Sunday, September 14, 2008

Face-Off

This is an article I had penned quite a while back....

It’s a rat race out there, they said…there is cut throat competition out there, they said…

Cut throat competition, it isn’t anymore, it has transformed into a slit throat, burn vehicles and block national highways competition now. The current reservation policy of the UPA government does nothing but encourage these ‘rats’ to dig further and go deeper down the caste matrix in trying to reach stages from where it would be easy for them to demand privileges.

As a young Indian in 2007, I am appalled to see people thronging at NH1 to demand their status at the lower rungs of the so called ‘caste chain’. It would be very convenient for me to criticize those indulging in absolute vandalism in the name of reservations, but won’t delve into it. This problem cannot be laughed off derisively.

From what we have seen over the past three days in Rajasthan, this problem is frighteningly grave. We cannot push it under the carpet and continue to formulate plans on how to increase our per capita GDP. We have beaten this topic (reservations for the backward classes) to death. We have seen D. Raja battling it out on T.V channels, arguing for the application of Mandal II propositions. We have seen embittered, disillusioned, agitated students spit fire on national television against the very same propositions. But the topic has remained constricted to just inconsequential discussions. No concrete step has been taken in this direction till now and none is expected.

There is a subtle difference between being distinguished and being discriminated. By acceding to these people’s demands, we are not distinguishing them from others but are blatantly discriminating against them. There is a line in the movie Swades which goes “Jo kabhi nai jaati wahi hai Jaati”. Here, we have people, who want to be discriminated.

Isn’t it ironic that Amitabh Bacchan declares himself a farmer just so that he is allocated a certain number of acres of land? Doesn’t this stray case point to the blaring deficiencies in our system? Let us get the point straight, backward classes do need reservation, economically backward classes do.

Reservations and cushions for the economically backward classes are mandatory. Let there be a reservation for deserving students like Prince Thomas. This boy scored 91% in this tenth boards and ended his life because he thought his family will not be able to support his academic pursuits. Let there be a reservation policy in India that prevents such heart rending cases from propping up. Let there be reservations based on economic conditions rather than caste.

Today, when I see the Gurjars fighting for their ‘rights’, so to say, it leaves me with nothing but disgust at the state of affairs in our country. A condition, where everyone is ready to give a tooth and nail, ready to torch vehicles, maul people, disrupt peace just to get that ‘cushion’. What they forget is the fact that, you can’t work with a ‘cushion’ (I refer to a pillow here); you can only sleep with it. I realize this is a very crude statement to put forth but spare a thought for the implicit implication here.

I rest my case.

No comments: