Memories of Jat heartland

THE carnage at Rohtak and surrounding areas brought back the memories of my posting in that region. I have been SP, Sonepat/ Rohtak, and DIG, Rohtak. Every place has a vibration that is unmistakable. My memories of Sonepat are of straightforward, hardworking and rustic people in the countryside, and the business community that had migrated after the Partition. They were called ‘Pakistanis’ or ‘refugees’. I found the mindset of the locals as feudal. ‘Khaps’ and ‘gotras’ are important. Women had no status. I detected a simmering dislike for Punjabis and other castes. Life was poor, nasty and brutish for the vast majority.  

The Emergency was imposed. Bansi Lal was the Chief Minister. Family planning gained momentum, but people resisted it. Some teams were assaulted by villagers. The government issued instructions to provide police protection to family planning teams. At Pipli village, a constable was burnt alive. In the police firing, three persons were killed. People from neighbouring areas started collecting; ‘Pipli chalo’ became a slogan and the crowds gathered in thousands. 

The DIG told me that the government wanted to teach them a lesson and strict action was being planned. I said considering the widespread resentment, the government should be prepared for another Jallianwala Bagh.

When action was being planned, the Emergency was lifted and elections were announced. The ruling party was decimated; Bansi Lal lost. Democracy, like second marriage, represents the triumph of hope over experience. We have weak institutions and strong leaders. In this personality-driven culture, rituals are important; ideology and government programmes are not.  

The new government ordered a judicial inquiry into the Pipli firing. The judge told me, “You look like a Nazi and you behaved like Nazis.”  

The police  believes that the burdens of security and sacrifice are not being equally shared by all sections of society. The police is used, misused and abused. Top cops do not bother about the welfare of subordinates and cultivate politicians. Professionalism has been replaced by politics and caste equations. 

During the Rohtak upheaval, I got calls from people who told me that it was worse than 1947, and there was nobody to protect them. An old man said he had seen his shops burning in Lahore, and now he saw his sons’ business establishment going up in flames. 

It is a failure of leadership, which has two components: ability and dependability. The political setup and the police were deficit in both.  Now we have too much government, and too little administration, too many public servants, and too little public service.  Having something to oppose gives direction and meaning to life, to action, to thinking.  

A local leader told me: “Ye lathi ke bhasha samjhtay hain’ (they understand the language of the rod).  Once the fear of authority is over, there is chaos.