15/06/09

baap ka raj

The argument being made against quotas for Muslims is that they will create resentment and generate a backlash. This is a weighty argument and it is almost certainly true, although it is unlikely that the victims of the backlash will be the same as the beneficiaries of quotas. Quotas by their very nature directly benefit only a few individuals and their extended families. Does that not create resentment among the hapless many against the resourceful few who have learnt to manipulate the regime of quotas to their own advantage?
not going into details of what the baap of all quota opponents has to say on the merits of reservations and affirmative action etc in general, and reservations for women in particular, because those are strictly arguments for those among the brahminized classes who either support or oppose quotas, i'd like you to look at the premises from which he speaks:
* this is our baap ka raj- we discuss and decide whether you get a quota or not.
* though we're fewer in number, a minority, our resentment is always the resentment of the 'hapless many' (read: the real majority) because this is our baap ka raj.
* we do not like the 'manipulators' among you who succeed in using the 'regime of quotas' to their advantage to get into our raj- we know they're manipulators because everyone knows you're totally without merit. if you want to gain entry into our baap ka raj, you'll have to learn to behave.

and going further, exploring a little what learning to behave means:
* our baap ka raj essentially looks after the interests of our baap's children, us. your interests don't count, so remember that, always.
* in our baap ka raj, we set the agenda, obviously. when we say 'iits', you don't say 'common schools'. when we say 'security', you don't say 'justice'. when we say 'infrastructure', you don't say 'drinking water'. and so on.
* this being a democracy, unfortunately, we've to speak for us and you. but remember, this is our baap ka raj, so your rights don't count. if you can give up the filthy practice of caste, all of you will prosper just as all the castes among us have.

4 comments:

anu said...

bitterly funny, sadly true!

kuffir said...

-'Quotas by their very nature directly benefit only a few individuals and their extended families.'

i wonder how useful that makes the institutions where without quotas even 'a few individuals and their extended families' from underprivileged communities can't get in.

anu said...

>>i wonder how useful that makes the institutions where without quotas even 'a few individuals and their extended families' from underprivileged communities can't get in.

that is the classic falling for the crumbs strategy. A successful one, keeps the rhetoric alive that reservation has cost the majority opportunities and only few individuals from minorities have benefitted and so forth.
Shut it down completely. And we will take it from there.

kuffir said...

'Shut it down completely. And we will take it from there.'

that's inspiring. i feel like adding- and we'd show you how to run things better.

 
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