Article by Dr. Prerna Singla, 2016
Haryana – The land of battles, has
been the witness of battles since ages right from the invasion of Turks and
afghans to the battles of Panipat to the Rebellion during British Rule to the
famous Battle of Kurukshetra.
The land, which can rightly be announced as
the Land of Battles is on societal basis inhabited with diverse culture and
castes, Brahmins, Agarwals, Jains, Jaats, Yadavs, Punjabis, Gujjar, among a few
castes that form the majority of castes in Haryana.
The Jaat community, which is
traditionally a community of Farmers settled in the Northern regions of India
and Pakistan, are classified as Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in 7 states, not
including Haryana and Punjab where they enjoy the status of Upper class and
have played important roles in the development of the state. [1]
The recent caste revolts in Haryana
by the Jaat community has once again coloured the soil of Haryana red and has not
only left the entire country in awe but has also affected the relations among
people of Haryana. There are dual perspectives people seem to carry. First is
of unbelief that the community that is known to have contributed hugely in the
development of Haryana, for reservation can burn it down to ashes, the same
Haryana in which they live? Second is the smoke of hatred that somehow is
ignited in the hearts of Non-Jaats in the state of Haryana that now forms the
grounds for stronger feelings of separation of the castes in the society.
People have lost trust in the idea of diverse cultures and castes living
together. The castes they were befriending, working with, living with, now are
looked upon with suspicion and as a threat to their survival.
But the million dollar question that
arises is WHY THE COMMUNITY WHO IS ENJOYING AN UPPER CLASS STATUS IN THE STATE,
BURNS DOWN IT’S OWN HOUSE TO STEP DOWN TO BEING A BACKWARD CLASS ONLY FOR
RESERVATION IN A STATE WHERE THEY ARE THE DOMINANT MAJORITY??? Since the birth
of Haryana, out of 10 chief ministers 7 had been Jaats. Not only this, they are
the state’s dominant caste groups and enjoying lucrative posts in the states as
an Upper caste. Famous as the harsh tongued and aggressive in nature, they are
also among the people with a caring heart, primary occupation being farming and
leading a simple lifestyle. Is it then not an obvious possibility that either
the Jaat community is lead astray into causing such destruction at a mass scale
or the community is deficient in capability and intelligence required to secure
good jobs and so resorted to such violent ways or maybe some other elements
were involved behind such an unfortunate event?
The entire town burnt down and the
cops were not able to do anything, the water supply was blocked and the govt.
was helpless??? Buses, cars, houses, malls, railway stations, all burnt down
and the government became a mute spectator only to end the conflict after so
many days by providing the label of Special Backward Class to an otherwise
Upper class of the state???? Does it not
raise doubts on the third possibility of involvement of external elements???
I wonder WHO IS TRULY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS
DESTRUCTION? WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOSS OF MILLIONS OF MONEY? FOR THE
HOUSES THAT BURNT DOWN TO ASHES? FOR THE PEOPLE WHO LOST EVERYTHING THEY HAD
EARNED? FOR THE RAPES THAT HAPPENED DURING THE REVOLTS? FOR THE LIVES THAT WERE LOST?
But before we can muse onto any
possibility on the matter we must first understand the reservation system in
India. Reservation as we know was a system introduced long before independence
when the British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald in Aug. 1933 introduced the
communal award granting a few reserved seats for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian
Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans and Dalits (also known as Untouchables who
were among the lowest of castes in the Hierarchy of the Indian Caste system).
Now as we walk towards the later
years, the reservation system served to provide educational and social benefits
to the castes that were otherwise neglected, and remained undeveloped. For
years, the system kept running the same way, reservations being provided to
many other castes gradually. And now we have landed to a scenario where every
caste feels the need for reservation and a conflict rises between non-reserved
clan and the reserved clan as well as between the reserved but flourishing clan
and the non reserved but neglected clan.
A person from the general category
(Non reserved clan) feels betrayed by the government since he works hard to
achieve highest of percentages and excels academically but his talent, hard
work goes to waste when a candidate of backward class enjoying good status in
the society comes up with the certificate of backward class and takes up the
same seat at as low as 33%. The candidate of General category who was rejected
even at 98% resort to either starting something on his own and lead his life
with struggle or he applies for a job in foreign countries and settles down in
those nations to never return back. Such instances of Brain drain are rising
daily since now the candidates of general category have started to feel that
their talent, their intelligence, their excellence has no worth in their own
country and now it is becoming a country that promotes either riots in the name
of castes or corruption in the name of caste reservations.
On the other hand, a candidate of backward
class feels betrayed by the government that they are not being provided enough jobs,
enough opportunities for their caste, for them and so they feel neglected. The
long suppressed frustration gets accumulated and someday in the form of caste
riots is blurted out burning the very abode that they created. By hook or by
crook, deserving or undeserving they want something done for them, for their
community and in that political leaders irrespective of their parities never
fail to take advantage of the suppressed frustration , suppressed hatred and
using witty comments they slowly instil the poison that is carried further by
the population itself and give rise to riots.
The similar thing I would say
happened during the struggle for Independence. We blame the British government
(which was the acting Indian Govt. In that time), that they caused the partition using divide
and rule policy. I wonder, if there never was a division in the hearts, how
could they divide the whole country just like that??? Clearly the British only
took advantage of what was already present and only aired the flames of the
suppressed differences, suppressed hatred resulting into the Partition and the
birth of Pakistan. I wonder is India once again going in the same direction????
A huge nation with the huge number of castes, many religions, every state with
a diverse culture, diverse language and above all many castes, if the current
conditions in the country are carried forward, will they not compel India to
fall into as many countries as many states are there at present? Does any of the Political party think about
this?
The third aspect is the aspect of the
government. Where in the country the population is increasing at a cancerous
rate, securing a job for each and every candidate of each and every caste at a
level much below the eligibility on the basis of reservations is becoming
difficult day by day since the seats to fill are limited and more of the hungry
mouths demanding food, shelter, work, better conditions to live are increasing
cancerously. Is it not obvious that any government is bound to fail???? Also,
with the advent of so many political parties, each party competes on Hook or
crook basis to win the seat and they never hesitate to play the caste/religion
card which again has a negative and devouring effect on the Unity of the
hearts, Unity of society as well as the Unity of the Nation.
Every caste today wants to cast vote
to the candidate of their caste in the hope that he will be benefitted by the
same. Every political party plays the caste card to get the votes. But neither
does the society achieve anything nor is the government capable of providing
efficiently. As the efficiency of the government fails, the government fails
automatically and yet struggles to survive by making promises which they will
never be able to fulfil.
So whose fault is this? Who should be
responsible for the raging caste revolts in the country??? Should it be the
suppressed hatred for other castes? Should it be the silent army? Should it be
the intelligence of the intelligent or should it be the inefficiency of the
inefficient?? Or should it be the corruption on the certificate of reservation?
Or should it be the excuse for not willing to work hard enough to secure good
positions?? Or should it be the British? Or should it be the Indian Government
and the politics of the political parties???
We all have a habit of blaming
because it is the easiest and the most pleasurable thing to do but when asked a
remedy for the same no one comes forward with the answer.
I strongly believe that the root
cause of the problem is the cancerous population. A cancerous population
struggling to survive below the poverty lines resorts to the ways of theft,
crime, prostitution, child labour, begging, as alternate ways to earn money or
run their living. The wrong paths lead them astray. The ones who start with the
right path are mostly left frustrated. The castes, communities that manage to
reach a level but still does not either have the facilities or wish to work
hard resort to “Jugaad” and one popular
Jugaad in India is “Reservation as a backward class” . With that successful
Jugaad they secure good positions and resort to ways of corruption in a desire
to earn more money. The root cause is
“Population Sarcoma” and “Resource deficiency” .
Reference:
1. http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/history-repeats-itself-as-yet-another-central-govt-faces-a-jat-stir/story-S01wlBGQUgpDBxfctW2rnK.html
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