Will BJP decision to give reservation to Upper Castes in Gujarat help the party or will it boomerang?

Gujarat government has decided to provide 10% reservation to Upper Castes in the State. An ordinance is being brought to this effect.

It is a decision, which may seriously affect the fortunes of the party in the long run. Has it been a decision taken after due consideration and thought?

There are several questions. Is the party flaying with fire? Will the decision help the BJP or it will boomerang.

Firstly, BJP was always seen as a part of Upper Castes, especially, Banias and Brahmins.

As it had to expand its base, it played Dalit card, Tribal card, as well as Backward card, and wooed them.

But, its leaders, core cadre and supporters remain among the Upper Castes. Besides, RSS [Sangh] is mostly dominated by Upper Castes. Has the decision been taken to appease the Upper Castes?

1. Anandiben Patel government has taken a decision and the first thing is to be seen is that whether this decision will stand in the court. The Gujarat government spokesperson says that the government will stand by decision and will fight its case in the court[s].

2. But, then, comes the crucial question. If Upper Castes or Economically Backward Classes [EBCs] among them get quotas in jobs [and education], will it not defeat the very purpose of reservations. Upper Castes have not been marginalised or exploited.

3. The Gujarat government says reservation [in jobs and in higher education] will be to all those whose annual income is Rs 6 lakh. Really! Those earning Rs 5 lakh per month are poor, in Gujarat government's view? That's quite strange.

4. Reservation was a constitutional measure to uplift status of Dalits and Tribals, the historically oppressed and disadvantaged people who were denied education, who were kept out of power, and who suffered untouchability and inequality of the worst kind.

Upper Castes have been over-represented in government jobs. Hence, can it be called fair or it just a means to appease the forward castes and set right the situation in Gujarat, which witnessed Patel agitation.

5. The decision may anger the Backward-Dalit-Tribal supporters of the BJP. Uttar Pradesh is a crucial state. Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) may take the BJP to task over this 'reservation decision'.

Already, RSS leaders' statements over reservation, cost BJP, an important state like Bihar. But the BJP must have weighed its options well.

The BJP government has been facing the ire of Patidars [Patels] in Gujarat and had recently seen how Jats went on rampage in Haryana. Right now, the BJP has taken a decision in Gujarat, and it will take sometime before the picture gets clearer.

[Photo courtesy: The Indian Express]

Caste discrimination, untouchability in India: Dalit boy not allowed water from school hand pump, goes out to well, falls and dies

In a horrific incident that reveals the extent of caste-based discrimination in India, a school boy died due to 'untouchability' practiced in his school.

The Dalit boy was not allowed to take water from the hand pump in the school.

Hence, he went out to the well. Being a kid, he couldn't fetch the water alone, and slipped into the well.

The child got drowned. Still, it took a long time before teachers could come out and try to rescue him. The body was recovered later.


The boy--Viren, was a student of IIIrd standard. The small boy had to go out of school to quench his thirst because scheduled caste (SC) students still face casteist discrimation.

He couldn't get water from the well as he was all alone then, accidentally falling into the well.
The heart-rending incident has occurred in Bundelkhand region in Madhya Pradesh.

Now, the entire school staff has been suspended by the authorities. But can the boy's life be brought back? No. Damoh is among the districts that are notorious for casteism and apartheid with lower castes.

1. SEE LINK to the STORY
2. PHOTO OF KIN CARRYING THE KID'S BODY, THE NEWS LINK TOO

[Representative image, photo courtesy: http://www.adpulp.com/no-place-is-safe-from-corporatization]

Caste discrimination lead to religious conversion in Pakistan: Dalit Hindu converts to Sikhism to escape oppression, says BBC report

Shocking it may seem but caste discrimination exists among Hindus in Pakistan.

The extent is such that people are forced to covert to other faiths.

Tharpakar district in Pakistan has a large Hindu population.

Here, Dalits claim that they face discrimination and are forced to lead their lives like second class citizens.

They allege that measures for uplift of Hindus mostly end up helping the Upper Castes.

The lower castes don't have equal rights and face misbehaviour--not allowed to enter temples with Upper Caste Hindus and can't eat with them. Nukhbat Malik has reported it for BBC from Pakistan.

"Hasanand was a Dalit who converted to Sikhism along with his family to escape the brutal casteist apartheid. He has now taken a new name, Jagjit Singh", says BBC report.

"I don't want to leave this place and want to live like a rebel here. My children are sastisfied that they would not have to suffer insults and though I am termed son of Meghwal caste, they would be known as son of Sardar", he says.

Dalit activists also say that the situation is bad for the community as Dalits are socially backward and economically weak. An activist is quoted as saying that the threat to them is not from Muslims but from Upper Castes.

[Photo courtesy BBC.com] Read the report in Hindi on BBC website. READ

READ: Tharpakar, Hindu majority district in Pakistan

Ram Vilas Paswan and Muslims: India's leading Dalit politician in wilderness!Ram

LJP hief Ram Vilas Paswan

Once the enfant terrible of Dalit politics in India, Ram Vilas Paswan, appears a lonely figure in the Indian political scenario.

A die-hard Dalit politician, who genuinely took up Muslim issues, and was touted by most including his opponents as Prime Minister material, has been marginalised by the growth of BSP.

In conversation he no longer exudes the same confidence and looks dejected. He is trying hard to keep his Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) flock stay together.

But he knows it is difficult to survive the Mayawati storm sweeping across the heartland and even beyond. Though he is still a Union Minister, Paswan is no longer the force, he once was.

In the 80s when anti-Muslim rhetoric was at its peak, Paswan was the only politician who countered rustic rabble-rousers like Uma Bharti, Mahant Awaidyanath, Kalyan Singh and their comparatively more 'suave' hate-preachers like Lal Kishenchand Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, both on ground-level and in the parliament in the same idiom.

His speeches in the Lok Sabha, especially in 1989-1991 period, gave many Muslims the hope that there were still leaders who were ready to speak on behalf of Muslims in the communally charged political atmosphere.

Once, he held the record for a win by highest margin from Haridwar, and in later years had to return to Bihar and keep shifting his constituencies to win the election. LJP is not a force to reckon with even in Bihar. His Dalit Sena is in a disarray.

And the media, particularly, the Hindi-English [Brahmanical] press, doesn't seem to have a linking for him, at least, that's what he feels. Sometime back he held a big conference on Dalits in Delhi and not a single major newspaper or TV channel reported it.

A couple of from months from now, he will chair a global conference that is being organised in association with Dr AR Nakadar. This international conference will be regarding issues of Dalits and Muslims apart from bringing these communities together. It will be held in America.

Though it seems unlikely that the current caste equations would change much in Uttar Pradesh [UP] in near future. Take Mayawati's name in front of him and Paswan, gets angry, 'She is rejuvenating the manu-vad, if the horse befriends the fodder how will it survive' and even tougher words.

Though he was a coalition partner with the NDA government led by BJP, Ram Vilas Paswan was the only leader who quit the government and resigned from the post of minister, on the issue of Gujarat riots, and among the rare politicians who demanded Narendra Modi's arrest.

He was the first politicians who openly advocated the demand for reservation for Muslims and also pressed for extension of facilities to Dalit Muslims [who converted to Islam from Dalit castes]. Even if politically motivated, these issues found few takers initially.

All along his career Paswan has been sincere towards Muslims unlike Mayawati who has become Chief Minister of UP repeatedly with the Muslim support but never taken any concrete step towards the empowerment of the community.

He is sad that Dalit movement is almost dead. That the Dalits are not internet-savvy and can't mobilise on the issue of Khairlanji killings the way Jessica Lal issue hogged limelight. What's the future of Paswan and his party? Paswan also seems unsure.