Sagar Kamble
The recent Supreme Court judgement that came out on dividing SC-STs reservation into subcategories and applying the creamy layer clause to their reservation is evidence of how the Upper caste people in India view the idea and mission of social justice. Instead of focusing on which caste groups, communities among the lower castes and Adivasis have remained most backward, or sometimes unrepresented, what if we focus on the upper castes that are overrepresented, affluent at such levels that show mountainous differences between their share in power, positions, wealth, representation and the share of lower castes!
Without this comparison, the Brahmin-Savarna propaganda on reservations implies that they are not the reason for the miserable conditions of most backward communities from SC-ST groups. They shift the blame to other castes within the SC-ST groups, implying their other brethren castes are the reason for these miserable conditions. In reality, those castes are at what level? A little fine at the survival goals! This narrative creates division and tension within the SC-ST communities, rather than addressing the systemic issues caused by historical discrimination and inequality.
This propaganda of (Right-Left-Liberal) Upper castes shows that they explicitly think: this is a matter of concern between SCs (lower castes), and they have nothing to do with it. In other words, they have declared, clearly, that there is no fraternity between them and lower castes, so why should they bother about it? These lower castes should look out for themselves, and fight among them for the alms or bounty we (state-rulers) are giving. The ‘deserving’ logic of subgroupings for reservation has no ending, its instrumentality can go almost up to the example where they can say- the elder brother is snatching the job of sweeper or peon from the younger brother. But on the other hand, there is a whole other world, lacs of acres of land, jobs in public and private sectors, monopoly of wealth and ownerships. The problem for hundreds of SCs and STs is not, that a few of them are comparatively doing well, but this whole other unreached world that Brahmin-Savarnas have kept safe for them. That Savarna reserved land!
There are unfilled reserved jobs in the government that created a huge backlog of SC-ST reserved posts. There are scanty SC-ST faculties in central educational institutes, and negligible in IIT-IIMs. These sub-category supporters Savarna people have deceived the various caste groups among SCs. They consider themselves wise and benevolent judges, but could not raise a single voice against their monopoly over the country. They made their way of ending the reservation by either supporting EWS or remaining silent on it. Whatever they might have been saying in their sweet scholarly words and speeches, they have constantly refused to form the fraternity with the lower castes. In recent decades, Upper castes (across religions) have captured the employment opportunities and economic benefits of the private sector, under the guise of merit and their version of the free market. But how do they have it? They have made immoral monopolised use of state apparatus and state money. With the monopolising of land, resources, dignity and power to make policies, Brahmin-Savarnas have created a barrier to fraternity. There is no single unified India with fraternity yet, And the onus of this crime lies with the Brahmin-Savarnas- left, right, liberals, woke….
The upper castes declaring ‘decaste or casteless’ narrative proved useless against caste discrimination. In this recent discussion over the sub-category judgement they play the same big-hearted judges when they say it is the landmark judgement which gives justice to the real ‘deserved.’ They do not even think that they are part of the injustice upon all SC-STs, across all groups and subgroups. Their responses are just emotional games they are playing to save their privileges, monopoly. These all benevolent upper-caste prophets have been completely silent over the EWS quota which perpetuates their monopoly. Decaste is a myth! Disempowering the Brahmins and Upper caste (across the religion) is the need for reforming the caste system as an age-old perpetual structure. Will the legal and political discourse of our country think of disempowering the privileged?
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Sagar Kamble is a Research Scholar in Political Theory.
