Where are the luminous sons and daughters of Haryana?
Haryana is a divided self -facing its internal-cultural ruptures. Khaps are its self-styled modes of discontinuity with its liberal and modern hungers. Khaps are examples of self-revenge - a relationship of hatred towards the 'other'.
IN THE years to come Haryana may end up as a museum of ‘shames’. Shames heaped upon it by the recurring incidents of violence against dalits, women and other weaker sections. This possibility is both - nightmarish and exaggerated.
But at present, Haryana is a divided self -- facing its internal-cultural ruptures. Khaps are its self-styled modes of discontinuity with its liberal and modern hungers. Khaps are examples of self-revenge – a relationship of hatred towards the ‘other’ – the law of the land as ‘modern’ and ‘democratic’ presence in its indigenous traditions.
Especially, while talking about such promising and hard working people as Haryana this possible description of a future, we all hope, will prove false to the core. It is more comforting to dismiss such prophecies, but what will we do with the ‘shame’ – which is already pluralised in the recent historical experience, to name a few – Dulina, Harsola and Gohana eruptions against dalits.
Also expressed in the murder of Manoj and Babli – a refusal to accept the youthful aspirations and ideas of the much publicised ‘demographic advantage’ of Haryana and India. The brutal murder of Monika and Rinku of Bhiwani as reported in national newspapers of June 21 and 22, 2010 reveals that all these mis/happenings are basically foregrounding a cultural problematic of the region but in the most unceremonious terms. Simultaneously leading to a well sustained tough voice of protest, and also evoking mass panchayats and open ‘moral’ and ‘legal’ support to the ‘killers’. Somewhere around and amidst us all there is a massive turning point in the history of modern – contemporary Haryana. Certainly, either this region will end up as a ‘museum of shames’ or it will resolve its cultural dilemmas and contradictions with the best possible tools evolved by our nation or Haryana itself.
But at present, Haryana is a divided self -- facing its internal-cultural ruptures. Khaps are its self-styled modes of discontinuity with its liberal and modern hungers. Khaps are examples of self-revenge – a relationship of hatred towards the ‘other’ – the law of the land as ‘modern’ and ‘democratic’ presence in its indigenous traditions.
Khaps are cultural formations naturalised by innocence or sheer respect for tradition but becoming ruthless avengers on the sons and daughters of Haryana. To them, their caste, gotra and khap have a universal continuity with the elemental Puritanism. They, the chieftains of khaps, are watchmen of a moral order of nothing and everything. They are bent upon extracting and safeguarding a cultural future out of social laws which are already overspent/over consumed. Their sense of ‘honour’ is based neither on civility of human dignity nor the moral codes of a civil society. They hold panchayats and defend the bluntly inhuman acts not because they are criminality en mass. Yet criminality is what they fail to see as criminality. This gross mystification of ‘murders’ is rooted in a refusal to see acts, customs and morality in the light of secular humanism we all have committed ourselves through an unchallengeable allegiance to the constitution of the land.
Decades back under the influence of Arya Samaj, the Haryana that concentrated its social-economic energy to draw its sons and daughters towards education and some sort of enlightenment is now standing against it – at least it is divided over what to make of the education that conspires to induce self-choice and individual freedom as permanent features of behaviour and social values in its cultural ethos. This self choice and individual freedom, though presently practiced by women and dalits only in limited terms, is now being perceived as an aberration. But, if this divided self of Haryana is denied its due course and measures of healing – the possibility of becoming a museum of shames, however, discomforting it may seem, is essentially not remote.
From where, the healers will come? Who will utter the ultimate mantra - the words that will cleanse Haryana society of its deeply politicised mystifications of caste and sexuality – this is exactly from where ‘honour killings’ and violence against dalits spring from. Haryana, the old and the new – the khaps as well as the educated middle class is basically a society abnormally obsessed with questions of sexuality, without having any democratic outlet to it. Temporarily, let us set aside what khaps are doing.
Decades back under the influence of Arya Samaj, the Haryana that concentrated its social-economic energy to draw its sons and daughters towards education and some sort of enlightenment is now standing against it – at least it is divided over what to make of the education that conspires to induce self-choice and individual freedom as permanent features of behaviour and social values in its cultural ethos. This self choice and individual freedom, though presently practiced by women and dalits only in limited terms, is now being perceived as an aberration. But, if this divided self of Haryana is denied its due course and measures of healing – the possibility of becoming a museum of shames, however, discomforting it may seem, is essentially not remote.
From where, the healers will come? Who will utter the ultimate mantra - the words that will cleanse Haryana society of its deeply politicised mystifications of caste and sexuality – this is exactly from where ‘honour killings’ and violence against dalits spring from. Haryana, the old and the new – the khaps as well as the educated middle class is basically a society abnormally obsessed with questions of sexuality, without having any democratic outlet to it. Temporarily, let us set aside what khaps are doing.
Take up the rampant trend of female foeticide. The unborn babies are mutilated in the most ghastly ways – and all by choice – choice of the parents and of the doctors. And also of society at large which has devised all hypocritical idioms to maintain its visionary ‘balance’ of sexes. Haryana society is indulging in crime against women not by ignorance but by choice – Manoj-Babli were victims of a larger ‘consent’ than the appearances reveal.
Then why a section of intellectuals of the state is reading this all in the behaviour of a particular caste. That khaps and their actions are a jat-centric phenomenon – this perception is only a half truth, in truth not even that. Only apparently it seems so, its source of energy is sarvjatiya – all castes. Female foeticide is essentially sarvjatiya. Why amend Hindu Marriage Act? What about recent judgments of the Hon’ble apex court about ‘live-in-relationship’ and homosexuality? On the name of banning same gotra marriages, those demanding amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act (1955) are actually questioning the evolution of our constitutional wisdom on issues of marriage and individual freedom.
The same gotra issue - it is nothing but a strategy of perpetuating the game of hide and seek– cultural hide and seek. Haryana as a whole is participating in it. This game is being played in the open/ blatant space of a ‘silence’ -- a silence in league with its spectators from all strata, caste and regions of the state. Only sometimes, the spectacle of female foeticide makes the mood somber and self-reflective because ‘brides’ are not around for their sturdy sons. Haryana is in league with a well built ‘silence’ that subverts the constitutional decency of its democratic pretensions and is offering its perverted expertise to the multinational reality of our times – offering a well rehearsed interplay of murders and morality.
The first blame is on politicians. Haryana politicians deserve extraordinary sympathy – they are poor scraps of what our freedom struggle produced as the ‘democratic capital’ in this region. Yes, the allegations against Haryana politicians have to be of different sort. Their opportunistic ‘wisdom’ is unquestionable, but their foolishness has yet to be celebrated – the carnival of mass approval of their ‘foolishness’ is still awaited. It is awaited with a mission to heal them.
The same gotra issue - it is nothing but a strategy of perpetuating the game of hide and seek– cultural hide and seek. Haryana as a whole is participating in it. This game is being played in the open/ blatant space of a ‘silence’ -- a silence in league with its spectators from all strata, caste and regions of the state. Only sometimes, the spectacle of female foeticide makes the mood somber and self-reflective because ‘brides’ are not around for their sturdy sons. Haryana is in league with a well built ‘silence’ that subverts the constitutional decency of its democratic pretensions and is offering its perverted expertise to the multinational reality of our times – offering a well rehearsed interplay of murders and morality.
The first blame is on politicians. Haryana politicians deserve extraordinary sympathy – they are poor scraps of what our freedom struggle produced as the ‘democratic capital’ in this region. Yes, the allegations against Haryana politicians have to be of different sort. Their opportunistic ‘wisdom’ is unquestionable, but their foolishness has yet to be celebrated – the carnival of mass approval of their ‘foolishness’ is still awaited. It is awaited with a mission to heal them.
But they are afraid of acknowledging their ailment, the multinational exposure and aspirations have defeated them on their own homeland. They are sick of power without the self-healing content of morality. The political idiom as reinvented by this political elite from time to time is two faced – one formal and public, and the other that really determines the pragmatics of political mobilisation and routes to power.
The one used in the public domain requires a verbal affirmation to the constitutional democracy and liberal commitments that legitimise any political party in the country. And the other, the undercurrent idiom is the real and result oriented one. It is broadly jat and non-jat in its popular manifestation and the dominant parties consciously preserve it as the main contradiction of Haryana society. It is the most subtle yet the crudest facet which continues to be the consensual ground from which the ruling elite derives its life and sustenance, its ‘contesting’ and mutually harmless character. Power and its immediate obligations have impoverished/ disfigured them in both – vision and reason. The youth of Haryana is the real causality of their power game.
But where are the ‘luminous’ sons and daughters of Haryana? The most nurtured minds and souls of the land- the teachers, doctors and advocates? Where are the academicians of the universities of this state – how are they viewing their own ‘silence’? How Jagmati Sangwan and her clan of men/women is time and again daring to counter the criminality of this grand-silence over murders and rapes to which the ‘educated’ respond in their own studied and timid ways.
But where are the ‘luminous’ sons and daughters of Haryana? The most nurtured minds and souls of the land- the teachers, doctors and advocates? Where are the academicians of the universities of this state – how are they viewing their own ‘silence’? How Jagmati Sangwan and her clan of men/women is time and again daring to counter the criminality of this grand-silence over murders and rapes to which the ‘educated’ respond in their own studied and timid ways.
Why Geetanjali Gayatri is out there – constructing the ‘counter discourse’ through her feelingly humane journalism? Politicians are easy to blame, to segregate and target as corrupt, opportunist, irresponsible or whatsoever we like to say. But, what about the luminous sons and daughters of Haryana? Where are the poets, intellectuals and all those who agree that the moment of disagreement has finally arrived. Disagreement and distancing not from the perceived societal criminality of khaps but from one’s own self – the silent and unfeeling self of the ‘luminous’ sons and daughters of Haryana! After all, when will we tender public apology for our silence over a terrain of issues not relating to any particular village or caste but the very future of Haryana.
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I must congratulate your bleeding heart feelings and ofcourse insert a nail in it . Phew!! Your reality cheque about facts seems to be bounced. You got it?
Didn't you see the Tricolor rising 38 times at CWG. More than half of it was because of Haryanavis and JATS. It was saying that we are products of this age old Gotra system marriage. Khap has maintained this traditions for centuries.
Now where are your cited luminous jat/non-jat humanity advocates to endorse this success. Is it by chance?
This Indian Constitution is not age old but Khap tradition is. It is the flaw of constitution or its makers that it didnt consider this point while making HMA so it need to be amended so that so called defaulters are not glorified by unignored and liberal-nazis like you. If constituion has been perfect then why there are N number of amendment in it.?
Check your realities with your facts and get lost in oblivion. You are doomed.
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