Retributions  

The crisis in Rajasthan shows no signs of improvement. Further violence has been reported: police stations burned down, and court buildings razed to the ground. While both state and the center have rushed additional forces to ground zero, police are clearly operating under strict instructions not to engage the protesters. With a bandh call being given, the situation is only expected to worsen.

The politicians are as usual busy stoking the fire. Dausa M.P Sachin Pilot has called it another ”Jallianwalla Bagh”despite the fact that the mob was clearly leaderless and violent; at least four policemen were lynched and several had their limbs hacked. 5 Gurjar M.LA’s of B.J.P have offered to resign. With the state facing elections next year, and Gurjars being a powerful community, no party can afford to lose their support.

Quite clearly, the politicians have learned no lessons. What has happened in Rajasthan is the natural culmination of the politics of identity. Politicians have benefited from pitting one community against the other and in the process have made impossible promises. Even the current crisis owes its origins to the 1999 decision of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to accord the OBC status to the numerically powerfull jats. The state government followed suit and soon jats were capturing a disproportionate share of the OBC pie. Naturally, Gurjars felt disenfranchised and demanded that they be moved to the Scheduled Tribe category, currently the exclusive preserve of the Meena community. Enter Vijayraje Scindia and B.J.P who promised them this status during the 2003 elections. Gurjars voted en masse in favor of B.J.P and it swept to power.

But Meenas were hardly likely to give up so easily. So for the last four years, B.J.P has been playing delaying games, presumably hoping that the demand can be brushed under the carpet till the 2008 elections. Unfortunately for B.J.P and Rajasthan, Gurjar patience finally ran out and this country was witness to the sickening violence of the last two days.

There is no easy solution to the crisis in Rajsthan. Whatever decision the government takes, it will end up antagonizing one or the other community. This again brings into focus an issue of utmost importance: The lack of data for reservations. Politicians have famously declared that they can look around and ‘’see” backwardness (and so can many bloggers, apparently), and any attempt to inculcate a degree of accountability to the reservation system has been met with fierce resistance. Even the Supreme Court questioning of the Arjun Singh’s orchestrated decision to impose OBC quota in institutions of higher education was immediately dubbed castiest.

It’s still not too late. If the government believes that reservations are the only way certain sections of society can progress, it should be based on a scientifically collected data and not homespun notions of backwardness. A properly documented system with checks and balances and introduction of creamy layer would ensure that benefits truly go the marginalized sections of the society and are not usurped by the powerful.

Otherwise, what happened in Rajasthan will be repeated elsewhere and more lives will be lost.

Update: Pratap Bhanu Mehta weighs in,

In short, the agitation is a product of multiple absurdities by the state. It exposes the degree to which reservation has no connection with fairness, has created new forms of domination in the social justice garb, and that sends the message to every community: you better mobilise on community identity if you want to be heard. It is not a coincidence that just days before this agitation, there was a call for Rajputs in Rajasthan to mobilise as a single community to demand benefits from the state. This pattern is, in various forms, going to be repeated in many states: communities clamouring to be included in one category or the other, or for further sub-classification.[link]

Update 2- It just keeps getting worse.

Groups belonging to the Meena community, opposing the demand of Gurjars for Scheduled Tribe status, on Thursday threatened to use force to lift the highway blockades placed by the agitating Gurjars.
If these are not lifted we will do it by using force,” several local-level leaders of Meenas, who belong to the ST category and have substantial representation in the government as well as political parties, told a gathering at the temple area.[link]