When the judiciary rushes in where angels fear to tread, dire consequences follow. Like the Manipur high court’s thoughtless order last year to consider granting ST status to the majority Meiteis. It ignited a violent showdown that resulted in the killing of hundreds of people, leaving thousands homeless and tearing apart the state’s social fabric. Those wounds are yet to heal.
Another mindless high court bench, this time in Bangladesh, dragged the nation into a quota quicksand by quashing a 2018 order that nullified 30% reservation in government jobs for the relatives of veterans of the 1971 freedom struggle. While the Supreme Court suspended the order and fixed the next date of hearing for August 7, angry students hit the streets.
Police firing followed, resulting in needless loss of lives, fuelling the fire. PM Sheikh Hasina’s crass comment, likening the protesters to razakars, further messed up the situation. Razakar is a pejorative for those who fought alongside Pakistan in the independence movement. Curfew was clamped, police got shoot-at-sight orders and the army patrolled the streets after the death toll crossed 100. Had the judiciary’s wise men been more circumspect, Manipur and Bangladesh would not have burnt.
Bangladesh’s SC has since advanced its hearing, slashed the quota for freedom fighters to 5 percent and swung to the other end of the pendulum by enhancing the volume of merit seats from 44 percent to a whopping 93 percent. That space for affirmative action to help the downtrodden in the society. Whether or not there would be a counter agitation remains to be seen.
If the usual suspects are alleged to have fanned the flames in Manipur, the ruling Awami League blames the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other radical elements for stoking the stir that began as a peaceful student protest. Hasina losing political capital is bad news for India as it gives room for forces inimical to the country to exploit the situation. It could have a spillover effect across the border. India wisely eschewed its comment, calling it an internal affair. Going forward, Hasina has to quickly regain people’s trust by setting up an impartial panel to probe the violence, address the scourge of jobless growth and go after the radical elements to restore stability.