It goes without saying that caste-based reservation has been one of the biggest banes of independent India. Depriving the country of meritorious talent, caste-based reservation has killed the spirit of competitiveness in our country, forcing the best brains to walk out of the country if they want to make a mark for themselves. Worse, the ones who have benefited from this malice have persistently been threatening to bring the nation to its knees if the system receives as much as even a scratch, as evident with the notorious Bharat Bandh in early April, 2018.

The menace of reservation has opened its fangs to such an extent, that even affluent and respected communities like the Jats and the Patidars demand to be incorporated into the ‘elite group’, creating mayhem whenever refused the same. So what happens if one such community volunteers to give up their privileged status? What if a backward caste decides to give up on reservation? Sounds too idealistic to be true, doesn’t it?

In a move which is bound to stun the nation and upset a few political equations, members of the Devendra Kula Vellalars, who have the Scheduled Caste status, have made up their mind to relinquish the same. Yes, the Vellalars are all ready to give up the privileges that the Central, as well as the Tamil Nadu (where they hail from) governments provide them under the system of reservation.

This is anything but a decision made in haste. The motive behind this move is precisely the reason millions of rational Indians have been asserting in their struggle to do away with the archaic reservation system.

To quote one of the main leaders, Puthiya Tamilagam leader, Shri K. Krishnasamy said:

“…the Devendra Kula Vellalars are being treated as untouchables because they are a part of the Scheduled Castes list.” In their words, “…that the community is seen as just a vote bank. And as we want upward mobility and progress, the group has decided to pull out of the SC list.”

According to this group, reservation brings a stigma within itself, which makes them feel discriminated by the society. The protest shall be led by Puthiya Tamilgam party, and the members shall assemble at Virudhunagar on 6th May, calling for an exclusion from the list of the Scheduled Castes, on the lines of the hugely successful agitation against the Jallikattu ban, when the Supreme Court imposed an arbitrary ban on the world famous bull-taming sport from Tamil Nadu, Jallikattu. K Krishnasamy has also asserted that this movement would be a slap on the two warring parties of Tamil Nadu, DMK & AIADMK, who have time and again suppressed them and exploited them for their own political gains.

In a country where reservation has been used more as a political tool rather than a means of empowerment, and where leaders have extended this arbitrary decision for their own selfish ends, this move by the Vellalars community to exclude themselves from reservation is nothing less than revolutionary. This is one of the first steps towards correcting the blunders our founding fathers made in creating independent India.

To be completely frank, it does feel reassuring and heartening to know that a community that is provided with reservations based on their caste doesn’t care about receiving undue benefits and wants to earn their livelihood based on merit.