4th June. The spark created by students in India has now started spreading worldwide. Hundreds of Indian professionals and students in the bay area in California got together on Sunday, under the banner of Bay Area for Equality, to protest against Indian Govt's caste-based politics.
The event started at 11am in Fair Oaks Park in Sunnyvale, amidst huge informational posters, colorful placards, tri-color balloons and bright cheerful faces eagerly waiting for seeing the results of a week of amazing hard work. And they were not disappointed. As people started pouring in, the enthusiasm on either side was hard to miss.
The event started off by signing of a petition to the President of India, questioning the rationale of the proposed policy of 27% reservation for the OBCs in central institutes, and calling for review of and transparency into this decision. This was followed by people carrying on discussions around the posters, writing their opinions, answering questions with the media and recording their thoughts on video cameras carried by the organization volunteers. Lots of interesting facts came out in these discussions - from how our HRD minister, Arjun Singh, is totally ignorant of any facts and figures about the country, or how Mandal commission has used 1931 census data and little or no research to decide the country's future, or how Govt is ignoring primary education, which is really the call of the hour, to how affirmative action has affected societies around the world, including US, Sri Lanka and others.
At noon, a street play was performed, which weaved a lot of humor around characters like Arjun Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Gabbar Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, cricket players, black-ticket sellers and even a single female looking for a groom; sending roars of laughter through the crowd. However the message about the future of the country was clear.
The skit was followed by the singing of the National Anthem and loud slogans of "Jai Hind". As discussions continued, and as people kept coming and going, one thing was clear - people really care for how thoughtless politics has plagued a great nation. Would the anger, frustation, pessimism and silent hope get crushed by divide-and-rule politics, or will a revolution happen - only time will tell. Meanwhile, we shouldn't stop trying.
