Caste
Tensions in Punjab -
Talhan and Beyond
By Surinder S Jodhka, Prakash Louis
Economic And Political Weekly
24 July, 2003
Perhaps
for the first time in the recent history of Punjab a case of caste conflict
created a serious crisis for the local administration and nearly shook
the political establishment. Though the conflict per se concerned a
single village, called Talhan, located at a distance of around 10 km
from the Jallandhar city in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab, it made
big news. Although the conflict in the village had been going on for
quite some time, the mainstream national media took note of it only
when it reached a flash point in the first week of June 2003.
When compared with
cases of dalit oppression or caste-wars reported
from some other parts of India, Talhan saw a minor incident of caste-related
conflict. Though tension had been brewing in the village for more than
six months and a few cases of scuffles/beatings or abuse had also taken
place, the major cases of violence occurred in the first week of June
in the town of Jallandhar, in which outside political forces also got
involved. The person who died during this conflict did not come from
Talhan. Though he belonged to an ad-dharmi family, he lived in the town
and died in a police shoot-out while participating in a protest meeting
that turned violent. The protestors largely attacked public property,
burned buses and other vehicles and organised bandhs. There were no
attacks across communities reported from anywhere in Punjab following
the Talhan incidents.
However, this is
not to undermine the seriousness of the matter. Talhan is unique and
it is necessary to understand the complexities and specificities of
the case. The conflict stemming from Talhan is far from an exception.
Though so far it has not surfaced or taken on violent colour, caste
situation in much of rural Punjab seems potentially volatile. Even when
the immediate issues are different, there seems to be an underlying
pattern that is very similar to what has happened in Talhan. The frequency
of reports of caste conflicts appearing in local newspapers from different
parts of rural Punjab has also suddenly gone up. A closer understanding
of the situation will tell us that such a trend is not really surprising.
The Context
As has been widely
reported in the media, the conflict between ad-dharmis and jats in Talhan
village emanated from the former demanding representation in the management
of a local religious shrine. Though the locally dominant jats were trying
to convert this shrine into a proper Gurudwara with help
from some outside Sikh religious organisations, it was originally a
smadh (or samadhi), a shrine where the bodies
of one Baba Nihal Singh and his aide were laid to rest. The history
and nature of this shrine reflects very interestingly on the syncretic
religious traditions of the region.
As the story goes,
Baba Nihal Singh was a Sikh from the artisan caste of Ramgarhia who
lived in a neighbouring village called Dakoha. He was no saint or fakir
while he was alive. He made and fixed pulleys for the newly dug drinking
water wells in the area. These wheels are kept at the base of the wells
in order to stabilise water supply. Villagers of the area had deep faith
in the skills of Nihal Singh. If he put a wheel in the well, it
would never dry and its water would always be sweet. However,
one day while fixing a wheel in a newly dug well near Talhan, Baba Nihal
Singh died. For the common villagers this was a sacrifice he made for
the village and he consequently was declared a martyr (shahid).
Out of respect for
Nihal Singh and in order to preserve his memory, they decided to make
a separate structure where his body was laid to rest in the village
land near Talhan. Close to the smadh, a flame too was kept burning.
Harnam Singh, who used to be an aide of Nihal Singh, took care of the
smadh all his life and kept the flame burning. When Harnam Singh died,
another smadh was built close to the earlier structure. Over the years
these smadhs began to attract devotees, who also brought offerings,
mostly in the form of cash. These two small structures were slowly converted
into a shrine. In due course another structure came up in the middle
of these two smadhs where the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth was kept and
it began to be read as per the Sikh rituals. To mark the death anniversary
of Shahid Baba Nihal Singh, his devotees from Talhan and neighbouring
villages started organising an annual fair (mela) at the
shrine. With the growing prosperity of the region and of Babas
devotees, offerings grew. According to available estimates, the current
annual amount of offerings at the shrine is anywhere between three to
five crore rupees. As the shrine grew in stature its management shifted
to a committee of powerful individuals from Talhan and the
neighbouring villages. They also controlled all the money and decided
on how to spend it. Elections to the 13-member committee were held every
year on the evening of Maghi (a local festival that falls around January
14). However, not everyone from the village could participate in these
elections.
Apart from the shrine
of Baba Nihal Singh, the village also has three regular gurudwaras.
One is called the village Gurudwara, which was built by the dominant
jats; the second is the Gurudwara of Ramgarhias and the third is a Ravidas
Mandir,1 which has been recently built by the ad-dharmis. Though in
principle gurudwaras are open to all, different caste communities have
tended to build their own gurudwaras, generally to assert their separate
identity in a caste divided set-up of rural Punjab [for details see
Jodhka 2001; 2002].2
While for regular
religious/ritual functions different caste groups have their separate
gurudwaras, all villagers visit the shrine of Shahid Baba Nihal Singh
and participate in the organisation of the annual mela. However, the
committee that manages the shrine and deals with the finances is largely
dominated by the landowning jats. Talhan has a population of around
4,500 out of which only 25 per cent are jats while nearly 65 per cent
belong to ad-dharmi caste. The rest are from other servicing castes
such as ramgarhias, lohars and jheers. Except for ad-dharmis there are
no other scheduled castes in the village. Interestingly though some
other caste communities of villages in the area have been given representation
no ad-dharmi was ever represented in the managing committee.
Mobilisation of
Ad-Dharmis
The ad-dharmis are
not only numerically predominant in the village, but over the last several
decades have also experienced a considerable degree of mobility and
autonomy. Though they were originally chamars, their long history of
mobilsations and cultural awakening has transformed them into a well-to-do
community. The ad-dharmis of the Doaba sub-region of Punjab hardly resemble
their counterparts elsewhere in India. While they do not mind being
identified as a scheduled caste, some of them dislike being called dalits.
Despite the fact that very few among them own agricultural land, a large
majority of them live in well-built pucca houses and there would be
hardly any ad-dharmi whose children did not go to school. Many of them
have urban jobs and at least one person from every alternate household
is abroad, either somewhere in the west or in the Gulf.
The genesis of their
prosperity goes back to the establishment of cantonment by the British
colonial rulers in Jallandhar in the second half of the 19th century
after they established their rule in the region. The sudden spurt in
demand for leather boots brought riches to the local chamars. Mangoo
Ram, who spearheaded the ad-dharmi movement, was son of one such chamar
who earned enough wealth by supplying boots to the British army to send
his son to California for better employment. However, Mangoo Ram came
back and began to mobilise his people against caste discrimination and
untouchability. He tried working with the Arya Samaj but soon realised
that dalits had no future within Hinduism and demanded from the colonial
rulers that the ad-dharmis be listed as a separate religious community
and should not be clubbed either with the Hindus or the Sikhs [see Jurgensmeyer
1988].
While the British
conceded their demand and they were actually listed separately in the
1931 Census, the post-independence Indian state once again put them
in the list of Hindu scheduled castes. Notwithstanding their legal
religious status, the everyday practices of the ad-dharmis are closer
to Sikhism. They worship Guru Granth (which also contains the writings
of Guru Ravidas who too was a chamar by caste). They also perform their
weddings and other rituals according to Sikh tradition. Very few among
them however have long hair or tie turbans. Their names too are like
those of the Punjabi Hindus. In the local traditions, they could easily
be called sahijdhari Sikhs.3
Over the last four
or five decades, the caste scene in Punjab has undergone many changes.
The traditional jajmani relations have nearly completely
disappeared from the region. These changes have been greatest in the
Doaba sub-region. The rural dalits of Doaba have nearly completely distanced
themselves from the local agrarian economy. In Talhan, for example,
not even a single ad-dharmi worked on a farm as a servant with the landowning
jats, something that they regularly did in the past. Migrants from Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar do virtually all the agricultural labour work. The
ad-dharmis have also acquired a sense of autonomy as regards their cultural
resources and employment [See Jodhka 2000;2002] Thanks to the growing
hegemony of the Sikh movement, brahminism is virtually dead in rural
Punjab [see Jodhka 2001]. Given their numbers, ad-dharmis have also
become much more influential in local politics. Though the current sarpanch
in the village was a jat, no one could win the panchayat elections without
support of ad-dharmis. Some ad-dharmis claimed that the current sarpanch
was their candidate. The ad-dharmis in Talhan and the neighboring villages
are clearly not easily susceptible to pressures from the dominant caste.
However, despite
their overall empowerment and near complete absence of a brahminical
social set-up, rural Punjab has not forgotten caste and the fact that
it means inequality. In other words, while pollution has nearly disappeared,
the upper caste prejudice vis-à-vis dalits remains.
As mentioned above,
the ad-dharmis revered Baba Nihal Singh almost as much as the jats did
and participated in all events at the shrine with similar enthusiasm.
However, when they demanded representation in the committee that looked
after the affairs of the shrine, the jats did not even take their claim
seriously. This happened for the first time some four or five years
back and since than caste relations in Talhan have not been cordial.
Perhaps the most
contentious issue in this whole struggle has been the money that comes
to the shrine as offerings. The jat members of the committee claim that
a large proportion of the money went into the upkeep of the shrine and
development activities that the committee had initiated for the whole
village. Over the last five years or so they have spent a large amount
of money on construction of a hospital and a telephone exchange in the
village. The money has also been spent on schools and streets. The jat
members of the committee claimed that even the ad-dharmis were given
Rs 2.5 lakh for the construction of their gurudwara/Ravidas Mandir.
Moreover, the jat members of the committee we spoke to argued, Since
ad-dharmis were anyway not proper Sikhs, how could they be made members
of the managing committee of a Sikh shrine.
The ad-dharmis on
the other hand question such arguments. Smadh Baba Nihal Singh was never
a proper gurudwara; and if clean-shaven jats could become members of
the committee, why couldnt they? They too worshipped Guru Granth
and conducted their ritual life as other Sikhs did. The ad-dharmis also
accused the jats in the committee of corruption and bungling. It
is because they make huge amount of money by being members of the committee
that they do not want us to be members, argued most ad-dharmis
we spoke to.
Not receiving any
positive response from the jats, the ad-dharmis decided to go to court
in 1999 with a petition challenging the manner in which elections to
the managing committee were held. While the court did not give a clear
verdict, it directed that a few ad-dharmi observers be allowed to be
present at the time of annual elections of the committee. However, when
they went to the shrine for attending the meeting on January 14, 2003
with the order from the court, the jats did not turn-up for the election
meeting. The elections were finally held on the evening of January 19,
2003. However, the jats refused to concede to the demand of ad-dharmis
for representation in the committee. The ad-dharmis claim that the jats
had called the police, which chased them away and beat them up when
they insisted on their representation in the committee. The jats also
issued a letter to the non-ad-dharmi residents of the village asking
them not to keep any social or economic relations with them. They stopped
going to the shops run by ad-dharmis in the village and banned the poorer
ad-dharmis from collecting fodder from their farms. They had to either
bring fodder from the town or had to collect it from neighbouring villages.
Even the use of village fields for defecating was disallowed. A picture
of Guru Ravidas that used to hang in the shrine was also torn down.
Though the ad-dharmis
of Doaba do not depend much on the local agrarian economy for employment,
their social boycott was quite a shock for most of them.
Though it did not matter much to us, our ego was terribly hurt,
said a retired employee of the Punjab government who lived in Talhan
and led the mobilisation by ad-dharmis. Similarly, Lahauri Ram Bali,
an aged Ambedkarite who has been editing monthly paper called Bheem
Patrika said that such a thing had not happened in Doaba in the near
past. What has been the use of all our struggle, education and
mobility if our people have to still face such humiliation, he
said in despair and anger. He took upon himself to organise the local
ad-dharmis against the social boycott and for representation
in the management of the local shrine. A Dalit Action Committee (DAC)
consisting mostly of the local ad-dharmis was formed to spearhead the
movement.
They gave a representation
to the SC/ST commission and organised dharnas in the town. A team of
the Commission came to the village on February 5 and found that the
social boycott was indeed in place. Though they asked the
local administration to intervene immediately, nothing happened. Meanwhile
DAC continued its protest in Jallandhar town and in the village. They
did not get much support from any of the political parties. The current
Congress government has five dalit ministers, three of whom live in
Jallandhar but they did nothing to help the ad-dharmis in Talhan. The
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also did not come to their rescue. According
to Bali the only political party that supported our cause was the Akali
Dal (Amritsar). Some Left wing leaders and a few Sikh organisations
also gave statements against the social boycott and in favour of dalit
representation in the committee, but to no effect.
However, DAC continued
its agitation and finally some officers in the district administration
called a meeting of both the parties and a compromise was worked out
on the June 3. The jats agreed to include two ad-dharmis in the committee
provided they wore turbans. The other terms of the agreement included
a public apology by all parties involved, lifting of the social boycott
and restoration of the picture of Guru Ravidas. However, two days after
the agreement, members of the two castes again clashed during the annual
mela at the Mazhar of Peer Baba Fateh Shah. It was after this clash
that violence erupted in Jallandhar resulting in police firing in which
one person was killed. After nearly two weeks of tension, the two groups
were brought back on the negotiating table by the administration and
the same compromise was made effective.
Beyond Talhan
When we asked one
of the newly appointed ad-dharmi members of the committee about his
possible role, he sounded very cynical. What can the two of us do in
a committee that has as many as 10 jat members? Though he had already
attended two meetings with the jats, he did not feel that the situation
in the village would ever be the same again. However, their agitation
had brought accountability to the financial management. The presence
of a representative of the state administration became mandatory at
the time of the opening of the box in which offerings were collected.
While ad-dharmis
sounded cynical, jats sounded agitated. Their pride has been hurt.
They wont take it lying down, was the expression many people
(including a politically active dalit bureaucrat) used in their conversations
with us in Jallandhar city. The structure of the shrine is also being
changed to make it appear more like a conventional gurudwara.
Jats are obviously
unwilling to adjust with the changed scenario and dalits are in no mood
to give up. Moreover, dalit assertion in Punjab is not confined to Talhan.
The recent panchayat elections held in the first week of July when Talhan
was still in news provide us with very good evidence of this. Given
that dalits constitute the largest proportion of votes in many villages
of Punjab, they also want to have their say in who is to be elected.
The dominant caste manoeuvring does not seem to be working in rural
Punjab any longer in the context where dalits dependence on the
agrarian economy has considerably declined with their dissociating themselves
from traditional occupations and distancing from agricultural labour
[see Jodhka 2002]. The typical cases that have followed are:
(1) In village Bhattian
Bet of the Ludhiana district jats have not been letting the dalits enter
their fields. When a few dalits confronted the jats and asked to let
their women use the fields for defecations, it led to a clash. Two dalits
were injured in the clash. Tension had been simmering ever since the
candidate of the dominant faction of the jats lost to a dalit in elections
for the post of sarpanch.
(2) The landowning farmers of Pandori Khajoor village in Hoshiarpur
district allegedly manhandled a newly elected women dalit sarpanch when
along with six other women she went into field to collect fodder. Charan
Kaur, the sarpanch went to the police and the accused were booked under
the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.
(3) Tension had been high in two villages of Sangrur district for some
time over the lease of panchayat-owned land. The dominant jats had been
taking the land on lease from the panchayat at cheap rates. Now dalits
too wanted to be part of the bidding. However, the caste violence in
Jallandhar following Talhan alerted the local administration and it
quickly worked out a patch-up.
Despite growing
incidences of conflict between dalits and the dominant caste at the
village level, caste has not yet become an issue in the electoral politics
of the state. Conventionally, caste has also not been an idiom of Punjab
politics. Though the local dalit parties such as Bahujan Samaj Party
and Bahujan Samaj Morcha wish to identify with the dalit cause, they
also need to work with them on ground at the village level. In absence
of such involvement with their day-to-day problems, not many dalits
see them as promising alternatives to parties like the Congress. There
were hardly any signs of presence of the conventional Left-wing parties
in the area. Though BSP seemed promising, its performance in the last
assembly elections was miserable even though dalits constitute nearly
30 per cent of the state population. The available indications suggest
that even in the recent panchayat elections following Talhan, many of
its candidates lost, and in most cases to other dalit candidates. Dalits
of Punjab, however, do need an organisation that can translate the local
level conflicts into a broader political and ideological struggle for
social equality and a life of dignity.
Notes
[This piece is based
on a visit to Jallandhar and Talhan. We are grateful all those who helped
us understand complexities of the situation and spared time to talk
with us. The usual disclaimers apply]
1Though they are
locally called Ravidas Mandirs, their structure is, more or less, like
a Sikh Gurudwara. The only major difference is that beside the Sikh
holy book, the ad-dharmis also keep a picture of Guru Ravidas. In the
Talhan Gurudwara they also had a picture of B R Ambedkar inside the
main hall.
2 The village also has a Mazhar of a Sufi Peer Baba Fateh Shah. Though
there is no Muslim family currently living in the village, the Mazhar
is well looked after by an aged Ad Dharmi. An emigrant jat Sikh from
Talhan also organizes a fair at the Mazhar every year on June 5 when
he visits the village. No caste distinctions are practised at the mela,
which is more of a cultural festival than a religious affair and almost
everyone from the village participates in it. Some reports have tended
to confuse the Sufi shrine with the shrine of Baba Nihal Singh. The
later was a Sikh and not a Sufi. Sufis are by faith generally Muslims.
3 The word Sahijdhari means slow adopters and was traditionally used
for upper caste khatris and aroras who believed in Sikhism but did not
confirm to the Khalsa tradition of keeping five symbols of the Sikhs.
The kesadharis are the ones who grow their hair and tie turban. However,
in practice these are much more contentious issues and has often troubled
scholars and the community. See McLeod 1975; Oberoi 1994; Singh G 2000.
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