In February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway, which reduces the time one would need to reach Delhi from various points.
The new and swanky highway – dotted with food courts and eight separate lanes – is now used by people who would earlier take the NH48 to travel to the national capital.
Away from the glitter of the new highway, the old NH48 is also a remnant of a movement that the present dispensation would want to forget – the prolonged protest by farmer outfits against the three farm laws, that continued for over a year and ended with their withdrawal by Centre, a rare instance when the Modi government had to change its stance due to public pressure.
While driving past the Jaipur-Delhi NH48 highway, one comes across a cluster of earthen pots erected on iron sticks just at the entry point of Haryana, commonly known as the Shahjahanpur border. This border was one of the central sites of the farmers’ protests over the three laws introduced by the Union government led by Modi.
Photo: Akhil Chaudhary.
Despite being called “anti-nationals”, “Khalistanis” and “anarchists,” the farmers – many from the Jat community – stood their ground and spent their days under worn-out canvas tents, eating from makeshift kitchens and by facing off with the police who routinely tried to clear the road.
The earthen pots contain soil from villages and farmlands from all over the country. Back in March 2021, when I travelled with farmer outfits and covered a journey of more than 650 kms from southern Rajasthan’s Banswara to the Shahjahanpur border, I saw the collective camaraderie among farmers, who spoke about the threat they felt from the three farm laws. They called the exercise of collecting soil in these pots ‘mitti satyagraha’ – satyagraha of the soil, a movement based on Gandhian principles of non-violent protest.
On Tuesday, as I heard Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s angry diatribe in the Rajya Sabha, wherein he asserted his identity as a farmer and Jat while condemning a video of Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee mimicking him, I couldn’t help but think of my fellow farmers in the Shahjahanpur protests, who despite being ridiculed and vilified so frequently by the mainstream media, got little by way of support from figures such as Dhankhar, who at that point was the Governor of West Bengal.
And yet, far from playing the victim card, they tenaciously continued their satyagraha against the three laws till they were withdrawn.
In his angry outburst, Dhankhar said that his background as a Jat and being from the farming class was being ‘insulted.’
“As an individual, take on me, don’t take on my background as a farmer, don’t take on my background as a community member. Institution of Chairman has been ravaged and that too by a political party that has gone so far that a Member of Parliament, a senior one, videographs the other member… On Instagram, Mr Chidambaram, your party put a video which was withdrawn later. That was a shame to me. You used the official Twitter handle of the spokesperson to demean me, insult me, insult my background as a farmer, my position as a Jat, insult my position as Chairman.”
It is worth mentioning that the protests outside the parliament by opposition MPs were being held at the aftermath of the unprecedented instance of the suspension of 143 MPs, in which Dhankhar too played his part by suspending opposition of Rajya Sabha MPs who were demanding a statement from the Union home minister over the recent intrusion in parliament.
While Dhankhar suspended the house as well as its members, he clearly does not want to face any criticism, citing the fact that he holds a constitutional post.
Since the issue snowballed into a controversy, Dhankhar has found support from BJP leaders, PM Modi, and even President Draupadi Murmu. While many would argue that mimicking is an acceptable form of criticism and that even if he is on a constitutional post, he is not beyond criticism, by invoking his caste and farming background, Dhankhar has created an impression that criticising him is the criticism of the farming class.
It is here, that I would like to disagree with the honourable vice-president.
As a fellow Jat, who comes from a family whose primary occupation has been farming for several generations, I couldn’t help but notice the clear double standards when it comes to seeing one section of Jat farmers under the anti-national lens while crying foul and asserting one’s Jat identity when convenient.
Perhaps V-P Dhankhar has forgotten that when medalled wrestlers who are also daughters of Jat farmers, were protesting against a member of parliament from the ruling BJP, there were concerted efforts to tarnish the image of the sportspersons.
Even as Jat outfits across the country stood firmly behind the sportspersons at the time, we didn’t hear a similar emotive speech from Dhankhar on the targeted harassment of Jat wrestlers.
In fact, it was Congress MP, Rahul Gandhi – without naming Gandhi, Dhankhar slammed him for recording the video of the TMC MP mimicking him – who was vocal in the support of the protesting wrestlers, much like his public support for the protesting farmers during the movement against the three farm laws.
It is also important to note that by identifying himself as a Jat while sitting on a constitutional position, he has rightly raised the issue of representation of different communities in the parliament and other spheres of the society.
Incidentally, the vice-president’s native village is in Jhunjhunu, a district which sends thousands of youngsters to the Army – a large chunk of whom are Jats – every year.
While the Shekhawati region comprising districts such as Jhunjhunu and Sikar have been witnessing constant protests over the Agniveer scheme, the V-P is yet to break his silence on an issue which is crucial for the future of thousands of Jat youngsters from the region.
Using the Jat trope and raising the community’s issues is alright till the time it is not only restricted to those issues that conveniently suit the ruling party.
Akhil Chaudhary is a human rights lawyer based in Rajasthan. He posts on X @akhilchaudhary.