Monday, February 02, 2009
Cl(ass) Reservation.
There was this old joke of a customer who visited a whore joint, and was shown the various levels of services offered. For 10 dollars a customer could do his gig on the grass in the lawns. For 20 dollars he gets an ordinary bed, and for 30 dollars he would get a queen size bed with state of the art luxury, privacy and the works. The customer immediately flashed 30 bucks and paid the escort. She said WoW you got class………he replied class my ass, three times on the grass.
So when I hear of class reservations in our country, I remember this joke, and want to tell the jokers who run government, “Class my ass, and kick the ass asking for reservation”. But when we have asses running the government, they continue to make an ass of us and we fall prey to their divisive politics of caste, tribe, creed and religion.
I strongly advocate reservation in education to all from primary to secondary level only, especially the poor and marginalized, have reservations for them. No child in India should be ever deprived this right. That reminds me what rights we anyway have in our country. Besides reservation in education, everything else should be only and solely on merit.
We have the Marathas seeking (read demanding) reservation. Demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutions as was being done for backward castes. So what I understand is that they would like to project that they are backward. The origins of Marathas, ‘are Indo Aryan speaking castes of Hindu warriors and peasants hailing mostly from the present-day state of Maharashtra, who created the expansive Maratha Empire, covering a major part of India, in the late 17th and 18th centuries. They were also considered as Kshatriyan warriors. Imagine a class of people whose great ancestors who prided to have created an Empire and had the courage of a warrior, now shamed by their descendants seeking to be labled as backward castes.
Muslims now feel that reservation is not a favor to them, but their right. Imagine a former chief justice A M Ahmadi, feeling that of all the minorities, the Muslim community has over the last 60 years remained marginalised in all walks of life. "They have been victims of both direct and indirect discrimination. A special effort is needed to bring them to the mainstream," he said, justifying the need for reservation, and stated that the condition of Muslims in India is no better than that of SC/STs. Islam expressly forbade all kinds of racial, tribal and colour discrimination. Any Muslim is allowed to perform any religious ritual that a Muslim priest can do. All the Muslims whether they are rich or poor, president or a common man, they all stand shoulder to shoulder and pray to Allah. If you can do what a priest can, which is a life of most nobility and austerity, you can then very well easily do something to get a decent living and not getting it through reservation.
The follows the Christians, who now feel proud to down grade a certain section by branding them as ‘Dalit Christians’. First they convert the marginalized with a promise of a better life and then push them backward for reservations. Christians take great pride to associate them as the ‘Cradle of education in India’. Then why not with the conversions have education also for the marginalized to have them compete in the real world. The Christian Churches are the biggest land owners in India. Imagine the biggest land owners pushing their community backward for reservations. “Lord forgive them for they know not what they do, and neither know what to do going forward”.
Soon we will have now all and sundry in India who feel they are backward and need reservations and are scheduled tribe and scheduled class. Why can’t we not keep our asses as backward classes and move forward, as one nation one people.
So when I hear of class reservations in our country, I remember this joke, and want to tell the jokers who run government, “Class my ass, and kick the ass asking for reservation”. But when we have asses running the government, they continue to make an ass of us and we fall prey to their divisive politics of caste, tribe, creed and religion.
I strongly advocate reservation in education to all from primary to secondary level only, especially the poor and marginalized, have reservations for them. No child in India should be ever deprived this right. That reminds me what rights we anyway have in our country. Besides reservation in education, everything else should be only and solely on merit.
We have the Marathas seeking (read demanding) reservation. Demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutions as was being done for backward castes. So what I understand is that they would like to project that they are backward. The origins of Marathas, ‘are Indo Aryan speaking castes of Hindu warriors and peasants hailing mostly from the present-day state of Maharashtra, who created the expansive Maratha Empire, covering a major part of India, in the late 17th and 18th centuries. They were also considered as Kshatriyan warriors. Imagine a class of people whose great ancestors who prided to have created an Empire and had the courage of a warrior, now shamed by their descendants seeking to be labled as backward castes.
Muslims now feel that reservation is not a favor to them, but their right. Imagine a former chief justice A M Ahmadi, feeling that of all the minorities, the Muslim community has over the last 60 years remained marginalised in all walks of life. "They have been victims of both direct and indirect discrimination. A special effort is needed to bring them to the mainstream," he said, justifying the need for reservation, and stated that the condition of Muslims in India is no better than that of SC/STs. Islam expressly forbade all kinds of racial, tribal and colour discrimination. Any Muslim is allowed to perform any religious ritual that a Muslim priest can do. All the Muslims whether they are rich or poor, president or a common man, they all stand shoulder to shoulder and pray to Allah. If you can do what a priest can, which is a life of most nobility and austerity, you can then very well easily do something to get a decent living and not getting it through reservation.
The follows the Christians, who now feel proud to down grade a certain section by branding them as ‘Dalit Christians’. First they convert the marginalized with a promise of a better life and then push them backward for reservations. Christians take great pride to associate them as the ‘Cradle of education in India’. Then why not with the conversions have education also for the marginalized to have them compete in the real world. The Christian Churches are the biggest land owners in India. Imagine the biggest land owners pushing their community backward for reservations. “Lord forgive them for they know not what they do, and neither know what to do going forward”.
Soon we will have now all and sundry in India who feel they are backward and need reservations and are scheduled tribe and scheduled class. Why can’t we not keep our asses as backward classes and move forward, as one nation one people.
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