Yes! let’s debate evil effects of Mandal politics
Wisdom appears to have belatedly dawned on the relatively young Congress leader and former Minister, Mr Jitin Prasada, whose recent suggestion is akin to closing the stable doors after the horses have bolted. He has sought a radical relook at the country’s reservation policy and wants quota benefits to be restricted to the “most backward castes and poor upper castes”, thereby removing this privilege from the rest. His proposal, welcome as it is, would have been more relevant had he dared to voice them during UPA’s decade-long rule, which ended only last year. The Congress is today left with a paltry 44 lok Sabha MPs and in control of just two major State Governments — Karnataka and Assam besides a few small States in the North-East. Therefore, the party’s ability to implement any such drastic suggestion is practically non-existent. But Mr Prasada, whose late father Jitendra Prasada, held key positions in the Congress for long, must be complimented for attempting to initiate a national debate. The virus of reservations has, in recent times, crossed the boundaries of “backwardness” and threatens to engulf even the more affluent and powerful sections of society. Matters have come to a head with the affluent Patidars of Gujarat demanding that even they be allotted a quota in higher education and Government jobs. Interestingly, however, the young Patidar leader, Mr Hardik Patel has demanded that either all quotas be abolished across the board or his community also gets a slice of the reservation pie. In Rajasthan, relatively well-off sections such as Jats and Gujars have been placated with quotas despite the courts taking a dim view of the Government’s populist manoeuvres.
Ever since former Prime Minister, late VP Singh, injected the country with the malevolent vial of casteism by implementing the flawed Mandal Commission Report in 1989, we have been grappling with this menace. Instead of working towards an antidote, political parties have injected fresh doses of casteist poison into the system, doling out quotas to all and sundry. In the process, the original idea of the Founding Fathers of the Constitution, as enshrined in Article 16, enabling the State to make special provisions for “Socially and Educationally Backward Classes” has been all but forgotten. Class has been substituted by caste and even sections that are not only well-educated but also run large educational institutions are electorally lured by the lollipop of reservations.
In this background, there is a pressing need to re-examine the Government’s policy on quotas, eliminate those who have already benefited from these and include sections that have been jostled out by those numerically and politically more muscular. Arguably, it is very difficult for political parties to publicly call for a review of the reservation policy. Therefore, to begin with, a national debate is in order. Mr Prasada and to some extent, Mr Hardik Patel have done a service by calling for such a review.