It was just another day in a small hotel nearby Law College
which functions as a canteen of the college itself. I was already getting late
and was rushing with my lunch. Since this is the final semester and it is time
for Internal Moot court sessions, students all the while are discussing about it.
And I was explaining my friend Raghu on how to prepare the memorials for moot,
he was not happy with the problem he was given, after expressing his
displeasure on the problem he left and I continued with my lunch.
Throughout the conversation there was an old man who
appeared to be in his mid sixties was keenly observing us, who was seated in
front of me also was having lunch.
Old Man: Advocate, sir
Me: Who, are you talking to me?
Old Man: Yes, sir.
Me: I am not an advocate.
Old Man: I am very impressed by your explanation to your
class mate.
Me: I was just telling what I knew.
Old Man: I have a question for you.
Me: Ok, what is that?
Old Man: When our constitution says there is no caste and
other discrimination why it still exists? Why are we asked to fill our caste
etc., when we fill any government forms?
That was a good poser. This was also the subject ie., Art:14
(Equality before law) and Art:38 (State to ensure social justice) and
Art:15(Special Provisions) of Indian constitution on which I had to argue that afternoon
right after lunch. I was given a case and I had to argue on all these points in
the internal moot court competition.
That case was on Land acquisition. Govt acquires a shelter
home and wantonly leaves out a property of a politician’s house which is
adjacent to that shelter home, ie., the politician gets away with the process
because of his influence in the govt. I had to argue for shelter home as a
counsel for petitioner and seek the quashing of acquisition process as the
whole process is not bonafide. And I was thoroughly prepared and ready for the
argument. This question from the old man was a calling for
practice.
Me: No, sir. It is not like that. What you are saying is
only partially correct. Govt. wants to know which social group you belong to,
if you are from certain community you might need to be given the reservation
and other perks etc., and we should not make a rigid interpretation of Art:14 –
Equality before law.
And I further told him that if he really wants to abolish
all that and bring about equality he should stop accepting the benefits if he was
receiving already in the name of reservation. And stop voting to the parties
which base their politics on caste, religion and reservation politics. What I
have understood is that his target was primarily the caste than religion. And I
also told him as per the provisions of Art: 15, the state can make reasonable
classifications for the benefit of Women,children and sc/st etcf., that does
not infringe Art:14 at all, because he was quoted Art:14 more than once.
He also cited that
Ambedkar only wanted this for 10 years but it continues till date. I was really
excited and positive to see his reach of the knowledge. He further continued
with his cynicism, i.e., he wants a revolution to happen which could settle the
balance and make things even. I was already getting late for the class. I just
laughed at him and walked away by saying good bye.
By the time he used the word “Puratchi” (Revolution) in his
conversation for more than couple of times, I have understood that I was talking
to a communist so far. This is the
problem with communists; they have severely abused the word “Revolution” and
have committed genocides time and again in its name. But when it comes to the
practice of democracy, for them it is a long shot.
I pondered over as I was walking towards my class, what
makes caste so persistent that it cannot be wished away from our society. There are two groups which are responsible
for this perpetuation, the group which works to eradicate this distinction from
our society and the other group is the one which wants it to remain to run
their business, the reason for its existence could be that the former group is
not working hard or the later group is working so hard to keep it alive, in
addition to these two there is another actor ie., the Indian voter. Only if voter
recognizes the fact that if he continues to vote on caste preferences then
there will be no change in the status quo. He must start demanding answers from
the ruling clique on its duties and performance lapses, only then things will
change.
