Politically incorrect

Political rallies are concoction of promises made-never-to-be fulfilled, a storehouse of surprises, meeting place for long lost friends and brisk business for everybody around.

But for a journalist, these events hold special significance. Giving an opportunity to peep into mayhem of so many lives, so many people, at the same time.

I have covered rallies where political heavy weights end up with an egg on face and the audience digs pleasure out of their embarrassment.

At a rally of Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, a drunk and enthusiastic septuagenarian raised slogans praising Sukhbir. But the words he was shouting are meant for dead men.

“Sukhbir teri soch te pehra deyange thok ke”, he said as soon as Sukhbir sat on the dias. He disappointed the leader and amused audience by shouting thrice but was finally taken out of the venue.

He was said to have attended the bhog ceremony of late Punjab minister Captain Kanwaljit Singh where he used this ‘phrase’ repeatedly without knowing its meaning.

During the rally of former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh one of the speakers said “Veero eh CM Chhota mukh Mantri hai te appan esnu jeetouna hai”. (Brothers, he is a string chief minister candidate and we have to ensure his victory).

Captain kept on giving an ear-to-ear smile. Later in his speech Captain said, “I was never aware that people also call me by the name of chhotta (bull)” leaving many in peels of laughter.

In a rally at Mandi Gobindgarh former Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Bir Devinder - who had just left Congress to join SAD - was present with Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal.

During his speech Badal surprised the audience and said “Veero ohna lokan nu gaddar kehnde ne jehre apni party chhad ke dusri party vich ja ralde ne”. He was pointing towards a prominent leader of the area who had recently left SAD to join Congress. As soon as Badal used word “gaddar” (traitor) all eyes searched for red faced Bir Devinder.

(Picture: Surjeet after winning the Phillaur constituency of East Punjab assembly. February 1967)

Gone are the days, when wheat grew on us

“Wheat harvesting was never a cake walk as it is now. One had to work like machine, day and night, separating wheat from chaff manually. Wheat sprouted out on our bodies, literally,” said octogenarian Sukhchain Singh lying on hand knit charpoy.

Long beard on wrinkled face waved as the breeze blew. Reminiscing the times, when he was a young boy, Sukhchain added that in early 50’, when green revolution was yet to make its presence felt in Punjab, harvesting seasons spread over couple of months, rather than weeks.

Farm hands and farmers working on harvesting crop did not take bath for weeks together. Reason? “During de-husking, the chaff used to get glued to our bodies. Since it was a daily procedure, we could not afford to take bath daily, oil ourselves and laze in sun,” he said.

Finally, Sukhchain and all other like him hit a novel way to get freedom from prickling. During this period nobody took bath as every time water touched silage filled bodies it gave more irritation and burning sensation. Some farmers used clothes to wipe off scum and those who failed to do so then boasted of wheat growing on their arms and heads.

Consequently, by the end of harvesting season, many used to have green slimy layer covering their bodies and a small twig peeping from behind ear or neck.

The sweat provided ample “food” for saplings on body to grow. It remained an amusement for men at work in large fields, who had no other means of entertainment.

Mechanization of farming these days has not only left us with pot bellies and hanging flab, but has taken away those days of hard work, when we literally grew whet on our body. Our sickle lies lazing somewhere in outhouse of farms and robust muscles are put more to look for addictions.

“Can the young generation dare to grow wheat on its body?” challenges Sukhchain.

My name is Nang. Geba Nang.

The words sound similar to renowned silver screen dialogues with same attitude. Only difference lies in speaker who utters them.

Geba Nang, as we came to know him, hailed from backward district Mansa. His love for neat country made liquor, left him alone in life bereft of money and near ones.

He sold his entire 27 acres of agriculture land and thus gained the name Nang (pauper). “Now I am a free bird. I feel so relieved not to go tilling my land, fight with arhtiya over loans or plead people to lift my crop,” said Geba brimming with life in chadra (loin cloth) – kurta.


So where does his fortune earned from selling ancestral land go? “I am using it to fulfill my cherished desires. I’ll visit every place in Chandigarh – the city of free souls. Beautiful gardens, parks and markets beckon me,” he said.

Geba came to visit Chandigarh in chilling weather when the temperature was even below 10 degrees. While me and roommates could hardly manage to move out of our quilts, he sprung up early in the morning, poured buckets of chill cold water and was ready within half an hour.

His wine supply had exhausted in mid of night and now he was too impatient to wait for the Chandigarh taverns to open. A stranger to the city, he could not muster courage to move out alone.

“O mundeyon uth kharo. Chhi vajj gaye, theke khul gaye honge?” (Wake up boys its already 6 now and liquor vends must be open by now)”, he called all of us.
Finally, after much persuasion, one of us accompanied him upto liquor vend. The owner of liquor vend was performing his prayers, praying deity to showers more customers today, when Geba reached the place.

Within wink of an eye, he bought the bottle, opened it and decanted its contents down his throat. “Now I feel better. It indeed seems to be morning now,” he said with a different aura taking over his face.

He came back to our den, whistling and happy. Unable to express his gratitude for his companion who took him to vend, he said, “Do come to my village in Mansa. I will take all of you on a joy ride.”

“My name is Gurdev and it was my mother who last called me by that name. Ask anyone about Geba Nang. Or Geba Amli. And even if this does not work ask for Bhosru. You’ll surely find me.

Who is next PM? Manmohan or Badal

The political winds blowing in country has gripped everyone including the rural folks. As contenders from various political parties come forward to file their nomination papers, even poor farmers, elderly and village children in Punjab villages are discussing politics these days.

Unlike urban folks, villagers especially woman and elderly farmers choose amusing topics to discuss.

Its more Badal versus Captain in Punjab than SAD versus Congress. People have arguments over preference of their candidates and even stop talking to best of their friends if they have different opinions.



Though they fail to name a single contestant fighting from their constituency but they were keen to vote Congress and Akali’s as per their choices. Many of them were not aware of fact that these are general elections wherein the Prime Minister is elected by the MP’s in center. They were seen discussing about the next Mukh Mantri (chief minister).

When I asked an elderly whom will he vote this time, he said Captain Amarinder Singh. Another said he will vote for Badal. When enquired about Congress and Akali candidates from their constituency they did not answer but said “appan tan bus punje te mohar la auni ae bhalan di koi hoya” (we will put a stamp on congress party whosoever will be the candidate). Similar was the answer of Akali supporter.

Strangely both the supporters were in favour of Dr. Manmohan as next PM. But neither of them was aware of fact that if they vote for Akali’s, then their very dear Manmohan will lose his PM ship.

Contemplating over their amusing remarks I drove back home where a friend of my wife from Australia said “Lets hope this time Captain Amrinder comes to power and vote the Akali’s out.” And she is a working woman in Adelaide.

Interestingly yet another one added, “Manmohan tan Punjab da puttar e. Ohni tan sare Punjabi vote paunge. Jehdiyan votan bach gaiyan, oh Akaliyan nu jaangiyan.” (Manmohan is son of Punjab. Every Punjabi will vote for him and the rest votes will go to Akalis) and summed up the hectic democratic exercise.

Lift please. No please

Long distance travels get monotonous. Especially when one is alone. In my bid to have company and out of sympathy for people standing under sun, roadside, I have this itching habit of giving them lift.

While the younger ones thank profusely, the elders shower blessings. But there is yet another category of “lift takers” who consider this little service as their right.

These are our very own Punjab police cops. At Chandigarh, I had the privilege to have four men in khakhi in my car. Unlike their Punjab police colleagues, the UT cops quietly descended from the vehicle, thanked me and were off to their work. More than five times I have rode the khakhi and have honor of escorting them.

Encouraged by this, I decided to give lift to yet another group - albeit group was from Punjab police with an under trial in a police case being taken to court. As we started towards out destination, one of the cops ordered me to switch on the AC, and pat came another order to slow down.

As if this was not enough, I had a flat tyre. Now it was that culprit’s turn to do me a favor. The cops removed his handcuff so that he can “assist” me to fix flat tyre. After nearly half and hour of grueling under the sun, one of the potbellied cops turned to me and said, “See. Had we not been there, who would have helped you? You should be thankful to us.”

As we packed up and resumed our journey, they asked me to drop at specified destination, that was kilometers away from mine. And I had to oblige them.

Now the moment I see men in khakhi waving for a lift, I speed up my car. Perhaps I am once bitten, twice shy.

Tytler - Son of a Sikh mother, killed Sikhs brutally

Jagdish Tytler, the Congress leader accused of heinous crime of genocide, is an example of how power blinds a person.

Tytler was born to a Sikh mother, who followed Sikh culture and even got his marriage solemnized as per Sikh traditions. It is said that he however, in a bid to appease his Hindu supporters and senior Congress leaders, helped in brutal killing of a large number of Sikh in his constituency after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

Jagdish Tytler at his wedding that was solemnized as per Sikh traditions

As a child, Jagdish got separated from his mother during India – Pakistan partition. He was rendered an orphan. A philanthropic Dayal Kaur raised him under the Sikh traditions. He was then brought up by educationist James Douglas Tytler - founder of many public schools including Delhi Public School and Summer Fields School.

He got separated from his Sikh mother during partition when the family was on way to Delhi from Gujjranwala in Pakistan. His father was Hindu.
On reaching Delhi, he daily visited Gurudwara with his elder brother. A different person then, Jagdish, was god fearing person. He prayed Waheguru to reconcile him with his mother and the prayers were answered. It is said that he indeed met his mother at gurudwara.

James Douglas converted him into Christianity and Jagdish took his name. He became an active member of youth Congress organisation and a disciple of Sanjay Gandhi. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980.

He was accused of setting afire Gurdwara Pulbangash wherein three people were killed. One of the onlookers, on the first floor of the Gurudwara - first of the temple was safe as fire could not reach there - saw Jagdish Tytler directing mob.

Tytler flexed his power. Witnesses failed to stand in court. Many withdrew their statements, while others got lost in oblivion. Some died mysteriously and many got framed in other criminal cases.

His power continued to grow. It is said that he “blackmailed” the Sonia Gandhi led Congress to give him ticket for the Lok Sabha elections.

Despite 24years waiting for justice, in agony and pain, Tytler’s political clout and power continued to grow. The eye-witnesses have started dying. And wait for justice gets longer.

The Waheguru, that united him will his mother, will now have to settle this case of genocide in His own court. As justice continues to elude victims and favor Tytler.

Farms will be a thing of past….. Soon

Widespread urbanisation in Punjab has forced many people to think that the agricultural land will be a thing of past if land acquirement by private developers and the government would continue like this.

Imagine that Sangrur district has registered a highest reduction in agriculture land by 125 thousand hectares in a span of past just five years. Amritsar follows the league with 68 thousand hectare of reduced land, Patiala at 26 thousand hectare, Hoshiarpur 18 thousand hectares and Mansa 10 thousand hectares.

Interestingly, the only districts of Faridkot and Muktsar have registered an appreciable increase in the net area under agriculture. While Faridkot has 25 thousand hectare more land under farming in last five years, Muktsar pegs this figure at 5 thousand hectare.

Farmer unions foresee the decline in agriculture land as an impending agriculture crisis. The holdings of only small farmers are being acquired under the urbanization spree. No one dares to touch the big farmers having in hundreds of acres.


The government keeps on acquiring fertile land for various projects. Take case of any district and one will find fertile lands being replaced with cement structures. Take the case of Mohali international airport, scores of malls and shopping complexes along Ludhiana - Jalandhar road, housing townships in different cities or thermal power plants at Rajpura and Gidderbaha. All reflect government's indifferent attitude towards agriculture," he said. In Rajpura, the government has recently acquired 300 acres of fertile for the construction of a thermal plant, which many remain in pipeline for the coming years.

There will be no land for agriculture purpose in the next 50 years or so, the government must use the barren land instead of the fertile for any of the purpose of setting up thermal plants and industrial units. Otherwise the next generation will not be able to see greenery but cement structures and smoke emitting units.

Clouds (Badals) are unfortunate for my crop

A farmer speakth

Punjab was swept with hailstorms and rains in many parts of state that damaged wheat crop.

As soon as I heard the first thunder, I ran towards my field and pleaded helplessly to the Almighty. To spare us. But it rained and rained. Till morning, my entire field was flooded. Wheat stacks were drenched with water.

Even before I could think of loading them and taking to mandi, sarpanch said I would first need to dry. And wait another couple of days for sky to clear and sun to shine.

It happens after every five years. Call this the curse of Badals (clouds) or the God being angry on them. Some people are born with astrological compositions that are deterrent for others. And this perhaps stands true for the Badal, whose rein has witnessed losses for farmers of Majha, Malwa and Doaba.

Call it a periodic cycle or nature’s way of working overtime against the present rule in state. My Malwa brethren lose their cotton, Majha their potatoes and vegetables and Doaba lose their modern variety of crops.

The recent damage of wheat crop at large extent has once again proved that the Badal’s are really unfortunate for the farmers. We are always afraid of our crops when Badal’s rule Punjab, especially during the kharif season.

The farming community comes to receiving end and economic growth takes a plunge. The entire system of sale and purchase of crops is affected.

They (clouds) always fool us; they pour showers immediately after sowing of cotton crop and stop when we need water most - during paddy season. Similar damage is said to last reported in 1999, around ten years ago, and it was Akalis who were in power.

As my bebe (grandma) had said, “Badal taan kadma e.” (Badal is unfortunate).
Let all of us stand united against these clouds and pray that they should never enter in Punjab’s territory to once again, damage our crops and wealth.

Who named Lord Rama Maryada Purush?

I don’t know whether he was boasting or not but his question seemed to carry some weight.

“Do you know who gave the upadhi (honour) of ‘Maryada Purush’ to Lord Rama and when?” I nodded my head left and right, twice in slow motion, trying to think about the answer.

“I know”, he said claiming that even an ardent follower is not aware of this. “Ask anyone and you wont get the right answer. There would be multiple answers to this question,” he said.

I persuaded him to at least part with a hint. I even had to part with my secret – that I have always been weak with dates, historic characters and facts related to them.

“But how did you conclude that very few know answer to this question.”

My friend had been running a cable channel network, which remained an unsuccessful venture since its inception. To rouse the interest of viewers and increase TRPs of his channel, he decided to run an array of question related to Hindu mythology.

“The channel had just started and making it hit amongst masses was a gargantuan task. With every festival on anvil we started asking such questions. It was during Rama Navmi that we asked this question and the answers were surprising, and at times hilarious,” he said.

Out of 330 of answers received just two were correct. Many viewers said it was Laxman, some said it was Sita and others said it was Hanuman.

I interrupted him. His story was going beyond my endurance and I could hardly wait for an answer. Testing my patience, he gave me another ten minutes to at least make a guess. I gave up. But he extracted a promise from me. Not to pass this answer.

“It was Kaikai, stepmother of Lord Rama who gave him upadhi of Maryada Purush. When Lord Rama’s father, Dashrath asked Ramji to leave for vanvas (exile in jungle) for 14 years, he did not questioned his father even once and took his permission to leave. His immediately obeying his father’s orders moved otherwise shrewd Kakaiye, who declared him maryada purush”.

Interestingly, when I put up same question to a section of my Hindu scholar friends, they too had different answer each. Some said it was sage Vasisht others said it was Samudra (ocean) that refused to give way to Lord Rama for going to Ravan’s palace (now Sri Lanka).

If anyone of you has an answer, please oblige.

Punjab should introspect its road safety policy

Here is letter of MLA Bholath, Sukhpal Singh Khaira to the chief minister Punjab on increasing accidents and road safety.

To

S. Prakash Singh Badal,
Chief Minister, Punjab.

Subject : Urgent need to regulate traffic in Punjab to save precious lives like Capt. Kanwaljit Singh being lost in thousands annually due to road accidents.

Dear Badal Ji,

In the death of Capt. Kanwaljit Singh we have lost a sober politician with a vision and immense experience as a parliamentarian. His death is an eye opener to the chaotic conditions prevailing on the roads in India in general and Punjab in particular.

Since, I have been raising the issue of road accidents in the Vidhan Sabha, you would be surprised to know that approx. 3500 deaths occur due to reported road accidents in Punjab annually. Had such large number of people died in any developed country, prevention of road accidents would have been one of their main priorities, unfortunately that is not the case here. There isn’t a family in Punjab that hasn’t lost a near and dear one in road accidents yet we fail to realize the gravity of the problem.

During the peak of terrorism in Punjab the loss of 10 lives would make headlines in the newspapers whereas loss of 10 lives in road accidents which is an average daily fails to even raise eyebrows. The other day 24 precious lives were lost on way to Naina Devi which was a second fatal accident due to same reasons on same route within one year, yet no corrective measure. Day after day families have been wiped out, therefore, I would suggest that the Govt. wakes up to take strict preventive measures.

I would suggest that the govt. set up a Traffic Regulatory Authority in Punjab. The traffic police force and the District Transport authorities must be brought under this authority. At present the traffic police and DTO’s merely indulge in harassing and challaning vehicles with a purpose of making money. I had during Capt. Amrinder Singh’s tenure given a blue print of the proposal but unfortunately the DGP and the then Transport Secretary opposed the move lest they loose their authority. This authority could bring all policemen presently deployed for bogus duty such as security of VIP’s etc. on the road, enforce strict discipline. Why drivers on entering Chandigarh learn and obey all traffic rules, merely because the enforcement of law is very strict.

In order to educate people about obeying traffic rules one chapter must be introduced in schools at the elementary level for minimum 3 days learning a week. Ambulances must be made available at every 25 kms on the national highways for the injured with appropriate communication equipment. Strict patrolling by police vehicles must be undertaken at regular intervals on the highways. CCTV cameras must be put on all major roads of the state.

Further many such preventive measures alongwith strict enforcement of law can be taken and if need be some legislative changes can also be made to instill more fear in the minds of the drivers.

In this context, I would suggest that the govt. set up a committee of elected representatives and officers to find a solution to tackle this menace at the earliest or else we would keep loosing people like Capt. Kamaljit Singh. This committee can pick up an already existing traffic regulatory system of a developed country and enforce those systems in Punjab. I also offer my services for this noble cause to save precious human lives of the brave Punjabi’s.

With regards


Sukhpal Singh Khaira
MLA Bholath