Aarakshan/Reservation

I was delighted when I turned 18, because that very year, 1989, the Indian government decided to lower the voting age from 21 years to 18. I could now cast my vote and decide who my leaders were going to be. I went proudly with my Dad to the polling booth at Greater Kailash, was thrilled to get the black ink on my finger, went behind the screen and cast my secret ballot!

I voted for VP Singh who was an upright politician with tremendous goodwill.I loved him till he got bitten by the Reservation bug and wanted to implement the Mandal Commission recommendations. In college, we were flummoxed by the decision. We had studied hard and fought tooth and nail for admission into coveted courses and colleges in the Delhi University.And now, on the basis of the heinous Hindu legacy of caste, India was ready to write off a number of seats in colleges and government organisations to those who belonged to the backward classes? Where was the walking into, nay striding into the 21st century, building on India’s competencies?

But we were young, full of enthusiasm, confident in our belief that we would protest and the government would change its mind. We made stickers on ‘Anti-Mandal’, ‘No reservation’ and distributed these on the major traffic junctions. We wore Anti Mandal t-shirts and participated in demonstrations against the same. Rajiv Goswami tried to immolate himself and there was distress and a huge uproar. That year, DU exams got postponed because of the protests and weeks that the colleges shut down.But this was a political decision - one aimed at garnering a larger vote bank, much like the slums in our cities do. There was no pulling back.

In these 20 odd years, it would be worth a study to see how much the OBCs have progressed because of the Reservation wand - one that made eunuchs of regular people like us. Today, many of those seats go empty while the truly deserving ones have to struggle hard, getting above 95% to get into any college of repute.

My disenchantment with my voting rights, my inability to make a difference to my own life because I am in the minority hit me big time. The disillusionment with the politicians who deliberately ruined it for us was intense. It also angered me that I had equal voting rights as the others who contribute nothing to the system, live off it like parasites and who my tax money is supposed to support.

Perhaps I was wrong in never going back to vote. And I have watched with growing horror how there are few educated leaders and all corrupt politicians and bureaucrats who run the show. How this democracy has become a sham and is now moving towards and oligarchy, with the power vested with a few.

And yet I am not sure that my vote will change anything. Ever.