Caste and Race in India c12.87

c12.87

Certain types of non-Brahmin leaders find it easy to secure a seat on the legislature or a local body through the door of reserved representation, and that is the main reason, perhaps, why they are so strong in claiming it. But they fail to see that their example would be soon followed by many of the large castes that comprise at present the non-Brahmin category and their chances of an easy seat would be very much diminished. That this is not mere imagination will be clear to anyone who has followed the history of the demand for special representation in Indian political life. Ere long we shall witness the situation of many different castes that are individually large enough, each clamouring for special representation.¹ National life will thus be reduced to an absurdity. As it is, the non-Brahmins in the Bombay Presidency, wherever they could have their way, have shown unmistakable tendency to be anti-Brahmin and to harass their Brahmin employees in the matter of transfers, etc.² Perhaps, in the name of justice and efficiency, the time has come when the interests of the Brahmins have to be protected against the majority-party. All points considered, special representation is unnecessary and harmful.