 |
| The Hindu Phenomenon |
|
Appendix 3 - The Older Order Changeth... |
|
|
|
|
| The
question was not of social justice. It was of power. The other
backward castes were able to challenge the examination system
of recruitment to government jobs because some of them, such as the
Yadavs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, had done remarkably well
economically and politically and sought to capture the state
apparatus through reservations. They provided the numbers and muscle
for V.P.Singh's ascent to the office of Prime Minister in 1989.
The Mandal decision was deeply divisive of Hindus in north India and potentially disruptive of the quality of the administration. No administration can cope with as high a level of reservations as 50 per cent: 27 per cent jobs in the government are already reserved for scheduled castes and tribes and certain categories and the Mandal Commission report provides for 22.5 per cent more reservations. V.P.Singh could not have been unaware of this reality. Perhaps he did not care. Perhaps he made the move precisely because he knew it would greatly embarrass the BJP in view of its commitment to unite Hindus. Whatever his calculations and intentions, the BJP had to fight back and it could not do so on the ground of his choice. It had to look for another.
|
|
|
|
| About Appendix 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
