What the Marathas and the Vanniyars should fight for !

 

Marathas of Maharashtra

The Government of Maharashtra issued two Ordinances on 09.07.2014.  The Ordinance No. XIII of 2014 provided for 16% reservation in services to Marathas. Another Ordinance No. XIV of 2014 provided for 5% reservation to 52 Muslim communities. This had taken the total reservation in services in the State of Maharashtra to 68%, where the reservation already existing was to the extent of 52%. The Bombay High Court upheld the reservation for Marathas but reduced the percentage of reservation to 13. But the Supreme Court had, on 05.05.2021, set aside the order of the Bombay High Court and struck down the Maratha Quota declaring it as ultra vires and unconstitutional, observing that the reservation for Maratha community in addition to the 50% social reservation was not covered by the exceptional circumstances as contemplated by Constitution Bench in Indra Sawhney’s case.

Vanniars of Tamil Nadu

The Government of Tamil Nadu enacted a law, the Act 8 of 2021, on 26.02.2021 providing for internal reservation of 10.5% to the Vanniar community, within the already existing 20% reservation for MBCs and Denitrified Communities. But the Supreme Court had, on 31.03.2022, struck down that enactment observing that the grant of 10.5% internal reservation to Vanniyakula Kshatriya community violated the fundamental rights of equality, non-discrimination and equal opportunity of 115 other most backward communities (MBCs) and de-notified communities (DNCs) in Tamil Nadu.

Patidars of Gujarat

The Government of Gujarat issued an ordinance on 01.05.2016 to accommodate the plea of the agitating Patidars, who constitute about 14% of the population in Gujarat, for the benefits of reservation. Instead of treating them as backward classes, the ordinance provided for 10 per cent reservation for those with family income less than Rs 6 lakh per annum (EWS) in educational institutions and state government jobs. That was in addition to the already existing 49.5% reservation for the backward classes. Chief minister Anandiben Patel and the state BJP president Vijay Rupani said that, “after meeting with party national president Amit Shah today the party and the government has decided to announce 10% reservation Ordinance on May 1^st on the Gujarat Foundation Day” (Times of India 29.04.2016). But that “Gujarat Ordinance No. 1 of 2016” was quashed and set aside by the Gujarat High Court on 04.08. 2016, stating that it had  been notified “without carrying out any detailed scientific and technical impact assessment study by the experts and without collecting quantifiable and empirical data”.  “Terming the ordinance “unconstitutional”, a division bench headed by then Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy observed that “it is not open for the State to make any reservation for section of citizens in unreserved category, only on the ground that section of such category of citizens belong to economically weak. As the economically weaker sections among unreserved category cannot constitute as homogeneous group for the purpose of reservation and such reservation will not withstand to the scrutiny of twin test under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Further, the economic criteria being fluctuating issue, the same cannot be the basis for any classification for the purpose of affirmative action for admission to educational institutions and while filling up the posts in the services under the State. Thus, such Ordinance which itself is issued based on economic criteria and as the same is in breach of equality clause under Article 14 of the Constitution, it is to be declared as void in view of the provision under Article 13(2) of the Constitution. …”.

The audacious two-days revolution of the ‘Forward’ castes

But the battle of ‘higher’ varna people for 10% reservation on economic basis alone, which had started with the silent insertion of Para 2(ii) in the  DOPT, OM. No. 36012/31/90 -Estt (SCT) dated 25.09.1991, continued without fanfare but with more  aggressiveness. The people at the top-rung of the society, who were the cause of the oppression of all the backward classes for centuries and centuries had different ideas. They did not give up their nefarious plea, in spite of repeated negative verdicts by the Supreme Court itself. If the Courts said that the Constitution did not permit reservation based on economic criterion, it is the Constitution which should be amended, they said. As they were already and predominantly occupying almost all the power centres under the Government of India and could easily manipulate matters, they used their lobby silently and performed a sudden and audacious revolution through both the Houses of Parliament and got a bill introduced and passed within two days (08 & 09.01.2019)  to insert two new provisions in Art. 15 (6) &  16 (6) to facilitate the Economically Weaker Sections among the Brahmins and other castes and religions, which did not get the benefit of reservation under Art. 15 (4) &16 (4), to get reservation.

 

The reservation under Art. 15 (4) and Art. 16 (4) was intended to provide ameliorative measures to the oppressed people in the Hindu social and religious set up. But that was cited by the “Forward Castes” as a ruse to provide 10% reservation through Art. 15 (6) and Art. 16 (6) to the oppressors. They wanted the reasons and the history behind reservations to be ignored and forgotten. As a result, these new provisions have now become incentives to them to continue to remain oppressors forever with their perverse caste system.  What is more? These oppressors were so powerful to use their lobby even to omit, in the newly inserted Art. 16 (6), the phrase  “not adequately represented” which is available in Art. 16 (4) of the Constitution.

They did not leave their work and come to the streets to achieve their goal; they did not hold protests; they did not seek any fact-finding commissions to examine whether they needed reservation.  They used their network to work silently and lobby for them. They spent days and weeks to prepare their Bill secretly to amend the Constitution in before it was officially introduced in the Parliament on 08.01.2019. They secured for them everything they wanted, just through desk work in the power centres, as those centres were functioning as their own for long, for all purposes.

Create allies by addressing the root cause

But the poor Marathas, Vanniars and Patidars  do not have any such lobby. They are made to come the streets and protest every time for everything. The Marathas intensified their struggle for reservation in September 2023. Their leader “Manoj Jarange Patil continued his indefinite hunger strike”. (Indian Express - 20.09.2023). Their demand now is to bring the entire community under the OBC umbrella. But “such move was opposed by OBC groups and Kunbis — the subset of the Maratha community that is already classified as backward — who fear that the influential community that makes up roughly a third of the state’s population will eat into their share.” (Hindustan Times - 11.09.2023). Taking a cue from the latest Maratha action, Mr. Anbumani Ramadas, leader of the Pattali Makkal Katchi met the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, on 09.10.2023, and demanded steps to be taken for providing 10.5% reservation to Vanniar community in Tamil Nadu. But both are wrong. The leaders of Maratha community in Maharashtra and the leaders of Vanniar community in Tamil Nadu and the Patidars of Gujarat were and are, clearly, leading their followers in the wrong direction and are alienating the rest of the OBCs, who were also suffering from the racial crimes practised under the Varna system.  These leaders do not want to address the real issues. They do not want to go to the root of problems to find the proper, real, equitable and just solution. They gather more opponents and not friends.

The reservation system in India, though in force for the past 70 years, has not really benefitted the suppressed classes to the extent to which it should have benefitted them. The tricks played by the Union bureaucrats in the maintenance of rosters, the ineffective method of appointment of Liaison Officers to monitor the enforcement of reservation system in every department and the abuse of power that was vested by the Supreme Court in the Executive (i.e., the DOPT’s bureaucrats) for enforcing the creamy-layer concept have all ensured that the STs, SCs and OBCs have not really got all the benefits that had been made available to them through Legislature. The very fact that there is inadequate  and insignificant representation of the people of these suppressed classes in the top-level bureaucracy and higher judiciary (both in the High Courts and Supreme Court) would provide tell-tale evidence to the fact that the system of even the token reservation provided under Art. 16 (4) of the Constitution was not allowed to really benefit the suppressed classes to the extent to which it was intended.

The leaders of Marathas, Vanniyars and Patidars should know that (1) the concept of  50% ceiling on vertical reservation and (2) the concept of Creamy Layer were only the inventions of courts and not the mandate of the Constitution. These concepts have affected the OBCs, SCs and STs adversely no end for the past 60 years. That upper limit of 50% had been discussed elaborately and was used by the Supreme Court to strike down the reservation for Marathas on 05.05.2021. But the 10% EWS reservation brought in by the Union Government which carried the vertical reservation to 59.5% had been upheld by the Supreme Court on 07.11.2022.

 

As things stand, the only way through which the Marathas, the Vanniyars and the Patidars can get their legitimate share in the governance of the nation is only when there is law recognising the birth right of all sections of Indians to have their proportionate representation in services. International precedents legitimise and justify this demand. The leaders of the Maratha, the Vanniar and the Patidar communities should, instead of poaching on the meagre share of the rest of the OBCs, take a holistic view of the entire scenario and join hands with the representatives of all the subjugated communities of India and put forward their demand, in one voice, for Proportionate Representation for all.

Caste data of 2011 hidden by the rulers

Besides, they should insist on the union government to release the caste data collected during the SEC Census of 2011 immediately. The union bureaucrats had conspired and suppressed that data with mala fide intention. Economic Times of 12.07.2015 reported their underhand activities thus: “Well, the government circles are abuzz with a conspiracy theory of a different kind. Unlike the pundits who believe that the government has conspired to deny the backward masses a little more of their due, some top bureaucrats believe that the attempt is not to hide the OBC figures but to suppress the more dangerous upper caste numbers….The upper castes have been running governments at the Centre and the states for so long that they don’t want the caste census to finally proclaim that the Indian democracy is not really representative.” It is, therefore, in the interest of the entire oppressed section of the Indian population to get that SEC Census data of 2011 released first.  That will provide enough authority to them to seek Proportionate Representation for all.

FCs attained equality in Reservation; retained superiority in Religion

The post-2019 law on reservation does not take into account the ill effects encountered by the OBCs because of the varna-based classification, which was the root cause of all the evils in India. It equates the OBCs with the Forward Castes, for the purpose of Art. 15 and Art. 16 of the Constitution. The OBCs below the Creamy Layer are treated on par with the Forward Castes below the creamy layer under Art. 16 (6). It does not give any weightage to the centuries old sufferings of the OBCs at the hands of the ‘Forward’ Castes.  It refuses to recognise the fact that the people of the OBC category are still ill-treated by the Brahmins, as they cannot become priests in the temples in which Brahmins alone officiate as priests, while the Supreme Court itself has, repeatedly, held that the priesthood is a ‘public employment’. That social stigma cast on the OBCs by the apartheidistic varna system, in the name of religion and its nefarious custom is permitted to prevail.

Another anomaly is that the reservation for the unreserved category of pre-2019 era, i.e., the ‘Forward’ class, is made available forever, even though the said class of people are already occupying posts in the services much more than their proportionate share in the total population. On the other hand, the reservation for the OBCs is made available, only so long as the said class of people remain under-represented in the services with reference to their share in the population.

Insist on caste survey at all India level, through SEC Census

Bihar has conducted caste survey.  All the other States should follow it up and conduct caste census immediately, although it wont help at national level, as it cannot be used at national level policy making. It would, to some extent, help expose the tricks played by the union bureaucrats to bring in the EWS reservation in 2019. 

There should be no demand for census of only the OBCs. It is a trap. It is intended to set OBCs against OBCs, while the Oppressors would, in the guise of EWS reservation, continue to occupy the power centres cornering much more than their legitimate and proportionate share.  

 

The Supreme Court which insists on “pro-rata reservation” for various scheduled castes “as per their numerical strength” will uphold the plea for Proportionate Representation, when the right facts, culled out from its own observations and findings in various judgments, are placed before it. 

Problems like those in Manipur could be solved in minutes  by applying the formula of Proportionate Representation.  That formula alone will ensure equality, fraternity and unity to usher in an era of prosperity and justice for all Indians.

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(Note: Published in the magazine 'OBC Voice' of November 2013)

 

EVM: Potential danger to Democracy ! It should go !!

 

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We are told that we do have democracy in India. Democracy means people having power not only to choose and elect their leaders but also to monitor the activities of their leaders. But there is no such democracy in India. Here even the mundane and sundry activities of the people are monitored by the rulers (allegedly using even the ‘Pegasus’)  while even the unlawful activities of the rulers are kept away from the knowledge and scrutiny of the public.  Even the election process that remained transparent before the introduction of the EVMs has become a doubtful process, now.

      The absence of any reply from the Election Commission of India to the issues raised by GVL Narasimha Rao, a senior leader of the BJP from Andhra Pradesh and a sitting member of the Rajya Sabha in his book ‘Democracy at Risk’, has made the entire EVM process suspect. The Election Commission of India is guilty of having given so much room for the public to entertain bonafide doubts about the transparency in the system and the consequent loss of credibility in the election process. As things stand, although people are not empowered to know what happens in the EVM after they cast their votes,  the rights of the people to cast their votes remain assured.

Democracy in India is, now, just that much. It ends with the polling booth. There is no assured transparency after the polling booth.  Thereafter, it is Bureaucracy and Media-crazy, which are predominantly ‘upper’ caste domains, as on date. These two pillars work, in unison, against real democracy being put into practice in India.

 

During the last Assembly elections in 2018, “in Madhya Pradesh alone, the number of votes polled did not match the number of votes counted in 204 out of the 230 constituencies. The Election Commission’s (EC) explanation is that the votes counted is the actual number of votes polled — a circular logic that precludes cross-verification.A discrepancy of even one vote between votes polled and votes counted is unacceptable. This is not an unreasonably high standard but one followed by democracies worldwide.” (The Hindu - 22.01.2019 - Article by G.Sampath under the caption ‘Why EVMs must go”). “Prakash Ambedkar, president of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi in a press meet on Friday alleged there were discrepancies in the number of votes polled and the number that have been declared by the EC across the state” (The Free Press Journal- 08.06.2019). He said, “this discrepancy ranges from a minimum of 106 votes to 1,380 votes. “We expect EC to explain the difference between the polled and the counted votes” (ibid.). “Data put up on the E.C. website (subsequently deleted) revealed that in as many as 371 constituencies there was a huge discrepancy between votes polled and votes counted” (The Frontline - 05.07.2019 - Article by Divya Trivedi titled “In EVM do we trust.)

Electronic Voting machines do not have credibility, worldwide. The Constitutional Court of Germany had, in the year 2009, ruled against the usage of EVMs and that judgment “forced the country to scrap EVMs and return to paper ballot. Other technologically advanced nations such as the Netherlands and Ireland have also abandoned EVMs……. At present, the EC’s VVPAT auditing is restricted to one randomly chosen polling booth per constituency. In a recent essay, K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty, a former IAS officer, demonstrates that this sample size will fail to detect faulty EVMs 98-99% of the time. He also shows that VVPATs can be an effective deterrent to fraud only on the condition that the detection of even one faulty EVM in a constituency must entail the VVPAT hand- counting of all the EVMs in that constituency. Without this proviso, VVPATs would merely provide the sheen of integrity without its substance” (ibid.).

 

It was an absolutely unbecoming conduct of the Election Commissioner of India  to demonstrate his reluctance  to reconcile the VVAPT in all cases where there were requests.  That reluctance gives rise to the suspicion about the impartiality of the officers in the Election Commission. It is sad that “….. the sample size prescribed by the ECI for VVPAT Audit is a statistical howler that fails to conform to fundamental sampling principles, leading to very high margins of error which are unacceptable in a democracy. By failing to detect outcome-altering miscounts due to EVM malfunction or fraud, it defeats the very purpose of introducing VVPAT. Spending hundreds of crores of rupees on procurement of VVPAT units makes little sense if their utilisation for audit purposes is reduced to an exercise in tokenism” (Winning Voter Confidence: Fixing India’s Faulty VVPAT-based Audit of EVMs - - The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy - 27.11.2018).

EVM is costlier than the system through ballot papers. The Election Commission of India confesses in its website (Q. No.12 of its FAQ) that it costs Rs. 17000 for one Polling box, i.e., M3 EVM Ballotting unit and Control unit). Yet, the CEC does not want to bid farewell to the EVMs.  “Using EVMs in India may have seemed like a good idea when the machines were introduced in the 1980s, but science’s understanding of electronic voting security— and of attacks against it— has progressed dramatically since then, and other technologically advanced countries have adopted and then abandoned EVM-style voting. Now that we better understand what technology can and cannot do, any new solutions to the very real problems election officials face must address the problems, not merely hide them from sight.” . The book of G.V.L Narasimha Rao nails the repeated lies being bandied about by official agencies to perpetrate the electronic voting machines even in the face of a united, strong and principled opposition to their continued use without applying the necessary correctives and safeguards. 

     An article by Ripima Narzary, in the Psychology and Education Journal of February 2021, under the caption “Democracy at Risk: An Analysis of Electronic Voting Machines Security And Their Impact On Indian Democracy”, says that the “EVMs manufactured in India are weak and exploitative to severe threats, providing extensive protection.  Dishonest insiders  or other  offenders  may install malicious devices with physical access  to the computers that can alter the election results. Intruders with  direct  access  before  polling  and  counting  can  randomly  adjust  voting  totals  and  discover which nominee has been chosen by each elector. These  challenges  are  profoundly  ingrained.  The  architecture of the EVMs in India is solely focused  on the  physical protection of the devices and  the honesty of electoral insiders. The technology hoped  that threats on the ballot box and dishonesty would  be  more  complicated  in  the  counting  process. Nevertheless,  we  find  that  such  assaults  remain  plausible, despite becoming theoretically harder to  recognize…. India's  EVMs  do not provide accountability, so electors and election officials have no cause to ensure the  devices  function genuine. India needs to reconsider carefully, for creating a  healthy  and  open  method  of  voting  that  is  acceptable  to  its  national  principles  and  specifications…” But instead of making the process transparent by ensuring 100% VVPAT count, wherever demanded, the Election Commission had acted in a ridiculous manner by bringing in Rule 49MA that wanted to prosecute any voter who complained of malfunctioning of the EVM or VVPAT machine if that turned out to be false.

 

   All these facts establish the fact that democratic voting right of the citizen just ends with the polling booth. The transparency in the election process ends with the polling itself. The process of counting is not transparent and we are ordered to believe whatever the bureaucrats say. We are aware of the present state of Indian Bureaucracy and Media-crazy. These two pillars, predominantly controlled by the oppressor class, work in unison, to promote only the Chaturvarna system and protect sectarian interests. Already, internationally India is ridiculed as a nation with “Limited Democracy”. The Reader’s Digest had in its December 2018 issue, published an article by its team of editors, with the caption “India is a 50-50 Democracy”.

No person of the stature of the President of India would try to cheat the polling officials and try to vote for the second time in the same election. Yet, just in order to prove the error-free polling process, the President is also made to have his finger ink-marked. President Abdul Kalam displayed it with legitimate pride. But the CEC does not ensure error-free recording of the polls through EVMs; he wants the people to have faith in the polling officials. The entire election process through EVMs thus depends on the honesty or dishonesty of the officials and not on error free system. Democracies are not to be made dependent on the integrity of individual officials. Yet, the Chief Election Commissioner was not ready to listen to reason.  On the other hand, this small-time bureaucrat wanted contempt powers for him like those enjoyed by the courts and brought himself to nationwide ridicule. When Priyanka Gandhi asked how in the 2017 elections in Godhra in Gujarat, the EVM showed 1,78,911 votes while those actually polled were only 1,76,417, the discrepancy of 2,494 was never explained by the CEC.

 

But he was trying to bully the people. “Amid renewed demands against the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Thursday asserted that the Election Commission will not be "intimidated or bullied" into giving up the machines and going back to the era of ballot boxes. He also lamented that EVMs are being used as a "football" and some sections are doing a "motivated slugfest" over their use.” (Economic Times 24.01.2019). He refused to realise that it was his unwillingness to go for VVPAT counting which had made the Election Commission a butt of ridicule and the EVM process a suspicious one. The CEC should be made to realise that he is making the entire election process questionable by his intransigence. But this CEC was talking as if he was the final authority in taking policy decision, while it was in the domain of the legislature. Such bureaucrats pose real threat to democracy.

Hundred years ago, in the 1920s, our ancestors were fighting against the British rulers to secure our democratic birth rights. Now, in the 2020s, we are made to fight against our own rulers to retrieve our birth rights, which have been snatched away, through the EVM, by the more-vicious-oppressors-controlled Indian bureaucracy. EVM is an anathema to a civilised nation claiming to have a functioning democracy. It does have every potential to easily usher in State Terrorism. It should go!

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(Note: Published in the magazine 'OBC Voice' of December 2023)

 

சங்கி எனப்படுபவர் யார்?

 பிராமண பயங்கரவாதக் கொள்கையான சதுர்வர்ணக் கொள்கையைச் சாணக்கியன் காட்டிய வழியில் பரப்ப முயலும் பிராமணனும், அந்தப் பயங்கரவாதக் கொள்கைக்காரர்களிடம் பணியாளாக இருந்து அவர்களது ஏவல்படி அந்தச் சதுர்வர்ண அமைப்பினை மீளவும் உருவாக்கி அதில் தனது எதிர்காலத் தலைமுறையை மறுபடியும் அடிமைகளாக ஆக்கிவைக்கத் துணைபோகும் பிராமணனல்லாதானுமே சங்கிகள்.

1927 ஆம் ஆண்டில் பெரியாரின் தொண்டு பற்றி வ. உ. சி !

 

“பிராமணரும் பிராமணரல்லாதாரும்’  என்று கூறும் போது  யான் முக்கியமாகச் சென்னை மாகாணப் பிராமணரையும் பிராமணரல்லாதவரையுமே குறிக்கிறேன். ‘பிராமணரல்லாதார்’ எனும்போது,   முகமதியர்கள், இந்தியக் கிறிஸ்தவர்கள், தாழ்த்தப்பட்ட ஹிந்துக்கள், தாழ்த்துகின்ற ஹிந்துக்கள்  என்னும் நான்கு வகுப்பினர்களையும் குறிக்கின்றேன்.” (பக்கம் 91- வ.உ.சி-யின் நூற்கோவை -தொகுப்பாசிரியர் செ.திவான் - அருணவிஜய நிலையம் - சென்னை ).  “பிராமணர்களுக்கும் பிராமணரல்லாதார்களுக்கும் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள  ஒற்றுமையின்மையும் பகைமையும்  வளர்ந்து இப்போது  துண்டு விட்டுப் போகும்படியான  நிலைமைக்கு (Breaking point) வந்துவிட்டது.  உண்மைத் தேசாபிமானிகள் இப்பொழுது விரைந்து முன்வந்து பிராமணர்களுக்கும் பிராமணரல்லாதார்களுக்கும் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள ஒற்றுமையின்மைக்கும் பகைமைக்குமுரிய உண்மை காரணங்களை கண்டு பிடித்து ஒழிக்காத விஷயத்தில், நாம்  சுய அரசாட்சி என்ற பேச்சையும் கூட விட்டு விடும் படியான நிலைமை வெகு விரைவில் ஏற்பட்டு விடும் என்று யான் அஞ்சுகிறேன்... 

 நமது தேசத்தின் வடமாகாணங்களில் ஹிந்துக்களுக்கும் முகமதியர்களுக்கும் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள பகைமையையும் சண்டையையும் நீக்கி ஒற்றுமையை ஏற்படுத்த வேண்டுமென்று நமது மாகாணத்தில் உள்ள சிலர் பேசிக் கொண்டிருக்கின்றனர். என்ன வெட்கக்கேடு!

 நமது மாகாணத்தில் நம்முடன் வசித்து வரும்  பிராமணருக்கும் பிராமணரல்லாதாருக்கும் ஏற்பட்டிருக்கிற ஒற்றுமையின்மையையும் பகைமையையும் நீக்கி அவ்விரு வகுப்பினர்களுள்ளும் ஒற்றுமையை உண்டு பண்ண மாட்டாதார் பஞ்சாப் மாநிலத்தில் உள்ள முகமதியர்களுக்கும் ஹிந்துக்களுக்கும் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள பகைமையையும் சண்டைகளையும்  நீக்கி அவ்விரு  வகுப்பினர்களுள்ளும்  ஒற்றுமையை உண்டாக்க போகின்றனறாம்!  இது புதுமையினும் புதுமை! 

பிராமணரக்கும் பிராமணரல்லாதாருக்கும் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள சண்டைகளை உண்டு பண்ணுகின்றவர் இராஜாங்கத்தாரே என்றும்,  சுதேச மன்னர்கள் அரசாட்சிக்கு உட்பட்ட நாடுகளில் ஜாதிச் சண்டைகள் இல்லை என்றும், நம் தேசத்துக்குச் சுய அரசாட்சி வந்து விட்டால் ஜாதிச் சண்டைகள் எல்லாம் நீங்கிவிடும் என்றும் சிலர் சொல்லுகின்றனர்.  இந்த மூன்றும் முழுப்பொய்.

  பிராமணர் பிராமணரல்லாதார் சண்டைகளுக்கு காரணம் ஒன்றுமே இல்லையெனின்,  ராஜாங்கத்தாராலோ  மற்றவராலோ  அவர்களுக்குள் சண்டையை உண்டு பண்ண முடியாது.  சுதேச மன்னர்கள் அரசாட்சிக்குட்பட்ட நாடுகளிலும் ஜாதிச்சண்டைகள் இல்லாமல் இல்லை; அவற்றிலும் தென்னாடுகளில் பிராமணர், பிராமணரல்லாதார் சண்டைகள் இருக்கின்றன. .. இரண்டாவது காரணம்,  மேற்கண்ட படி தாங்கள் மேலான ஜாதியார்கள் என்று  கொண்ட கொள்கை அழியாதிருக்கும் பொருட்டு  பிராமணர்கள் மற்ற ஜாதியர்களுக்கு  விதித்த அபராத தண்டனை. அத்தண்டனையை  மாற்றிக் கொள்வதற்குரிய அதிகாரம் பிராமணரல்லாதார்கள்  கையிலேயே இருக்கிறதைக் கண்டுபிடித்து  நம் திருவாளர் ஈ. வெ. இராமசாமி நாயக்கர் அவர்கள்  பிராமணரல்லாதார்களுக்குக் கூறி அதனை உபயோகிக்கும்படி செய்து கொண்டு வருகிறார்கள். அவ்வதிகாரத்தைப் பிராமணரல்லாதார்கள்  ஊக்கத்துடன் உறுதியாகச் செலுத்தித்  தங்கள் அபராத தண்டனையை மாற்றிக் கொள்வார்கள் என்று நம்புகிறேன்.

 

 பிராமணர்-பிராமணரல்லாதார் சண்டைக்குரிய மூன்றாவது காரணத்தைப  போக்குவதுதான்  மிகக் கஷ்டமான காரியம்.  இக்காரண  விஷயத்தைப் பற்றி தேசத்தலைவர்கள் என்று சொல்லப்படுகிற பிராமண சகோதரர்களில்  சிலர் பேசுகிற பேச்சுக்களைப் பார்க்கும் பொழுது  மிக வியப்புத் தோன்றுகிறது.  இராஜாங்க உத்தியோகங்களைக் கவருவதற்காக இராஜாங்கத்தாரோடு சேர்ந்து அவரைப் பலப்படுத்துகின்ற (பிராமணரல்லாதார் அடங்கிய) ஒரு கட்சியாரை ஒழிப்பதற்காகக் காங்கிரஸ்காரர்கள் இரட்டையாட்சிக்கு  உதவி புரிய வேண்டியவர்களாயிருக்கிறார்கள் என்று ஒரு பிராமணத் தலைவர் சிலர் தினங்களுக்கு முன் பேசியிருக்கிறார். ஆ! என்ன ஆச்சரியம்!

 நமது தேசத்தில் நூற பேர்களுக்கு மூன்ற பேர்களாயிருக்கின்ற நம் பிராமண சகோதரர்கள்,  நமது தேசத்து இராஜாங்க உத்தியோகங்களில் நூற்றுக்கு 97 வீதமும் அவ்வத்தியோகங்களில் இந்தியர்கள் பெரும் சம்பளத் தொகையில் நூற்றுக்கு 97 வீதமும் (இக்கணக்கு சிறிது ஏறத்தாழ இருக்கலாம்) அடைந்து வருகிறபோது,  பிராமணரல்லாதார்கள் இராஜாங்க உத்தியோகங்களைக் கவருவதற்காக  இராஜாங்கத்தாரோடு சேர்ந்து அவரை பலப்படுத்துகின்றார்கள் என்று காங்கிரஸ் தலைவர் என்னும் பிராமணர் ஒருவர் பேசுவாராயின், மற்றைப் பிராமணர்கள் என்னென்ன பேசத் துணிய மாட்டார்கள்?

மேலதிக விவரங்களுக்கு: 

Grateful P. Chidambaram Vs. Cruel Vallabhbhai Patel !

        “Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium lepre that hide in the coolest areas of the body….Like AIDS, today leprosy can be controlled by drugs. But, in poor countries, people still are not able to get the care they need. The same conditions of overcrowding, malnutrition and poor sanitation that caused the spread of leprosy in cities in the Middle Ages still exist today in places like India and Brazil”(*1). “Nerve damage and the resulting disabilities are the major causes of morbidity among leprosy patients…Compassion has never been more necessary than it is in the fight against this disease”(*2). Equity analysis done by the World Bank in 2001 confirms that “the most socially vulnerable groups (Scheduled Castes and women below the poverty line) shoulder the highest burden of the disease”(*3). “In 2002, India accounted for about 70% of the world’s registered leprosy patients”(*4). 

 

Compassion-personified

 

There came on the scene, in the year 1982, the British-born Catholic nun Jacqueline Jean McEwan, through a Commonwealth agreement, as a medic to Bengaluru. Having seen the patients suffering from leprosy, she stayed put and continued her service through “a mobile clinic run by an NGO, the Society for the Welfare and Rehabilitation of Leprosy Patients. The organisation has residential accommodation for about 120 poor leprosy patients and the mobile clinic looks after about 1,000 leprosy patients in the village in the heart of the city”(*5). The HIV/AIDs patients are also treated there. Sister Jean additionally visits slums to tend to cancer patients. She was compassion-personified and was venerated as the Mother Theresa of Sumanahalli. No self-styled saint from the Chaturvarna social order came forward to render this service to the people afflicted by leprosy. On the other hand, evidence on record testify to the fact that the people who opposed the Chaturvarna social order had been called as “wicked” people and the King was directed to punish them through conspiratorial methods, one among them being to ensure that those “wicked” people get afflicted by leprosy. Chanakya, the first political terrorist of the world, had explained the manner in which such “wicked” people can be made to be affected by leprosy (*6). 

 

Every year, the residence permit of Sister Jean was renewed by the Government of India. But, in the year 2011-12, it was not renewed and the bureaucrats in the Foreign Regional Registration Office issued notice to her to leave the country by July 25, 2011. And, she had to leave.  

 

“The leprosy patients and families she has been helping for almost 30 years hoped fervently that a permanent solution would ensure they did not lose her…  ‘Yesterday, I went to Sumanahalli. The patients came and greeted me and one of the patients gave me a ring and a little cross...They welcomed me with garlands and bunches of flowers... all of them were crying. It was so sad,’ she told NDTV. The nun also said that, ‘I have got more from my patients and my people here...more than what I have given”, reported the NDTV(*7). 

 

Chidambaram demonstrated gratefulness

 

The news of her virtual expulsion by the bureaucrats had reached the ears of Mr. P. Chidambaram, the then Home Minister of India. He immediately called for the file, chided the heartless bureaucrats, ordered for the cancellation of the order and restored her visa “without limit of time”. “Orders are being issued today. She can stay as long as she likes,” Mr. Chidambaram said(*8), demonstrating the gratefulness of the nation. 

 

Rev. Keithahn

 

In the 1940s, Rev. Keithahn, an American Christian Missionary, was doing social service among the people of Karnataka and was very popular among them. He was the supporter of Indian independence struggle too.  The British rulers had, therefore, deported him in August, 1943. In the year 1946, the national government came into existence after the polls in 1945 and 1946 for Provincial Legislative Assemblies and Central Legislative Assembly. Vallabhbhai Patel was the Deputy Prime Minister, then, at the Centre.

 

Mr. Nijalingappa, President of the Karnatak Provincial Congress Committee, wrote a passionate letter to Vallabhbhai Patel on 18.09.1946 requesting for Rev. Keithahn to be invited back to Karnataka as he had been doing a very good service to the people of Karnataka. Nijalingappa said that the “only sin (of Rev. Keithahn) was that he espoused the cause of India. He was doing very good work along with the members of his family in Bangalore among labourers and students with whom he was very popular. All of them want him back in India. Now that there is  a national government functioning, it is desirable that the deportation order is cancelled. I, therefore, request that you may kindly see your way to have the matter of …”. 

 

 The ungrateful Vallabhbhai Patel

 

But, Vallabhbhai Patel, the Deputy Prime Minister, wrote back on 22.09.1946 insulting the reasoning of Nijalingappa  and rejecting his request, giving totally different reasons that demonstrated his bigotry and arrogance. His letter is reproduced below:

New Delhi

22 September 1946

 

“Dear Friend,

 

I have received your letter of the 18^th instant. 

 

Why should you think that as the National Government has come into existence, orders of externment against foreigners should be cancelled? You do not mean to suggest that India is a place where all foreigners are welcome? There is something like reciprocity and few Indians are welcome outside their own country. If some foreign missionaries were deported by the past Government, why should this Government cancel their deportation orders? The past Government might have had good reasons to do so? The present Government, evidently, has no reason to change those orders.

Yours sincerely,

Vallabhbhai Patel.

 

(To)

S. Nijalingappa Esq.,

President,

The Karnataka Provincial Congress Committee,

Camp: Hubli.

He did not think it necessary that the nation must be grateful to such souls like Rev. Keithahn who had done yeoman service among the people and was popular because of that service. He abused his position and allowed his prejudice to prevail over the desire of the people of Karnataka.

 

His reply was nothing but his individual opinion while Nijalingappa’s letter had represented the legitimate  and just desires of the people of Karnataka. 

 

Treating South with contempt

 

He advised Nijalingappa not to welcome foreigners to India as Indians were not welcome outside India and that the Indians must reciprocate the same spirit. That “freedom fighter” was not ready to recognise the services of Rev. Keithahn who was expelled by the British only because he supported the independence of India from British rule. He had forgotten the role of Annie Besant.

 

 

The later half of the 1940s was the time when Congress Party was claiming that it was representing the entire India.  But, Patel had, at the same time, not cared to recognise the fact that Nijalingappa, the President of his own party in Karnataka, was, on the same analogy, representing the wishes of the people of Karnataka. It was habitual of Patel not to respect the wishes of the people of the all the four Southern states. He chose to ignore and insult Nijalingappa who was his own Party’s President representing the people of Karnataka. 

 

Religious bigotry of Patel

 

Patel used to allow only his personal prejudices and predilections prevail when he was in power, with any kind of power. History testifies to the fact that he chose to demonstrate his imperious attitude and had his way on all occasions throughout his career. His arrogance had cost the nation dear, on many fronts. He was the person mainly responsible for having brought in the Master and Servant attitude between the Congressmen of the North and the South. 

 

Patel allowed his religious prejudices to come to the fore more than his patriotism towards the nation. That would explain why the present Saffron government, shown to be headed by Mr. Narendra Modi of Gujarat, has chosen to erect a monumental statue only for Vallabhbhai Patel of Gujarat and not to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi of Gujarat. 

 

==========================

 

Note: 

 

(*1) : Leprosy: Hansen’s Disease - by Karen Donnelly - 2002. 

 

(*2): Leprosy - by Alfica Sehgal, I. Edward Alcamo, David L. Heymann  - 2006.

(*3): Better health care systems for India’s poor: Findings, Analysis and Options - David H Peters.

(*4): The Rotarian - February 2005 - Page 53. 

 

(*5) : NDTV - 26.05.2011.

(*6) : In his Arthasastra, Chanakya says that “In order to protect the institution of the four castes, such measures as are treated of in secret science shall be applied against the wicked”. One of those secret means enumerated by him therein is that “The (smoke caused by burning the) mixture of krikalása and grihagaulika causes leprosy”. (Arthashastra: Book XIV - Secret Means - Chapter I : Means to  Injure an Enemy.) 

 

 

(*7) : NDTV – 26.05.2011.

 

(*8) : The Hindu 26.05.2011.

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Published in the monthly magaziwn Voice of OBCs in November 2015.