E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

166 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtin some cases to terrorism and worse. The elements offederalism in our system have been found to be too inadequate,and even the earnestness to explore their adequacy or resiliencehas been conspicuous by its absence.Though I have mentioned caste as a powerful factor thatis undermining the spirit of oneness, I do not propose to dealwith all aspects of the question including the justification forreservations, their impact, and so on. But a few aspects need tobe pointed out:(1) In the years after Independence, caste consciousnesshas been escalated to an unprecedented pitch;(2) This has been done primarily by politicans whohave talked in the name of social justice, butpresented escalating demands as part of theirmanoeuvres to appeal to vote-banks;(3) As in the case of communal vote-banks, in this case,too, the competition among parties, has induced allparties to take populist stances, and then becomevictims of their own stances;(4) This has prevented an objective examination of themost effective ways of ending all discriminationand disadvantages, and the caste system itself. Therelative effectiveness of reverse discriminations andrepeated extensions of reservations in securingjustice and equality to those who suffer from theeffects of traditional social discrimination (andeconomic disadvantages), and in making the castesystem illegal-whether there is any element ofcounter-productiveness in the present methodscannotbe discussed in the atmosphere of populistfrenzy that is whipped up;(5) In spite of the provisions in the Constitution aboutuntouchability and the laws that have been enacted,