Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 20 August 2018 | Page 14

letters
Affirmative Reactions
ON E-MAIL K.S. Padmanabhan:
This is about the story on the renewed
demand for job and educational quotas
by the Marathas (The Quota Ransom,
Aug 6). V.P. Singh, former PM and the
arc­hitect of the Mandal Commission,
once described reservation as a “tran­
sitory demand till we achieve the obj­
ective of education and employment
for all”. But some of the violent agita­
tions for reservation based on caste,
which began with Mandal, have moved
from being ­affirmative action to enti­
tlement for many castes, including for
the Marathas, whose protests are rock­
ing Maharashtra. The Marathas are by
no means a poor or oppressed caste,
but the agitation was clearly because
they have not been able to come to
grips with the fact that the so-called
lower castes have bypassed them in
terms of jobs and education at a time
when landholdings are dwindling and
an agrarian crisis is upon them. They
are resentful that the state had granted
them reservation, which was over­
turned by the Supreme Court. The
BLOCK MODE The Maratha protests
Marathas in Maharashtra, Patidars in
Gujarat, Gujjars in Rajasthan, Jats in
Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and Kapus
in Andhra are bound to cause disrup­
tion and disrupt the economic life of
the country. Yet, let us not avoid the
new quota dem­ands; let us resolve
them in a sensible manner, accom­
modating all interests, without crea­
ting periodic states of dysfunction in
our cities and towns.
SECUNDERABAD K.R. Srinivasan
The violent agitation for Maratha res­
ervation even after the Supreme Court
rejected outright reservation in 2014 is
14 OUTLOOK 20 August 2018
INBOXED
Are You a Citizen?
MARUTHANCODE G. David
Milton: In his hurry to capitalise on the
citizenship issue in Assam ahead of the
2019 Lok Sabha election, a top BJP
leader used the term ‘illegal infiltrator’
for all the 40 lakh residents of Assam
excluded from the NRC, and called for
follow-up action “without full stops
and commas”. A BJP lawmaker suggested they should be shot if they did not
flee to Bangladesh. The ‘nationalist’ narrative has gained so much accept­
ance over the decades that all Opposition parties, barring a few like TMC, do
not feel compelled to take a humanitarian approach to the citizenship issue.
Most media outlets have joined the political establishment to sing the
same hymn of nationalism. The clash between ‘nationalism’ and ‘human­
ism’ is stark for us not to notice. The predicament of people rendered ‘state­
less’ by the NRC is too poignant for words. It is no more enough to be
Indians; it has become necessary to be “genuine Indians”. The NRI exercise
created panic and instilled a sense of fear in people. Whose turn is next?
Who has to prove their citizenship? How far back should they trace the fam­
ily tree to establish their status as “sons and daughters of the soil”?
a sad ref­lection of the status quo.
Further, with Marathas comprising 16
per cent of the state’s population,
every party is bent on wooing them.
This, in spite of knowing that they are
fishing in troubled waters. Arson and
vandalism to get attention and black­
mail the state not only undermines
their cause, but any move to mollify
the Marathas is sure to ignite Jats,
Gujjars and Patidars. One wonders
why these dominant, landowning
castes are demanding quotas? The gov­
ernment also cannot just keep on def­
erring a decision on this and adding to
the list of OBC castes enjoying reserva­
tion. The need of the hour is political
will to create more jobs rather than
giving the false promise of reservation.
BANGALORE J. Akshay: The dem­
and for reservation by more sections in
more spheres of public life is growing
by the day. There have been dem­ands
for reservation in the higher judiciary
as well. If these demands are conceded,
we’ll even have the chief justices app­
ointed on caste reservation one day.
The next frontier might be the army I
guess. It’s not easy to defuse the reser­
vation bomb. Neither in Maharashtra,
nor elsewhere. Like the proverbial
genie let out of the bottle, it’s hard to
put it back.
VIAJAYWADA Duggaraju
Srinivasa Rao: Quota politics has
­ ecome a norm in each state, aided and
b
abetted by powerful community politi­
cians. Like the Patidar agitation, which
was forgotten as soon as the Gujarat
polls got over. Similarly, the Congress
government took up the issue of a sep­
arate religion tag for the Veerashaiva
community bef­ore the Karnataka
polls, but now that the result is out, the
issue seems to have diassappeared.
Similarly, there are quota dem­ands by
the Kapu community in Andhra and by
Muslims in Telangana. Both demands
are hum­oured to a deg­ree by politi­
cians—a trick to stoke sentiments,
blame rivals and win votes. The Gujjar
agitation will again rear its head in
Rajasthan before the assembly polls, so
will the Jat quota issue in Uttar
Pradesh before 2019. Again, gullible
people will fall prey to it—deaths in
pol­ice firings and suicides will occur.
Have we ever seen a politician risk his
life in police firing?
Pan the Plan
GHAZIABAD R.N. Bhat: I read with
interest Mr Rakesh Agrawal’s ‘indie’
solution for the Kashmir valley fea­
tured on the letters page (Letters, July
30). I think he fails to mention one
imp­ortant asp­ect: as to how the
Kashmiri Pandits, driven out of their
homes and forced to live in miserable
conditions elsewhere, are proposed to
be included in this plan. Are they to be
just forgotten and abandoned?