The government’s announcement that it will implement up to 49 per cent reservation in IITs, IIMs and central universities is yet another example of the grotesque manner in which the state is destroying institutions of higher education. There can be no doubt that marginalised groups need to be given access to important institutions; there is also little doubt that the state has not done enough to create opportunities for marginalised groups. But it does not follow from this that an extra 27 per cent reservations for OBCs is a justifiable way of achieving these objectives.

The current decision is insidious. HRD minister, Arjun Singh, describes himself as a Nehruvian. But nothing has crucified Nehru more than the runaway, politically cynical, socially ineffective, and pedagogically fraudulent discourse on reservation that the current decision exemplifies. Nehru once wrote, “So these external props, as I might call them, the reservation of seats, and the rest — may possibly be helpful occasionally, but they produce a false sense of political relation, a false sense of strength, and, ultimately therefore, they are not so nearly important as real educational, cultural and economic advance which gives them inner strength to face any difficulty or opponent.”

At the time of independence there was a consensus that the condition of SCs/STs was so appalling that they deserved special consideration. It is a profound tragedy that arguments that were made in the context of SCs/STs have been extended to cover OBCs and all kinds of other groups. Whatever one’s views on reservation, the claims of OBCs are not the same as those of SCs/STs. Our founding fathers were wise to recognise that. OBCs have been capitalising on a narrative of injustice which is not theirs, and in the process compounding greater injustice. It is a widely known fact that many OBCs are now akin to what used to be dominant castes. Giving them special access to state offices is, in some cases, working against the interests of SCs/STs. While many of the atrocities against Dalits are perpetuated by high castes, OBC atrocities on Dalits are no less significant. It is a travesty of justice to contrive special measures to reinforce OBC dominance. In this context letting SCs/STs reservations stand for the time being, without extending the ambit to OBCs, would have been prudent.

... contd.