Breaking caste barriers, Hisar village elects BC sarpanch

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Sahdawa (Hisar), December 31

Ashwani Kumar, a private schoolteacher belonging to Backward Class, had never imagined that he could be the unanimous choice of the villagers to head the panchayat.

He belongs to the Kumhar community. His is the only family from the Kumhar community in the village. He was also under debt of cooperative bank and the Power Corporation.

However, he was taken aback when a 10-member committee reached his school to inform him that the entire village had elected him sarpanch. They took him along with them to the panchayat waiting for his nod on the last day of the nomination on Tuesday.

When he told the villagers about his debt of Rs 1.75 lakh and expressed his inability to repay the dues, the panchayat asked 14 other aspirants, who were staking their claims, to pool in money to clear Ashwani’s debt.

“I have never nursed any ambition to even become a panch. But I have no option but to accept the verdict of the village. I am feeling honoured as well as indebted at the same time,” said Kumar.

Master Ram Kumar, a former sarpanch, said, “We collected money and paid his loan and pending power arrears yesterday and filed his nomination papers. He is the most suitable person for the post in the village. Despite limited resources, he has always been eager to help anyone who comes to him. His cooperative nature and unbiased attitude made our job easy in finding a suitable candidate,” he said.

Suresh Nambardar, a contender, said: “There were 14 persons who filed their nomination papers. It was all set for an ugly tussle among us. Some villagers sensed it coming and decided to nip it in the bud before it’s too late”.

Prakash Nambardar, a villager, said, “A village panchayat was organised and all 14 nominees were told to withdraw their candidature. Then some names were discussed to build a consensus when someone proposed Ashwani’s name. The entire panchayat clapped on his name and he was informed about the decision”.

The panchayat also elected 15 panches, including four women, unopposed. The village will get Rs 11 lakh as reward for electing the entire panchayat unanimously.