Are we back to the days of Ramsay MacDonald?

For those of you who did not read or hear about Ramsay MacDonald, here is a primer. In the year 1932, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced "The Communal Award", granting separate electorates and constituencies in British-India based on caste and religion. This meant, Forward Castes, Lower Castes, Muslims, Dalits, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Anglo-Indians would have separate representation. After a lot of controversy, this was amended to put all Hindus, irrespective of caste under one electorate. This was one of the many means adopted by the Britishers as part of their "Divide and Rule Policy". 

Let us look at the scenario today. Constitution provides provision for reserving constituencies for SC/ST candidates only. There are demands from various sections asking a particular percentage of constituencies to be reserved for every caste, and there are political parties like TDP who even announced that they will allocate 50% of the constituencies for Backward Castes. On the other hand, we have a self-proclaimed "secular" media which judges the broad-mindedness of political parties based on the number of seats they give to candidates of a particular religion. 

Differentiation doesn't stop right there. Even the law differentiates its citizens based on religion. Mrs. Shah Bano, a poor old Muslim lady was denied her right to alimony by the then Rajiv Gandhi government because of her religion. Recently, we have seen the UPA's pet project, "Prevention of Communal Violence Bill", where the majority religion people are always projected as aggressors and the minorities as victims, in an event of a riot. Congress party now came up with the idea of sub-plan (exclusive budget) for minorities. We already have sub-plans in some of the states exclusively for SC/ST/BC communities. 

It's now clear that Ramsay MacDonald only divided the country's communities by electorates. But, our rulers have divided the communities even by budget, identity, and even based on the law. With all the above said facts, every time we call ourselves a "Secular Republic", irony would die a thousand deaths!