BJP objects to a Directive

The BJP has objected to a government directive which urged posting of some Muslim policemen in areas with large minority populations. BJP also objected to another directive which urged more Muslim teachers and health personnel in such areas.

BJP said:

“Is it just and fair … to presume that even after 60 years of Independence, a non-Muslim police officer cannot protect Muslims? What message are we giving.”

Only a bigoted right-wing Hindu could say that. This is the common refrain in India against all moves which encourage minorities and lower caste to take on newer opportunities. It is first called ‘political’, thereby insinuating that it does not benefit anyone except the politicians themselves, then it is called ‘reverse discrimination’ saying that the upper caste Hindus are not able to avail certain opportunities which were destined to them in varnas and which they enjoyed for more than two thousand years, then they call it ‘appeasement’ as if these classes are pets and vermin which the humans appease giving them equal status which they don’t deserve.

‘What will the world think of us?’ is the common refrain when confronted with stark realities, either it be the explosion of AIDS patients, which seem to destroy the myth that India is an extremely ‘moral and chaste’ country, or it be Mandal Commision, which seem to undermine the hegemony of upper caste Hindus which they perpetrated for thousands of years.

Reservations-based-on-caste is unjust and unfair, but having 80% of upper caste Hindus in IT sector is just the ‘survival of the fittest’. Having more Muslim policemen in Muslim areas is unjust and unfair, while having predominantly Hindu force that targets Muslims in Gujarat is just the ‘selection of meritorious’.