Editorial

The Manmohan Singh Government’s decision to implement the 27 per cent reservation in the Central Government jobs will go down as a historic step in empowering socially and educationally backward classes. Though the Mandal II is clearly aimed at wooing Backward Classes in populous Uttar Pradesh and destroying the residual vote bank of the BJP with a view of the approaching State elections, it is no less significant a step in the direction of empowering the intermediate castes which permeate even the religious minorities like Muslims. The OBCs have sulked for long and have found no meaningful way to advance themselves in realms of politics, administration, judiciary and academia despite amply reaping the rich harvest from Green Revolution in the Hindi heartland. In fact, the relative prosperity witnessed among the OBC counterparts in the four southern states serves as an index of what benefits, caste- based reservation can deliver. The southern States had taken this visionary step immediately after Independence. No wonder then that parties such as Telugu Desam, Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam and Janata Dal in Karnataka owe their stints in power mainly to the early empowerment of these group.


The agitating anti-reservationist doctors in Delhi are making a futile bid at de-linking the question of caste and poverty. The question has been settled long before by a plethora of backward class commission. Caste has an overwhelming sway in India’s social ethos. Be it matrimonial columns of the upper-caste monopolised media or the preponderance of upper-caste chartered accountants in the business and finance markets, no observer of Indian social scene can mistake it for pure merit. It is caste begets caste. No other criterion could have provided a firmer yardstick for reservation. Moreover, the success of the formula in the South firmly repudiates the argument of poverty being casteless.


It is also an opportunity for the OBC Muslims to take advantage of the situation and expedite measures to enter the Civil and Central services. Looking at the 52 per cent of Indian population falling under this category, it could be imagined that race for the success will be tough for these section of jobs soon enough. Muslims will be called upon to empower their own underdogs to claim their share in the pie.

Read carefully, the results of the five State Assembly polls should be interpreted as both an endorsement of the mandate for the coalition government at the Centre together with Left’s role in it. Since the BJP had no sizeable presence in the states and no high stakes in the polls, its current popularity and position on issues remains largely untested. It will be wrong to attribute its lowly position as setbacks. The voters, by retaining the Left front in West Bengal, handing a resounding victory in Kerala to the LDF, by trouncing the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and slicing away Congress’ majority in Assam, have indicated that they are ideologically mature enough to choose their rulers even when the lines differentiating them are increasingly getting blurred. It reflects the clarity of the mind of the voter on issues pertaining to his or her immediate existence.


Left’s unprecedented win for the sixth time in a row is particularly spectacular. It testifies to the Left’s unblemished record of governance, keeping the communalists at bay, and firm rejection of Mamata Banerjee’s amorphous ideological positions and mercurial politics. Similarly, Left’s return to power after a five-year gap in Kerala at the high noon of liberalisation in India is worthy of note. The fact that voters could discern water rights of the people of Plachimada Panchayath from zooming Sensex is a salute to common man’s political sagacity. Viewed in the context of heat generated over the Iranian issue, the electorate has not forgotten to give a sound rebuff to Manmohan Singh Government’s US appeasement policies. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, the voters have not fully forgiven past sins of AIADMK, Jayalalithaa, notwithstanding her annulment of several of the unpopular initiatives. In an equal measure, have not forgotten to indicate—by leaving a good margin for majority—that their acceptance of DMK as a replacement is just half-hearted and there was no reason for it to take it as an endorsement for dynastic politics.


In Assam, the Congress can pat its back for bouncing back into power, though in a coalition with Bodo party. The minorities have demonstrated in ample measure that their support cannot be taken for granted for ever and they needed concrete action on foreigners’ issue.


Altogether, the Assembly results point to solid entrenchment of regional forces in their bastions. Congress is still far from expecting a significant revival of its fortune. In fact, going by the recent downswing in BJP’s fortunes elsewhere, no major party seems to be capable of capturing the popular imagination across the nation. Ideology continues to take a back seat except in Left bastions. Appeal of personalities too remains confined to regions and the areas of party’s dominance. These do not augur well for a country of India’s size that is engaged in a constant struggle to emerge on the world scene.