National shame !!!!

'National Shame' is what the Supreme Court has termed the week long violence by Gujjar groups and rightly so.No politician worth his salt could have termed it a national shame as that would have meant goodbye to gujjar votes at the time of elections.But the week long orgy of violence for claiming ST status raises a big question mark over the flawed reservation policy.
Gujjars have OBC status and were happy with it until the NDA govt. ,led by A.B.Vajpayee ,included the well off Jats into the OBC category.Now,the Gujjars want to be shifted downwards into the ST category so that they can get more benefit in education and employment.This is being bitterly opposed by Meenas who have been reaping rich dividends of their ST status and are in no mood to share the reservation pie.This has become a catch 22 situation for the governments both at the state and in the centre.If they give Gujjars ST status they risk antagonizing the Meenas and vice-versa.
The administration has to take a fair share of the blame for the violence spiraling out of control,instead of being reactive they should have been proactive.The killing of six people in police firing acted as a trigger and after that the police was clearly on the defensive because of the political repercussions.The TV news channels did their best to inflame the passions by repeatedly showing disturbing visuals and providing undue publicity to mischief mongers.
The mere fact that caste groups are clamoring to get themselves declared more backward than the others points to the abject failure of reservation policy in uplifting these groups.Because if a community after enjoying reservation in a particular category for a considerable period wants to be shifted downwards,it speaks volumes of the efficacy of the reservation policy and its implementation.Reservation ,for all purpose,has become a tool in the hands of the creamy layers to corner all advantages for themselves.It is high time that the government wakes up and starts giving reservation only on economic grounds.