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Modi must show courage, stop being blackmailed over reservations

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Prakash Singh
Prakash SinghJun 21, 2016 | 14:05

Modi must show courage, stop being blackmailed over reservations

What happened in Haryana in February 2016, when the state was convulsed by riots over reservations, is a lesson not only for the state but even for the republic.

Unfortunately, there has not been enough serious discussion on the subject and it seems we are neither prepared to learn nor unlearn from the past events.

Reservation

To start with, it was for all intents and purposes an agitation to demand reservation for a particular community. The legitimacy or otherwise of the demand apart, where is the reservation issue leading the country to?

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The Patidars in Gujarat, the Kapus in Andhra Pradesh, the Gujjars in Rajasthan and the Jats in Haryana are all demanding reservations. The queue is likely to get longer in the years to come.

What were the reservations meant for? What was to be the period for such reservations? Has the demand for reservations got distorted into a short cut for employment?

Is India being blackmailed by particular groups for reservations? Has not the country already buckled under pressure in certain cases? Is judiciary now the only bulwark against unreasonable demands by particular communities? These are certain basic questions which need to be discussed and debated.

Unfortunately, vested interests constitute a sizeable vote bank and are so well entrenched that no political party seems to have the courage to take the bull by the horns. And so, the charade goes on.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not show courage, it is unlikely that any other leader in near future would have the spine to deal with this ticklish issue.

The agitation caused a sharp social cleavage. For more than a year before violence broke out in February 2016, leaders from different communities were making vitriolic speeches for and against reservations.

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The rioters had a free run. The police were hardly to be seen. (PTI)

As a consequence, the society gradually got polarised between Jats on one side and non-Jats on the other.

The latter started calling themselves "35 biradaris" against the "36 biradaris" comprising the Haryana society. The Jats felt isolated and ostracised. It fuelled their anger: when the reservationists unleashed violence, homes, shops, schools and business establishment of particular communities were targeted.

The animosity and, at places, even hatred between the Jats and non-Jats was reminiscent of what was seen between Hindus and Muslims during the pre-Partition days.

Could the founding fathers of the Constitution have visualised reservations fracturing the Hindu society in such a sinister manner?

Vandalism

During the agitation, particularly on February 19 and 20, the civil and the police administration in the state virtually collapsed.

The rioters had a free run. They could loot, ransack, burn and vandalise at will. The police were hardly to be seen.

Barring a few honourable exceptions, the officers by and large abdicated their functions. They betrayed either the lack of will to deal with the situation or sneaking sympathy for the rioters or, at worst, connivance with the hooligans.

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Public and private property worth about Rs 20,000 crores was destroyed. Perhaps there has been no other instance of such large-scale self-inflicted wound since Independence.

The High Court of Punjab and Haryana had in the Anti-Corruption Federation of India (Regd) Vs State of Haryana and others, directed the state on January 11, 2013, to abide by the Supreme Court's directions in the destruction of public and private property case to take preventive measures as recommended by the Thomas Committee and make an assessment of loss/damages caused to public/private property as per the guidelines laid down by the Nariman committee. Follow-up action by the state remains to be seen.

Hesitation

The state police, under a new leader, are steadily trying to regain the lost ground.

However, they are still very hesitant and halting in taking measures against those who indulged in the orgy of violence. More than 2,000 cases of rioting were registered.

By simple arithmetic, there would be at least 10,000 accused. The police had, till the end of April, arrested hardly 600 men.

The state government must understand that if it is to avoid a recurrence of similar tragedy, the officers who were derelict or complicit must be suitably punished and the rioters must be brought to book. Half-hearted steps would not be enough.

The unfortunate events also underscore the need and urgency of reorganising, restructuring and rejuvenating the state police. The internal security schemes should be updated. Training of police personnel should get high priority. Police reforms mandated by the SC should be implemented in letter and spirit.

The Army was deployed in a big way, and yet for inexplicable reasons its impact was limited. A total of 74 columns were deployed in the state. It would appear that the Army was not properly utilised, and there was hesitation in using force.

What happened in Haryana was terrible. This could happen in any other state of the Union, if the appropriate lessons are not learnt and remedial measures taken.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)

Last updated: June 21, 2016 | 14:15
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