WHERE IS INDIA’S MAINSTREAM?(28/03/2014)

Posted in Capital, I am in search of my nation’s mainstream, which appears to have got lost after independence. Prior to independence Mahatma Gandhi had always opposed the “Divide & Rule” policy of the British. It was obvious and very correct since it aimed at dividing the populace to keep a firm grip on their colony. The Poona Pact of 1932 reminds me of Mahatma’s opposition to “Separate Electorate”.  The purpose was to keep everyone in the mainstream. United we stand divided we fall. I do not know why no one opposed reservation in 1950 and on the contrary gave it a Constitutional backing. Dr. Ambedkar, I am told had expected reservation to be withdrawn after 10 years; but this remains in force even after 66 years- does this mean India failed to achieve the goals of social justice as envisioned by Dr. Ambedkar, even after 66 years? This speaks poorly of the caliber of people who ruled the nation since independence- Nehru, Indira, Rajiv, Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh et al. Thus 27% of population followed a different stream other than the mainstream on the day India made its tryst with destiny. This reservation was further widened to include the OBCs in 1991. Thus people who were in the mainstream till 1991 and considered well off, socially and economically, became a deprived lot after 45 years of independence, which meant that the progress of nation was in reverse gear. Thus after 45 years of independence 49.5% had deflected from mainstream. The minorities i,e, the Muslims (15% of population), the Buddhist, and the Christians were already considered to belong to a separate stream.  Now the Jains (5%) and the Jats and so on and so forth continue to drift away from the mainstream and I wonder whether there exist any mainstream in our nation after 66 years of independence? Our ruling elite have polluted the nation by their “Divide and Rule’ policy, so much so that this mainstream has dried up in the same manner many of the rivers of India have dried due to pollution. The remaining population of the so called mainstream may follow suit in coming years as Ganga tends to be moving towards extinction. We may well become a nation of dead.