The agitation by Patel's community of Gujarat demanding OBCS status and quotas in jobs and educational institutions is yet another instance of how the whole business of affirmative actions has become counter productive. And police action has caused extensive violence claiming many lives. BJP leaders of Patel community were specially targeted by mobs. Patel's control the state, BJP and CM too is from this group. If you recall, when Solanki was CM, 27 percent reservations were introduced for OBCs in the year 1985 and it was same Patel's who unleashed a fierce anti reservation stir and shifted their loyalities from Congress to BJP, leading the party's ascent in the state. It now looks like the wheel has come full circle.Infact it is debatable whether Hardik Patel's massive rally was spontaneous or orchestrated. However he has done a yeoman service by rekindling the reservation issue. Though Patel's in urban Gujrat are known to be well off, but one cannot say the same about their rural counter parts. India is struggling as country to shed the backward tag and join the ranks of developed nations. When our citizens under garb of reservations would like to join these ranks to obtain coveted Govt posts, that give them access to power and influence.The preference for casts and sub casts for employment in public sector paved the way for demands for certain communities. The entitlements to jobs based on caste don't create an egalitarian society while it is utopian to expect the quota system to end. It is a moot point whether the protests will bear fruit or spiral out of control.
As per Prabhu Chawla 's recent article, it is evident that Hardik Patel with the help of rich and powerful Patel community, has shot himself into limelight using the reservation gun. Many politicians continue to use the caste route to further their personal agenda rather than national development.
As all of us know the reservations were envisaged as a social justice mechanism to mitigate the age old caste based discrimination and oppression. But the agitation being spearheaded by 22 year old Hardik Patel has reduced the idea of affirmative action to a farce. This group dominates the diamond and textile industry and milk cooperatives. Reservations would normally entail excluding Brahmins and other sections of traditional upper castes from getting benefitted by caste based reservations for educational and employment opportunities .The system would be hard pressed to include the Patel's or Patidars into OBCs category so that they may qualify for state support. Doing so would make mockery of the very purpose of affirmative action in the frame work of Indian Reservation system.
Now a days reservation has become main agenda for any community irrespective of its economic standing. Infact the policy should only be for those who really deserve it. In recent past, it has become common to find the majority even economically and politically powerful sections demanding reservations
The need of the hour therefore, is for total annihilation of caste based reservations and it should be solely on economic basis. In general regressive policy reservations should be slowly extinguished as it mars the quality and merit. But can we expect our political leaders to do this?
