Bridging the gap

Once near the dais I asked a man, who apparently was the major domo about the identity of the man speaking over the PA system at that late hour. “That’s Mahendra Singh Tikait, don’t you know, the great Kisan leader.” I asked if I could speak to him after he had finished , I was told by the major domo, a gentleman perhaps named Capt. Amar Singh, “Certainly, but that will be well past midnight.”

By now, I had worked myself up to returning to my office to write a story on this unusual meeting. I had, of course, accepted the captain’s advice and heard Tikait for an hour, leaving the interview for another day.

Tikait was speaking rather venomously of the leaders of various political parties who had ‘betrayed’ the kisans. The peasantry had been sold short in the name of so-called growth and development etc. Next morning, I saw the rallyists still around, some busy with their morning ablutions in and around the water-bodies, which once used to be the pride of India Gate. Tikait’s siege of India Gate continued for four days. Each morning, afternoon and evening fiery speeches would be delivered from the podium.

On the last day of the protest, I sought out by captain in the crowd and repeated the request for a meeting. Yes, of course, I must come over to Tikaitji’s village in Sisauli, in the heartland of Jat-dominated West Uttar Pradesh. I did make the hard drive to Sisauli the next day to be received by ‘the captain’ in a large compound dominated by a rectangular housing block, one-storey high and comprising some seven or eight rooms. In the very large courtyard, stood tethered a bunch of buffaloes, a lone tractor and two well-bred horses, imparting a touch of  opulence to an otherwise sleepy landscape.

Obviously, a more prosperous house, Tikait was a most revered figure in the area with some willing to trace his lineage to some great Jat landlords of Western UP and Haryana. I spent more than 90 minutes in conversation with Tikait, the ubiquitous captain around all the time.

I visited a couple of nearby villages where lived dalits who, for the most part, worked the lands owned by Jats. Very few among the dalits were landowners. They had different temples, different from those visited by the Jats. I would say, they somehow seemed to be living in harmony with their environs.

Tikait meanwhile had mentioned in passing the role the Jats had historically played in the life and times of the region. His worry now was that ‘kisans’, mostly Jats, were not getting proper remuneration for their produce. Everyone was out to fleece the Jats. Yes, some Dalits did own land but they were largely dependent on Jat lands they worked on. It was for their good as well that he was fighting for proper returns for their efforts. “You people have air-conditioned rooms  to work or sleep in, look at my place, there are some fans but no electricity.” It was to erase the urban and rural divide that he had launched his Bharat Kisan Union.

In the intervening years, particularly around poll times, I continued to hear of Mahindra Singh Tikait largely because his influence was noticeable in more than a dozen districts and his endorsement meant extra votes. His recent fulminations against the first dalit woman  Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh to a large measure, though, owed their origin to the increasing clout of dalits. The dalits have become more assertive and Tikait feels a little let down by some of the former Chief Ministers, both of the Samajwadi Party and the BJP, who had sought his help in earlier elections.

Mayawati’s emergence, resulting in a dalit upsurge, had hurt him most as a Jat, more than anything else. Of course, Tikait is not alone. There are people like Ajit Singh, who, many including Jats, consider an opportunist, have joined the bandwagon. Singh, for instance, has been demanding a Harit State pre- dominantly Jat in character. He spreads his net, apart from several UP districts to Haryana and Rajastan. Ajit Singh’s father, Ch. Charan Singh who lasted just about a  month as Prime Minister during the Janata interregnum had, prior to Tikait, been deemed to be the messiah of Jats.

And speaking of Charan Singh I remember my two visits to Charan Singh’s constituency in Bhagpat, perhaps in early 70s, when he was up for election. I was astounded to find Jat rough-necks laying virtual siege of dalit clusters, guarding the exit and entry points, just to ensure that the dalits did not cast their ballots. He was sure that they would have voted for Congress, which at the time had a virtual monopoly of dalit votes.

Tikait took over from where Charan Singh had left just after his death. He cleverly chose to wear now just the Jat hat but that of India peasantry as a whole. BKU announced it would fight for the rights of peasants. He led kisan movements and satyagrahas, all the time flaunting his non-political ambitions. He was not the second Messiah, yet his BKU was sought out by politicians of many hues. An interesting detail which came to my notice through a write-up on him by a Kanpur researcher, Mahendra Singh Tikait traces his ancestry to the ruler of Thanesar, Raja Harshvardhan, who, in the seventh century, conferred the title ‘Tikait’ on the Chaudhary of the Baliyan Khap, a large Jat strain that runs through Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. The title came to him on the death of his father when Mahender was an eight- year-old.

This is slightly different from what Ch. Charan Singh had told me once about himself. He considered Sir Chhotu Ram as the tallest of Jat leaders and himself as his successor. Tikait’s outburst against Mayawati has to be seen as a regrouping of political formations in Uttar Pradesh to counter the challenge of the Dalit Chief, Mayawati.

One doesn’t have to go into Mayawati’s record as Chief Minister, her wasteful ways and the political switch she made just prior to the last State elections, opening the doors of her party to the upper castes, a sharp departure from the philosophy of her political mentor, Kanshiram. The recent incidents in Western Uttar Pradesh must be seen as the beginning of a new chapter in the confrontation between contenders for power in Uttar Pradesh. Land and caste come in handy and are of interest to both the haves and have-nots.

Before I conclude, I must recall a funny incident. Many years ago, I was for two days on. Ch.Charan Singh’s election trail in U.P.A local journalist suggested a particular rally adding that would be the high-point of Charan Singh’s campaign. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. there were a few thousand peasants, mostly Jats, squatting on the ground armed as usual with their hookahs and some with the unavoidable lathi. It seemed as if they were out on a picnic.

The hours passed by and it was around 7:30 in the evening with light fading fast when Ch.Charan singh finally arrived. I was expecting an apology or an explanation from him to explain to the few thousand who had waited for him for over five hours, the hookah their sole companion. The only thing Ch.Charan Singh appeared to have noticed after he rose to acknowledge the ‘zindabads’ was the audience’s hookahs. Chaudhary, as was his want, rolled up the sleeves of his kurta and shouted at the crowd: “Aren’t you ashamed of smoking in the presence of your leader?” Tikait, both at the Indian Gate rally and at his ancestral place, had at least passed his hookah around to those surrounding him. Mayawati, even if she were a smoker, would surely not accept a pull at Tikait’s hookah.