1957 Hindi Movement victims may get freedom fighter status

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, September 7

To win over Jats, the Haryana Government is planning to give freedom fighter status to those who participated in Hindi Movement in 1957.

Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria said a databank of those who were booked or jailed during the movement was being prepared.

Hindi Movement was launched against a decision to make Punjabi compulsory in schools in the Hindi-speaking belt of undivided Punjab. It was the first major mass movement in the northern region since Independence.

The Punjab Arya Pratinidhi Sabha had launched the movement and the Jan Sangh supported it.

The DC said Hindi Movement participants would be eligible for pension, job reservation for their children, free bus travel and medical care.

Freedom fighters are honoured on Republic Day and Independence Day functions in each district. “The victims of the 1957 movement will be on a par with freedom fighters,” she said.

Superintendents of Police (SP) and Jail Superintendents would verify the claims of people on the basis of records of those booked or jailed during the movement, Kataria said.

Analysts said by recognising Hindi Movement participants, the government wanted to gain confidence of several communities, especially Jats.

Anupama Arya, a professor of political science at Ambala’s Arya Girls College, said nearly 15,000 Arya Samajis, mostly from Deswali belt comprising Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat districts, were imprisoned by then Punjab Government led by Pratap Singh Kairon.

“The largest participation was from then Rohtak district, the traditional stronghold of Arya Samajis. Jats participated in larger strength than others,” she said while quoting from her book “Role of the Arya Samaj in the Post-Independence Politics”.

The Rohtak parliamentary segment comprising three Jat-dominated districts of the Deswali belt is considered a stronghold of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The BJP is keen to make its presence there.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won only Rohtak in Haryana. And in the Assembly elections the same year, the Hooda-led Congress won 10 of 14 seats in the Deswali belt.

Prof Ranbir Singh, former dean of social science, said the movement did not succeed in its main objective, but it resulted in political repercussions. “The movement paved way for the creation of Haryana in 1966.”

“As the Congress lost its strength in the Hindi-speaking region of then Punjab, the Jan Sangh gained a foothold,” Prof Singh said.

“The agitation was called off in December 1957. In 1962 General Election, Jan Sangh candidates Swami Rameshwaranand won Karnal seat and Chaudhary Lehri Singh won from Rohtak. Jagdev Singh Sidhanti of the Haryana Lok Samiti was elected from Jhajjar and Mani Ran Bagri, a socialist, from Hisar,” he added.