Widening Gap

Its been almost 59yrs that the British left the country and they still are addressed as crooks who left leaving behind a rift between the Hindus and Muslims. Our country's current ruling party seems to be awe-struck by them and is following the "Divide and Rule" policy to its word. The current rage against 50% reservation for OBC (other backward castes) is spreading across the country and slowly many students have started protesting the move.

Many claim that its primarily led by the better-off or the upper caste people. It might be true but we are forgetting the main point behind the protests. Why have a caste-based reservation when its true that the SC/ST have not gained much with the 22.5% reservation all these years?

After a few years of independence it was observed that the backward castes needed some help to help them rise. So reservation came into place but it was supposed to be there just for 10yrs. But then our dear politicians realised it to be a very useful tool for garnering votes. And so the VP Singh constituted the Mandal-I commission but unfortunately for him, his vote bank politics failed to get his party back to power.

Our current HRD minister claims his Govt. is committed on implementing the Constitutional Amendment providing for OBC quota in elite educational institutions. Instead this move has only widened the gap between the castes. The so-called upper castes are now criticizing the reservation and a few even label the backward castes as undeserving, dumb and worthless. Emotions are running high, rational thinking is being left to the dogs and now its become a fight between the castes. I must say that the minister, who claims to be the servant of the Govt., and Congress has been highly successful in widening the rift between the people. The Congress must proudly highlight this point in its review of achievements of the NCMP (national common minimum program). I have observed the youth of our country fighting it out in various forums for/against reservation. Rather than a healthy discussion, most of the times it ends up in a bitter fight amongst the forward and backward casteists thus only widening the gap.

We were proud of entering the age of High-Tech and now we must be proud of the up and coming Reservation Era! Hail Congress!