Just imagine if the three Yadav’s (Lalu, Mulayam & Sharad), V.P.Singh and Behenji Mayawati had taken avatar in Magadha during the Mahapadmananda era, I can bet history would have been different. Chandragupta would have been a security seeking government employee in Nanda’s regime and would have led a life of complacency without knowing his potential. So, we wouldn’t have Mauryan Empire, The Ashoka and the spread of Buddhism across the world after Kalinga war. The dark shade of reservation would have inhibited the growth of a genius without the brightness of knowledge.
No doubt Chandragupta was a son of a shepherd, i.e. today’s Yadav Community, the so-called SC and/or OBC. It was also true that he was being denied the privilege of education by several gurukuls because of his birth in lower caste. Neither there was any constitution or Mandal Commission during Nanda era to safeguard his interest nor were the champions of dalits like Nitish, Mulayam, Paswan, Lalu & Mayawati. Still then the talent of Chandragupta didn’t wasted rather it was being nurtured in the world’s first & largest university, ‘TAKSHASHILA’ by a teacher from the same Brahmin community which had once closed doors of education for the child prodigy. So much was his eagerness to learn and grow that he blindly trusted his mentor ‘Chanakya’ and did the rituals of his Upanayan Sanskara without seeking permission from his uncle and mother. He left behind everybody dearer to him in pursuit for knowledge as he got the reliable hands of a teacher, who made him realize who was he and what was his purpose in life. His dreams got wings and a caterpillar in him came out of the cocoon to become a beautiful butterfly under the selfless & consistent nurturance of a teacher. Neither Chandragupta asked for reservation, nor Chanakya, being a Brahmin, questioned about his lineage before making him his student.
Reservation is not the tool to bridge the social gap rather it is widening the age old rift. The world has become a small village due to globalization, then why we Indians are living in numerous islands confining ourselves to the small periphery of our caste, gotra, religion and medieval dogmas. We are living in a forward looking society and we cannot go forward by carping on the past. History is a great teacher, we must learn from our past mistakes rather than repeating the same and bequeathing a legacy of hate to our coming generations. We must take lesson from the teacher-student duo of Chanakya-Chandragupta and ensure right person to be in right place without having any sort of prejudices.
Reservation is just making our people handicap as the sense of complacency never let our brothers from SC/ST community to explore their real potential and earn accolades through sheer competence and dignity of labour in whichever they field they pursue. Also the benefits of reservation are always being extended to those who have availed the facility earlier. Those privileged people from SC/ST section who have availed reservation rights for generations presume that it is their birth-right to get quota all the time whereas there are still a large section of adivasis and dalits who are being denied the government favour on basic amenities of food, shelter, education and healthcare. Instead of discovering and nurturing the talent within, people are keen to opt for a safe path of reservation to fetch a secured government job for which they are not really competent. It is just the government alms extended to SC/STs to garner the votes and every political parties support reservation at the cost of national interest though it incur tremendous loss of human resource and money.
It has been more than 60 years, the monster of caste-barrier still exists and in fact is getting more bigger. Reservation is not the key to bring the under privileged community to the mainstream rather it inhibit the real growth of the person who is entitled to it thereby making him too much dependent on reserved government jobs. Too much dependence on quotas hampers the self-esteem, confidence and the pursuit for excellence in the person.
All limits were crossed when there was a Maha-Andolan by Gujjars in Rajasthan to protest against the government decision not to award the ST status from the prevailing SC status whereas the same has been extended to the Meena caste (by making them ST from SC). Like Meenas, Gujjars also wanted to demean their caste status from SC to ST to avail more benefits of caste reservation quotas. A similar experience we recently had when the entire state machinery collapse in the wake of Jat agitation in Haryana in demand for reservation in the SC quota which amounted a huge loss to life and property thereby making India a laughing stock in the international arena. Some make it a matter of pride while demanding the Government alms of reservation at the cost of talent and to achieve their goals they use coercive tactics of blackmailing, loot and arson causing chaos in the civil society and damage to the public property built with taxpayers money.
We cannot remove reservation or quota system from our society as our Constitution guarantees reservation to the downtrodden section (specially for SC & ST) who are actually in need.Since, the doors of education are opened to everybody, so there is a need to change the perception. Everybody must get equal opportunity to excel in life without any prejudices or past stereotypes. There needed a support system from the government and society so that development of human resource should never become a hostage to the evil of casteism, religious bigotry and poverty. We need progressive and visionary teachers, policy makers and leaders to pave our way ahead not the crutches of reservation as a powerful political tool to fetch votes. Enlightened mind will think beyond the safe haven of reservation and explore a new world of prosperity.
There are millions of Chandragupta scattered across the country and living a life of anonymity. They don’t yearn for reservation to realize their dreams rather they need a reliable hand of a teacher like Chanakya. Let’s reach out to those little wonders and help them to discover the Emperor within themselve.
-Sameer Kumar Das
(An article by Sameer Kumar Das)
(The author Sameer Kumar Das works at KIIT University as Deputy Director, School of Languages)