reservations in the 21st century

Reservations…In my opinion a topic that has polarised the Indian society to an extent that is comparable to say the Babri Masjid issue. After coming across a million articles and a bazillion blogs, I finally feel the need to comment on this. And what I want to talk about is not whether the policy of reservation is justified or whether it actually works but about the manner in which our ‘Government’ came up with this extremely innovative and efficient way to deal with the social inequalities that exist in the contemporary, ‘not-so-modern’ Indian society.
I think this sudden urge to write on the topic arose after I happened to read the excerpts from our Hon. HRD Minister’s interview (Karan Thapar, Devil’s Advocate, CNN IBN). And yes I wasn’t reading them for the first time. It certainly would not take a great intellectual or a political analyst to understand that Mr. Arjun Singh (or let us say the UPA Government) does not have a case for reservations. And if one has been following Indian politics of late with a bare minimum understanding of the decisions made by our policy makers it wouldn’t be so hard to understand what is going on here.
Although I would dare not say that that is not the point, I would certainly like to draw your attention to some of the statements made by our Hon. Minister. Mr. Singh was on a roll that day and the wisdom that he had acquired from his understanding of the current state of Indian society was evident from the researched and impeccably logical statements he was making. But then there were some pearls of his wisdom which shone brighter than the others. After all, an intellectual he is.
“I don't think the perceptions of modern society fit India entirely”, replied Mr. Singh quite emphatically only to back it up by saying “It is emerging as a modern society, but the parameters of a modern society do not apply to large sections of the people in this country”, when Mr. Thapar questioned the possibility of the “upper classes” being penalized for being…well “upper”. What according to Mr. Singh contributes to the Jurassic nature of Indian society? Is it so because the People of India are gullible enough to vote for leaders like him or his comrades in the UPA.
Fifty years of social reform later (and yes at one point the Congress would have certainly treated this ‘achievement’ of ‘reforming’ India as a feather in its cap) it is not only a shame but a standing example of the mockery made by our ‘rulers’ when it came to social justice when the same bunch of guys come up with a case for reservations. Have we, the People of the sovereign republic of India, been reduced to nothing but votes? Aren’t national interests being sacrificed at the altar of our leaders’ lust for power? Isn’t it ironic that the ‘Lok Sabha’, the symbol of the power given to the People of India by our Constitution, itself makes it a point to take decisions that will divide the People themselves?
Our politicians who were supposed to be ‘servants of the People’ have actually enslaved the masses of our great Nation with their arithmetic of vote bank politics. These so called ‘leaders’ are leading us no doubt but in a direction that points to nothing else but the fall of our Nation. It is only painful to hear these people, who would not think twice before sacrificing the life of a common man (irrespective of his caste, religion or any other ‘factor’ for that matter) for their selfish goals, talking about the correcting what is wrong with our society.When asked about the details of the reservation policy, the ones concerning key issues for protesting students, in particular, and masses, in general, Mr. HRD Minister replied with an amazing conviction “That is not the point. The government knows what to do and it will do what is needed.” Oh is it so Mr. Singh! Of course the Government has always taken the most appropriate decisions to take situations from bad to worse.
Have we no voice? Have we lost the power vested in us by the Constitution of India? I hope not but the present situation forces me to conclude that India may be independent but we, the People, are not. The Common Man could never really stop fighting.