Vaishakh Krushna Ekadashi
The view expressed in the article is of writer & need not be taken as HJS’s views. – Editor
By Vivek Maheshwari
All the votaries of "secularism" must be happy with the present Gujjar agitation. Hearts of the champions of backwards and downtrodden must be warm by this show of strength by Gujjars. And above all new messiah of backwards and minorities, Arjun Singh, must be feeling like nirvana.
For so long the "champions of secularism" condoned casteism in the name of fight against communalism. In fact the game plan of secularists was to divide Hindu society in the name of castes, so their "secularist" agenda can be implemented. This was the agenda of Britishers. They knew that to rule this country they have to divide its society and this division was done at various levels. Biggest division was the magnification of caste system of Hindu society. They were successful in their attempt, though not fully but partially. After independence, our own leaders started where Britishers had left. Since most of them were Oxford educated so they had soft corner for the British knowledge and word. So instead of removing this casteism with positive action, they adopted negative and divisive approach. They did this in the name of correcting the past mistakes.
Initially they provided reservation to correct the past mistakes of forward castes. Slowly this agenda was adopted by the political leaders to increase their support base across different castes. They openly incited different castes and communities and termed it as the voice of downtrodden. This gave rise to various caste leaders in Indian politics. These leaders have influence in a state or in a region. This eroded the base of national parties and they were forced to take the support of these casteist leaders. This open casteism was promoted by the "secular" parties. As the division of Hindu voted across caste lines and consolidation of minority, mainly Muslim, votes was their agenda. This casteist politics was fulfilling their agenda. Hence these so called "principled secularists" not only condoned but promoted casteism.
In their greed of votes, they forgot that casteism is more dangerous than communalism. In India, there are hundreds of castes but very few numerically strong religious communities. Hence the caste conflict was always going to be widespread and violent than communal conflict. Till now we have faced only communal conflict due to our experience with partition. With this type of Gujjar agitation, however, we are beginning to see the fierce caste conflict. This fire, which was ignited with the implementation of Mandal commission report, is burning in its full glory. All these years, different political parties kept on giving the reservations to different castes and communities to have them in their fold. India must be the only country in the world where the numbers of backward population are increasing. It is so much laughable that we keep on adding different castes and communities in the list of reservation under various categories. It means only one thing that since independence we have not progressed and in fact have regressed. Otherwise no other reason can explain the ever increasing number of caste and communities under reserved category.
This political game of reservation is totally distorting the situation at ground level as now the criterion of reservation is not backwardness but the numerical strength of a particular community. This is the reason of Gujjar anger. They come under OBC category. In 1999 AB govt included Jats in that list. Jats are economically and socially more advanced than Gujjars. So after coming in this list, they are taking up all the benefits of reservation which till then were going to Gujjars. This phenomenon can be understood by the fact that the cut off marks for various entrance exams in Rajasthan is more for OBC category than general category. On the other hand Meenas, numerically and economically stronger than Gujjars, come in ST category. So due to this situation Gujjars are suffering from both the sides despite being more backward than both these communities. Under this situation no political party can do anything. If any party tries to put Gujjars in ST category, as demanded by them too, it will bring the backlash from Meenas.
This is just the beginning. In different states numerically strong castes have been given reservation under various categories and this situation is harming the interests of real backwards. We will see rise of such demands from various castes and communities in different states and no political party will be in a position to do anything. This will trigger caste wars in different parts of the country. These caste conflicts will be much larger and fiercer than any communal conflict and it has the potential to divide the nation across many caste lines. Potentially such conflicts have the potential to spread on every nook and corner of the country as every locality has people of different castes. Hence this situation must gladden the hearts of champions of secularism and backwards as their dream of dividing this country is going to come true. Unfulfilled dream of Britishers is being fulfilled by our own leaders.
Source: www.centralchronicle.com
