Reservations Murdered- Poisoning the plate of the oppressed communities
What they promised:
- Social justice
- Giving top priority to the marginalized
- Implementation of Internal reservations
What actually happened next:
- Large scale protests for reservations.
- Several communities demanding internal reservations
- False promise of providing justice, before every election.
- None of the communities that are fighting for reservation have been considered for reservation.
- The necessary amendments to Section 341/3 of the Constitution, to address the issue of internal reservation, although pending for many years, have not been brought up for even a debate, let alone approved, even though they have been tabled.
- If reservation is to be provided to all backward, Dalit, tribal, and Shudra communities, then the maximum limit of 50% reservation should be removed. However, so far, the BJP has not uttered a word on this matter.
But instead, the BJP has done the following…
- Even though government posts remain vacant, they are being deliberately left unfilled. Through the practice of contracts in government departments and public sectors, efforts are being made to render reservation meaningless.
- Under the guise of reservation, communities are being pitted against each other, fuelling street-level conflicts. People are being led to believe that their community will be given reservations, but in reality, they are being manipulated to serve someone else’s agenda. Ultimately, no one is being given anything, and everyone is being deceived.
- The BJP refuses to accept the caste census of Karnataka conducted with the intention of ensuring justice for the marginalized communities. They are unwilling to conduct a new caste census. Conducting a comprehensive caste census would enable an accurate estimation of the population and socio-economic status of each caste, facilitating appropriate reservation policies. However, the BJP does not agree with this scientific approach.
- Although the community never asked for it, BJP provided a new kind of reservation only to the Brahmin community. It has given 10% reservation to a privileged community comprising of only 4% of the population of this country. There has been no study carried out or minimum discussion initiated before the implementation of this reservation. It has been enforced directly through executive orders. What is strange is that even the maximum limit of 50% reservation is not a hindrance to this move. While other communities struggle and fight for reservation, this community has got it without asking. When other communities struggle for reservation, the doors of reservation remain closed to them. Reservation politics today is a significant battlefield in the political sphere.
What are the reasons for this:
- BJP is just a front organisation for RSS politics.
- RSS is fundamentally a Brahminical organisation.
- RSS has been opposing reservation since the beginning.
- Even when the Mandal Commission report recommending reservation for backward castes was approved, it faced opposition from groups like the ABVP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad. This should be remembered.
- The promise of increase in reservations for communities like the Maadiga, Lambanis, and Bovis, and the promise of reservations for Adivasis by the BJP, is merely a deceptive tactic aimed at deceiving the people again and gaining their votes.
- The BJP is basically a party based on casteism and hence opposed to reservation policies per say. It has no considerations for social realities, equality and justice.
- If we fail to clearly understand on whose side the BJP is despite all above observations, then we must question ourselves. For marginalized communities to trust the BJP is like sheep trusting a butcher.
Eddelu Karnataka is an independent civil society platform and campaign.It is not affiliated with any political party. Its soul is the thinkers, writers and artists who are the conscience keepers of the nation and democracy. The strength of Eddelu is the combination of organizations and grassroots movements of farmers, workers, Dalits, students, youth, women, LGBTQIA movemnts etc., who have been working selflessly for the welfare of the people for many decades, from various communities (Dalit, Tribal, Tribal, Backward Classes, Vokalinga, Lingayat, minority communities and other exploited sections) and it is a broad civil society.
