Reservations for all or none: Mallika Sherawat on Jat agitation

I’ve spoken to my family back home in Haryana and they’re all very shaken. A lot of them have suffered property losses. I don’t want to name anybody, but my immediate family has a movie theatre in Rohtak and that was burned. They have a few shops in the main bazaar and those were burned. It's extremely awful.

Now to address the subject of the reservation itself. Of course what’s happening is sad, and sitting far away in Los Angeles I am extremely helpless. But then, I strongly feel that either there should be reservations for every community or for nobody. Otherwise, it makes no sense.

Why should one community be privileged with reservations? Why shouldn’t every community have reservations? Why should only one community be preferred? These are my questions to the government. Other communities feel left out and ignored, the resentment starts building and this is what happens as a result.

To be clear, I am not pro-violence in any way at all. And I think every problem should and can have a peaceful solution. Having said that, the Indian justice system is so notoriously slow - it takes 18-20 years. And according to me justice delayed is justice denied. So what choice do these poor communities have? They are forced to do this. They were pushed into a corner. If there is no system that can redress their grievances, they have to resort to violence. Nobody wants to. This is a symptom of a dysfunctional justice system.

Think about it. It’s so easy – tomorrow I can bribe anybody, get my name changed, get a certificate and get a job! So, I think this whole system is flawed. The disproportion in India exists everywhere and at every level. So as I said, either every community deserves reservation or none. If you’re going the no-reservation-way, then everyone should be judged on merit. There should be equality.

The government agreeing to their demands for reservations is the tip of the iceberg. Other communities are going to do the same. It’s a vicious circle. Though now they’re saying the SC is going to reject the plea. So how is the problem solved? I think it’s just a temporary relief.

Growing up in Haryana, I faced the issue of gender inequality. As we all know, the major belt of North India – Haryana, UP, Rajasthan – is very patriarchal and male dominated. Hugely so. Boys in our community are encouraged to be doctors, engineers and whatever else. Girls are encouraged to sit at home and knit, or do puja (as my mom used to make me). As I said, in India there is so much disparity and inequality. Which brings me back to my stand on reservations: either you give them to everyone or do away with them completely.

Aside from this, I think in Haryana, the thing that needs immediate attention is a clean environment. If you don’t have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, what good is anything? So clean environment, speedy justice, education and freedom of speech. These are the four basics.

Speaking of freedom of speech, coming to the issue of JNU, I would like to tell the government that no matter what any citizen of the country wants to believe or say, it is the responsibility of the government to listen to them without threatening them. With any action. Freedom of speech is a birth right. We live in a democracy.

Anyway, back home, some things will never go back to normal because of the emotional trauma the women and children have had to suffer because of the agitations. But with time, everything heals. I think what can really help is education. And fixing the broken justice system.

(As told to Asmita Bakshi.)