Jawed Naqvi – the living wretched

This article appeared on June 12, 2006 in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn. It is old, but relevant. So I couldn’t help replying to the author.

Here is the link    http://www.dawn.com/2006/06/12/fea.htm#2 

Here is my reply (also sent to the author):   

Dear Javed, I read with interest your article “In search of a balanced picture” It was written a long time ago. But I couldn’t resist letting you know some views contrary to yours, in case you still hold them.

In the first line you contradict yourself when you say, “THERE were 16 per cent downtrodden Dalits in India at the last count. There were eight per cent adivasis or tribespeople. The Indian constitution guarantees 22 per cent job reservations for them in nearly all government departments. That quota was never filled up. Thus, between them the two communities share just two per cent of government jobs, a heavy component of these being lower division clerks and menial workers, including sweepers.”

Evidently, if dragging on for 22% reservations for 50 years (year of last count?) gives you 2% of seat-filling-success, wouldn’t you agree that this policy is a colossal failure? What do we need to reach 22% then- a reservation of 220%?Why don’t we bring quota down to 5%, achieve that target, take it to 10%, then 22% and so on. Why for your deep love of 22%, should ‘upper-caste’ educated guys go around begging for food and jobs in these days of extreme unemployment? Oh, I forgot. All upper-castes were born in royal families. Only the dalits were the life and soul of the freedom struggle, while the upper castes drank honey and nectar from gold bowls.

You probably also would not want to know that in the educational institutes (the ones producing doctors, MBA, engineers) the rate of occupancy of reserved seats is many times higher ( In my college, a regional institute of technology- a relatively high-tier college, all SC/ST seats were full). And yet by your own admission if they are only 2% of jobs-that too mostly sweepers- wouldn’t you care to know what went wrong in the colleges? Do you know that nearly all SC/ST students get hefty scholarships? Most of them drink heavily, study little and fail so many times that either they are thrown out or have to sober up and study so that they pass out atleast in a few additional years time. I shouldn’t wonder. Reservations have made them slothful and devoid of self-esteem. They want crutches everywhere. They will argue, blame, squabble, talk of persecution- but they won’t work their butt out to glory.

Also in my college, BCs were as good as the upper -castes in studies, and coolly used the reservations to their advantage to fill both the reserved and the general quotas hugely with their numbers.

I don’t know why shirt-tearing students qualify less for your sympathy than dalits, but I can see a severe disconnect of your views from the enormous complexities (chiefly introduced by the neta’s ill-intent) of the issue. Why should you not see that the more you do ‘positive -discrimination’ against upper-castes, the more hard-work they put in and find newer areas to shine. And once they have established themselves in these enterprises, social-justice rats come around snooping- ‘What, no dalits here! Discrimination!!’ I read a dalit leader protesting that Infosys is run by a Brahmin (namely, Narayanmurthy). What hope these sad leaders have for their followers?

I know of many upper-caste and lower-caste ordinary people of my and my parents’ generation- who threw themselves in the cauldron of competition- and came out with success and self-respect. My father used to go around from house to house to tie rakhi and get a day’s food. And he finally ended up as a pretty high functionary in a public-sector company. I just cant understand what stops your mama’s boy dalits, but I guess lying around drunk singing lewd songs in the hostel premises, all at the public’s’ expense, is more fun.

It would surprise you to know that many upper caste Hindus wouldn’t love more to see an equal society. Many of their numbers have done a lot for dalits, most notably Gandhi. What gets us mad is these lazy, cynical, divisive, blind policies created by impotent and decaying politicians like VP and Arjun (upper castes for you, with no other claim-to-fame than shortcuts to social justice) masquerading as social justice.Nothing exposes their rabid hypocrisy more than their resistance to reserving seats for lower-castes in the Parliament on the lines of other government jobs, to the tune of 50% at least.

Who will deny that a person who loves India will want an equal society? However if the netas believe upper-castes hate equality, it must follow they hate India- so try them for treason and have them killed or deported. Decide once and for all, for God’s sake; stop this daily nautanki of weak-kneed policies.

Frankly, expecting upper castes to live in poverty because of their akas’ stunted social-justice programs will always remain what it is – a perverted and unfulfilled dream.

Where else in the world will the dalits find policies so favourable to them but India? Who will ‘positively’ discriminate on their behalf with such wild abandon, giving finger to the ‘equality of opportunity’ and thereby the  ’right to live’ doctrine ? By all intents and purposes, India is first their country. It is in their interests to keep it healthy. Why are they digging its roots with so much hate-mongering? They will be left with a rotten country in the end from which to claim their benefits.

What good is a policy that alienates such a huge proportion of the people? What are these leaders for- don’t they know how important it is to look equitable, as well as to act? Where did they learn leadership-in a fish market?

You might say that exceptions in a caste may happen. Not necessarily so. I find Arun shourie’s advice good- implement reservations on an individual level, not on a caste level.

My advice- Teach them to fish. There is no moral principle behind reservations. It is wrong.

This is with reference to the other part of your article. DO Indians suffer from inferiority complex of sorts as a people? President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam gave an indication last week that unnecessarily perhaps, but they do…………………
 

India is by no definition a developed country. It is severely underdeveloped. Why are you so gleefully pointing out its flaws? We know where we stand. I can understand the satisfaction of Pakistani readers when they read all this in the spirit of ‘even they have problems -hee, hee”. But battling the ghosts of inferiority complex of a colonised country is a laudable mission. Atleast we are trying to improve.

Pakistan unfortunately has fallen to such depths of decay that ‘Pakistani’, is synonymous with ‘terrorist’. Part of the inferiority complex of Indians living abroad stems from the fact that they look like Pakistanis, and hence are liable to be looked upon as cold-blooded killers. Will you write about it? If not, how do dark reports about India help Pakistanis readers?

Of course, Journalists do a lot of picking and choosing while reporting, based on what they want to say. Your fellow journalist M. Saleem Chaudhry has this to say in his article “Two future economic powers: India, China ” in Dawn: There is no centre in this world economy. India is becoming a power house very fast. The medical school in
New Delhi is now perhaps the best in the world. And technology graduates of the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore are as good as any in the world. Also India has 150 million people for whom English is their main language. So India is becoming a knowledge centre. “  

I think that in a country that is attempting to drastically improve, journalism needs to be done in a positive spirit. Cribbing, negative reporting infests Indian newspapers, matched only by those riding the latest hype, and I think they are both a burden. They are of little good to any society wanting to move ahead. Dr. Kalam’s predominant mission in life is to make Indians positive. His single-handed leadership of India’s missile development is unmatched by anyone else in any other country. It requires self-belief of a massive magnitude. Surely you are not trying to teach him?

Warm Regards

Abhishek