Revendra
The self-appointed Kapu reservations crusader, Mr Mudragada Padmanabam was a Member of Parliament and Member of Legislative Assembly during his political peak. He also served as state cabinet minister. Undoubtedly, he sure knows that once the investigation agencies take up the issue, and file the case, it ends at the court. Nothing is above the rule of law, and the courts ensure fair trail to the accused (irrespective of the case). It is bizarre that Mr. Mudragada is demanding the unconditional release of all those accused in Tuni violence. If he has any evidence against the involvement of those arrested for Tuni incidents, he can produce it in the court, and work towards their release. Instead, he has threatened to consume poison and then chosen to go on indefinite fasting. Demanding the unconditional release of those who participated in the Tuni violence is beyond shocking, and is drawing severe flak from his own community.
The actor turned politician Dr. K. Chiranjeevi’s fantastic performance at Cine MAA awards made his fans across the world jubilant, and everyone felt he is back to what he is good at. Within a day, he came out lashing the TDP government and in support of Mr. Mudragada’s fasting. Later he was joined by the very leaders who were part of the Congress during the last two ruling terms, and failed to do anything for these communities including the demand for reservations.
Though Chiranjeevi is an icon, and others including Mudragada are a respected politicians among the Kapu communities, it is still unclear how they can represent the entire communities, and how they achieved consensus that the Kapu communities require nothing other than reservations in the government jobs and higher educational institutions. The discourse is that all the Kapu communities are not socially backward, and economic backwardness among them is more or less similar to the other castes in the society.
The society is already divided on caste, region and religion lines. The public are facing several forms of discrimination in every walk of life. The duty rests on the shoulders of the leaders to show the direction, and make people believe that caste will not hinder while achieving social equity. Unfortunately, our politicians thrive on these caste and religious differences.
These age old politics on caste continue to give another lease of life to the opportunistic politicians and their kith and kin. It appears that the public, politicians, and the government are stuck with the belief that reservations are the only solution to eradicate the socio-economic inequalities. Earlier this year, Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India asserted that no changes will be made to the Union Government’s reservation policy, so as to deprive the weaker sections of society, of their existing entitlements.
Is there an alternative caste-neutral solution providing equal opportunities to the socio-economically backward communities in the society? Though there have been few debates and few ideas suggested, none of them are convincing. The issue of Kapu reservations provides an opportunity to brainstorm and create a discourse on the alternatives to reservations for social justice. The onus is on the current generation and the aspiring leaders to focus on the alternatives to reservations, promote ideas of socio-economic equality, and attempt to leapfrog the barriers of caste.
