Vishav Bharti

P. Sainath

Editor

Antara Raman

Illustration

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Rich or poor, young or old, everybody was
supposed to remove their shoes and touch the Maharaja’s feet. However, a
fragile young man kept looking him in the eye, standing ramrod straight, refusing
to bow. That act of defiance before the Maharaja, known for his ruthless
crushing of any dissent, left the elders of Joga village in Punjab in a panic, and
the tyrannical royal, furious. 

The young man was Jagir Singh Joga. His brave,
individual protest came nine decades before Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) constable
Kulwinder Kaur slapped Bollywood celebrity and now Member of Parliament from
Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, Kangana Ranaut. Joga’s dissent was directed at Bhupinder
Singh, Maharaja of Patiala whose feudal thugs tried to grab the land of poor
peasants. That was in the 1930s. What happened immediately after is lost in
folklore and verifiable history. But Joga lived to fight another day. 

A decade later, Joga and his comrades of the
then Lal Party led an epochal struggle around Kishangarh (now in Sangrur
district) and snatched thousands of acres of land in 784 villages from
Bhupinder Singh’s son and distributed it among the landless. The present
ex-royal of Patiala, former Punjab chief minister Capt. Amrinder Singh, is
Bhupinder Singh’s grandson.

Joga was in Nabha
jail in 1954, following those land and other struggles – when people voted him
to the state assembly while still incarcerated. He was also voted back as an
MLA in 1962, 1967 and 1972.

“Protest thrives in Punjab’s air. Kulwinder
Kaur is just the latest link in the long chain of individual – often spontaneous – protests
in Punjab, which neither starts with Joga nor ends with Kulwinder Kaur,” says
Jagtar Singh, Joga’s biographer. Jagtar Singh, a retired college teacher, is
the author of Inquilaabi Yodha: Jagir Singh Joga (Revolutionary Warrior:
Jagir Singh Joga).

Most of these individual, spontaneous protests
in Punjab have come from ordinary citizens often of humble or modest
background. Kulwinder, a CISF constable, is from a small farmer family in
Mahiwal village of Kapurthala district. Her mother Veer Kaur – who Kulwinder
felt was mocked and slandered by Kangana Ranaut, is still a farmer.

Before Joga, it was Premdatta Varma who threw a
chappal at a brother-in-arms -turned-approver, Jai Gopal, inside the court
during the Lahore Conspiracy Case trial (1929-30) against Bhagat Singh and his
comrades. “It was not a planned strategy, and Varma’s protest was spontaneous.
During the course of the trial, he and the other accused were subjected to
torture,” says Prof Chaman Lal, author of The Bhagat Singh Reader.

After a shoddy farce of a trial, Bhagat Singh
and his two comrades were hanged on March 23, 1931. (Varma, the youngest among
them, was awarded five years in prison). Exactly a year later, to mark the
first anniversary of their martyrdom, and with utter contempt for the
shoot-at-sight orders in force, 16-year-old Harkishan Singh Surjeet tore down
the British flag from the top of the district court in Hoshiarpur and hoisted
the Tricolour. 

“Originally the call
to bring down the Union Jack was given by the Congress party, but they started
dragging their feet. Surjeet acted on his own, the rest is now part of
history,” local historian Ajmer Sidhu, told PARI. Many decades later,
resonating through the corridors of memory, Surjeet would say, “I still feel
proud of what I did that day.” Some six decades after the flag hoisting drama,
Surjeet would be General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

A few years after the flag hoisting incident of
1932, Surjeet’s comrade, Bhagat Singh Jhuggian, who was much younger than him, staged
a most dramatic individual protest – at age 11. Jhuggian was a prize-winning student
of Class 3, which he had topped. The education department dignitary giving away
the prizes congratulated him on stage, and asked him to shout ‘Britannia
Zindabad, Hitler Murdabad.’ A young Jhuggian faced the audience at the ceremony
and yelled: “Britannia Murdabad, Hindustan Zindabad.” 

He was thrashed, thrown out and could never
return to school. But till the last days of his life, Jhuggian was proud of
what he did. You can read <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/bhagat-singh-jhuggians-fight-for-our-freedoms/">his
story here</a>,  where Jhuggian spoke to PARI founder-editor P.
Sainath barely a year before his death in 2022 at around age 95.

The same emotion resonated this June 12 when
Kulwinder Kaur’s brother Sher Singh Mahiwal, who owns six acres of land, walked
out after meeting his sister in Mohali to tell the media: “Neither she nor we
regret what she did. So, the question of an apology doesn’t even arise,” he asserted.

Even Punjab’s recent
past is punctuated by defiant individual protests of a similar nature. Amid a
wave of farm suicides, drug addiction and widespread unemployment, 2014 was a
turbulent year in Punjab’s cotton belt. Seeing no hope from any quarter, Vikram
Singh Dhanaula travelled around 100 km from his village to Khanna town, where then
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was to unfurl the Tricolour on August 15,
2014.

Badal had just begun his speech, when Dhanaula
hurled his shoe towards him. “I could easily have hit his face but deliberately
threw it towards the podium. I just wanted to make him lend an ear to the
unemployed youth and echoes of farmers who committed suicide due to sale of fake
seeds and pesticides.” 

Dhanaula, who still resides in Barnala
District’s Dhanaula village, spent 26 days in jail. Does he have any regrets
over what he did? “One resorts to what Kulwinder Kaur has done, or what I did
10 years ago, when you see no hope anywhere,” he told PARI. From the British Raj
to the present BJP government, through time, there have existed solitary
voices, each with its own resonance, all steadfast in their pursuit, regardless
of the repercussions they might incur. 

Kangana Ranaut’s relationship with Punjab got
redefined in 2020, when at the peak of the farmers&#39; movement, she used
derogatory language against women protesting the <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/and-you-thought-its-only-about-farmers/">three
contentious farm laws</a> which the union government
finally repealed on November 19, 2021. “Ha ha ha ha she is the same dadi
[paternal grandmother] who featured in Time magazine for being the most
powerful Indian…. And she is available in 100 rupees,” Kangana had tweeted.

It seems the people of
Punjab have not forgotten Kangana’s words. They resurfaced and reverberated once
again on June 6, when Kulwinder Kaur said, “She [Kangana] made a statement that
farmers were protesting in Delhi because they were paid 100 or 200 rupees. At
the time, my mother was one of the protesters.” Oddly, no one so far claims to
have seen footage of the actual slap that Kulwinder is said to have given
Kangana. But whatever happened, it did not start on June 6.

Much before
the alleged June 6 ‘slapgate’ row at Chandigarh Airport, on December 3, 2021,
when Kangana Ranaut was on her way back from Manali, she was stopped by women
farmers the moment her car entered Punjab. Kangana was left with no option but
to apologise for her remarks. In this ongoing conflict too, for Kulwinder, her
brother Sher Singh Mahiwal, and their kin, there are also serious issues of family
reputation and dignity involved. 

&quot;We
have been serving the security forces for several generations,” Mahiwal told
PARI. “Before Kulwinder, five members of my grandfather&#39;s family served in the
army. Including my grandfather himself. And three of his five sons also served
in the Indian Army. They fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars for this nation. Do
you still think we need certificates of patriotism from a person like Kangana,
who calls us terrorists?&quot; asks Sher Singh Mahiwal.

Kulwinder
Kaur has been placed under suspension. The 35-year old – who is married to
another CISF constable and has two children, a boy aged five and a girl aged nine
– is at risk of losing her CISF job. Yet, as those who know Punjab point out, all
the individual protesters bear the weight of the consequences of their actions,
but their personal courage often sows seeds for a brighter tomorrow. Joga and
Kaur both symbolise that our dreams are still alive,” says former CPI MLA
Hardev Singh Arshi, who first got associated with Jagir Singh Joga six decades ago.
Arshi is from Datewas village, some 25 kilometres from Jagir Singh’s village of
Joga. Both fall in today’s Mansa district.

Joga was elected to
Punjab’s legislative assembly in 1954 while still lodged in Nabha jail.
Surjeet, Bhagat Singh Jhuggian and Prem Datta Varma are part of Punjab’s long
saga of individual protest and its folklore of struggle.

Rallies and processions have been
and continue to be held across Punjab and Chandigarh in support of Kulwinder
Kaur. Overwhelmingly, these have not celebrated the slap or insisted that it
was the right thing to do. The way people here see it, what they’re doing is
celebrating a mere constable standing up to a powerful celebrity and MP, in
defence of the dignity and integrity of Punjab’s farmers. Simply put: they see
Kulwinder’s actions as falling within Punjab’s tradition of individual
spontaneous protest.

 The whole episode has sparked off a barrage of
poems, songs, memes and cartoons across the state. Today, PARI carries one of
those poems with this story: the poet is Swarajbir Singh, a celebrated playwright and former
editor of the Punjabi Tribune

Kulwinder Kaur may
lose her job in the security forces – amid a flood of rewards, legal aid and
protests in her support. But, like Joga, a much bigger job might be waiting for
her in the Punjab Legislative Assembly – as five by-elections are around the
corner. A lot of people in Punjab are hoping she will contest.

___________________________________________________

Tell Me O&#39; Mother



Swarajbir

Mother, O’ mother Tell me, what is in your heart, dear mother. Volcanoes erupt and surge in my own.



Tell me, who slaps us each passing
day? Who violates our streets, and roars on the screens?



We bear the slaps of the rich and mighty. The wretched of the earth bear the pain. False are the promises of the State.



But sometimes, yes, at some very rare times, rises a beaten pauper girl. Strong emotions surging in her heart,   
               she raises and waves a hand. She dares the devils that rule.



This punch, this slap is not a blow, O&#39; mother.             
     It’s a cry, a scream, a roar of my aching heart.Some say it’s right, some say it is wrong. Call it decent or indecent, my heart is wailing for you.The mighty threatened your people and you.             
           The mighty challenged you. And it’s the mighty who bludgeoned my heart.



It’s my heart, mother, my wailing heart. Call it decent or rude, it’s screaming and crying for you. Some say it is wrong, some say it is right. 



But this is my heart, O&#39; mother. My defiant little heart, speaking for you.

(Translated by Charanjit Sohal)



Swarajbir is a
playwright, journalist and former
editor, Punjabi Tribune

Kulwinder Kaur: from lawbreaker to lawmaker?

کلوندر کور: پنجاب میں مزاحمت کی تاریخ کا نیا چہرہ

కుల్విందర్ కౌర్: చట్టాన్ని ఉల్లంఘించటం నుండి చట్టసభకు?

சட்டத்தை இயற்றுபவராக மாறவிருக்கிறாரா குல்விந்தர் கவுர்?

କୁଲୱିନ୍ଦର କୌର : ଆଇନ ଉଲ୍ଲଙ୍ଘନକାରୀରୁ ଆଇନ ନିର୍ମାତା?

कायदा मोडणारी कुलविंदर कौर कायदेमंडळाच्या वाटेवर

കുൽ‌വിന്ദർ കൌർ- നിയമലംഘകയിൽനിന്ന് നിയമനിർമ്മാതാവിലേക്ക്

ಕುಲವಿಂದರ್‌ ಕೌರ್:‌ ಕಾರಾಗೃಹದಿಂದ ವಿಧಾನಸಭೆಯತ್ತ?

कुलविंदर कौर: पंजाब में प्रतिरोध के इतिहास की नई कड़ी

શું કાયદાનો ભંગ કરનાર કુલવિંદર કૌર કાયદા બનાવનાર બનશે?

कुलविंदर कौर: कानून टोरेइय्या ले लेके कानून बनेइय्या तक?

कुलविंदर कौर: बगावत के नयका चेहरा

কুলবিন্দর কৌর: আইন অমান্যকারী থেকে কানুনের রাখওয়ালা?

কুলৱিন্দৰ কৌৰঃ আইন ভংগকাৰীৰ পৰা আইন প্ৰণেতালৈ?

ਕੁਲਵਿੰਦਰ ਕੌਰ: ਕਾਨੂੰਨ ਉਲੰਘਕ ਤੋਂ ਕਾਨੂੰਨ ਘਾੜ੍ਹੇ ਵੱਲ?

Punjab

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Kulwinder Kaur: from lawbreaker to lawmaker?

The drama around CISF constable Kulwinder Kaur slapping Mandi Lok Sabha MP Kangana Ranaut at Chandigarh airport strikes a different, less understood chord in Punjab with its tradition of individual protest

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