The Supreme Court of India’s intervention by staying the latest “regulations” issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) towards ending discrimination on the campuses is quite welcome. The regulations were undoubtedly senseless and self-defeating as these had excluded and discriminated against the general caste students, as if they never faced any discrimination ever.
It is not difficult to make out what the intentions of the UGC, which is obviously acting on behalf of the Government of India, were on this count. The Bharatiya Janata Party government, which has a strong following among the middle classes across the country, apparently wants to enter into a competition with the Congress on “caste appeasement”.
The BJP has actually succumbed to the Congress’ pressure in the past when it came to caste issues like it agreed to the caste census in the country, although it initially claimed that it was a “divisive” concept, which actually it is.
In a similar way, the UGC “regulations” were not only discriminatory these were “divisive” as well. While the Supreme Court of India has stayed these, the damage these regulations have caused will take time to be undone. The “regulations” have rightly led to widespread anger and outrage among the general castes and categories. There are already voices of segregation and separation from the general categories.
There is no denying the fact that caste system was practiced in its crudest and the cruellest form in different parts of the country, like slavery was practiced in the West. But that is long past now. There may be exceptions today and rarest of the rare incidents might be taking place once in a while. But the rules and regulations have been made and are being implemented while keeping in view the situation that prevailed before the country’s Independence.
Currently, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is one of the most abused laws like the rape and dowry laws in the country. Recently, a case of the abuse of the law surfaced, where an accused under the SC/ST Act was acquitted after 20 years, well after he had undergone the punishment for a crime that he had not committed. There are numerous such cases and incidents where the law is being abused with its stringent provisions.
The upper castes, the Brahmins in particular, are the most “racially abused” community in India today. Everything that goes wrong in the society is attributed to “Brahminism” (Brahmanwad), used in the most abusive and derogatory terms. People belonging to the SC communities can freely and liberally abuse the “Brahman-waad”, without any fear of law, as there is no law to prevent the abuse of the Brahmins.
When “identities” are aggressively enforced, these naturally lead to segregations and divisions. That is precisely what happened in the aftermath of the UGC issuing the “equity” regulations, which were not at all socially equitable. In fact, they were completely discriminatory.
Also read: BJP in appeasement mode on UGC regulations
If the nation wants to eradicate caste discrimination and create a casteless society, it will have to do away with the “exclusive caste-based benefits”, which in any case are now being manipulated by a select few people among the reserved categories. The affirmative action for ameliorating the plight of the marginalised sections is the need of the hour and will always remain so, at the same time it needs to be rationalised in a just manner.
However, that is a far cry amidst the competitive populism and appeasement. So far, the BJP was supposed to not be succumbing to the temptations of caste appeasement. The UGC regulations on “caste discrimination” have already exploded that myth. Had the Supreme Court not put a stop to these regulations, the country might well have been pushed into the post-Mandal period of nationwide turmoil.
There is still no guarantee that this will end here. The BJP’s track record shows that it eventually succumbs to pressures where it starts feeling insecure about the electoral outcome. The party went ahead with the policy of “reservations” in promotions, which is an outrageously unjust thing to do. It also accepted the demand for caste census in the country, something which only the Congress was pursuing so far.
Rahul Gandhi has been strongly propagating the idea of removing the 50 per cent ceiling on reservations. It was in the aftermath of anti-Mandal reservation that the Supreme Court had put a 50 per cent ceiling on reservations and left 50 per cent vacancies/ opportunities open for merit. Gandhi and the Congress, supported by a few other Opposition parties, have been consistently demanding that the ceiling must be removed.
Gandhi has been vehemently demanding that the share of reservations must be based on the proportion of population of the communities. He claims that there are about 50 per cent OBCs, 15 per cent SCs, about 15 minorities and 8 per cent tribal people which adds up to about 90 per cent population. He repeatedly and clearly suggests that each community should get the reservation share according to its population proportion. “Jiski jitni aabadi, uski utni baagedaari” (as much population, so much share).
With slogans and goals like that, it is highly improbable that India can ever move to a stage of “casteless society” as everything is dominated, determined and decided in terms of the caste proportions and merit is made a secondary option and at times even sacrificed for political and electoral expediencies. And this is not limited and restricted to the opportunities in jobs and education, but in all aspects and spheres of day-to-day life.
When Rohith Vemula, a student of the Hyderabad University, committed suicide, it was “sold” as Dalit victimisation, while later it was revealed that he was not even a Dalit, but an OBC, belonging to the Vaddera caste. He had allegedly used forged documents to claim SC status for getting reservation benefits. Yet it is claimed and asserted that he was forced to commit suicide as he was a Dalit, which actually he was not.
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