A New Revolution

"To men in general the satisfaction of a pride is infinitely more alluring than the satisfaction of an interest."

- from the Continent of Circe, Nirad C. Chaudhuri.







We had hoped, really hoped, that the OBC reservation chaos would die down. People would go back to watching the India/South Africa cricket match or following the minute by minute progress of Aishwarya Rai/Abhishek Bachchan romance as being reported by the MSM.

No dice. The AIIMS docs haven't given up, neither have the IIT students. This is an ominous sign of things to come. There are really two scenarios for future India. The first scenario is that of hope and based on new ideas. We could really embrace our diversity, forget the petty bickering and become a truly strong capitalistic democratic republic. If, and only if (and a big IF at that), we could reset our psychological clock to 1947. Unfortunately, it is not going to happen. India will disintegrate into tiny little pieces before the turn of the century.

A nation can not be built unless everyone agrees on a common time line, common border and more importantly a common benchmark for rewarding achievers. We do not even agree on the first aspect. The Dalits and Shudras want to go as far back as 1500 BC. The Muslims want to selectively accept historical facts. The Brahmins, when they are not fighting with the rising OBCs, bicker among themselves over Aryan invasion theory.

Battleship Potemkin is perhaps the best propaganda movie ever. Sergei Eisenstein's masterpiece from the silent era, the film depicts a ruthless mutiny of seamen, borne out of discontent and chronic ill treatment. The film (or rather the famous Odessa steps sequence) would later be knocked off by Hollywood blockbusters such as The Untouchables and even by the Bollywood film, Tezaab. I am not going to delve much deeper into this widely acclaimed film. I am sure someone from the arty-farty circle such as this blogger will assemble something from Guardian and Salon articles.

Revolutions are seldom spontaneous. What worked for Bolshevik propaganda does not reflect historical precedents. Starting from the Russian revolution itself to French revolution, Black civil rights movement, Indian freedom struggle - none of these happened spontaneously. The romantic idea of a group of men forced to a point of no return suddenly erupting into an orgasm of violence never happened in history.

Just as it didn't happen in the Dalit train burning incident.

Revolutions need three things. Strong leadership which stand to gain big, really big after it is all over. A unifying theme of oppression and healthy dose of indignation complete the picture. Revolutions are meticulously planned, over time. Advantages are negotiated and outcomes rigged. Revolutions are almost always spearheaded and managed at a tactical level by students.

Consider this, within 3 years (assuming a staggered implementation), the OBC population in premier institutes will approach half of total students. They will suffer serious indignation because of the recalcitrant attitude of the upper caste students, as is amply clear from the AIIMS and IIT student attitudes. Moreover, they will suffer academically as well. The institutes will now become political battlefields. At this juncture, a rioting student body of OBCs will actually garner a lot of sympathies, just like Afzal did. They will be the poster boys (or gals) of privilege oppression against OBCs. No political party will have the will to enforce disciplinary measures.

The leadership is in place. The theme of oppression has long been scripted. The indignation is just a few years away. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then Ill get on my knees and pray
We won't get fooled again.