A FEW things come in the way of the reservation issue being rounded off. The parties and persons who supported and voted in the 93rd amendment and then joined the cacophonous corporate bandwagon of anti-reservation need to be pinned down for their doublespeak.

As such, for some parties, it seems to be the caste of the individual leaders that drove them to the agitators, rather than the professed position of their party in Parliament during the voting for the 93rd amendment. The very people who were demanding reservations even in minority institutions have joined the anti-reservationists.

BJP leader L K Advani has reached political brinkmanship by advocating a review of the reservation system, voicing the concerns of agitating medicos. As the cat is out of the bag, the BJP has reinforced its position as a party of the upper caste elite. Now the Bharatiya Janata Party can safely drop the word ‘Janata’, since it no longer represents them. Such a turnaround for that party from the January 2006 voting on 93rd Amendment.

The doublespeak of the Samajwadi Party—that reservations were brought in as an election issue—is misplaced. As a party claiming to represent the socially disadvantaged, it should have been in the forefront of action in supporting the reservations. As the issue was resolved with the intervention of the Left, there should be no heartburn for them, at least.

The last thing that comes to my mind after watching the antics of stage-managed shows and blood-inked calligraphies of the young urban elite students is that there is an urgent need to make those people understand the unimaginable sufferings and criminal neglect of Dalits, Tribes and Backward class people down the ages. There should be some compulsory teaching of Social History of (i) Dalits (ii) Tribes and (iii) Shudras (backward castes) at the level of higher learning. It should have field visits and studies into the life of these communities and should be compulsory!

... contd.