The backward classes are back in the news. And this time a very bad news indeed. The beauty is this vast segment described as the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) – comprising about 50% of the Hindu population-does not even know of this bad news. This is what happens when slaves start enjoying their slavery. This exactly is the problem of India.
We had already expressed our fear (DV-Sept 1) about the Mandal Commission report being thrown to waste-paper basket. Developments since then have confirmed this. The ruling class of India is in no mood even to publish this report recommending caste-based job reservations to OBCs, let alone implementing it. The report was not even placed on the table of Parliament though a specific promise to this effect was given in the previous session. It is over an year now since the report was submitted to the govt. Therefore, we have every reason to believe that this report will also meet the fate of its predecessor, Kaka Kalelkar Commission report that proves how powerless OBCs are despite their vast population.
What is the use of the mass? Masses are asses. Who bothers about asses? Untouchables have succeeded in throwing up some militancy. Dalit movement is a force to be reckoned with at least in some areas. But backward class movement is dead and gone. If OBCs have been reduced to the position of asses nobody is to be blamed except themselves. Reservations will seriously affect the ruling class. Naturally it will do its best to protect its interests. No where in history the property-holders have voluntarily surrendered their possession except at the point of gun. The Indian ruling class can be no exception. On the other hand it is more deadly fascist. It has two types of property – wealth and caste. Therefore, it is foolish to expect the ruling class to cut its own head. And OBCs are not ready for a fight. No, they are actually fighting as the unpaid soldiers of the ruling class. Now OBCs have sought (see page 12) the help of the Dalits and other persecuted minorities to observe Republic day (Jan 26) as Black Day. While we welcome this belated wisdom, we would like to remind the heinous role played by OBCs when Dalits were mercilessly hunted down in the Marathwada and Gujarat caste wars. Not only OBCs quietly enjoyed the plight of the Dalits but in many cases they willingly joined in the attack. Why do they want Dalit support now? How to convince the Dalits that the OBCs’ demand now is genuine? This is the problem that we face all over India. Despite their grave blunder we have several instances of the Dalits joining the OBCs in the movement of the latter. In Karnataka, the Dalit Action Committee members participated in OBC agitation demanding implementation of the Havanur Commission report. BAMCEF, primarily an organisation of the SCs, also pleads for the OBCs. But we have hardly an instance of the OBCs joining the Dalit struggle. Dalits being so generous are still prepared to pardon OBC leaders if the Mandal Commission report would force them to join hands with Dalits and minorities. If such a thing happens, it will indeed be a big development. But we have our own doubt: Why OBCs are continuously missing the bus? It is because of the peculiar position they occupy in the caste hierarchy. Economically many OBCs are as poor as the Untouchables if not poorer. The latter at least have reservations But OBCs have none. In population, they are much bigger than the SCs. But the ruling class knows that they have no guts. SCs have some sort of leadership. The stigma of untouchability has brought about a semblance of unity. Reservations have given them a political status as vote banks. OBCs have neither leadership nor any organisation. Besides, they are torn into thousands of tiny service castes: shepherds, cowherds, fishermen, tappers, barbers, washermen, carpenters, smiths, gardeners, artisans, weavers etc. A majority are landless. Therefore, they neither possess economic power nor numerical strength, hence politically useless except as doormats of the high castes. SCs have a national leader, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. But OBCs have none to boast of. Charan Singh had generated high hopes but soon sulked into oblivion. Karpoori Thakur did a lot for OBCs in Bihar but he too is sleeping now. Devaraj Urs, Karunanidhi committed political hara-kiri because of their opportunistic alliances.
The OBC condition is pathetic. But what actually gives the ruling class the courage to go on slapping OBCs and yet get away with it? This is the most important point. Every ruling class thrives on divide and rule. If a section is willing to be ruled who can help it? No section in India is more willing to be ruled than OBCs. The tragedy of India is the tragedy of OBCs. They are its biggest problem. – Its biggest liability. Dalits are not only the poorest but also born revolutionaries. But OBCs, equally poor are refusing to be revolutionaries. Nay, in many cases they are the agents of the counter-revolutionaries. Not only they are miserable, they are responsible for others misery also. The ruling class is fully aware of this OBC helplessness. It also knows the antagonism between SCs and OBCs. All over India SCs are being subjected to atrocities not by the high castes but mainly by OBCs. Because of this, SCs think their natural enemies are not Brahmins or other high castes, but OBCs. But the fact is it is the brain that directs the leg to kick. The Brahminical philosophy is the brain and OBCs the leg. But SCs do not know this. The high castes impress upon SCs that they are not their oppressors but OBCs. This way they have willingly played into the high caste trap. The high castes have impoverished them but this anger, they take on SCs. And their natural arrogance of being touchables, though poor, has further, widened the Great Divide between the Hindus and the Untouchables. The false pride of being Hindus has pushed them to the brink. That is how OBCs are the most hated section in India today. Friendless. Isolated. The high castes have milked them dry. The Untouchables, those immediately below them in the ritual hierarchy, consider them as their enemy no. 1. In this bloody war between SCs and OBCs, the high castes are safe and happy. The Brahminical philosophy is solely responsible for the degradation of OBCs. But they are blissfully ignorant of it. On the other hand RSS is mainly depending upon OBCs to attack SCs and Muslims. It is they who mainly contribute India’s lumpen proletariat. Untouchables having been subjected to periodical kicks for centuries have developed some militancy but OBCs are docile. Wool-gathering though poor, they are not killed, burnt and raped like SCs. The latter are kept out of Hinduism but OBCs are very proud that they are Hindus although they have gained nothing from Hinduism. The ruling class is very much afraid that SCs and OBC would join hands and that is why they have raised the bogey that reservations to SCs would affect the chances of other castes. The Railway Oppressed Employees union, which filed the unsuccessful writ against reservation in promotions, comprises mostly OBCs though guided by the high castes. The game of the high castes is to continue the reservations to SCs without implementing it seriously, but at the same time deny reservations to OBCs. For those carefully reading Justice Krishna Iyer’s judgment on the above-cited case this becomes crystal clear. It is a call for divide and rule. OBCs will have to clearly to understand that reservations to SCs will not come in the way of their share. The SCs will have their cake and OBCs shall have theirs. If OBCs want to win their battle their best friends are the SCs. Together with other persecuted minorities they can shake the country. We have our own doubt if OBCs will ever heed this, knowing Hinduism too well. Unity between OBCs & SCs is a pipe-dream. So the only way out is to end this endless controversy by going for population-wise reservations to all castes and communities as suggested by DK leader Veeramani and others. That will please the high caste landed gentry as well and make them join the caste war. That will be an ideal solution.
