The question of Preference.

The second snippet is from the Telegraph, Sunday the 3^rd of July, 2011 pp 5:

It’s about Omar Abdullah’s tweet citing discrimination against Kashmiri students seeking admission in Madhya Pradesh colleges. Abdullah has been asked not to put the matter against a communal perspective. 

The reasons in the words of Madhya Pradesh higher education minister, Mr. Laxmikant Sharma cited to corroborate the above contention are as follows:

“This year, the new guidelines for admission make it mandatory for colleges to reserve 80 % seats for students domiciled in the state leaving 20 % for the ‘outsiders’.”

“There is still another rule students have to follow—that of police verification. Any student from outside must get a favourable police report from the Madhya Pradesh police.”

“They (the admission authorities) are saying that they have strict orders from the government to implement the 80:20 ratio.”

Now the question arises if some Bengalis are given to think on this line how far is it justified to brand them ‘Regionalist’ or ‘Adherents of Regionalism’. It is almost human tendency if not animal instinct for a living being to assert its territorial integrity and resist any attempt—real or perceived—to alter its socio-political and cultural milieu.

It is interesting to note that any voice to this effect from Bengal or Bengali Pockets is being branded as ‘Mired in Regionalism’. Things elsewhere though much vocal and similar in letter and spirit are grossly overlooked or condoned in tacit connivance of the intelligentsia.

Isn’t it time for the Bengalis to wake up?