ISSUES OF CONCERN

excluded for centuries did not qualify
to be an exceptional people to warrant
exceptional policy measure. As a matter
of fact, it was accepted by the larger
society. The second condition warrants
formulation of policy in such a way that
it would hit at the root of the problem.
This formulation was obvious but never
paid attention to. If the reservations
were projected as an antidote for the
disability of the society to treat its
own members with equity, the society
would be motivated to overcome it and
end the reservation. But it is made
out that the Dalits were backward and
needed a helping hand of the state for
coming up to the normal level. It
naturally provokes adverse reactions that
why should the society of ‘meritorious
persons’ be made to subsidize or support
the ‘unmeritorious’ ones. Worse, it
endorses the age-old prejudices that the
Dalits are inherently backward. The
reservations in this form also appear
perpetual because of its premise as well
as absence of any statement on its
terminability.
Prof. Teltumbde - after speaking
at an event [39] organized by Ambedkar
Periyar Study Circle, IIT - Madras (2015)
But whatever positive attributes this
colonial policy possessed were mutilated
and reservations were surreptitiously
forged into a weapon in the hands of
the ruling classes. They firstly violated
the exceptional principle and extended
it to the tribals. It is not my argument
that the tribals were not the excluded
people or were not prejudiced against,
although they are not a part of the caste
system. If they needed to be extended
these reservations, the existing schedule
could have been expanded to include
them. It would have dampened the
stigma associated with the schedule for
Dalits. It was easily doable but this was
not done.
The design behind all these intrigues
was to keep castes alive. The British
had created a separate schedule for the
Dalits and left behind their association
with the Hindu caste system. If the ruling
classes wanted, the castes also could
have been outlawed. The outlawing
of untouchability then would have been
redundant. But all this was not done. Not
only reservation principle was diluted, it
was made open ended by incorporating
an article in the constitution which would
provide for the state (read politicians)
to identify such classes (read castes)
which were socially and educationally
backward. We have discussed this part
already.
What needs to be understood is that
reservations can never substitute the
basic policy of empowerment of people
in terms of health care, education, and
security of livelihood. In absence of such
a policy in place, they will always remain
a tool in the hands of the ruling classes to
manipulate masses.
Thus, the castes were consecrated
into the constitution. It may not be
wrong to say that much of the castes that
we suffer today are the constitutional
castes. It is an unfortunate paradox
that the constitution, because of its
association with Babasaheb Ambedkar as
February 2016 Issues Of CONCERN No. 7 19