A national shame that was played out for a
fortnight in the name of Monsoon session of the parliament ironically had a positive
note too. Amid non-stop cacophony and din , the deeply discredited govt’s attempt to introduce the 117th constitutional
amendment bill in the upper-house to usher in caste quota in promotions turned
into a damp squib. What made this divisive
piece of legislation more sinister in nature is an overwhelming passive acceptance of its content and context
across the political spectrum. Those, like SP who are trying to oppose it are
primarily seeking further expansion of the quota bandwagon, rather than
countering the idea itself .As if by some devil’s conspiracy, the event is
marked by a total absence of discussions
and debate both by the polity and the so called intelligentsia on an issue that
could have historical ramifications. The usual rabble rousers of the prime time
news channels only attempted feebly, at a surface level , arguing about the
timing of bill or legal challenges it may run into. None attempted to decipher
the underlying contrived idea behind this legislation that has the potential to
set back our nation and society to medieval ages ,in an irreparable
,irrevocable way. Rather, it appeared like a silent conspiracy where none dared
to question the moral validity of a proposition could open and deepen more
social fissures than it seeks to cure. In such rarefied atmosphere of thinking,
cogent ideas quickly get replaced by
incoherent ones, rationality and reason
helplessly give way to absurdity and senseless rhetoric.
Superficially, the idea of
caste based reservation is espoused to be “restorative justice”-setting right
some historical wrong. In reality, when unleashed in its totality, it is about “retributive
justice”-One generation paying for the sins of its earlier generation. In order
to turn around a grossly unfair social system seeped in centuries of prejudice,
we need direct resource intervention and
positive social awareness amongst all. Not unrestrictive reservation in jobs
and promotions, but improving the conditions that make them disadvantageous. It
is a slow and painful process, but the only long-lasting one that could empower
them collectively and individually.
The real moral depravity and
the evil nature of the idea of reservation lay hidden at a much deeper level. What
the perpetrators and the proponents of such ideas seek is not merely some misplaced
justice-their real motive is to negate the very meaning of competence and merit,
of ability and achievement, by denouncing the existence of such things. If one
observes their arguments closely, the focus is to remove the need of all such
virtues as merit and ability from human endeavours, thereby validating their
morality of earning the un-earned. Observe that they do not approve of or
enthusiastic for other direct means of affirmative actions such as creation of
assets and resources targeted at their community development, financial
assistances to study and acquire skills and knowledge etc. Note that there is
no time period attached for its continuation of reservation, no objective
criteria defined to arrive at its logical closure. By seeking quota in
promotions on caste basis, what they de-facto imply is that conceptually, career progression is all about
some whimsical welfarism where the ability to perform at higher level is a
non-issue. Further, the modus operandi of the perpetuation of this medieval mindset is not through debates or discussions but by manipulations of
the constitutional tenets, through parliamentary mobocracy. “Social justice” seems
to be the only sufficient and necessary euphemism to get a moral sanction from
all, most notably from its very victims. Ironically, our so called intellectuals
in public life, media and civil society do not find sufficient merit in this
burning social issue to address its underlying idea or motive so that it could be demolished in its
foundation.
The eventual path that a
society or a nation charts as its destiny is paved by the dominant ideas of ethics and the broader philosophical contours of its
members. In the Indian context, we seem
to be existing virtually in a state of paralysis of rational ideas. The national
‘consensus of ideas’ that shape our domestic and international policies ,irrespective
of the party in power, is inherently self destructive and divisive in nature. While
it eludes us into a false sense of security and self-righteousness as a herd,
it erodes systematically the creative, productive and innovative instincts of its individuals. In
many ways,it has a lot to do with our sense of identity that is invariably as a
member of some,caste,community,religion or group, rather than that of an
individual. Hence policies that our lawmakers legislate always address the
issue at a collective level, even as at individual level they may have
devastating implications. Conditioned by
religious mysticism and political collectivism,the
instictinctive sanction to any idea,
proposal or legislation by the principle of majority versus minority need not
be rationally or morally correct. Not emotions, but only objective reality and
reason can guide us to arrive at rational conclusions that can be filtered
further through cogent discussions -the proper path to shape any legislation
that addresses the broader issue without
violating individual rights.
Given the nature of the dominant
and the influential ideas that have the power to translate into national
policies, it is unlikely that in near
future India may realise its full potential to be counted among the
front-runners of 21st century even while successfully meeting her
citizens aspirations. Reservation policy that we seek to propagate as a
depraved idea of “social justice” is only symptomatic of the larger malaise
that is looming large over us-the vacuum of rational ideas, the near total
absence of reason in national policy framing.
KKR
