Arrogance of the ‘educated’ class

MADISON, WISCONSIN, USA: This is with reference to Feisal Naqvi’s article “Garmi mein kharab” (June 18). The writer states: “The second answer is that “we” — as in the educated, literate, newspaper-reading population of this country — cannot trust the uneducated, illiterate population”.

This sounds somewhat arrogant on the part of so-called educated class. I can say with full conviction that most of the large-scale miseries on the population are brought about by the so-called educated class of people and not the illiterates. The people who rule Pakistan are all educated. Pakistan has had technocratic governments and the result is there for all to see. The entire blame cannot be apportioned on the door of the present democratic government.

We have illiterate and semi-educated voters in India as well and most of the time, they elect the right candidate and kick out the bad ones. Their voting sense is far better than that of the educated people. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to choose the right candidate. I will say with complete conviction that societies are failed by the so-called educated people and not the illiterates. Moreover, these poor illiterates exist because of the incompetence of the educated ones who could not provide basic needs like education to them. Not allowing them to vote will only add insult to injury.

Rajendra Kalkhande

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2012.