Show Me Some Merit

Yes, all I am asking for is, merit in your arguments. All these rally and protests are not for equality or merit, it all about caste interests, preserving previleges. Here are my rejoinders to your favorite punch lines and phrases.

1. Youth for equality. A showpiece of total hipocracy. The banner under which the group of upper caste students are united, ridicules the truth about Indian society on the face of it. Since when the youth of various castes in India started being equals? They live in a highly stratified society and they carry around the caste-based identity and complexity in their brains. If they are asked to count the 10 closest associations they had till now, their preference for marriage and their opinion on their role in Indian society, the shield of equality which is the guise of your fight for “caste interests”, will split wide open.
2. Death of Democracy. Voter turn outs have been maxima in states like West Bengal, Kerla and Tamilnadu, averaging around 70-80%. And these states have not witness the anti-reservation protests so far. In states like Bihar, Orissa, MP and Delhi, the doctors are up in arms where 60% turnout is considered very well. You see the difference in sloganeering and reality. In fact, you are ensuring death of democracy, if you believe that a few hundreds of medicos-instigated over a month by some media houses-which can at best grow to few thousands, can influence the rollback of implementation of a bill enjoying full support of more than half a thousand elected representatives of a population of 1.1 billion. Democracy espouses people’s participation in nation building, and reservation is just a step forward that. In fact, if you advocate of democracy you should celebrate any policy which invites diversity and is inclusive. Have you forgotten the slogan, “unity in diversity”.
3. Vote Bank Politics. This is something paradoxical. Terms like “Vote bank politics”, “Populist measures” and “appeasement policy” has been used loosely by the Indian media and subsequently by their elite subscribers to target whatever policy that aims at larger section of the society at the same time does not serve their interest. It is a compulsion of democratic practices that govt. policies must cater to most of its electorate; you can give whatever inappropriate term you can to this invisible feedback loop.
It is even surprising to see that, you-who rebuff the number game in politics do see it an opportunity to show your numbers in some of the elite institutions which have been overtly and covertly kept the higher caste bastions. In contrast to what they sell and what the media is willing to buy, the overwhelming number of the protesters in here does make a point loud and clear. That those sections of backward and most backward castes are visibly absent in the institutes for higher learning and platform of opportunities. That the cake of prosperity and opportunity has been served to those who are privileged.
4. Build Schools, Scrap Reservation. I see a valid point in your arguments here, the need to build nationwide quality basic education. In fact that should have been the first and foremost step of any govt. that came to power after Independence. It would significantly improve the success rate of any affirmative action like reservation or any policy directed towards the masses. The backlog in vacancies, the unfilled seats in reservation category is not result of the loopholes in the reservation policy itself; it is the absence of necessary policy or infrastructure to support it. No policy can work in isolation; it employs the basic infrastructural input from other policies and resources to serve its purpose.
How does strengthening basic education can negate the basic social structure of Indian society which warrants reservation? Both needs to work hand-in-hand to achieve what is aimed at. Besides basic and primary education is as big a challenge as ensuring equal opportunity and social justice are. While the basic education can prepare and increase the competence of the underprivileged students, the discriminatory practices, the cultural difference, the social antagonism the reserved category students face is never compensated for. So reservation remains vital to ensure equal opportunity even with the fundamentally strong pre-college education system.
5. A step backwards. Of course everybody does have the right to be ultra-nationalist overnight. But how many state economic and welfare policies you are critical of? Do you ever read the economic policy espoused by the party in any election manifesto before voting, or the budget analysis at least each year? Or may I ask, do u ever vote? Did you know India was goaded into a non-proliferation trap recently, and yes, about your concern, the primary education was not universal and compulsory till last six years in India and still it is in a shambles now? Have you ever raised a voice against it, marched on a protest? No, oh do these take India foreword??
India could be a developed country only when most its people have access to a minimum standard of life. In a country where mainstream is held by 15% of the population, forget about the prosperity, even market cannot make inroads to rest of the society simply because they don’t have the necessary purchasing power. Land reforms, Basic education, affirmative action everything is held back to perpetuate their plight. It is there the sweet dreams end, not with reservation.
6. Political hogwash. Finally some take on Indian politics. Even if I don’t believe so, if congress has associated its future in the Hindi-heart land with this 27% quota implementation, then my friends no amount of protests would result in a total rollback. My point is, if not total rollback, all your above arguments or punch lines of Merit, Equality, Efficiency and Progress are buried and the middle path just ensures you safeguarding your caste-interests. Politicians have a good knowledge of their electorate, the demography and their potential voters. So if the concern for OBC and commitment of the parliament as suggested by the unanimity of the political parties are genuine, then it can stay. But if it is a political gimmick, you have already lost the ground.