Divide is deep and it hurts

New Delhi, March 10: It began with the rowdyism of a few students and became a fight between the upper castes and lower castes at a prest...

New Delhi, March 10: It began with the rowdyism of a few students and became a fight between the upper castes and lower castes at a prestigious professional college in the capital of India University College of Medical Sciences.

The incident that sparked off the hostility was the eveteasing of two girls from the Lady Hardinge Medical College at a college party. One of the boys involved was from the general category 8212; read upper caste 8212; and the other from the reserved category. They were stopped by four other students who were then beaten up by friends of the boys involved. While one of them was beaten up by students of both categories, the other was beaten up by several students all from the reserved cateory. 8220;That remained in the minds of that small circle of students,8221; said a student. And the anger boiled over on February 24 when students belonging to the reserved category were beaten up in the hostel.

The incident has divided them sharply. For many like Deepak, a fourth year student, who was slapped in the face even though he had nothing to do with either of the groups, this was a warning.

When it was announced, through the public announcement system, that all the students of general category must collect on the ground floor, the order was obeyed mostly out of fear, said a student. 8220;We did not want to be isolated,8221; he said. Students of the reserved category who are staging a sit-in say that the principal or the warden never once visited them and asked them about their problems. 8220;If they had appeared to care for us, we would have listened to anything,8221; they said.

They are demanding removal of warden K.K.Sharma, who they accuse of supporting the general category students, and suspension of students invlved in the clashes. The warden has already agreed to step down. And the inquiry panel of the college will announce the action against those students involved in the incident, says principal B.B.L.Agarwal. 8220;I just want all my students to be back in the classes,8221; he said.

8220;There is no caste war. We have friends on both sides,8221; students of the general category said. 8220;Maybe we have reason to complain because they get a book bank which has 15 copies of any new book while we get just a single copy of that book for reference. That makes us feel bad sometimes,8221; said one of them. When the boys of the R cat and G cat their terms for reserved and general categories launch into the language of they and them, the charges and countercharges never end.

8220;When we were freshers, they would ask us our names and on knowing that we were from R cat they would just let us go without teasing. But we know we were not considered even worth ragging,8221; says a student.

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While there has been no fights between students outside the small groups on both sides, the students and the authorities fear the worst as politicians like Ram Vilas Paswan have begun to visit the agitating reserved category students. 8220;They do not realise that the politicians will only exploit them,8221; Agarwal says. But the students say that they turn to them as the principal or the warden do not symapthise with them.

The principal hopes that the students will forget the divide when the college reopens. Sumit, the editor of the college magazine, is from the general category. His hands are full of sheafs of articles from both categories about the issue. But he is in no dilemma. 8220;I will give both equal space,8221; he says.