By the Editor: Siddharth Sehgal

Our elections have turned into an extortion racket, a grey market of votes where ballots are won with the promise of reservation. It’s appalling that no party is willing to rise above this petty tactics and give a vision of unity and collectiveness.

In UP where SP politicians tried to lure Yadav community with preferential treatment, in Gujrat people like Hardik, Alpesh & Jignesh fiddled with Patidars, Dalits and OBC’s while others tried to counter this narrative with their own backgrounds. In Karnataka there will be bickering over Lingayats but does it have to be that way. I’d give an example of Muslim community in India. For decades they have become a hostage of sorts of political parties trying to appease them through divisive promises. Instead of instilling a sense of nationality, unity, a feeling of separateness was allowed to foster among Indian Muslims. Ghettos, separate education in madarsa and a parallel legal system such as personal law boards, fatwa system etc. This one sided treatment lead to other communities feeling left behind and angered.

The polarization and divisiveness we talk of today is a result of that, the menacing abuse of triple talaq which if to be honest majority of Indian citizens weren’t even aware of exists is because of that pseudo secular environment that shifted the dirt under the rug. When innocent die in terrorist attacks parties like Congress never dared to directly point out the problem. The end result is that Muslims actually got left behind in many aspects of social life and division between them and most of the Indians are wider than ever. This one sided VIP treatment doesn’t work, especially for the group its intended to.

I exhort the youth from Patidar, Jat, Gujjar and all other communities that are promised a better future at the expense of everyone else to not fall into this trap. We have to understand that this is what British use to do, stoke the flame of divisions and keeping us under their oppressive yoke. The criteria of a candidate in an election are his or her honesty and commitment to public service not his caste or community.

The future, a better future is not possible by 18 or 25 or even 100% reservation, its by coming together, shoulder to shoulder, by giving equal opportunities to everyone. Reservation has to be tackled, discussed and resolved forever by this generation or we run the risk of poisoning the future of ours and our future generations.