WHY UTTARAKHAND GOVERNMENT CANNOT TRUST ITS OWN DOCTORS?

Mukesh Devrari

If you love this state, this controversy can frustrate you. Uttarakhand government has decided to appoint dentists in place of doctors, as MBBS doctors are not ready to join in the remote areas. BJP government in Uttarakhand has decided to make appointments after a written test and interview.

Government has decided not to take any doctor from Uttarakhand in the interview board for selecting candidates. BJP MLA from Haridwar & Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik said, “Outside experts will bring transparency and honesty to the process. He did not make it clear how it reached on a conclusion that local doctors are dishonest and doctors from other states are honest and impartial.

Doctors from other states may also prefer candidates from their own states or castes or of any other affiliation. If BJP government is bothered about honesty and transparency, then it can do away with interview and make appointments entirely based on score in written test.

By the logic of BJP, Uttarakhand Public Service Commission should be immediately dissolved as these bodies cannot make fair appointments. As UKPSC is manned by people from Uttarakhand. This line of argument shows the arrogance of ruling party and weakness of people of this state who struggled for creation of this state for decades.

Madan Kaushik must look at the list of finally selected candidates in exams conducted by Uttarakhand Public Service Commission. Candidates exclusively from Uttarakhand have been appointed on seats reserved for SC, ST, OBC and Uttarakhand women. As category applicants from other states are considered general category applicants in Uttarakhand. In the general category seats out of ten appointments, eight are from other states.

Generally, it is considered that regional chauvinists discriminate against migrants and deny them their basic human rights and dignity. In Uttarakhand just opposite is happening. Weak chief minister at the helm of affairs made things worse. He has failed in pulling bureaucracy in the right direction.

All BJP supporters, majority of them is upper caste Hindu, refuse to raise a voice against this. It is clearly evident that Hindu nationalism has emerged as threat to regional identity rooted in local languages, culture, religious practices and fooding habits. If this would have happened in Congress Era, many upper caste BJP supporters would have opposed it.  

It is hardly a matter of few decades, before none of you would see an article like this, arguing and struggling for the interests of Uttarakhand and its people. In next few decades, we will be totally decimated by the culturally dominant forces. There would be no difference among the people who are born in Muzzafarnagar, Uttar Pradesh and in Chamoli region in cultural terms. Perhaps it would be celebrated by BJP and its supporters as ultimate victory of Hindu nationalism. For me it will be a great day of sorrow, when my mother’s language will not heard, when I would be not able to recognize my brethren from my village and my district with their unique tone, tenor, characteristics and physical traits. It will be a great tragedy if forces fighting for homogeneity will trample us under their feet.

When Moa was the President of China, ordinary citizens were also expected to report to the authorities any anti socialist tendencies among their fellow citizens. A 17 old boy, who was the active member of Chinese communist party reported about this mother’s comments and views. That boy was hailed as an ultimate nationalist. Authorities came and arrested his mother and she died in jail. He saw her last time hand cuffed and dragged by police. 50 years down the line, he cries and curses himself everyday and asks for forgiveness to his mother at her resting place.   

BJP attempts to avoid appointment of people of Uttarakhand in higher positions. It is a part of their larger design to bring ultimate homogeneity and bring cultural death to sub nationalities. They are also most likely to bulldoze others. Once they brainwash local population with Hindutva ideology, there will be no voices of opposition. Like that Chinese man, some of us may also realize that it is not right to remain silent.

This situation is unimaginable in any other part of India. No bureaucrat led by elected government can even think about it. It can happen in semi tribal societies like Uttarakhand where people do not have regional cultural consciousness. Well to do among us have no vision beyond their immediate circumstances and interests.

This author is not arguing for 200-300 job vacancies for local dentists. He is arguing against a tendency to deny space to Uttarakhand’s culture to thrive and grow.  It is right wing design to create a structure to win the loyalty of masses in the name of religion. Then use it to suppress and destroy their cultural identity, their language, their fooding habits and launch a project of homogenization.

This tendency is dangerous. This decision and remarks by BJP leader Madan Kaushik are hinting at our pending extinction. They are most likely to succeed as there is hardly any resistance.  

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