Sikh Virsa Epaper Calgary Edition August 2021

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protest the laws. They have
never bought into the cult of
Modi, and Hindutva holds no
attraction for them.
In 2017, shortly after
Modi
imposed
demonetisation on the
country, I travelled through
both western Uttar Pradesh
and Punjab during the
campaigning for their
assembly elections. The
response to Modi’s
disastrous policy could not
have been more different
beween the two states. The
farmers of Punjab were
vigorous in their
denunciation
of
demonetisation. The farmers
of western Uttar Pradesh,
still under the sway of Modi,
were far more open to the
idea that it may have some
benefits.
If today this difference
between the two states’
reactions has diminished, it
is because the farm protests
have reduced Modi’s sway in
western Uttar Pradesh. Along
with the stamp of both the
Left and Sikhism, the
protests are also a
manifestation of the tribal
ethos that is common to the
Jutts of Punjab and the Jats
of Haryana and western Uttar
Pradesh.
The song “pagri sambhla
jatta” Hold on to your turban,
O Jutt born out of the 1907
agitation, invokes this ethos.
The turban is a symbol of a
cult of honour that makes
retreat a disgrace, and it is
this cult that gives the
leaders of the movement very
little space to compromise
with the government. It
ensures that whatever the
antecedents of protest
leaders such as Rakesh Tikait
may be, their ability to strike
deals on their own, to back off
from the protests, is limited.
The BJP, perhaps, was
unable to anticipate how
strong this idea of honour is.
After the events of 26 January
at the Red Fort, there was a
dispirited air about the
protests. It seemed a foregone
conclusion that the protests in
Uttar Pradesh were winding
down. The BJP’s provocation
of Tikait at a moment when he
was at his weakest, prompting
the now-iconic speech where
he broke down in tears, was a
mistake. His tears evoked the
same cult of honour.
As the Jats of western Uttar
Pradesh mobilised over the
days that followed, they
evoked a history of protest of
their own. Rakesh Tikait’s
father, Mahendra Tikait, once
brought both the Uttar Pradesh
government and the central
government in Delhi to their
knees and forced them to
concede to farmers’ demands
for more remunerative
sugarcane prices. For Tikait to
settle for something less now
will be difficult.
AT THE BEST OF
TIMES, it is difficult to figure
out what this government
thinks. The critical question is
how much of its own
propaganda it ends up
believing. The comparison
with the British administration
of 1907 is again illustrative.
“Poor channels of
communication contributed to
Ibbetson’s mistaken impression
conce-rning an overall plot to
overthrow the British,” Barrier
wrote of the lieutenant governor
of Punjab. “He had only just
returned to the Punjab after an
extended absence of fifteen
years and, without personal
knowledge, he was dependent
largely upon his men and the
CID” Criminal Intelligence
Department” for assessment of
the unrest. The local CID drew
its news chiefly from informants
who exaggerated & hopelessly
confused what was actually
happening.”
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Sikh Virsa, Calgary 96. August 2021
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