POWER HAS CHANGED HANDS — SO WHY HAVEN’T THE RULES?

Let’s put the facts on the table, without whispers or footnotes.

The prime minister comes from an OBC background.
The President is from an st community.
The Vice President is OBC.

Roughly 70% of MPs and MLAs today belong to SC, st, and OBC communities.

This is not tokenism. This is dominance by democratic mandate.

And yet, according to interpretations of guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission, a deeply uncomfortable claim keeps resurfacing:
If a reserved-category student uses a casteist slur against a general-category student, it may not be treated as an offence in the same way.

Whether defended as “contextual protection” or criticised as “legal asymmetry,” the perception alone is explosive.

Because it raises a dangerous question:
If power has shifted, why has moral immunity not been recalibrated?

THE CONTRADICTION, LAID BARE — POINT BY POINT

1. Representation Is No Longer the Problem

This is not 1950. Leadership today reflects communities once locked out of power. The system has delivered visibility, authority, and influence.

2. Yet the language of Eternal Vulnerability Continues

Policies still operate as if power equations haven’t changed — as if those governing are still those governed.

3. When Rules Judge Identity, Not Action

A slur is a slur. An insult is an insult. If intent and harm change based on caste identity, equality before the law quietly exits the room.

4. The Dangerous Message This Sends

It tells one group they must always watch their words.
It tells another that they may never be held to the same standard.

That isn’t justice. That’s hierarchy with a new data-face.

5. Protection vs Privilege — The Line Has Blurred

Safeguards were designed to prevent oppression, not to create moral exemptions. When protection turns selective, resentment becomes inevitable.

6. Social Harmony Cannot Be Legislated with Double Standards

You cannot preach fraternity while codifying imbalance. You cannot demand sensitivity while permitting insult.

7. Appeasement politics Thrives on Silence

No government wants to touch this landmine. So contradictions are ignored, questions are moral-policed, and debate is shut down with labels.

8. Democracies Don’t Fracture Loudly — They Fracture Unequally

When citizens feel the law sees them differently, trust erodes faster than any speech can repair.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

This is not an argument against reservation.
It is an argument against permanent moral asymmetry.

A mature democracy updates its rules to reflect its realities.
An insecure one clings to old frameworks even after power has decisively shifted.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Political power today is widely distributed.
Social authority has visibly changed hands.

But if accountability remains selective, then equality is just a slogan — not a principle.

Call it what you want.
Many already have.

Appeasement politics doesn’t announce itself.
It hides inside exceptions.