Monday 26 August 2024

A.P Vijayan's cockroach in the brain

Vivek Ramaswamy's parents are from Palghat in Kerala. The modest but painstaking instruction in the English language they received there enabled them to do well in their STEM subject specializations not just in India but also America. Perhaps this was because, being Brahmins, they thought of English as purely utilitarian. They were only interested in writing and speaking it well enough to rise in useful professions. Sadly, some non-Brahmins in Palghat are under the impression that English is only worth learning so as to gas on about the terrible atrocities the higher castes committed and are committing on shitheads who study and teach shit so that their country remains a shithole. 

Consider the following article, published in the Wire, by Anilkumar Payyappilly Vijayan, a poet and an Associate Professor of English at Government Arts and Science College in Pallakkad. 

One of the most compelling stories I’ve had the privilege of teaching first-year degree students in recent years is “The Cockroach” by the Brazilian writer Luis Fernando Verissimo.

A guy complains there is a cockroach in his salad. He wants an explanation for how it got there.  The Management are able to show that they are compliant with all Government regulations. It can't be their fault. The diner is not satisfied. As the citizen of a democratic republic he demands accountability on the part of the Government. Thus a man from the relevant Ministry is called in. But the diner won't let the bureaucrat explain away the cockroach on his plate. More senior officials arrive but the diner rejects their assurances. Finally, the President of the Republic turns up and offers compensation which the diner refuses. As the Citizen of a Democracy, he is entitled to an explanation. So the Army Chief is called in. He says 'ah! an olive!' and swallows the cockroach. The diner is sent to jail for making false accusations- after all, the country is a Democracy.... well, up to a point. 

Since the story is very short and had been translated into very simple English, it was selected for first year students with little knowledge or exposure to that language. In one sense, it is a satire on the notion of 'accountability' or 'transparency'. The twist, however, is the General swallowing the cockroach rather than accusing the diner of having brought it with him so as to extort money from the restaurant. This is the telling detail which suggests that, in the country in question, 'Democracy' may be mere window-dressing. Also, a General who can swallow a cockroach can probably stomach a lot worse when it comes to torturing and killing civilians. 

I usually begin my lecture by highlighting the profound importance of a constitution for a nation as geographically vast, demographically diverse, and culturally rich as India.

So, Vijayan is a comedian. The fact is, the Indian constitution- two thirds of which was written by Tories in Westminster in 1935- has no importance whatsoever.  The US constitution, by contrast, because of dual Sovereignty, is important.

I then invite my students in Pathiripala, Palakkad, to briefly delve into the history of the American Declaration of Independence, with particular focus on its iconic second line, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident,

in other words, they arise by 'natural reason' rather than either sacred revelation or what Lord Coke called the 'artificial reason' of the Common Law.  

that all men are created equal,

but cease to be so if they are unable to protect their rights and liberties.  

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’

Since some of the 'founding fathers' were lawyers, they understood that though a Right may be inalienable, nevertheless, if one can't procure a remedy for a violation of that right, then that right is ineffective. Had the Brits managed to defeat the Colonists, the Americans would have had no rights.

Following this, I ask them to consider the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.

Since Dr. Ambedkar dismissed his own contribution to it as 'hack work', why should young people think it means anything special? It has been amended umpteen times and will be amended again.  

After both these readings are done, we move to a more challenging inquiry: the abolition of slavery in America.

Which was only brought about by a Civil War in which two percent of the population were killed. For the current Indian population that would yield a death count of twenty eight million. 

I pose a question that never fails to spark some reflection: If the Declaration of Independence, proclaimed on 4 July 1776, asserts with absolute clarity that ‘all men are created equal’, ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights’, of ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,’ why was it necessary to abolish slavery through the 13th Amendment nearly ninety years later, on 18 December 1865?

It was necessary to fight a big war and kill two percent of the population in order to abolish slavery. By contrast, the Colonies had defeated the British with far smaller losses. However, they did expel 'Loyalists'. Incidentally, a British General had emancipated American slaves to weaken the rebels.  

How could slavery persist for nearly a century more in a nation that had already declared that ‘all men are created equal’?

The answer is that men may be created equal by God but, if they do stupid shit, they may be conquered and enslaved. In the case of African Americans, we must remember it was fellow Africans who captured and sold them off to the Arab or the European.  

These questions invariably lead my students to a sobering realisation: either the foundational document was inherently flawed, or the phrase ‘all men’ did not, at that time, recognise Black people as human beings.

This would only be the case if the students were as stupid as shit. It is obvious that we are speaking of 'mere puffery' rather than substantive rights under a bond of law.  

To further illustrate the exclusion embedded in the concept of ‘man’, I briefly touch upon the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which granted American women the right to vote in 1920, nearly fifty years after the abolition of slavery.

Why? It is obvious that women are not men.  

At this point, I urge my students to read the Preamble of the Indian Constitution more carefully.

Why? It is 'mere puffery'.  

I aim to underscore the fact that the Indian Constitution, from its very inception, sought to eliminate the gross exclusions that America had permitted.

No. The Indian Constitution's inception had to do with Partition. This meant that it rejected Federalism and stripped Muslims of reservations and affirmative action (which some Muslim Dalits previously had). Also Muslims who had fled across the border in panic weren't allowed back save with entry permits.  

A remarkable instance of this constitutional spirit is the incorporation of symbols onto ballot papers during elections,

Under the Brits, either different colored ballot papers were used or else the ballot boxes had different colors. The reason symbols were adopted was because of the much larger number of parties contesting. I should explain, major parties would create dummy candidates and parties to split particular vote banks.  

ensuring that those who lacked literacy would not be excluded from universal franchise.

The British introduced general elections in 1923. The franchise was greatly expanded in 1937. It became universal after Independence. Incidentally, Burma was first out of the gate with its constitution and with elections under universal franchise. But Ceylon had had universal franchise since 1931.  

But my central point comes at a tangent. By guiding them through the Preamble, I seek to instil the understanding that these words are not merely dead letters printed on a page, but living values for which people have fought and bled.

Ambedkar didn't fight or bleed. Nor did B.N Rau. Both held senior positions under the Brits.  

The Preamble encapsulates the countless struggles waged by the disadvantaged and dispossessed against the ruling elites who appear in various guises throughout history.

No. It was and is shit. The reason India needed a long and boring Constitution was to keep the Princes happy.  

The words ‘liberty, equality, and fraternity’ echo the rallying cry of the French Revolution

Fuck off! The French chopped off the heads of plenty of Royals and Aristos. In India, the Princes got Privy Purses and diplomatic passports. Not one hair on their head was touched. Incidentally, a minor British Royal was asked by Nehru to stay on as independent India's first Governor General. 

and the spirit of late eighteenth-century France, while the word ‘dignity’ embodies battles closer to home: those of the Nadar women in nineteenth-century Travancore demanding their right to wear a garment to cover their breasts;

The Brits allowed their subjects to cover their breasts. Indeed, they encouraged the practice.  

of Ayyankali boldly donning a dress forbidden to his people;

by other people of his own State 

of untouchable women casting off stone necklaces imposed on them by casteist society; and of Ambedkar’s decision to renounce Hinduism.

He converted to Buddhism which had spread untouchability to Japan. BTW Bali has Brahmins but no untouchables. Sadly, Ambedkar's widow wasn't able to rise politically because she was a Brahmin and a Doctor to boot. 

In essence, the values enshrined in the Constitution

e.g. the Directive Principle on cow protection? 

have not been handed down to us from above by masters, judges, and elites, nor are they eternal. They are dynamic, dialectical, and forged in the crucible of struggle.

No. Don't be silly.  

They were established on the streets by those who were denied power, position, and dignity – through peaceful and violent means, at the cost of sweat, blood, and life. If the ‘all men’ of the American Constitution now includes a Kamala Harris, it is not the result of the Constitution’s miraculous self-evolution.

America had a bloody Revolution and then a bloodier Civil War.  India was conquered but, under British laws and institutions, it began to evolve into a place from which sensible Brahmins ran the fuck away.  

Let us now consider Verissimo’s story. Its allure lies in its unsettling exploration of how established meanings can be suddenly upended.

No. It is satire of a plain enough sort.  

It is set in a restaurant, where a customer is indignantly confronting the staff about a dead cockroach nestled in his salade niçoise.

Why are they not accusing him of smuggling it in? Indeed, why has the cook not come out of the kitchen to chop pieces off the diner? That's what would happen in Kerala. 

He demands an ‘explanation’, asserting his right as a citizen living in a democracy. As the complaint ascends the hierarchy – from the waiter, to the maître d’, to the manager, and finally to the owner — every explanation falls short.

The fine upstanding democratic chefs and waiters of Kerala would have kicked the diner's fucking head in. Moreover, they would have accused him of using 'casteist' slurs and thus the fellow would have gone to jail under the anti-Dalit atrocities act.  

He says in the story: ‘I’d like an explanation. I am a citizen. I know my rights. This is a democracy.’

But it isn't Indian democracy. It certainly isn't Kerala where the working class is particularly Bolshie.  

The customer’s demand for accountability eventually escalates to the state, implicating the municipal secretary, the minister of health, and, finally, the president of the republic, who offers an apology and compensation.

I suppose this might happen in India if the diner is a dynastic Ambedkarite and the restaurant in question is run by Brahmins.  

When the customer refuses to accept any of this, the situation takes a darkly absurd turn: The minister of the army is called in.

The general arrives and, much like the maître d’, asks:

“Is there a problem, Sir?”

The man points to his salad. The general examines it, then declares:

“An olive. Great!” and promptly swallows the cockroach.

In the Yiddish version of the story, it is the lawyer who does so. What is clever is to substitute a sinister General for an unscrupulous lawyer.  

Given the history of military coups in Latin America in the twentieth century, this sudden reversal of meaning, this swift transformation of the unacceptable into the acceptable, the inedible into the consumable, resonates deeply.

No. It is one thing for a sleazy lawyer to eat a bug so as to destroy evidence and make a few bucks by exonerating his client. It is quite another for a General to do it. The implication is that there is something demonic about the man in khaki. Clearly, Democracy isn't just a sham. It is a Satanic deception or Swedenborgian Hell where infernal forces, for some reason of their own, derive pleasure from allowing the damned to retain illusions of normalcy.  

By the time Verissimo published the story in 1992, Latin America had endured more than a dozen coups,

Fuck off! It had had thousands. Bolivia, on its own, has had 190 coups and revolutions since it became independent.  

many of which resulted in prolonged dictatorships, such as the Somoza family’s rule in Nicaragua from 1937 to 1979, Brazil’s dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, and Pinochet’s regime in Chile from 1973 to 1990.

So what? Pakistan and Bangladesh have had plenty of coups. Why bring up Latin America?  

With this history of coups in place, I remind my students that democracy is hard-won,

Not for India. There could be a separatist or a Maoist insurrection, put down by extra-judicial killing, but not a nation-wide revolution. Also, since the Army's recruitment base is too narrow, it can't stage a coup.  

constantly under threat from forces eager to dismantle it. In an instant – as many Latin American countries have experienced – the dead cockroaches of history and tradition can be presented as the tasty olives of today, while the cherished olive laurels

that should be 'olive wreath' or 'wreath of laurel'. Vijayan's English is shit.

of today, like ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’ or ‘dignity,’ can be twisted into something dead and repugnant.

Vijayan has shit for brains. If Verissimo's point was that Democracy was merely 'old wine in new bottles' , then when the diner says 'this is a cockroach', the waiter would reply 'that's an olive. True, under the bad old days of the military dictatorship people were brainwashed to think otherwise but surely you, Sir, are a democrat and up to date in your thinking?' Suppose the diner remains obstinate, then all sorts of figures representative of 'the Washington Consensus' would turn up to swear that the cockroach is actually an olive specially plucked from a tree growing upon the Athenian Acropolis. Indeed, a special batch of such olives were dispatched by the European Commissioner for Applauding Democracy so as to commemorate the new regime. 

Finally, to give a mental picture of 19th century Kerala, of a Constitutionless world,

i.e. one run by darkies, for darkies, who were protected from Whites by the British Raj. 

I ask them to envision a society where women are forced to walk bare-breasted – a horrifying reality that has already unfolded in Manipur – or where Dalits are beaten to death for wearing something the Savarnas disapprove of – an atrocity that is all too common even today.

Not in America, which is why Kamala's Tambram grandad was so keen to pack off his progeny to a land ruled by Racist, White, Christians.  

As I begin to speak with growing urgency, I remind them that when democracy is taken for granted, as a given,

it was given to India by the Brits 

it is already on the path of decay.

because the Brits slyly fucked off. Then Brahmins too realized they'd better shift their arses.  

In fact, in Kerala, we have already landed in the 19th century! The future is already here.

It is a remittance economy. If this nutter taught his students functional English, they may be able to earn more once they get the fuck away from Kerala.  

During the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi

a BJP member of parliament from the aristocratic Nair caste

referred to the supposedly enlightened and educated Malayali voters as “Prajas’’ – subjects of a monarchy

One constituency in Kerala did vote for a North Indian Brahmin Dynast. Vijayan has no problem with that even though that Dynast's granny suspended the Constitution and ensured that the current CM was given a good beating. 

– rather than as citizens, and ended up winning. His ‘subjects’ in Thrissur were unperturbed at being characterised this way.

They were also unperturbed by coconuts even though this nutter thinks they are are secretly Brazilian cockroaches.  

But democracy, I continue, my tone now verging on desperation,

probably because his students are running away 

is a living thing. It breathes through you, survives because you give it life.

It certainly breathes through Suresh Gopi who gives it voice in Delhi while this nutter has to desperately scream at students.  

As the framers of our Constitution so wisely understood, democracy is something you must give to yourself, live, breathe, and defend every day.

rather than learn enough English to get a decent job 

The moment you forget this, democracy begins to wither – that is the beginning of the end.

If you don't learn some English at College- because the Professor is a hysterical ranter- then you will wither and wilt under the Emirati Sun doing outdoor construction work. On the other hand, if you acquire functional English plus a qualification in a STEM subject, then you can earn big bucks in Yurop/Amrika and your son might become Rishi Sunak or your daughter might become Kamala Harris. This is more particularly the case if you have the misfortune to be born a Savarna Hindu.  

The end of a way of life where you, at the very least, hold a semblance of control.

What control can you have if you can't climb out of a shithole?  

At this point, most students typically start to tune out, comfortably assuming that the story is set in a distant context, without any bearing on their exams. This attitude, perfected by students these days, can be disheartening. Yet, I press on, having become immune, and even indifferent, to such indifference over the years. Besides, the few eager eyes in the room tell me that stopping now would be a crime.

Those eager eyes are hoping you will lose control of your bowels in the same manner that you have lost control of your wits.  

To jolt them out of their complacent thinking – that military coups and democratic crises happen elsewhere, to other people far removed from their lives – I remind them that Verissimo’s story was written in the last century, reflecting the models of democratic subversion available then.

It was written by a guy who had lived under a military dictatorship and might well have done so again. No Indian has or will. Vijayan is stupider than his students. 

But as Nancy Bermeo argues in her article “On Democratic Backsliding” and as Harvard University political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt explore in their 2018 book, How Democracies Die, the twenty first –century paradigm of democratic erosion is different: It is more subtle, more insidious.

It is a fantasy.  The fact that a Nair got elected on a BJP ticket may cause Vijayan to shit his pants, but it doesn't spell the end of democracy or the abrogation of the Indian Constitution.

Instead of overt military coups, democratic backsliding now occurs through legal means and within the framework of democratic institutions.

Indira's Emergency was 'democratic backsliding'. But this cunt isn't complaining that her grandson keeps winning from Wayanad.  

Extending Verissimo’s metaphor of the dead cockroach, threats to democracy in our times no longer require a military general to force a sudden shift in the meaning of established ideals.

Indira wasn't a military general. Extending Verissimo's metaphor, Vijayan's students may say to him 'shut the fuck up about cockroaches. Teach us some basic English, if you know any, you worthless cunt.' He will reply, 'You are democratically backsliding shit out of my anus causing me to fudge my pants. OMG! You aren't really Dalit at all! You are a fucking Nair- like Suresh Gopi! Kindly find me some cockroaches to eat! That way, maybe Luna will give me the Luna-tic prize for fudging my pants! Help me Siddhartha Varadarajan! As an American citizen- albeit a Brahmin- it is your duty to publish my cri de coeur in the Wire!' 

To extend our metaphor, blending a dead cockroach into the democratic salad is not the judiciary’s job.

Sadly, it is the only sort of job Vijayan's students will be capable of getting unless they stop going to his lectures.  

Yet, the recent positions and norms established by our courts on matters of human liberty and dignity – from Stan Swamy’s request for a mere straw to numerous habeas corpus petitions – indicate that the fundamental character of the Constitution and its founding principles have been reduced to lifeless words.

Actually, the First Amendment was about fucking over Commies, which Nehru & Co did with vim and vigor. The Left, for some mysterious reason, got it into its head that the Bench was composed of hard-core Naxals. But that had never been the case. Krishna Iyer, who was from Palghat and had been a Minister in the Namboodripad administration (Namboodris are a higher type of Brahmin than us Iyers) was a political appointee. Under the Collegium system, he would never have been elevated. 

It is no longer sufficient to declare that justice delayed is justice denied;

which is why bulldozers are needed 

we must assert that justice delayed warps the very essence of justice.

this cretin doesn't get that not existing (which is what denial means) is worse than just getting a bit warped.  

In the fleeting microseconds of our fragmented, postmodern, social media – driven lives, delayed justice can turn the unjust into the just, as witnessed in the delayed and unsigned verdict on the Babri Masjid case.

it was signed. All verdicts are. Still, Vijayan is right to say that the Hindus should have got their property back in the Eighties. 

Conversely, delayed justice can turn the just into the unjust, as evidenced by those languishing in our prisons without bail or trial for years – where the mere fact of their prolonged detention is taken as proof of guilt.

It isn't.  

No one has time to wait for the final verdict from a competent authority.

No one will give the time of day to this entirely incompetent authority on any subject save fudging his pants. 

On social media, a Musk or a Rowling can pronounce authoritatively the sexual identity of a person they have no personal or intimate relationship with, and their verdict will spread fast and become viral, wreaking havoc on individual lives.

Very true. Musk may say 'Vijayan has a vagina'. J.K Rowling may send one of Dumbledore's gayer 'fantastic beasts' up Vijayan's mangina. This will cause him to fudge his pants more particularly because the 'fantastic beast' in question is a cockroach from Brazil. 

The dead cockroach in the creamy layer

One striking example of how the dead cockroach of injustice is being blended into the fabric of our democratic society is the majority verdict on the sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes in relation to reservations.

Reservations might not be renewed in January 2030. Ambedkar himself put in a sunset clause. The thing is a dead cockroach right enough.  

A cursory examination

by a cretin who is shit at English and who does not know the Law 

of the judicial reasoning across various Supreme Court judgments reveals a troubling pattern: When it comes to reservations for Scheduled Castes or other backward communities, empirical data, questions of meritocracy, and the 50 per cent ceiling on quotas take on a particular significance (see, for example, Indra Sawhney v. Union of India) – a significance that mysteriously vanishes when the issue is reservations for the Savarna, as seen in the case of the EWS reservations.

Nope. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. There is no reason why EWS might not be sub-categorized. Indeed, a 'creamy layer' argument could be extended to the general category. There could be an anti-nepotism law barring the children of Chief or Prime Ministers or Judges to hold the same appointments. Anything is possible. The Indian Constitution can be bent any which way by the Bench's sovereign interpretation. 

The Supreme Court, in this instance, in the Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India case, did not bother to question the absence of empirical data justifying the 10 per cent allotted.

Since it was enabling, not mandatory, only determinations of law, not fact, were required from the Bench.  

Nor did it show any concern for the 50 per cent benchmark that was so rigidly enforced to limit backward class reservations to 27 per cent, despite this class, as the Bihar caste survey shows, constituting more than half of the population in many states.

It decided the 50 percent limit was not inviolable. The fact that the Indian judiciary denies the doctrine of political question and subscribes to no 'originalist' doctrine, means that they can do what they like- though no doubt they may be ignored. What should worry them is that in Bangladesh, a Bench which overstepped the mark provoked a revolution. The Chief Justice was forced to resign. Going forward, Judges in that country may become more circumspect.  

This inconsistent reasoning, which applies different judicial standards to different groups, stands in stark contrast to the principles enshrined in our Constitution

which, following the Westminster model, makes Parliament, not the Judiciary, Supreme. The First Amendment clarified this. What we have had is an usurpation of powers by the Bench. For some strange reason, the Left thought this would favor them. It didn't. Now those fools are crying their little eyes out. 

– a document that was never meant to legitimise such discrimination. Ironically, the text that seems to underpin this inequitable approach is one that Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of our Constitution,

He himself said his contribution was 'hack-work'.  

famously consigned to the flames in 1927: the Manusmriti, a text revered by the RSS and the Indian right-wing.

Equally famously, he married a Brahmin and converted to the ultimate Aryan religion- that of the Buddha.  

How do we account for this inconsistency in judicial reasoning?

Easily enough if we know the law and are aware of the very poor intellectual quality of Indian lawyers and judges. 

A mere statement that this echoes the reasoning embedded in the Manusmiriti will not suffice.

Why be one content with one stupid lie when you can dredge up a yet more stupid lie? 

Whenever we find inconsistent judicial reasoning not aligning with the Constitution, we must travel beyond the realm of the Law, of consciousness, to the realm of the inconsistent, the unconscious, and psychoanalyse the knot.

Lacanian bullshit. He was pretending to know math while appropriating, and shitting, over Bateman's notion of a double bind.  

We must lay bare the working of the inconsistent that over-determines the consistent from without.

It is a mathematical fact that 'over-determination' leads to inconsistency unless there is linear dependence. But there is no need to 'lay that bare'. Just count the degrees of freedom and, if overdetermination arises, introduce linear dependence to get consistency. 

Freud’s ‘borrowed kettle’ is a famous example used in his classic The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) to illustrate the concept of inconsistent arguments. It is illustrated through a joke where a man is accused of returning a borrowed kettle, damaged. The man defends himself with three mutually contradictory statements: (1) He never borrowed the kettle, (2) The kettle was already damaged when he borrowed it, and (3) He returned the kettle undamaged.

Since 'damaged kettle' can be the basis of a legal claim, it is a legal concept- something like equitable estoppel- which is germane unlike some shite Fraud or LaCon pulled out of their respective asses. If you sue me for damaging your kettle, my lawyer will present arguments under all three headings. Firstly I never borrowed the kettle. You give proof that I came to your house and was seen leaving with it. My lawyer says, 'my client does vaguely recall agreeing to keep a damaged kettle which it is hobby to repair to a very high standard. Still, he didn't 'borrow' it but rather did a friend a favor. You then prove that I was what in law is called a 'bailee' and that the kettle was known to be undamaged. In that case, my lawyer will try to prove that any damage the kettle now displays must have occurred after I ceased to be the 'bailee'. However, suppose some one comes forward as a witness to affirm that I asked to borrow the kettle for a specific purpose and you agreed but I then used the kettle for another purpose and this caused damage to the kettle which is now visible, then you win your case. Suppose I now say 'actually a third party took it and damaged it', then 'estoppel' may apply because I've admitted I was the bailee and thus anything which happened to the kettle while I had it is my fault. 

Freud uses this example to demonstrate how people can employ multiple, even contradictory, arguments when trying to protect themselves from guilt or anxiety.

But they are wholly irrelevant when it comes to the Law.  

In this context, the borrowed kettle represents the various conflicting justifications or rationalisations that the mind produces to deal with an uncomfortable truth or accusation.

It is like this guy's cockroaches which are causing him to fudge his pants. We may agree that his predicament is over-determined in the sense that anything and everything would make him hysterically soil himself or write this shite for some American Brahmin's magazine so that other similar 'Savarnas' can have a hearty laugh at this nutter.  

The contradictory nature of the arguments is significant because it reveals the underlying anxiety or guilt that the person is trying to conceal.

This nutter has revealed that his 'students tune out' as he rants and raves in an increasingly 'desperate' manner. What he is trying to conceal is his own guilt at failing his students as a teacher. He should be helping them learn good enough English to get a job involving useful work skills. He should not be misleading them about the law or the politics of their country.  

What is the underlying anxiety or guilt that the Indian judiciary is confronted with when they pass judgement over reservations, justifying this power they wield by claiming to be the most meritocratic persons capable of doing so?

They are making no such claim. They have usurped to themselves the right to interpret the Constitution in any manner they please purely on the basis of the official position they hold.  

Why are they taking to the obiter dicta mode to talk about merit and creamy layers even when these are not the principal questions at hand?

Because Judges speak in obiter dicta mode for a specific purpose- viz. the information and instruction of other judges- though it is the ratio in the case which is binding on lower courts. Vijayan is wholly ignorant of the Law. He also knows nothing of Psychoanalysis. He may know much about the suffering of his own people. But that is not what he is writing about. 

 The judiciary’s club: Right of entry reserved

Why is a cretin like Vijayan not allowed to deliver Supreme Court Judgments? Why is he not even allowed to perform brain surgery? It is because evil Savarnas are discriminating against him. Even when he tries to sodomize himself, Brahmins are causing his dick to fail to grow long and bendy enough for him to bugger his own brains out. Is this what you call Democracy? Don't you know that Thomas Jefferson gave nice cockroach to Dr. Ambedkar so that Preamble of Constitution would cause Vijayan to be able to fuck himself in the ass? Why Rahul Baba has not raised his voice on this burning issue?  

The Indian judiciary’s anxious preoccupation with meritocracy and the creamy layer may just be a smokescreen for its own well-guarded secret: It is the greatest beneficiary of a reservation system that dares not speak its name.

Nope. It does speak its name which is 'the Collegium system'. But nepotism isn't a 'reservation' system.  

We call it the collegium system

because that's what the Bench calls it 

– a cosy club where judges appoint judges, often from one’s own family or friends’ circle, all without the inconvenience of a competitive exam, a luxury that most Indians can only dream of.

Most Indians are too fucking illiterate to sit a competitive exam. Vijayan lives in a fantasy world where three hundred million Indians have to pass an exam so as to get a day's labor under MGNREGA  digging ditches.  

This magic trick has worked wonders for one particular caste group and a select few families, who have held the judicial reins for generations.

Guys like Chandrachud? But he could make much more in the private sector. Still, Judges are way less nepotistic than politicians like Rahul or Stalin.  

Ironically, these privileged few never thought to apply their beloved creamy-layer test to themselves, nor did they bother to open up their appointment process to the transparency and meritocracy they so fervently preach about.

They aren't preaching. The Government passed a law. Some group protested, in the hope that the OBC/Dalit share would be diluted. But the Bench wouldn't bite.  

Instead, this tight-knit, elite network has cultivated an inner guilt, a nagging sense of uncertainty, that they seem to project onto Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) whenever they go on a moral crusade about merit and the creamy layer.

The plain fact is, the better off Dalit and OBC sub-castes have grabbed the lion's share of benefits. There has been political pushback by EBC and Mahadalits. The bigger problem is that India may go off a fiscal cliff and there might be widespread entitlement collapse. As is currently happening in China, some Government employees may take a haircut (though this may take the shape of long delays in salary payment) while recruitment collapses. The bigger problem for Vijayan type nutters is that Reservations may disappear altogether in 2030.  

In Lacanian psychoanalysis, the ‘Other’ is a critical concept in forming a sense of identity, where one’s self-perception is reflected through the gaze of the Other.

Babies gain a sense of identity- not to mention the ability to speak- from those who care for them. College students gain a sense that their lives needn't be shit if they are taught useful stuff. Vijayan can't do that. He wants his students to turn into babies screaming hysterically and soiling themselves because Brahmins are smart and, if sensible, run the fuck away to America where even an obnoxious twerp like Vivek Ramaswamy has an equal shot of becoming POTUS.  

Let us talk data. In the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s script, “Post Matric Scholarship for SCs: Scheme Guidelines”, Clause 5.3 clearly states, ‘Scholarships will be paid to students whose parents’/guardians’ income from all sources does not exceed Rs 2,50,000 (Rupees Two Lakh Fifty Thousand only) during the last financial year.’

But SC students whose parents earn 100 crores per year still get Reservations! What is the point of giving scholarships to poor Dalits if all the jobs reserved for them will go to rich Dalits?  

The activist and scholar M. Geethanandan has repeatedly highlighted the absurdity of this stipulation: The government generously sets an Rs 8 lakh ceiling to define poverty for the Savarnas when they seek to avail EWS reservations,

They must do the same for Dalits. 

but for SCs, a mere Rs 2.5 lakh is the cut-off to access scholarships.

EWS students aren't getting any fucking scholarships. Why? This tyranny must end! Look at what happened to Sheikh Hasina because of Reservations.

India, hasn't had a revolution but nutters like Vijayan may well stir one up. Fuck that. What will happen in January 2030 is that every party will say 'we won't vote to extend the current reservations because we want to give 110 per cent to our lovely Dalit brothers and sisters!' That way, as Ambedkar hoped, the curse of Reservations will end and maybe the Vijayans of the world will actually do the job they are paid to do- viz. impart useful education which can raise the productivity of India's youth. Poverty is not caused by the Brahmins- who, if they are smart, will have fucked off to America in any case- but by low productivity. 

My real question is for our Dalit parliamentarians and legislators who contested and won from reserved seats: What were you doing when these guidelines were penned? And what are you doing now?

Like Kharge Sahib, they are enriching themselves. Do they want their grandkids becoming corrupt IAS officers? Possibly. But if their kids are smart they too will want them to fuck off to America and rise by their own efforts. Learning functional English while focusing on STEM subjects is the way to go- more especially if you are from Palghat and thus hella smart.  


 




 

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