80 years on, Dalit picked for top post
Vishav Bharti
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 19
Despite having the largest population of Dalits in the country, it took over eight decades for a member of the community to be named for the Chief Minister’s post in Punjab.
Constitute 33% of state’s population
- As per the latest census, Dalits constitute 33 per cent of Punjab’s population
- Of the 117 Assembly seats in Punjab, 34 are reserved
- Dalit leaders were earlier hardly given important portfolio in Cabinet
- A large Dalit population is concentrated in the Doaba region
- BSP’s founder Kanshi Ram hailed from Ropar, but the party never managed to hold its own in the state
- Other well-known Dalit leaders included Dhanna Singh Gulshan and Master Gurbanta Singh
Since the 1937’s Unionist Party’s government to Congress government of 2017, no Dalit leader ever came close in the race to head the state where politics was first dominated by urban Sikhs and later by Jats after the Green Revolution. The exclusion of Dalits continued despite the fact that they constitute 33 per cent of Punjab’s population.
Scholars following the Dalit movement, see the development as a historical event. “Congress leadership has not only shown immense courage, but they have also pricked the bubble of Jat Sikh dominance in Punjab. This bubble was created by Partap Singh Kairon,” says Amanpreet Singh Gill, author of “Non-Congress Politics in Punjab” and an associate professor of political science at Delhi University.
Prof Manjeet Singh, a former professor of sociology and former director of Panjab University’s Ambedkar Centre, says, “a historical blot has been removed of ignoring Dalits. It was painful that the land of Guru Nanak and Bhagat Singh, who vouched for equality, failed to get a Dalit on the top post till now.”
He has a word of caution also that Channi should not be a stopgap CM. The Congress high command should ensure that all ministers cooperate and support him.
Prof Ashutosh Kumar, who heads political science department, PU, too calls it a historical moment for a state like Punjab, where social power base is too narrow. “In agrarian states, power comes from land. Jats own 96 per cent of land and Dalits just a little more than two per cent. In post Green Revolution era, Jats have been dominating Punjab politics. Amid such social dynamics, it is nothing less than a miracle to get a Dalit CM.”
He agrees that though Channi appears to be a stopgap arrangement, but he says, sometimes the events do not unfold the way one plans. “You never know, he may be the future leader.” Channi’s appointment is also being seen as a counter to the SAD-BSP alliance.
