India Since Independence

XIV

The V. P. Singh Era

It is certainly true that reservation for OBCs will cause a lot of heart burning to others. But should the mere fact of this heart burning be allowed to operate as a moral veto against social reforms. A lot of heart burning was caused to the British when they left India. It burns the heart of all whites when the black protest against apartheid in South Africa. When the higher castes constituting less than 20 per cent of the country’s population subjected the rest to all manner of social injustice, it must have caused a lot of heart burning to the lower castes. But now that the lower castes are asking for a modest share of national cake of power and prestige, a chorus of alarm is being raised on the plea that this will ...