My personal thinking on the
trending issue of Jat Reservations. To begin with, I support the demand of
quota for Jats. Here is why:
I think it was unfair for the
Supreme Court to deny only Jat Reservations while other castes in the listed
categories are allowed to enjoy it. There are rich and poor in all castes and
if caste-based reservations help the poor members of other castes, the poor
among the Jat community deserve a shot at it too. When it comes to the
assertion that Jats were never socially discriminated against - the fact of the
matter is that so many other castes enjoy reservations too who were never
generally discriminated against historically. Just go through the list of castes
in OBC list, to begin with. So why have we been so insensitive against only
Jats? I think it is due to the general "perception" created by media.
Jats are always shown in the media, e.g. in TV serials, movies, or the press as
a "strong", powerful community which forces its way over things. Jats
are seldom displayed as "vulnerable" or "weak" even when
those shown are "poor" - and hence it has frozen in our perception
that Jats are always "rich" - since we associate "power"
with material "wealth".
From my own understanding, a
lot from the Jat community lack modern and English education and hence face a
glass ceiling. The enterprising community lacks adequate representation in
white collar jobs and are often in "dominating" condition only where
their numerical population is in majority. A caste based reservation, which our
governments have always vowed to keep going, if extended to the community would
do more benefit than harm to our country.
Coming to the point of use of
violence by the Jat protesters, I think use of violence during protests is
always unfortunate and need to be condemned. But the fact of the matter is that
there is nothing specific and personal in the protests by Jats this time
around. To put things in perspective, anti-Reservation protests were most
violent in the 1990s where the protesters burnt down railway stations and
public properties all over the country and so many youth died during the
protests. Recently, protests by other communities like the Patels in Gujarat
and Gujjars in Rajasthan have also used violent means and Jat protests have in
no way been different in their methods and context than these other protests.
And hence only Jats cannot be blamed for the manner in which they are
protesting.
Most political parties have
always supported and protected the "holy" caste based reservation
system. Before every election they promise new communities with inclusion into
the favorable system and after winning the elections they put the matter in the
back burner. Therefore, it is natural for the concerned communities to feel
frustration and take up the path of protests. This exactly has happened in the
case of Jat reservations where the BJP had promised them the same but did not
move fast enough after coming to power. Hopefully the BJP will realize the
urgency to put the legislation in place to allow caste based reservation for
Jats also. Although the task is risky given Supreme Court's decision last time,
but the situation is grave and need genuine action as per BJP's promise.
In general I am against caste
based reservation system since I see it as the "new caste system".
Some time in history some castes enjoyed certain privileges or disadvantages
just because of their birth in their respective communities and after India
attained freedom we were expected to completely stop such discriminatory
practices. But what we did was to just reverse the list - with some new castes
made to enjoy undue advantages and some other castes punished for being born in
their respective castes. This discriminatory "casteism" starts from
our childhood in school admissions and goes on until we are dead. This madness
must stop some day and we should allow "equality" in education and
job opportunities. Without it, our freedom is hypocritical and our democracy is
ineffective. But until we get that status, all castes should get equal
opportunity in demanding reservations and denying it only for Jats and certain
communities without valid reasons is discriminatory and unfair.
Therefore I demand the BJP led
state government to fulfill its pre-election promise as soon as possible and
allow Jat community to enjoy caste based reservation in education and jobs. I
also request our countrymen to give Jats a fair deal and let us not blame them
for doing something which every other community has done in the past. Until we
have this discriminatory and unfair caste based quota system, we shall see such
demands and we would have no other option than to grant them their demands.
- Rahul (Views expressed are
personal).
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