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| Comrade Swapan Mukherjee, Party’s CC Member, who went to Jalandhar and visited Talhan as part of an investigation team, writes: |
THE Talhan village in Jalandhar District of Punjab witnessed a heinous assault on the human rights and dignity of dalits in the first week of June, a period which, otherwise, is remembered in Punjab as the anniversary of the notorious "Operation Blue Star" in 1984, when the Indian Army had entered the Golden Temple of Amritsar. During the last five years, however, when Akali Dal was in power, the observance of the "Operation Blue Star" anniversary had been a low-key affair, and most of the Akali leaders stayed away from such functions. But the fact that the Congress is now in power in Punjab, and that it is targeting most prominent Akali leaders including ex-chief minister Prakash Singh Badal in corruption cases has made the observance of the 19th anniversary of "Operation Blue Star" this year assume much political significance. Most of the Akali factions, along with religious institutions like SGPC used the occasion to come together, clearly aiming to consolidate the Jat Sikh vote-bank. Viewed in this background, the incident of Talhan, which rocked the most prospersous Doaba region of Punjab has serious political ramifications.
The incident exposed the tactics of two mainstream ruling class parties in Punjab, which have dangerous implications for the State in the coming days. Talhan is a big village just in the outskirts of Jalandhar town. It is situated in the cash rich region of Doaba with some members of most of the families settled in Europe, USA and Canada. Agriculturally, too, it is a developed region with most of agricultural work being done by migrant labour from Bihar, Bengal and UP. Many of the dalit families are in government service, business and few are professionals as well. A Samadhi (grave) of one Baba Nihal Singh who was from the backward caste of Tarkhan (carpenter), was situated just at the outskirts of the village. In 1953, it was converted into a Gurudwara and gradually a big gurudwara complex came up. As this was not a SGPC controlled gurudwara, a 13-member management committee including 9 from Jat Sikhs controlled the affairs, though the 70 per cent population of the village is dalit and the village panchayat is also controlled by dalits. Since February this year, dalits have raised the issue of representation, demanding at least two seats in the management committee. Even the court endorsed this demand and ordered elections of dalits to two posts. When the dalits held elections, the managament committee retaliated with the blatantly casteist resolution calling for ‘social boycott’ of dalits. Jats control most of agricultural land, and the resolution forbade dalits from entering the fields even for fodder, threatening Jats who even spoke to a dalit with fines of Rs.10,000. Though the police registered cases against several people, no arrests were made. Even the SC/ST Commission’s recommendation for punishment of those guilty for the casteist act was ignored. This despite the fact that Jalandhar district has seven ministers in the cabinet of Amarinder Singh. Even a dalit minister when approached for help advised the dalits to build their own separate gurudwara! Note that in several villages across Punjab, lower castes have been forced to build separate gurudwaras, as well as cremation halls and community halls, though such casteist discrimination violates the tenets of the Sikh faith. Obviously, the administration and political leadership did not want to annoy the powerful kulak lobby in the district by taking action against such basic violations of the fundamental rights of dalits guaranteed by the Constitution. The chief minister, the erstwhile Maharaja of Patiala, is one who had resigned from Congress following "Operation Blue Star" and joined Akali Dal, led an Akali faction and then once again joined Congress. The Congress projected him as the coming chief minister and finally made him the chief minister to win over the dominating kulak lobby from Akali Dal and to handle the various Akali factions against the dominant Akali faction, the Badal-led Akali Dal. This created further tension in Talhan village where the kulak lobby was pampered and genuine aspirations of majority dalit community were suppressed.
On 5 June, a clash took place between dalits and a member of a Jat Sikh family who is a member of the management committee. Some reports say this clash was sparked off by the attempt of the gurudwara management committee to bar the entry of dalits into a shrine of a Sufi saint. Hitherto, the annual fair at this shrine had seen the participation of dalits, Jats and Muslims. The police intervened and opened fire on dalits in which one youth was killed and curfew was imposed on the village. Dalit youth came out in protest on the streets of Jalandhar, facing further repression by the police. Curfew was imposed in many dalit dominated areas of the city. Similar protests took place in the nearby towns like Phagwara.
The Congress central team which included Manmohan Singh and the Chief Minister was greeted with black flags and slogans from rooftops in the curfew-bound village. Whereas the Akali Dal came out in support of the upper caste management committee, the BSP which has some influence in the area exerted pressure for a dialogue with Akali leaders to solve the issue. To counter this move, Congress government took over the management of Gurudwara, appointed a government receiver and entered into secret understanding with Damdami Taksal (a fundamentalist seminary that produced Bhindranwale) and about 200 armed Damdami Taksal activists occupied the Gurudwara. The chief of Taksal, Mohkam Singh, held a press conference inside the disputed shrine. This tactic of dividing the Sikh religious institution was the one used by the Congress before, which had resulted in the decade-long bloodbath and turmoil. Now the Akali Dal along with the SGPC has declared Bhindranwale a martyr, thus setting the fundamentalist agenda for consolidating the upper caste kulak lobby while the Congress, in competitive one-upmanship, is cultivating institutions like Damdami Taksal and ex-Khalistani leaders to counter Akali Dal moves.
On 14 June, a team consisting of leaders of CPI(ML) and Pasla Group of CPI(M) as well as journalists and intellectuals tried to visit the curfew bound village but was stopped at the outskirts of the village by armed policemen. Activists and leaders of fundamentalist outfits like Damdami Taksal were allowed to take hold of the disputed Gurudwara but the left democratic organizations which have credentials of fighting against all the divisive fundamentalist forces were not allowed even to enter the village to meet the suffering people. The delegation condemned this senseless bias and called for immediate withdrawal of indefinite curfew which is creating serious problems for the people in this scorching heat. The delegation also called upon the govt. to involve all the political and social organizations and representatives from civil society for an amicable solution to the problem which would respect the genuine sentiments of majority dalit people in the village. It also demanded the arrest and punishment without delay of the signatories to the casteist resolution calling for social boycott of dalits.
The incident of Talhan showed the assertion of dalits in this relatively prosperous region of Punjab. Figures reveal that dalits, who constitute 30% of Punjab’s population (the largest percentage of dalits in the country), own merely 2.54% of agricultural land. The Congress government and the main opposition party Akali Dal are resorting to competive whipping up of casteism and sectarianism in order to consolidate the upper caste kulak lobby on a reactionary plank.
On the other side, in Malwa region of Punjab, dalit assertion is taking on
a different dimension. In villages like Dalelsinghwala of Mansa district, agricultural
labourers are fighting against forced labour imposed by kulaks on the basis
of fictitious loans. Similarly, in Dhuri block of Sangrur district, tension
is going on for the allotment of panchayat land in several villages. In Jagraon
block of Ludhiana District, a conflict is brewing around a common pond illegally
captured by kulaks whereas in Payal town of the same district, struggle is going
on against the conspiracy of kulak lobby to remove the dalits from land allotted
to housing dalits. Most of these movements are going on under the banner of
left forces and on 16 June, CPI(ML) is held a district level protest in Mansa
against the social boycott call given by the kulaks against the struggling agricultural
labour in the district. In many of these districts, particularly in Mansa-Sangrur
belt, it is mainly the left forces under the banner of BKU (Ekta) is leading
the movement of the small peasants against the debt and WTO inspired agricultural
policies of the central and state governments. It is a positive development
that in Mansa, BKU (Ekta) is supporting the movement of agricultural labours
for writing off the fictitious loans claimed by kulaks. In Punjab, a state passing
through serious agrarian crisis and stagnation, where ruling Congress and Akalis
are resorting to pamper the divisive fundamentalist forces, it is imperative
for the Left-democratic forces to forge political assertion and intervention
based on the growing assertion of agricultural labour and oppressed masses and
to firmly unite with movements of toiling peasantry. 