By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,
I have no “profound hatred for forward class” as commented by Satwa Gunam, one of the netizens, after I wrote the piece “Reservation helps Upper Castes consolidate themselves” for TwoCircles.net. Nor do I write just for Muslims. In fact it was written with the intention to invite an open debate and should not be viewed so parochially. But it has become a habit of sorts for some netizens (not only here but elsewhere too) to write some fantastic and absurd comments apparently to demoralize the writers/journalists and confuse the readers without substantiating their points.
At the very outset I want to tell Satwa Gunam that he should make a survey of (at least) faculty members and researchers of 50-year-old Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai and of journalists of The Hindu newspapers in Chennai and then write whether the Upper Castes’ intellectual domination has really got diminished in Chennai as he had stated in his comment. Similar is the situation with bureaucracy. Upper Castes from Tamil Nadu, and even those from neighbouring Kerala, have spread to all over the country.
Before making any comment he needs to study what is being written in Tamil Nadu after the expulsion of Sasikala, a backward caste leader, from AIADMK by a Brahmin-led Jayalalithaa. No, corruption is not the issue. How a kettle (Jayalalithaa) can call a pot (Sasikala) black. After all there are serious corruption charges against her too. The alleged role Cho Ramaswamy had played in Sasikala’s expulsion and Tamil Nadu chief minister’s reported proclivity towards the BJP all indicate how the Upper Castes, or say Brahmins are playing their cards.
The Brahmins have played a very crucial role in weakening the DMK. M G Ramachandran, who, four decades ago, broke away to form AIADMK was soft towards them. MGR had a very good relationship with Jayalalithaa and she owes much to him for her present status. So Brahmins of Tamil Nadu have gone a long way to bounce back politically too.
It is true so far violence against the SCs/STs is concerned the OBCs are responsible, but that is true in north India too. This phenomenon is very well explained in Hindi Upar ko chato aur niche ko kata (Lick the boot of those above you and cut those below.)
But the very idea of discriminating Dalit is Brahiminical and this has been explained by many Brahmin and other upper caste scholars too.
I made it very clear in that article that the OBCs and Dalits gained some power in South India well before the reservation formula was introduced. The Self-Respect Movement and Justice Party had played a key role and that was much before the reservation came. Herein lies the crux of the matter. I know you are intelligent enough to understand this fine dividing line, but you are deliberately confusing the readers.
Yes, reservation has helped consolidate the upper castes. It has been explained in that very article. It was elaborately discussed in 1991 by many media pundits after Narasimha Rao played his Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) card to neutralize the effect of Mandalization. Satwa Gunam only needs to leaf through those pages before jumping to write such frivolous comment. Now, in many ways, the corporate houses have become more powerful than political and permanent executives. One often comes across news of even IAS and IPS officers quitting the job and joining top post in the corporate sector. They know where the power now lies. How many Dalits and OBCs are there at the top echelon of corporate sector?
At the very beginning I had made it very clear that this write-up was no doubt by a Muslim but not for the Muslim and of the Muslim. Therefore, I just do not need to reply to his objection: “I would not know why a Muslim has to bother about the caste as it exists only in Hinduism”. (See his comment below the earlier article).
Since the OBC Muslims were the latest to get quota I sighted their example. But I highlighted the history of backwards, Dalits, tribal and women in local bodies––all the so-called beneficiaries of reservation.
These facts are enough to satisfy anyone who has any doubt about the article’s standing. But academic exercise need not be viewed with tainted glass, Satwa Gunam.