We seem to be in a regressive mode
Commission. They are targeting the Bihar assembly elections in 2020. By then they would have prepared themselves to face the ground realities.
Here it may be worth recalling that BSP leader Kanshi Ram had chosen to pursue a different path before jumping into politics, through an organisation of employed Dalit youth called the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti, also known as DS-4. He gave them a political awakening and their efforts paved the way for the formation of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Today the BSP is the third largest party in the country by vote share. While it is true that the BSP has made great strides by talking about Dalits and backwards, it is also true that it had to enlarge its circle to taste power.
In 2007, in a major shift in the party’s policies, Mayawati joined hands with Brahmins, perceived to be the party’s opponents. The results were astonishing. This incredible recipe for a majority took the BSP to the summit of power.
If graduates from the nation’s top institutions begin to act on caste or religious lines, wouldn’t it weaken the spirit of India? Anyway there is a widely held belief that Indians like to introduce themselves by suffixing their region, religion or caste. In a country with a population of 125 crores, those who introduce themselves as Indians are rare. Before Independence, had freedom fighters educated abroad — such as Ram Mohan Roy, Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose – acted on the basis of caste and religion, would we have won Independence? The British strongly believed in the policy of divide and rule. Today, when attempts are being made to divide the entire world on the basis of religion and caste, every educated individual is expected to stand up against this sinister plot. The Karnataka elections have again proved that it is still not possible.
Are we progressing or regressing as a society?
Shashi Shekhar is editorinchief Hindustan