Ek Maratha ek lakh Maratha
When the dominant is insecure
'that country
the laws of religion, the laws of
the land,
and the laws of the honor, are all united
and
consolidated in one, and bind a man eternally
to the rules
of what is called his ‘caste’
-
Edmund
Bruke
One may like it or hate it, but one
just cannot ignore the caste system. The system of caste is indigenous to this
country. It is impossible to understand India without understanding the nuances
of the caste system which has unashamedly become a way of life for us. It is this
system to which our histories as well as our destinies are eternally enslaved
to.
With the Marathas in Maharashtra
taking to streets with a belief that it is time they recieved their due, points
out to a dangerous state of affairs wherein the dominant feels insecure. An
agitation which began with a brutal rape of a 15 year old girl from Kopardi in
Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra assumed unimaginable proportions and it came
to be seen from the perspective of caste, wherein a girl from Maratha community
was raped by dalit boys. This incident sparked protests and the wave is now
seen all over the state with Marathas paying only lip service to the Kopardi
incident and vigorously making political demands.
Amongst all the demands made by
the Marathas, the demand made for reservation is the most vocal and has drawn
maximum populace to the participate in these morchas. I am befuddled as to how
an agitation which originated to denounce the brutal rape of a minor village
girl culminated into a large scale political drama wherein the agitators are
hard demanding reservations in already existing jobs while the core issue of
the rape of a minor girl is relegated to the background and will soon be
forgotten. It is interesting to see how reservation in jobs is seen as a
one-stop solution to all our problems.
We are a hypocritical lot.
The Mandal commission II report was slammed by the same people saying that it
will affect the ‘merit system’. Not even a whisper of the word ‘merit’ while
the Marathas are demanding reservations for themselves as if to indicate that
inclusion of the Marathas in reserved category list will magically restore the
merit in the already crumbling education system of our country.
The larger issue at hand is
that of young, vibrant, fiery demograph of ours as against the failure of
Indian economy to deliver. With a stagnant public sector and a nascent private
sector (read crony capitalism) the youth of this nation has nowhere to go. This
young population is only left with western aspirations with Indian reality.
After 25 years of opening of the economy to globalization, the private sector
is yet to gain grounds, the public sector has already withdrawn, vacuum left
therein is yet to be filled. Under such circumstances looking at reservations
as a fix-it solution is the easy way out, although immoral and
unconstitutional.
The Marathas are also demanding
fair price to their agricultural produce. This demand is fair enough
considering that majority of the Maratha population still practices agriculture
and one can demand fair remuneration for their produce. However, simply
demanding loan wavier will not help the agricultural situation. Indian
agriculture is in distress. The solution to the complex issue of agricultural
distress can hardly be solved by such simplistic and misguided demands put
forth by the agitators.
The constitution makers
took great care to frame the constitution in consonance with Indian reality and
at the same time set aspirations towards achieving an egalitarian society based
on the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. To achieve such a
society with Indian reality is not a mean task and therefore specific provisions were imbibed within the
constitution itself for the upliftment of
the weak. Along with constitutional safeguards, statutory protection too
was provided to them so as to bring them at par with the dominant. One such
statutory protection accorded to the weak is in the form of Scheduled castes
and scheduled tribes (prevention of Atrocity) act, 1989. This act by the virtue
of its core is not an enabling act, but is of protective in nature. Given the
scenario, outbursts of the dominant against an Act which legally grants
protection to the weak by prohibiting others from inflicting atrocities only
points to the sorry state of affairs of which we are all part of. Instead of making
a demand to amend certain provisions of the Act, it is time we need to
introspect the existence of such a prohibitive act in 21st century
India. Such existence is representative of the fact that the weak still needs
protection from the dominant. The Maratha agitation against this act is
interesting because it is the dominant which feels threatened by the existence
of protective legislation meant for the weak.
The Maratha agitation is
prima facie a leaderless agitation. However, an idol worshipping society like
ours, having a hero becomes indispensible. It is not surprising that the
movement rallied around the name of Shivaji . The Marathas therefore demand
restoration of forts built during the times of Shivaji and also clearing the
project for installation of the statue of Shivaji in the middle of Arabian Sea,
seated on a horse. The obliviousness of this stand is far from any commentary.
However the need of a historical hero figure to aggregate masses on modern
issues is typical of a retrograded society. Having such a male hero figure from
the pages of history, helps the masses to dwell and believe that past is much more
better than the present. It acts like opium to the masses making them
temporarily forget the problems of the present.
In conclusion, like every other
organized movement and faith, this movement too is based on certain myths and promises
to put end to all evils by some vague quick fix magical solutions for utopian
dreams.
