TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2024
SUJIT DE
A memorable incident happened at Metro Railway Kolkata five years ago. There was no trace of Covid at that time and I was only one-and-half years shy of becoming a senior citizen. I was returning home and was standing before a general seat in a Metro coach not before a seat reserved for the senior citizens. A young man in his twenties stood up vacating his seat and asked me to sit there. I declined the offer saying that I was quite okay. Seeing that he was not in a mood to listen to me, I forcibly pushed him to sit again telling him that I had no problem in standing. But again he stood up. Then he said with all the love in the world, “bolchhi tumi boso (I am telling you to sit).”
In Kolkata Metro Railway coaches, some seats are reserved for women and a few seats for senior citizens and people with disabilities. But there would have been no need to reserve seats for anyone if all the people were like that young man. The reservation signboards over some seats actually indicate that there are many passengers who do not have enough compassion. The reservation of seats in a train therefore acts as a necessary antidote to inhumanity.
Similarly, reservation on the basis of caste indicates that caste hatred, untouchability, and caste favouritism are there in our society. We need caste reservation as an antidote to caste based nepotism. There would be no need for caste reservation when all the people will become as progressive, sane and humane as Noble laureate, Kailash Satyarthi.
When he was a 15-year-old boy, Kailash Satyarthi made a plan to organise a community dinner where the food would be cooked and served by the Dalits in a hygienic, neat and clean environment. He invited prominent political leaders and people from upper castes. Interestingly, they gladly accepted the invitation. A newly built park in Vidisha with Gandhi’s statue at the centre was chosen as the venue.
The ladies who were to cook food had put on brand new clothes and had brought absolutely clean utensils for cooking. The dinner was ready. Everybody had been waiting anxiously for the guests for a long time. But not even a single person or political leader turned up. The food was still fresh but the incident dampened the enthusiasm of Kailash, his friends and the Dalits.
The double standard of those people was out in the open. Kailash clearly understood that the so-called leaders who used to speak against the practice of untouchability and discrimination in public gatherings were actually haters of backward castes. Then Kailash and others sat together for the dinner.
While having his dinner Kailash burst into tears. One of the women who had cooked the food walked up to him and encouraged him. She said, “You are the bravest person that we have seen in our life. You are eating the food that we have prepared.” They thanked the boy for his initiative against the hatred for them.
Kailash Satyarthi’s failure to organise a community dinner party also uncovered the double standard in our society regarding caste. The situation has remained unchanged. Today caste favouritism can be seen everywhere even in the allocation of PhD guides. It has been reported that upper-caste teachers have been showing a preference for scholars from their own community. On the other hand, upper-caste research scholars are also preferring higher caste teachers.
We need caste reservation in every sphere to minimise the incidents of favouring candidates of one’s own caste during the selection process for admission, recruitment and promotion under the guise of merit.
Caste reservation is a necessary antidote to caste discrimination. Let social justice do the final talking. A highly intelligent serial killer may have more IQ than Kailash Satyarthi but we do not need the former.
