Chandigarh: Even as Charanjit Singh Channi was derided by some as a ‘dummy candidate’ after his elevation as chief minister of Punjab, the Congress’s decision to replace royal scion Captain Amarinder Singh with a leader from the Dalit community will emerge as a matter of huge political significance that is likely to usher new political trends in state politics.
Ever since Punjab’s division on a linguistic basis in 1966, the dominant political discourse in the state was religious, linked to the larger Sikh identity, given that it was a Sikh majority state.
In that process, caste contradictions – though visible at the social level, for instance, proliferation of separate caste-based gurdwaras in Punjab villages – could not emerge at the political level, says political commentator and history professor Harjeshwar Pal Singh.
The reason, explained senior journalist Hamir Singh, was that panth politics practiced by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which the Congress also followed, mobilised all Sikh communities – be it the landed, the peasants, Dalits or Jat Sikhs under the larger Sikh identity.
Jat Sikhs ended up playing a ‘magnetic’ role because of their economic and social empowerment, enabled by the green revolution and their subsequent influence over Sikh religious institutions.
Harjeshwar Pal Singh said that faced with a waning of its influence in the 90s, the SAD entered into an alliance with the BJP. The saffron party had by then established itself among a large number of Hindus living in urban areas of Punjab.
The SAD’s decision was tactical. There are three major demographic blocks in Punjab’s politics – Jat Sikhs (20% of the population), Hindus (30%) and Dalits (27% Sikh Dalits + 11% Hindu Dalits). The support of any two blocks is necessary to form the government, he explained.
Harjeshwar said that the SAD chose the BJP since the alliance not only gave the larger message of Hindu-Sikh unity that came under strain during the dark days of the 80s in Punjab but also fulfilled the SAD’s political ambition at the national level. At the time, the BJP under Atal Bihari Vajpayee rode to power at the Centre.
But according to Hamir Singh, even as this alliance worked electorally – winning three of the last five elections, the focus of the SAD-BJP alliance remained religion. Caste-based politics was not in the picture, unlike in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Even the SAD’s announcement of the free atta-dal scheme before the 2007 state elections, targeted at the Majhabi Dalit Sikhs (the numerically dominant Dalit community among the 39 notified Schedule Caste communities in the state), was for economic reasons.
A change in the tide
The farmers’ protests against the BJP government’s controversial farm laws altered old political alignments in Punjab.
The SAD, which was already battered by the sacrilege allegations that are believed to have affected its core Sikh vote bank in the 2017 assembly polls, suddenly snapped its ties with the BJP as a mark of protest against the farm laws.
This prompted the BJP to turn to the Dalit community. The intent was made clear by BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, who said that the party will appoint a Dalit chief minister in Punjab if voted to power in the next assembly elections.
In response, the Akali Dal inked an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), opening up the possibility of a Jat-Dalit coalition.
At that stage, no one could have predicted that the power tussle within the ruling Congress would spring a major surprise and give the state its first CM from the Dalit community, thereby changing the entire political dynamic of the state, barely four months before the assembly polls.
Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and PPCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu perform the voluntary service of carrying the palanquin of Guru Granth Sahib during their visit to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, September 22, 2021. Photo: PTI
Hamir Singh said that caste is a new phenomenon in Punjab politics. Earlier, panth politics, religious identities, development and peace dominated the political discourse in Punjab.
“It is for the first time that the state politics is getting centred around caste, which has only sharpened with Channi’s appointment as CM,” he said, adding, “How much it influences the state politics will only be known after the assembly elections.”
However, he suspected that caste would continue to play a role in politics, pointing to the fact that voices of OBC leaders in the Congress have already become more assertive.
Also Read: Punjab: Despite Strength in Numbers, Why Are Dalits Not Politically Empowered?
Why did caste not play a role until now?
It is claimed in many quarters that caste politics has and will never play a dominant role in Punjab.
“It is because Punjab society is inclusive. It is because both Sikhism and Arya Samaj have considerable influence at the cultural and social level,” said political analyst Pramod Kumar.
“In Punjab, the caste system does not exist. You will never find a example of untouchability despite a third of Punjab’s population being from Dalit communities,” he claimed.
He gave the example of Punjab-born Kanshi Ram, the founder of the BSP, finding more success in UP than in Punjab as evidence for his claim. Kanshi Ram made some inroads in the assembly election in 1991 but the BSP was unable to form a government in the state.
He said that even late Union finance minister Arun Jaitely could not win the Amritsar seat in the 2014 parliamentary elections, despite a considerable majority of Hindus living in and around the city.
Pramod said that Congress’s selection of Channi as the new chief minister was only meant to serve the interests of a few of its leaders. The party does not understand the implications of such decisions both at the social and political levels, he said.
However, there is a section of political and social thinkers who believe that Channi’s appointment is of great significance. It will prompt Dalit assertion and consolidation at the political level, something that the community has long been waiting for.
Professor Manjit Singh, former director of the Dr Ambedkar Chair at Panjab University, said that Channi may be a ‘comprise’ candidate in the power tussle within the ruling Congress but this is how history is written. It is not always well planned and then executed.
He said Channi’s term, even if it turns out to be a short one, will instil confidence among the Dalits. He said though untouchability is not a major issue in Punjab, Dalits are still discriminated at the social and economic levels. Only 3.5% of Dalits have landholdings in Punjab as per the 2015-16 agriculture census. The others mostly work as farm labourers.
“Even today, there are examples of landless Dalit farmers struggling to get their legitimate right over common shamlat land in villages for tilling due to influence of upper caste Jat Sikhs. Jat Sikh-dominated panchayats continue to take one-sided decisions to resist higher wages demanded by Dalit farm labourers, as seen during the lockdown last year as well as this year,” he said.
With Channi becoming the CM, Dalits will be more assertive, he added.
Farmers gesture as they block a national highway during a protest against farm bills passed by India’s parliament, in Shambhu in the northern state of Punjab, India, September 25, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Adnan Abidi/File photo
Bhagwan Singh Josh, who is professor of contemporary history at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, told The Wire that to achieve something, a triggering process is very important. Channi’s appointment will set in motion an awareness among Dalits that they can play the kingmaker role in Punjab’s power dynamics, he said.
“Since Dalits constitute a third of Punjab’s politics, if they organise and consolidate themselves, they can make the difference. The change does not take place one day. But there are moments in history that kick-start the process. Channi’s appointment is one such moment,” he said.
Of the 38% Dalit population in Punjab (as per the National Family Health Survey’s 2017 report), 70% are Sikhs and the remaining are Hindus.
However, it would be wrong to assume that Dalit Sikhs and Dalit Hindus vote for a single party in Punjab. Old party affiliations and commitments drive their choices.
Quoting the data from the Centre for Study of Developing Societies, an Indian Express report said that in the 2017 assembly elections, 41% of Dalit Sikh votes and 43% of Hindu Dalit votes respectively went to the Congress, while the remaining were divided between the SAD and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Also Read: Why Amarinder Singh’s Exit as Punjab CM Was a Long Time Coming
A break from Jat dominated politics?
Barring Giani Zail Singh, who was an OBC leader, and Channi now, all CMs in Punjab after its division in 1966 have been Jat Sikhs, who are numerically 20% of the state’s population.
Surinder S. Jodhka, professor of sociology at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems at JNU, told The Wire that the green revolution saw the Jats prosper in Punjab. Numerically, they are still the largest single caste group in the state. There is no other caste in Punjab that constitutes more than 5-10% of the total population. While Dalits as a whole constitute a third of the population, there are several castes and sub-castes among them.
But according to Jodka, an important factor that helped the Jats become politically empowered was their domination over rural society. When income from land went up, the Jats also dominated over the agrarian economy. This included influence over farm labourers, mostly Dalits, working under them in their fields.
During those days, it was almost difficult to think of a member of the Dalit community becoming the CM. The situation has changed, he adds.
“I describe it as a process of autonomisation of communities. Earlier the rural economy of the state was vertically connected, tied to each other. For instance, even if Jat Sikhs were 40% of the rural population, they virtually had control over 70% of the rural population. Now that dominance has weakened over the period of time, partly due to less dependence on Dalits for farm labour and Dalit assertion as well,” says Jodka.
Harjeshwar Pal Singh said that one change that is likely to be seen now is that Dalits cannot be keep at the edges of the power any longer.
The many groups of Punjab’s Dalits
Ronki Ram, professor of political science at Panjab University said in a recent article that Dalit Sikhs were Hindus who had embraced Sikhism in the hope of gaining dignity and social equality. But the curse of casteism was not so easily shed, and even in their new religious avatar, social exclusion continued.
According to Ronki Ram, Dalit Sikhs – like their counterparts in the Hindu caste hierarchy – are placed on the lowest rung of Sikh society.
Some of the major SC groups in Punjab are the Mazhabis, Ranghreta, Ramdasia, Ravidasia, Ad-dharmis, Rai Sikh and Sansi Sikhs.
While the Mazhabi Sikhs are concentrated in the Malwa region of Punjab, the Ravidasia and Ramdasia communities are concentrated in the Doaba region.
Ronki Ram stated in his article that Ramdasias were originally weavers converted to Sikhism during the time of the fourth Guru of the Sikh faith, Guru Ram Das. BSP founder Kanshi Ram was also a Ramdasia Sikh who belonged to Punjab’s Ropar district. Channi is also a Ramdasia Sikh who comes from the same region.
