanks to the government's
ill conceived and cunning move.
Well, let us face it. Nobody is against affirmative
action. The poor and under privileged in India need to be provided quality
medicare, primary and secondary school education, reasonable chances to pursue
college degrees and better economic opportunities. But since Independence,
the political parties have lost credibility by playing the caste card under
the guise of affirmative action. Even if half hearted attempts had been made,
fifty years is a long time for bleeding hearts like Arjun Singh to better
the lives of India's poor. But the sad fact is that today the largest collection
of the world's poor live in India. Pray tell us, Arjun Singh, what did you
do as Chief Minister to really better the lives of OBC in your state? Millions
in your state remain impoverished in spite of your benevolence. Bottom line,
the middle class does not buy Arjun Singh's concoction. So that explains the
reservation rubbish. But what is new?
Unlike the times of Mandal-I, today's India's
rapid reduction in poverty is well documented. The economy has seen very rapid
growth rates and is touching 8.4%. Forex reserves are north of US$ 130 Billion.
Agriculture and industrial growth have been impressive. MNC investments in
India are routine news. More people are well employed resulting in rising
per capita incomes. Planned and/ or forced economic reforms - depends on how
you see it -over the years has quietly changed India's face - the economic
one at least. So when Arjun Singh speaks of Mandal-II he is addressing an
India that has come a long way from Mandal-I. There began his miscalculation.
Mandal-II or shall we say Arjun Singh-I had
more differences. Probably for the first time the private sector raised its
voice. Several industry leaders have spoken up unequivocally against reservations
in educational institutions as well as the corporate sector. This new confidence
of India Inc. stems from successes it had seen both in India and abroad against
global competition, thanks to meritocracy rather than quota-cracy. Secondly,
the demise of license-raj has severely limited the political class's ability
to punish or harass a private sector.
Protesting doctors and students found endless
supplies of cash donations, food, bottled water, cooling fans and other goodies
streaming into protest venues. Retired Chief Justice Lahotia and other legal
luminaries offered legal counsel to the students. The message was clear. The
student protest threatened to get out of control. Well, only those who were
insulated from reality would have been oblivious to the consequences anyway.
It now appears Arjun Singh is one of them. Even in his wildest dreams he could
not have foreseen the middle class response and consequent consolidation.
Or is he really shrewd and playing Shakuni to destroy the Congress party where
he never had a chance anyway? Or is a new chapter in India's political history
unfolding? But one thing is clear. The political class can no longer play
the reservation game without shooting itself in the foot in the first place.
It will be interesting to watch the battle to undo India through caste reservations
move from the streets to the Supreme Court. Stay tuned folks.
(The author is a US based Banker and the views
expressed are his own and not of the organization he works for)
