10. ANTI-RESERVATIONISM IS AN URBAN UPPER CASTEIST ONSLAUGHT

By: Sampath Kumar Thulasi,
skthulsi@rediffmail.com
94404 13444

THE DANGER:

If the present tenor and tempo of the anti-reservationists continues unabated it should not be a surprise if urban Karamchedus and Neerukondas are created by the upper casteist forces.

THE CROOKED GOVERNMENT:

Introduction of reservations in installment basis itself is some thing dubious. It is a political strategy against reservations. First, it is to delay and postpone to the possible extent and second, to force the lower castes just circle around the same issue time and again. This attitude is a result of upper casteism and anti-reservationism. An issue that appears to have been clinched on an occasion of controversy reappears again and again due to the piece meal strategy of the government. The simple reason is that the government is dominated by upper casteism.

NOVICE NARAYANA MURTHIES:

The opinions of ‘stalwarts’ of enterprise builders and fast money makers are highlighted in the media. One does not know what significance the opinions of such selfish fellows has such a sociological and historical issues. They are just novices. Is it a less known fact that the industrialists are always against social welfare. They are not even pro-industry cultured before the issue of money making. They would close running industries. They would convert promising industries to real estate assets. They want to evade taxes. They want to engage in black-marketing. Why these novices are not seen engaged in such practices is because they have captured the IT industry. That very industry itself is a very big scam. The biggest scam is the pricing of its products. That is why the huge profits. That is why the industry of production of basic goods is relegated into the background. One has to only wait and see if people can survive and fulfill their daily activities just on bits and bytes.

The reports say: Azim Premji, chairman, Wipro, said “There are no reservations in the private sector in the U.S.,”
“Reservations will surely not solve the problem but create many other,” says Ashank Desai, chairman, Mastek. “A move like this will take us back in past. It will sorely affect the markets reforms process, setting the process back,” Disagrees Krishan Dhawan, managing director, Oracle (India). Sunil Mehta, vice president, NASSCOM, begs to differ. “Speaking from the perspective of the IT industry, we are the largest employer of women in the country. Close to 40 per cent of the workforce are women. Isn't that a case of promoting social parity?” asks Mehta. (Perhaps 99% of that 40p.c. women are from upper castes.) Infosys Narayana Murthy’s magazine, educationalworldonline carried cover story article in the same lines

OTHER IMPETUOUS FELLOWS:

Many other dailies and periodicals have also published bundles of anti-reservation stuff. And, with the advent of IT revolution and spread of internet the matter has crept and widely spread into the web with many an enthusiastic anti-reservationists only to reveal their impetuousity on the understanding of the very issue of reservations either from socio-economic or historical point of view. They can be seen at 1. http://www.petitiononline.com/ mod_perl/ signed.cgi?49690&1 2. http://youthforequality. blogspot.com/2006/04/ youth-for-equality.html 3. alochana.org/ 2006/04/27/ reservations/ 4. http://lemonysnippets. blogspot.com/2006/04/no-reservations-please.html 5. http://mboard.rediff.com/board/board.php? boardid= news2006apr 28quota1&page=2. There may be many more such locations on the net which sprang up just recently or the established sites might have opened up place for anti-reservation opinions in the name of discussion / debate / opinion poll.

The IMA and the Knowledge Commission too joined the band.

Few of them are vehement (even overtly venomous), few dubious, few in the garb of intellectual analysis, etc. in their opposition to reservations.

The funniest of the things is that a very small and handful of minority elements are creating a nation wide chaos and that too against the interests of the vast majority people of India. Further, all prominent figures and even supposedly government forums are singing in symphony. The media is highlighting it in out of proportions. This is the upper caste symphony. The musical instruments and drums of the lower castes, though incomparably numerous and widely spread over are not generating any such symphony in their favour. The unqualified reaction of the NHRC against the lathi charge on the striking anti-reservationists too is note worthy.

RES IPSO FACTO (THE THING SPEAKS FOR ITSELF)

The complete paralyzing of the medical services in the so called central institutes due to the strike of anti-reservationists and the pathetic situation of the patients – definitely a majority of them are from lower castes – and the absence of any anti-strike anti-‘antireservationist’ action in these institutes, warrant the immediate need of reservations in these institutes.

Perhaps, the striking contrast in the noise and actual numbers itself should be a sufficient proof of the need of reservations. Anyway, the custom doesn’t accept. More elaborations are needed. So, here follows an attempt to delve into the subject with a reference to remote and recent past and the present.

THE ARGUMENT

THE PROLOGUE:

People are a consequence of a historical process. People mean the components of a social order. So, they – the people – do not come into existence suddenly on one fine occasion. ‘Hic Rhodus! Hic Salta!’ becomes a false proposition.

THE HISTORY:

In the Indian context, historically, the upper castes have, as a rule of law – the ‘Manu Dharma’ – reserved all the resources since ages. Merit remained suppressed for centuries. It is a different matter as to what kind of long standing ill effects this has thrust against the evolution of India into a powerful nation. This remains to be evaluated. But, one thing can be confidently stated, pending such evaluation, that the Indian society was crippled due to the suppression of the merit of the majority population for centuries. Further, if such evaluation comes ever to light the whole humanity would wonder at the colossal damage to the advancement of a great society on the globe and the Brahmanic upper castes would be categorized as the most dangerous and heinous criminals the humanity has ever witnessed and could witness. For now, this is all about its impact from the overall social point of view.

Such protracted suppression of merit has harmed its victims in many ways. Though the suppression of merit is not supported by law, it still remains supported by the dominant social customs and is overly practiced. After the withdrawal of support of law to this suppression of merit, how it indirectly continues as a result of the historically accumulated economic and educational weaknesses is another aspect to be noted. ( The fact that there were no takers to many a seats in professional courses, many a positions in the government for a few decades even after the introduction of reservations, itself is clear example to the intensity of the damage caused to them. ) The historical suppression of merit has made the upper castes the sole owners of all social wealth, authoritative positions in various fields of powers and official and dominant areas of knowledge.

After, all such awards, rewards and blessings to one side and injuries, damages and curses to the other side what is striking is there is no mobility of the members of this side to the other or vice versa. One must clearly note that the social wealth was never freshly divided among these groups after the withdrawal of support of law to the centuries long suppression of merit.

The rural wealth – the land – was snatched away by the upper castes. All the lower castes were totally excluded. This confiscation did not occur on the basis of merit. This allocation was carried out with the absolute suppression of merit. The rural authority was confiscated by them on the basis of the sole principle – the suppression of merit. The rural representative positions were grabbed by them by sheer rejection of any right to the lower castes. This is history. The sole environment used to be rural.

Then in the last century industries and urban locations started emerging. Each and every kind of trade which had, till then, been in the pure confines of an individual craft but started giving scope to shape into an industry was usurped by the upper castes. It was the labouring castes that invented all the basic concepts and entities of the present day industrial materials and products –the chappal, the kapda, the ghada & katora, the chulla, the eent, etc. Hence, all these owners of industry need to pay royalty to these communities. Education remained traditionally the sole domain of upper castes. Even the modern education was not spared to be continued in the similar domains by various forms. Whatever was accumulated undemocratically continued as their absolute right and all the new opportunities that emerged in the last century were confiscated by them overtly and covertly. Then comes the Independence – the August 15 and the January 26. These historical events simply legalized the past – to put it a little more accurately, the net results of the past. But, as we noted above, the past had been a sheer suppression of merit and confiscation of all social wealth, resources and positions of authority. If at all the lower castes were given any entry, after this, to enjoy the resources it was due to Babasaheb Ambedkar. If the strategy prescribed by and the struggle of Babasaheb were continued there would have been a phenomenal change. The upper castes suppressed his strategy, whether they were in official power or outside positions of some power – Communists, Naxals, all. Even when he was alive they staunchly opposed it as could be witnessed in the treacherous role of Gandhi in cruelly suppressing the demand of separate constituencies to the S.Cs. and lower castes. Till this date, even after 60 years of independence the Indian citizen is not identified as an individual similar to the other but as first belonging to this or that caste and all else after that. What all has accumulated into the hands of the upper castes on the basis of complete suppression of merit is wished to be retained without any infringement and now they want to confiscate the ring in the name of “equality of opportunity”.

THE NET RESULTS:

Then, again, a few more sentences about the incapacitation of society as a whole. It – Indian society – continues to deny the participation of majority. The dominance of a very minute minority in all fields of life is first of all monotony. Monotony does not evolve to become rich. Historically the Brahminic monotony too maintained and continued in bankruptcy of creative thinking and innovation. All the philosophies that did not denounce social injustice have been proved to be against evolution. All creative and innovative contributions in the history of Indian social evolution are related to anti-Brahminic efforts. In order to sustain and maintain their command the Brahminic powers have been covertly adapting to these forced changes. If at all India has changed it is not because the internal qualities of Brahminism but because of the external – the anti-Brahminic efforts.

The monotony has been actively working against the emergence of symphony. See how cleverly they have divided even the lower castes. The smaller domain symphony too is made impossible with this horizontal divide. A heart rendering among such is the protracted deep divide in the entire dalit movement around the never ending issue of SC categorization even after a decade. The active among the two major communities totally tied up to their respective new sectarian platforms have been concentrating just on pro-categorization or anti-categorization. Hats of to the Machiavellian and Kautilya tactics of the upper castes in power. What is astounding is that these two platforms are so carefully managed that no other issue is raised or taken up with some resoluteness either for their own community or for both. In the presence of a plethora of such issues and far more serious issues we know of struggles coming up on an issue, achieving the demands, becoming partially successful, suspended without any achievement for the reasons of complexity or the unsuitability of contemporary equations and for switching over to the other issues. But the present scenario around SC categorization has turned out to be totally different and hence, becomes a scenario of serious concern. This impairment of latest dalit movement of the 80s – that heralded many a historic contributions to the ideological arsenal for the future course of a marked sociological development of Indian society, like a new strategy for the Democratic Revolution in India, huge mass of literary and artistic master pieces, etc. – is the sole result of upper casteism. One only needs, from this, to understand the disastrous role of caste system based on heredity and upper caste domination. The role of upper casteism is reactionary and counter revolutionary. Why because, it emerged in the counter revolutionary action against Budhism. Though with some striking modifications in course of historical progress, forced from the bottom of the society, it continues to dominate in its essential form.

So, the social order in India continues to be in that incapacitated framework of rejection of the greatest majority, in case of upper castes by suppression of the majority of social beings – the lower castes, and in the case of lower castes through a tendency to counter position themselves against the rest of the lower castes which again is the majority part of the social beings. It stems from the social order that rests on caste domination and division. It promotes an individual culture of promoting the self at the cost of overall social benefit. It promotes disunity. It promotes manipulatory politics. It scuffles the formation of a nationality – the Indian nationality. The genetic division is what that cripples every time in course of the naturally occurring social advancement. Note this recent agony expressed by a kid : Vamshi – a kid of about 10-12 yrs. – in a TV9 program on 13th May,06 with Lead India, while this article was in shaping, blamed casteism and for it the Brahmins who look down upon others and maintain a social divide.

AN INDIAN SOLUTION TO AN INDIA SPECIFIC PROBLEM:

Hence, what is needed is the denouncement of such division with utmost regard for “equality of opportunity”. Such denouncement, being genuine, should immediately consider tracing its roots. Then it should assess the inappropriateness of holding immediate competitions between the groups arrived through such past. Instead, the division of opportunities, accordingly, needs to be considered. This alone is the starting point as one of the genuine efforts for the true eradication of caste suppression and division. Many other measures also are to be taken up. All this is a dialogue just with the genuine persons – who can appreciate wisdom – among the upper castes. Because, firstly, there can’t be a dialogue with the crooks who are for the suppression of lower castes. Secondly, the lower castes do not need to participate in any dialogue. Through out their life they have been in such a dialogue. Their very lives echo such a dialogue. They have this wisdom. In fact, this wisdom is derived from them. They do not need to read an article of such dialogue. They need not go through a great deal of reports. They have the knowledge of history of suppression of merit. The upper castes too have that knowledge. Yet, the former only were wise and the later could not be so. Why? The answer is simple. “Being decides consciousness”.

A dialogue needs wise parties on both sides. A dialogue, hence, results in learning the truth. Whereas the muscle tussle may not need it in some relative sense. If there are any few who believe that the reservations can be abolished or narrowed by exercising muscle power it is their false dream. The lower castes have already over powered them with respect to such issues.

The upper caste persons, to become truly wise, should be genuine first of all. That alone is not sufficient. They need to be cautious about their companionship, relationship, association, etc. with the upper castist fellows. They should not only denounce the suppression of lower castes but also should denounce their relation with such oppressors, denounce their upper caste identity and start genuine measures to merge their identity with one or the other family of the lower castes. This should be taken up across all lines of domination that existed and is existing.

Hence, it is high time that the aggrieved among the upper castes should first of all stop looking at the lower castes with contempt or as contenders. They should demand an overall ban on the entry to the elite among their castes into any public resources and positions. They had enough of it and they have sufficiently spoiled and damaged others and the nation as a whole. They have enormous private properties and private estates. They should accept further reforms to divide the opportunities more proportionately. This should extend even into the private sector.

The whole issue is not whether there should be a positive discrimination or not. What is argued here is that we are not begging for any mercy.

We demand, rather decree that as there is a social divide so should be the opportunities.

The paradox is that in order to eliminate all such ill effects of caste division we need to carry out our efforts against it on a reversed basis of this domination based division and all forms caste division till they are erased.

THE GARB OF MERIT AND EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY STANDS SHATTERED:

While the facts are such, if some novices pretending innocence parrot that there should be “equality of opportunity” there can’t be anything shallower than this. It would be a clear continuation of centuries of suppression of merit in the modern era. The Brahminism and upper casteism, notorious for its unscientific and ahistoric formulations and notions now gives rise to a paradox that can easily confuse the social progress unless viewed from all this historical perspective. The Brahminic point of view even otherwise and on many other issues is an established ahistoric approach.

There is one more truth about the present argument of merit. “The ability to carry out the assignment” is raised. This is a derogatory remark first of all. The lower castes are being inducted even in the reserved quotas only after the fulfillment of qualification criteria. This truth is very cleverly suppressed by the upper castist hooligans. Another truth what they hide about them is that they are seen no where in India or near the poor people once they get their professional degrees. Even if they join the less remunerative jobs in the government they do so to use it just as spring board to gain experience for other lucrative jobs. A decent and comfortable life is not sufficient to them. They are bent upon leading a life of a rich Western fellow even if they had to stay back in India. Let them dive into any dirty canals of life style. We have no contention. But we have serious objections for the very consideration of their admissions into the public institutes run by the public exchequer. Let there be a study on what number of professional graduates deserted India from the lower castes and from the upper castes and also how many of each of the groups joined the corporate hospitals to directly or indirectly help the health racket that is squeezing even the last drop of the blood of the poor. So, why mister upper castist, do you rise the banner of merit when you have lost all the minimum moral grounds by completely leaving the purpose of merit to the winds?

The shameless upper castism is also reflected in – one, the downright hypocrisy of the strikers. They argue that because of reservations quality goes down. Have they ever raised their opposition to the high fee private colleges for the same degrees with affiliation to the same universities? Two, the forms of protest they have adopted are an outright onslaught on the self respect of the lower castes. The toil that is the daily bread earner for the lower caste has become for them a form of protest.

To conclude, if reservations are addressed from the mere point of view of promotion of the self, yes, we want reservations as our promotion is the most warranted. If the point of view is ability to serve then also, yes, we are capable to serve the needs of vast majority of the population and we alone are the people who are going to be present in India and near the people to serve. If the point of view is the overall advancement of Indian society, then also a very big yes, without us the country can’t progress and the past 6 decades after independence and tens of centuries prior to that is a historical testimony of it.


JUST, JUST NOTE THIS. A GLARING CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE IN INDIAN HISTORY:

INVADER AFTER INVADER WON THE INDIAN TERRITORY AND ESTABLISHED HIS KINGDOM ONLY TO LOOSE TO THE NEXT INVADER FROM OUTSIDE THE NATIONAL BORDERS AND ASSURE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW KINGDOM.

IF IT IS NOT THE GREATEST HANDICAP FORCED DUE TO THE DOMINATION OF THE GRASS ROOT SOCIAL ORDER BY HIGHLY SELFISH OPPRESSIVE CASTES AND THE CASTE SYSTEM WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE?