Political Diary

New Delhi, 28 January 2012

Caste Wars: Yours Vs Mine

I AM A MBC, WHAT ARE YOU?

By Poonam I Kaushish

The more India changes, it still remains the same whereby the past continues to survive and thrive in the present. Underscored by the latest collective con job of our netagan and every Party in the on-going electioneering to the five State Assemblies, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. Which trashes promises of stability, blots pledges of development and brazenly revolves around your caste vs. my caste and mera dharam vs. tumhara dharam. What else, stupid!

Nothing showcases this better than UP which stands testimony to this shameless, ugly and raw exercise in vote catching. Activated by the Congress, BJP, Samajwadi, BSP etc. All reducing manifestoes to mere talking points, the reality is to catch the voter on the basis of his caste, sub-caste or religion according to their own warped and selfish political needs. For whoever sits on the State gaddi would be the ‘game-changer’ for India Raj.

For the Congress, confused about its support base, devoid of a vote plank and desperate about stopping its opponents from exploiting the Muslim-Hindu-caste card it assures Nyaya, Vikas aur Adhikar by falling back on its tried and tested formula --- blatant minorityism. After promising 4.5% reservation in educational institutions and Government jobs within the 27% OBC bracket from this month onwards it has upped this to 9% if voted in voted to power in the State. Remember, Muslims constitute 18% of the population and could tilt the electoral scales in around 130 out of 403 Assembly seats. So much for change, sic.

For the BJP religion is paramount. Notwithstanding sops for every section of society, the Party opposed reservation for the minorities even as it said it was committed to the construction of a Ram Temple at Ayodhya. Along-with trying to create a divide among the Most Backward castes (MBC) among the OBC’s that the Muslims would eat into their share. Big deal, if it leads to caste-creed wars.

The Samajwadi supremo Mulayam Singh made no bone about playing a Maulana to the hilt even as he solicited MBC votes among the poorest of the poor while Bahujan bhenji Chief Minister Mayawati political strategy is: representation to all social sections proportionate to their population.

Besides juggling the Dalit-Brahmin card which catapulted her to power in 2007, she is busy wooing the Muslims by endorsing reservation for them and has also propagated the carving out of Shamli from Muzaffarnagar to reach out to the majority Jat community in the region. Asserted she: “I believe in unifying them into a common bhaichara!

Tragically, in its quest for getting Muslim and MBC votes have our netagan realized the ramifications of their actions? It would not only further divide the aam aadmi on caste-creed lines but is also short-sighted and antithetical to any hope of narrowing India’s burgeoning divide between the haves and have-nots.

Unfortunately, ground realities and make-believes sociology do not always correspond. In the garb of meting out social justice, the politician continues to bask in reckless ad hocism. Reservations by themselves will not transform the village society whose social structure is built upon an edifice of illiteracy and ignorance which in turn perpetuates an iniquitous caste system.

First thing first. Questionably, is reservation an end in itself? Not at all. Has anyone assessed whether those provided reservation have gained or continue to loose? No. Has an objective study been made to find out the end result? Never. According to a former Chairman of the National Commission on Backward Classes, “the politicians have converted reservation into a circus”.

Think. After giving reservations no effort is made to build up the morale of the backward classes to bring them into the mainstream. There are no welfare programmes for them or quality education --- not only to a chosen few through a quota system, but to all through free and compulsory education. (This was supposed to be achieved many yeas ago).

Significantly, even as our polity announces reservations, not many are aware that they are not solely authorized to do so. It is the prerogative of the National Commission on Backward Classes, established in 1993 following a Supreme Court directive in the Indira Sawhney versus Union of India. The Commission’s primary task is to recommend the criteria for inclusion of socially backward classes in the OBC list for reservation in civil services under the Union Government.

Whatever may be the outcome of the polls, the truth is that we are today caught in a vicious circle which has been made a lot more malignant by our unstable and fragmented politics. Not just that. The scepter that haunts the nation is not that of class struggle but of caste struggle. Backwards and forwards have become more meaningful than the Left and the Right in politics.

With everyone propounding their own recipe of a communal harmony, the nation is getting sucked into the vortex of centrifugal bickering. So caught up are all in their frenzied pursuit of political nirvana through separatism, that they confuse themselves and the voter and indeed, history itself. Wherein, it is now difficult to recognize India as the same country which Emerson described as the “summit of human thought’.

If political consciousness terminates at the caste level, the day is not far when divisive caste combinations will dominate Indian politics. Granted it will be suicidal not to take cognizance of the new-found political aspirations of the backward castes. As it stands, vote-banks on caste lines are easier to build.

At the same time, it is equally dangerous to indulge in the ongoing political power games passed on caste rivalries. By that token, the whole social reform movement will become meaningless. Our leaders should remember that universalisation of reservation will mean goodbye to excellence and standards --- a ‘must’ for any modern nation that wishes to forge ahead.

Against this backdrop there is only one solution. Truce between the netagan and their progenies. A time for soul searching, not soul searching. Away from the electioneering fields. Time now for our petty power-at-all cost polity to think beyond vote-bank politics and look at the long-term implications.

Undoubtedly, UP stands testimony to the fact that power in privilege stands further transformed through electoral competition into power in numbers. Either way, politicians are caught in a zero-sum game. Traditionally, UP remain with its flavour of notoriety-Jiski lathi uski bhains!  ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)