Manu's Third Coming by B.R.P Bhaskar

(BRP Bhaskar is a veteran journalist based in Trivandrum)
http://groups.msn.com/BABUBHASKAR/profile.msnw
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It is natural for Capitalism's mouthpieces, whom V. K. Krishna Menon dubbed the "jute press", and the later electronic avatars to sound the bugles for an agitation sponsored by Big Business
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Medical students of Delhi began their Yaga in mid-May with the slogan "Youth for Equality". In fact they are fighting not for equality, but for perpetuation of privilege. They are trying to destroy the constitutional provision that compels them to share with other sections the positions that their forebears had reserved exclusively for their own kind centuries ago.

What is supposed to have irked the students is the Central government's decision to provide reservation for the backward classes in institutions of higher education. The national media has dubbed this decision "Mandal II". They have labeled it thus in order to arouse emotions by rekindling dying memories of the agitation which the BJP had mounted by lining up Upper Caste students when V. P. Singh, as Prime Minister, picked up the Mandal Commission report that had been gathering dust in some government office and introduced reservation in Central government service.

It has come to light that this rich kids' agitation has been organized by a Big Business lobby with the help of a public relations agency and an event management outfit. If you have an advertising agency with you you can easily spread untruth coining good slogans. The effort to perpetuate privilege has thus become a struggle for equality.

It is natural for Capitalism's mouthpieces, whom V. K. Krishna Menon dubbed the "jute press", and the later electronic avatars to sound the bugles for an agitation sponsored by Big Business. They are making their own contribution to the propagation of untruth. They are spreading the word that the Congress, which heads the UPA government at the Centre, took the new reservation decision with an eye to the recent State Assembly elections. There were elections in four States. Neither the Congress nor any other party made this reservation decision an election issue in any of these States.

On August 12 last year the Supreme Court had said in a judgment that reservation could not be extended to private schools that worked without aid from the state. In accordance with the decision of an all-party meeting convened by the Central government on August 23 to consider this matter Parliament enacted a constitutional amendment in December to overcome that judgment. The recent government action is on the basis of that.

Another untruth propagated by the anti-reservationists is that reservation, which the Constitution had limited for 10 years, was being continued indefinitely. Article 15 (4) of the Constitution, which empowers the state to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward sections does not prescribe any time limit.

It was for the reservation in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes that the Constitution had prescribed a time limit. The time limit it for this reservation originally was 15 years, not 10 years. Subsequently the deadline has been extended through constitutional amendments for 10 years at a time.

Article 15 (4) was not in the Constitution when it came into force in 1950. Madras Province and some princely states like Travancore and Mysore had introduced reservation for backward sections in government service before Independence. After some persons approached the court saying this was against the Constitution and the court upheld their argument. Parliament in 1951 added clause (4) to Article 15.

Another untruth propagated by the agitators and their sponsors is that they are opposed not to reservation but to the division of society on caste lines. Reservation introduced before Independence was based on caste. However, the Constitution makes no reference to caste. The relevant clause speaks of "socially and educationally backward classes of citizens". When the question whether caste-based reservation was permissible was raised, the Supreme Court made it clear that caste could be factor in determining backwardness.

Malayalam media are also among those who are propagating falsehood about reservation. At least two letters which contain the kind of untruth mentioned above were seen in the Mathrubhumi daily. The readers who wrote the letters may be forgiven as they may be ignorant of the constitutional provisions and our recent history. Must the editors who published them also be pardoned in the name of ignorance?

When the demand for removal of caste-based disabilities is raised, some remain indifferent pretending they stand above caste considerations. Their pretense has to be exposed. It is nonsense to suggest that reservation divides people on caste lines and perpetuates the caste system. Those who suffer caste-based disabilities will never want to perpetuate the caste system.

The medical students and the media that support them have raised the question "How long will this continue?" which anti-reservationists have asked from time to time. There is a simple answer for this question. Reservation is a device to mitigate social and educational backwardness. When a group ceases to be backward, reservation for that group will automatically end. Home come clever boys and girls who get into professional colleges through tough competitive examinations are not able to get this answer?

Questions like "Is reservation beneficial?" and "Is it right to continue it even six decades after Independence?" have also been raised lately. Actually it is only in a few areas like Kerala and Tamil Nadu that reservation has existed for such a long period. That the backward sections of these States are better off than comparable groups in States which did not introduce reservation proves that it is beneficial.

Although the constitutional provision which empowers the state to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes came into force in 1951 until V. P. Singh became Prime Minister three decades later neither the Centre nor the northern States took any steps in that regard. V. P. Singh introduced reservation in government service. It has taken two more decades to extend it to the higher education sector. The Narendran Commission report shows that even in Kerala, where reservation has been in force for long, the rulers have been lax in implementing it.

Some mischievous minds have been trying to confuse people by mixing up social backwardness with economic backwardness. They demand reservation for the poor of the forward classes. Social backwardness resulting from centuries of suppression on the basis of caste is a phenomenon peculiar to South Asia. It is not quite the same as economic backwardness, which can be seen in all societies.

The Constitution, as it now stands, does not permit reservation on economic basis. If the government takes any steps to help those affected economic backwardness, it should make no distinction between the backward and the forward. All poor must get the benefit of such measures, regardless of caste and religion.

What Delhi is witnessing is not the Second Coming of Mandal, as th media tells us, but the Thid Coming of Manu. It was the Vedic society that invented the caste system. Spokesmen of the Vedic tradition are seeking to mobilize support for it by presenting it as the work of Manu. The Self-Created (Swayambhu) Manu is in fact an imaginary character, who was created by inheritors of the Vedic tradition with retrospective effect.

Buddhists and Jains fought the Vedic system and liberated the people from the caste and geneder based disabilities imposed by it. Around 150 BCE, the Sunga dynasty established a Brahmin empire in the north. It was during the Sunga period that Manava Dharma Sastra, which is known as Manusmriti, was composed. Its author was a member of the Bhrigu clan named Sumati Bhargava. A work of the 4th century, which was popularized in the name of Narada, records this information. After Manu the Self-Created was invented the Vedic establishment suppressed the author's name and attributed the work to him.

Three centuries after Manava Dharma Sastra was written, during the period of the Satavahana kings, the scholarly Yagnavalkya wrote a new system of laws, eliminating the extreme Brahmin devotion of Sumati Bhargava. His liberal approach was not acceptable to the Vedic establishment. It continued to swear by Manu. After Buddhism declined and the Vedic society appropriated the Jain god Hari they began to implement the ideas of Manu. Thus Manu gained ascendancy.

Our constitution, which envisages equality and equal opportunities, does not subscribe to Manu's theory of caste supremacy. But inheritors of the Vedic tradition are occupying commanding positions in many fields. They are more in tune with Manu than with the constitution. The anti-reservationists who claim that they win competitive examinations on merit must give some thought to the basis of their merit. If they do this truthfully, they will realize that a good part of this merit is the contribution of the fortunate circumstances of their birth. The caste system, while creating favourable circumstances for some sections, created unfavorable circumstances for some others. These sections are still not free from the impact of these circumstances. That is why reservation has become necessary.

The organized effort now being made by social and economic vested interests will pave the way for the Third Coming of Manu. It is necessary to defeat them. This is not a need of Dalits and Bahujans alone. It is a need of all those who stand for equality and equal opportunities.