Khattar may visit 1857 martyrs’ village on R-Day

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, January 15

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is likely to attend the Republic Day function at Rohnat village in Bhiwani district.

Rohnat is known as the village of martyrs. Several residents had sacrificed their lives in the First War of Independence in 1857.

The residents have stopped celebrating the Independence Day as well as Republic Day functions long time back. The villagers said the successive governments had not been able to undo the injustice done with them by the Britishers during the 1857 revolt.

“Even after 70 years of Independence, we have been suffering the repercussions at the altar of supreme sacrifice made by our ancestors who revolted against the British Raj and declared themselves independent,” said octogenarian Amir Singh, a former sarpanch of the village.

The village which took part in the 1857 revolt was punished by the British Raj and stripped the entire village population of their landholdings besides, unleashing the tyranny on men who were crushed under the road rollers.

Ravinder Singh, a youth from the village, said, “The village had to face the brutal retaliation from the British Raj after our ancestors had participated in the first war of Independence. During the revolt, villagers attacked English officers in Hansi and Hisar and got several prisoners freed from jail. On July 20, 1858, the British Raj declared the entire village as rebel. As a punishment, the government auctioned nearly 22,656 bighas of village land for Rs 8,100,” he said.

He said that they met the Chief Minister who had agreed to unfurl the National Flag in the village on Republic Day.

Historical evidence suggested that the British government killed a number of men of the village by crushing them under the road roller on a road near Hansi town, which is still known as ‘laal sadak’. The entire agriculture and residential land was auctioned barring a pond measuring 13 bighas and 10 biswa. The Raj had also imposed a ban on the local residents for repurchasing the land. Though the ban was lifted after Independence and many villagers had purchased back nearly 65 per cent of the land from owners.

Bhiwani City Magistrate Mahesh Kumar said the Chief Minister’s visit to the village was proposed on January 26. “We are geared up for the visit as various development works would be carried out in the village soon,” he added.