Divide and rule

Conceived in political lust and born in transgression, the government?s misguided reservation policy has opened up a Pandora?s Box.

Conceived in political lust and born in transgression, the government’s misguided reservation policy has opened up a Pandora’s Box. In the face of weeks of agitation by students and the government’s refusal to rethink on the issue, the Supreme Court has stepped in. Its queries — what’s the statistical basis for determining ‘other backward castes’ and what would be the modalities to implement the reservations? — have the potential of ripping the country’s already fragile social fabric and upending its politics. The last time there was a physical count of the thousands of jatis and castes of the country was in 1931. Thereafter, the Census of India has only counted the Dalits. How B.P. Mandal arrived at a figure of 52 per cent for the proportion of OBCs in the country has been a mystery of sorts. Using statistical sampling techniques, the National Sample Survey Organisation has come up with a figure of 32.9 per cent and the National Family Health Survey pegs it at 29.8 per cent. While caste prejudice ensures that few upper castes or OBCs will voluntarily pass off as Dalits, there has been ferocious competition in various states for groups to be declared OBC because of the Mandal advantage. Any effort to actually count castes in today’s politically charged atmosphere would not only be farcical, but deeply flawed and divisive.

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The saddest part of the current argument is the loss of the moral compass that guided the founders of this nation to resolutely oppose quotas. The British empire had a cynical policy of keeping Indians divided on the basis of religion and caste. This was well understood by the Congress, which rejected Jinnah’s demand for the reservation of 33 per cent seats for Muslims. The Viceroy’s Communal Award of 1932 provided separate electorates for Muslims and Dalits. On Mahatma Gandhi’s urging, Babasaheb Ambedkar rejected the proposal and settled for reserved seats for Dalits, with an electorate of all communities. Ambedkar, the guiding spirit of the Constitution and the inspiration of the Dalits, saw reservations for the scheduled castes and tribes as a limited and time-bound measure.