Why #IAmCapable is not feminist?

We, in this modern age of easy access to information and opinions, have come a long way from what we all were a decade back. Ignorance and illiteracy had kept us away from what happened on the other side of the globe. With social media now offering internet as Free Basics, the web has spread deep amongst us. The question is – are we mature enough to grasp the gist of the trends that are catching up.

Feminism, in my very frank opinion, is one of such trends. There are no two ways about the much needed gender equality, absolutely not. But feminism is not gender equality. In fact, in my opinion, feminism has done more bad than good in the case of gender equality. Feminism is exactly what is wrong with Deepika Padukone’s video or Priyanka Chopra saying ‘I need a man only for the sperm’.

I see the poor side of feminism in every relationship I come across. Let us take the case of marriages. The ladies want a man that is successful, rich, older and taller and can take good care of the lady. This is totally acceptable and if the girl is pretty, that can be her only achievement in life for such demand. But if a guy says I am looking for a girl who earns more than me, is fairer and an inch taller than me – he is labelled a loser, gold-digger, a good for nothing twat.

I see women justifying reservations for them, a bogie in the locals, seats on the bus, education and what not. Yes, it is a male dominated society and we guys can’t help because we are born into it. And if you ask for reservation, you are going to be looked down upon because you get it without deserving it. We all hail Darwin for his theory of evolution and the theory of survival of the fittest. We use it to add weight to our arguments at the high teas, the card clubs and the kitty parties. But we fail to understand what lies beneath.

Survival of the fittest is the nature’s law for self-improvement. It means that the weaker species or weaklings in a species are wiped off the radar so that the world grows into a fitter tomorrow. If we ask for reservation, the first thing we give out is the lack of ability. And then if you talk about equality you can imagine what kind of a hypocrite you turn yourself into. The women today can very much run conglomerates and probably in a better way. But this is not a game of one-upmanship for the genders. This game of one-upmanship has been running since forever and the results are here to be seen.

The want to prove that you are at par itself defies the claim of being equal. The equality has to be felt within and not spoken or written about. If you feel inferior, that is not because of physical ability but more of a mental block. Men feel inferior to other men and even women too and that may be because of stature, status, personality, strength or ability. And if a woman feels inferior, there has to be one of these reasons only. Attributing it to one’s gender makes you more sexist than you can think.  

The idea of feminism should ideally be replaced by individuality. You have to fight for your own sake, take your own decisions and make your own roads. Blaming your generation older parents or society will not help you anyway. They have been brought up that way and the change you want will not happen overnight. The mentalities will change over generations. And imbibing individuality in the coming generations will turn fare much better than feminism.

Imagine your kids learning ‘We all are equal’ and ‘Women are as capable as men’. Your choice here will define our future, the future that #IAmCapable wants.

Dear PM, No - I won't give away my subsidy - because that is all I have got!

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Being from a family that had a take on political scenarios and involvement in attempting to do good for people, politics was something that I grew up with. The damning ten years under the Congress rule, I had seen the society and the economy being crippled by the unscrupulous crony capitalism and favouritism. The KG basin reserve prices quadrupled in less than a decade, the coal blocks were allocated to family and the exact land was bought just before it was to be acquired by the government for plum projects. It was the resentment of the entire nation that flushed the Congress out and not the genius of the BJP. You were chosen by the rule of elimination and I think you already know that.

The promise of the persona of Mr. Modi – the talks of development and the right-wing inclinations – was something that the majority fell for after the decades of loot and selective appeasement and it is not their fault too. I also agree to a major extent to the efforts you have already put in to driving a much needed change. The angry government officials speaking ill of you are a testimony to the biometric attendance that is making them come to work every day if not on time – it is a beginning of a change in due course. I appreciate the compulsory annual declaration of family assets by government officials – something that can be used as an indicator of the corrupt. Your efforts to project India as a progressive nation, the inspired logo of Make in India and a sincere effort to make business easy deserves an applause. There may be a lot of other things that I am unaware of and a big thank you for all of those.

BUT

This does not give the BJP any right to tell me what to eat and what to drink. I am particularly appalled by the beef ban in Maharashtra and the vine of liquor ban. I do not eat Beef – the only Hindu thing about me – and I still am completely against the Beef ban. You may be wilting under the weight of the Brahmin RSS ideology – I am a Brahmin too – but you being the government have to pull yourself up and stand tall. Are you listening Mr Devendra Fadnavis? I am an ardent follower of the RSS too – family you see – but what is wrong is wrong. The RSS has been monumental in keeping the nation together and stemming the evangelist rot to retain the ‘hindutva’ of this nation – but then agreeing to everything that they have to say shall ruin us.

Remember the essence of ‘Hindutva’ it is the collegium of wisdom of ideas of saints/scholars that have run down over millennia as against the single headed jargon of the newbie religions – it is this difference that has kept us sane and not made fanatics out of us. Let us take the example of the honourable Father of our Nation. One man headed our freedom struggle and his followers shunted the others out if they were an inch close to possibly steal his limelight. See what we have now – a Pakistan and a Bangladesh – progenies of the same land and yet perpetually at war. People were fooled for the next 60 years at least by people who only carried his name and claimed the legacy for the power of rule. You have to reign in your zealous commanders to strike a balance that is much more essential for the nation – for you to stay in power and continue doing good for the country.

Mr PM, I – the upper caste middle class common man, have been suffering from the socialist measures drawn under the garb of concern for the less fortunate for ages. I pay taxes from my nose for the politicians who waste crores of rupees for the parliament sessions doing nothing but passing a resolution for a pay hike for themselves while chewing subsidised rotis, driving in cars and fuel paid for by us and living in airconditioned palaces maintained by us. And we do not find it funny at all when someone like a Vadra or a Pawar applies for a farmer or declares assets less than 10 crore year after year. We do not find it funny when the service tax is increased by 2% to cover for national debt when there is billions of dollars of unaccounted money here in India – forget about Seychelles and Mauritius and Swiss banks. We eat in to ourselves to save our pennies and then you levy a tax on the fixed deposit interests. Are we supposed to never grow? Or just start evading tax like most to add further tax burden on those who pay?

Mr. PM, I particularly get angry when you in your soothing voice you request us to give up our gas subsidy for the less fortunate. No – I will not ever give it away even if I am earning a million rupees a day. You first justify why I have to study in a tier-2 institution after scoring 99% marks when someone with a caste certificate and a score of 40% gets admitted to a tier one institute? Tell me why his fees too are waived off (paid by the government)? Why don’t they get to choose from one - concession in marks or fees? Thousands of engineering, medical, management seats are going vacant – why can’t they study there free of cost? And if they want to opt for a concession of aptitude they should be made to pay. Why do we have to pay both ways – just because we are from a supposedly superior caste?

After 60 years of independence and decades of reservation – the supposedly lower castes have been fast forwarded to being in top positions on most government institutions and we all see how mediocre these institutions have become. I am not being racist – but you cannot have a concession for aptitude as the decision making then affects a billion people. Reminds me of a head of a national institute giving an interview on Cloud Computing and having reservations about the functioning of the system when it rains!

Mr. PM, none of your dreams will bear fruit if you have such people at the helm – there can be no substitute to capability – not money, not caste. So, the next time you would want to appeal to us to give away our limited privileges – be prepared to be abused to the core and not because we hate you. Because, we think you can bring about the change – the right change and not a right-winged change.

https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-narendra-modi-remove-the-caste-based-reservation-system-1df7feb1-fac9-4a98-b361-4f7ca71f4e10?recruiter=368226652&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink