Politics over reservation is back as Patel reservation stir in Mehsana, Gujarat turned violent for the State administration to declare a curfew in the area. This also happens to be the constituency of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and the whole drama is for publicity stunt for seeking attention for the release of Patidhar agitation leader Hardik Patel who is in jail for sedition charges. We are today living in the 21st century where protests, agitations, strikes etc to fulfill unreasonable demands should have no place and the law should take its own course to deal with such forms of crime. The incident can be compared to crimes such as hijack and kidnapping for ransom or getting release of hardcore militants and the government should be severe on such protesters so that these incidents do not occur in future. Emergency should be declared if the situation worsens or goes out of hand but stern lessons needs to be put across so that law and machinery of the land is respected by all.
Reservations over religion or caste should have no place in a democracy though subsidies can be given to the poorest of the poor irrespective of their religion. Education is the need of the hour and we must target cent percent literacy in our country to eliminate all such forms of crimes from our shores!
S.N. Kabra
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
