Jaipur: On July 19, Rajasthan assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani stood up and informed the House that he has decided to expunge remarks made by Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders thanks to objection raised by others.
The remarks expunged by Devnani from the House proceedings included the poem ‘Thakur Ka Kuan’ which was read out by senior Congress MLA Harish Chaudhary a day before, on July 18.
The famous poem written by Dalit poet Omprakash Valmiki talks about the exploitation faced by the marginalised communities by asking the question, that if everything, right from the ponds, to the bajra (millet) used to prepare roti, to the land used to grow bajra belong to the thakur (landowner), then what is left for the person from the oppressed class, who, despite ploughing the field, doesn’t own anything.
Congress MLA Chaudhary had recited the poem inside the state assembly before saying that the budget announced by the BJP government in the state earlier this month has nothing for the oppressed and everything belongs to the thakur.
“In every sphere we are discriminated against, or crushed. When the most trustworthy agencies quantified India’s resources in 2013, it was found that upper castes had a share of 80.13 per cent in resources while backward castes had only 17.8 per cent. Everything is of the Thakur,” said Chaudhary, who also spoke on the issue of not enough posts being created in government jobs for OBC, EBC, SC and ST communities.
While ‘Thakur Ka Kuan’ is regarded among Omprakash Valmiki’s best literary work, the outrage that followed in the Rajasthan assembly after the poem was recited, which has now turned into a full-blown protest by members of the Rajput community against Baytoo MLA Chaudhary – a Jat – reveals the sorry state of affairs in Rajasthan when it comes to initiating dialogue about the rights of Dalits.
Rajasthan routinely sees cases of atrocities against Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. As per the latest NCRB report, Rajasthan is second in the country when it comes to crimes against Dalits.
But soon after Chaudhary finished reading the poem, it became obvious that the act of reciting it had ruffled the feathers of several leaders irrespective of party lines. Outside the House, the reaction was similar.
Be it leaders from Congress – Chaudhary’s own party – or the BJP, flak over the poem came from all quarters.
Rajput MLAs defend past glory of ‘forts and palaces’
Independent MLA Ravindra Singh Bhati, a young Rajput politician who has lately become very popular among youths after starting his journey through student politics and later winning the assembly elections on his own when the BJP denied him a ticket, slammed Chaudhary for reciting the poem.
“These forts and palaces are the symbol of bravery and sacrifice…When Mughal invaders used to attack, these forts and palaces used to save the honour of our sisters and daughters, were used to help those seeking refuge… When such type of discourse happens in the Rajasthan assembly, it is a matter of pain for all of us,” said Bhati, the MLA from Sheo in Barmer, targeting Chaudhary, who had earlier said that the budget was meant for people sitting at forts and palaces.
Two-time MLA Chaudhary, who has been a minister and MP, and has been consistently raising the challenges of backward castes getting their fair share of reservation in government jobs.
Both Chaudhary and Bhati belong to the desert district of Barmer, which witnessed a ‘Jat versus Rajput’ contest in the Lok Sabha elections this year, when Bhati contested as an independent and garnered more votes than the BJP but lost to Ummeda Ram Beniwal, the Congress’s candidate supported by Chaudhary.
Despite assembly Speaker Devnani expunging the poem by Valmiki from Chaudhary’s speech, the issue kept coming back, as legislators continued to slam Chaudhary over his recital of the poem.
“Erstwhile Maharaja of Bikaner Ganga Singh ji took a pledge to bring a state-of-the-art canal system to give relief to his people from drought. He mortgaged his own palace and property to build the canal system in Bikaner after spending Rs. 5 crore…Did Ganga Singh ji bring this canal for himself? No, he brought the canal for everyone, for farmers, the oppressed, labourers,” said BJP MLA from Kolayat Anshuman Singh Bhati, on July 22,
“But it is with great regret that I have to say that there are people here who say this was a budget of Thakurs. Nothing can be more condemnable than this when such words are spoken in this sacred House,” he added.
While Rajput MLAs were vocal against Chaudhary, Amritlal Meena, the BJP MLA from Salumber, who belongs to the scheduled tribe (ST) community, gave a new angle to the controversy and alleged the SC-ST communities have also been hurt by Chaudhary’s statement.
“I felt pained when Harish ji, during a discussion on the issues influencing SC-ST communities, social justice, addressed us as Thakurs. He looted Barmer and now he calls SC-ST as Thakurs. This will not be tolerated by Rajasthan,” said Meena.
Congress leader speaks up against own party member, pens counter to ‘Thakur Ka Kuan’
Former minister and Congress ex-MLA Pratap Singh Khachariyawas – also a Rajput – who has previously served in the state cabinet with Chaudhary, went a step ahead and posted a video on X reciting poem of his own in reply to ‘Thakur Ka Kuan’.
“The oven is made of clay, the clay is from the battle field, battlefield is of Thakur, battle is for the country, country is for everyone, the hand on the sword is of the Thakur, Thakur gets beheaded, Thakur’s mother loses her child, Thakur’s wife gets widowed, Thakur’s children get orphaned. What sin has ‘Thakur ka Kuan’ committed? We are trying to brand that person wrong who has always stood up and was ready to sacrifice his life for the country,” said Khachariyawas.
चूल्हा मिट्ठी का , मिट्ठी रणभूमि की , रणभूमि ठाकुर की , युद्ध देश का , देश सबका ,तलवार की मुठिया ठाकुर कि , सर कटा ठाकुर का , माँ की कोख सुनी हुई ठाकुर कि , पत्नी विधवा हुई ठाकुर की , बच्चे अनाथ हुए ठाकुर के ………
जय-जय राजस्थान pic.twitter.com/0uTrbzilZV
— Pratap Khachariyawas (@PSKhachariyawas) July 19, 2024
Last year, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha had also recited the same poem in the Rajya Sabha, leading to his criticism by the Rajput community.
The reading of the poem in the Rajasthan assembly has turned into a ‘Rajput versus Jat’ tussle, pitting Chaudhary, a Jat, against Rajputs, who ruled the state as part of the royalty before independence.
Ever since Chaudhary’s speech at the assembly, Rajput outfits in the state have protested against him and also burned his effigies.
Rajasthan has a long, feudal history wherein Rajput Jagirdars owing allegiance to kings ruled over vast swathes of lands, wherein the farming class comprising predominantly the Jat community farmed the land but didn’t have ownership rights.
After the Congress came to power following independence, it brought in land reforms providing ownership rights to farmers and abolished the Jagirdari system.
Land ownership made Jats, who are categorised as OBC in Rajasthan as a formidable political force in Rajasthan, starting a rivalry between them and the Rajputs, which is a major tenet of politics in the desert state.
“Unfortunate that an iconic poem of Dalit assertion didn’t find place in assembly’
Dalit rights activists say that it is unfortunate that the poem by one of the most famous Dalit writers did not find place in the House records.
“When something is expunged from the proceedings of the assembly, it is generally something abusive or unconstitutional. Om Prakash Valmiki is a very big name in the literature of Dalit assertion. His autobiography, Joothan, is taught in universities. When Manoj Jha recited the same poem in Rajya Sabha last year, it was not expunged. But it has been expunged from the Rajasthan assembly,” Bhanwar Meghwanshi, Dalit rights activist and president of the Rajasthan chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties told The Wire.
Meghwanshi added that the word thakur in ‘Thakur Ka Kuan’ is a metaphor depicting oppression.
“Chaudhary read the poem with a specific context, that the budget is for people living in palaces and forts but not for the common man. ‘Thakur Ka Kuan’ was presented by him as a symbol of oppression. There is nothing wrong with it. If you see even today, where is the land holding? It is still not with Dalits. Why is the Rajput community getting offended? Along with Rajputs, people from other communities are also known as thakurs in different areas, including Jats, Nawabs and Gurjars. Rabindranath Tagore is called Rabindranath Thakur. It doesn’t make any sense to turn this into a Jat-Rajput tussle,” said Meghwanshi.
“This is an insult to a Dalit writer of huge stature, whose poem was not included in the proceedings of the state assembly. Tomorrow they can say that BR Ambedkar’s thoughts are also unconstitutional,” he added.
