Abhimanyu fighting with a chariot wheel after his weapons were shattered by enemy troops. Photo source Wikipedia.
By Kaushal Kishore*
In the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi referred to Abhimanyu trapped in the Chakravyuha. He coined the term “Padma-vyuha” to compare it with the party symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Rahul is standing firmly with youth, women and farmers occupied in protests on the streets, in addition to backward classes and scheduled tribes in the name of caste census.
On the other hand, Sheikh Hasina the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh and the 15 million Bengali Hindus are suffering the pains of a deathly trap. Medical professionals are agitated since the rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata. Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, also came onto the streets. She has depicted, in her letter to Prime Minister Modi, about the average of 90 cases per day, however, law and order is one of the state subjects. The next day it was responded with an appeal.
India cannot become Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan under any circumstances. Indian leaders tried hard to practice democratic values, except for the single dark spot during the state of Emergency between 25 June 1975 and 21 March 1977. Today the population of Muslims in India is equal to the population in Bangladesh and Pakistan together. About 800 million Hindus and an equal number of Muslims are living in the Indian subcontinent. The politics of this region need to focus on how to prosper together and maintain internal autonomy and sovereignty.
Back in India, three days after the publication of the advertisement for the lateral entry into the central services, it was taken back on the advice of the top public office. Before that, the cancellation of the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET was reported a day after the examination on June 18, 2024. It fuelled the students’ protests against the NEET paper leak.
The Prime Minister’s Office seems to have restored the reservation policy in recruitment. As such these posts are going to be filled soon. Meanwhile, the opposition leaders raised slogans such as ‘Repealing the Constitution’ loudly during the election campaigns. The leaders of the ruling alliance also made a case for reservation recently.
All these issues including lateral entry and reservation went to be a part of the moving wheel of the trap. The government is trying hard to stand against his strategy and defeat it. But it cannot be child’s play to control the NEET paper leaks. The rising inflation and population are further adding to the woes of unemployment among the youth. In addition to them, the separatist elements are active not only in the Kashmir Valley and Punjab but also in the Northeast including West Bengal and Assam. Most of such elements are prepared to dispatch the trapped Abhimanyu.
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi mentioned the 36 types of formations including Chakravyuha and Padmavyuha in the Upper House of Parliament. He redefined the lotus as the seat of the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi along with the knowledge, Saraswati. Trivedi further wished for the lotus to bloom and ensure prosperity in the nation.
The Narendra Modi government does not endorse the apex court on the removal of the creamy layer in the reservation, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav informed us on behalf of the government. However, the Dalit rights activists continued with the protest against the verdict of the top court on this issue. The impacts of the flexibility of the government were reflected in the nationwide strike by Aarakshan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti on August 21, 2024. The opposition has treated it as a kind of back-door politics of the government. On June 2, 2018, the first such call for Bharat Bandh was given after the ban on immediate arrest under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Act. Another series of demonstrations began after the verdict of the Manipur High Court which was taken back. The backgrounds of these three public outrages are quite different. But the court is a common source in every case.
The creamy layer ruling of the seven judges Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud reflected the progressive attitudes. Dalit intellectual Dilip Mandal denounced it and further referred to the Parliament as the right place for such a Constitutional amendment. Most backward sections will get the real benefit of reservation only when the rich people among the benefitting classes are ready to give them opportunities. In the absence of its acceptance among the public, mere adjudication can only increase the burden of cases in the court of law. Mandal appreciated the government on the lateral entry before connecting it with the idea of the Hindutva that Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had envisioned in the 20th century.
Mandal is now an advisor to the Union Government in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and this is a new example of lateral entry without issuing an advertisement. Economists like Dr Man Mohan Singh and Sanjeev Sanyal among the list of civil servants is an outcome of similar lateral entries. It won’t surprise some of us here, in case, Sanyal eventually governs the Reserve Bank of India like Dr. Singh. The total recruitments were less than fifty. It will be in the national interest, in case all these seats are filled up with a similarly qualified individual. The opposition leaders can try hard to contain, but cannot stop the nation.
On the appeal of Prime Minister Modi, at least ten million people of the affluent class voluntarily left the subsidy on the LPG cylinders. After taking benefits of reservation anyone belonging to the creamy layer should automatically give up for unprivileged Dalits. Intellectuals like Mandal and leaders like Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi can help introduce such an initiative. Ram Das Athawale and Mayawati can be approached to make it more meaningful. The people involved in the politics of division and hatred need to be identified. The rest needs to be engaged in public service and nation-building to proceed with a series of celebrations before the centenary of the independence in 2047.
The clinking of the hundred rupees coins dedicated to the centenary of the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) founder M. Karunanidhi is also a part of the public discourse. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is generous while praising Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and thereby the government.
Corruption and 2G spectrum scams are synonymous with one another. To help its accused Kanimozhi, the sister of Stalin, and friends like A. Raja is a must. The coronation of Udaynidhi as the next heir is another dream before the DMK supremo. Last year they initiated a dedicated campaign to distort the definition of Sanatana Dharma and now they are trying to create a new ground to align with the ruling alliance i.e. the National Democratic Alliance. Before the end of the 20th century, Karunanidhi also supported the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The triumvirate leading the BJP today Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Jagat Prakash Nadda have expressed their commitment towards the coalition government and Sangh Parivar. The proposed amendment in the Waqf Board Act seems to be an answer to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leadership. From the ramparts of the Red Fort, the Prime Minister talks about the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) instead of the secular civil code. The new pension scheme for the central services is yet another government stroke.
At the same time, the common citizen needs to look after himself or herself lest he or she become a new Abhimanyu by getting trapped in political manoeuvring.
*Kaushal Kishore is the author of The Holy Ganga, Rupa 2008. The views published here are personal.
