T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y August 4, 1962

One approach by Congress candidates in their election campaigning in the Punjab was based on what may be called the "theory of factions". According in this theory every village, more particularly the Jat section of every village, is divided into two factions and these factions govern the entire life oj the village. During the election it was expected that these factions would align themselves with different political parties

-in the typical case, one supporting the Congress and the other the Akati Dal.

But, if the result of the election in the Sidhwan Bet constituency is any guide, the! theory of factions did not hold during the general elections.

It was also expected that scheduled castes and Hindus Would invariably vote for the Congress when the choice was between an Akali Dal Sikh and a Congress Sikh. Here again, the result of the election failed to show any correlation between the per cent of scheduled castes in the population of a polling station and the votes secured by the Congress candidate.

A corollary of the proposition that scheduled castes lend to vote for the Congress is that Jat Sikhs are unitedly behind the A kali Dal. In the Sidhwan Bet constituency, however, the Congress candidate did cut into the Jat Sikh vote. Affinal and agnatic ties, the traditional political, affiliations of particular villages, the presence of bitter factions — all influenced the Jat Sikh vote.

Studies in Voting Behaviour

THE reserved Assembly constitu­ency of Sidhwan Bet lies in the

Ludhiana Dis t r ic t of the Punjab ; the major part of it is in Raikot thana of Jagraon tehsil. The Ludhiana-Ferozepore road divides the constituency into two parts — one known as Sidhwan Bet side and the other as Dakha side. The constituency derives its name f rom the vi l lage Sidhwan Bet which was founded by the caste of Sidhus, the Bet re fe r r ing to the fact that it is in the r iver area of the Sut-le j . There are no towns in the constituency though a large market centre called Mul l anpu r serves the area. The main crops are wheat, sugarcane, maize and groundnuts. A l l the villages in the constituency are now covered by the communi ty development program. There are some historic S ikh gurudwaras (temples) in the constituency—places which had been visited by the S ikh Gurus — a fact of considerable importance in the pol i t ica l loyalties of the area.

The Candidates and Their Background

There were five candidates A j i t K u m a r ( A k a l i D a l ) , Gopal Singh Khalsa (Congress), Bachan Singh ( Independent ) , B i r Singh (Swatan t ra ) , and Lal Singh ( I n ­dependent) —- runn ing in the 1962 general elections f rom this consti­tuency for the 154-member Legis­

lative Assembly of the Punjab. However, for a l l intents and pur­poses, the main contest was bet­ween A j i t K u m a r ( A k a l i Dal ) and Gopal Singh Khalsa (Congress). A j i t K u m a r was the general secre­tary of the Punjab State Republi­can Par ty and, though not a Sikh himself, was runn ing on the A k a l i Dal ticket, and under the symbol of the Hand allotted to that par ty , through an electoral alliance bet­ween the two parties. He was born in 1928 in a scheduled caste home in Ludhiana Ci ty , though his ancestral village is Dhat wh ich is a part of the constituency. Because of prejudice in -Hindu and Sikh schools at the t ime, he received his p r i m a r y education in a M u s l i m school in Ludhiana. However, when Muslims started convert ing sche­duled castes to Is lam. Hindus — especially those belonging to the A r y a Samaj — began tak ing i n ­terest in the education of the sche­duled castes, and A j i t K u m a r j o i n ­ed an Arya Samaj school. The treatment he received at the hands of H i n d u teachers and students was not exactly a happy one. and even-tually he passed his h igh school examination in 1945 as a pr ivate student after leaving the school. Ambedkar and his A l l - I n d i a Sche­duled Castes Federation (SCF) had by this t ime stimulated in h i m an interest in poli t ics , but due to the economic circumstances of the

fami ly he jo ined government service as a clerk. He left the job in 1952 to support the S C F candidates d u r i n g the first general elections. Later he jo ined the Central Trac tor Organizat ion in Bhopal as an ac­counts clerk. Whi l e in service he passed his intermediate examinat ion in 1948 and afterwards jo ined the rai lways as a ticket collector first in Jodhpur and then in Hissar. D u r i n g his service in the rai lways he took active interest in the wel ­fare of the scheduled castes and in ra i lway labour unions. F ina l ly , in 1957 he qui t r a i lway service and contested the reserved seat f rom Raikot double member constituency, and secured 30,011 votes as against the Congress candidate w i t h 39,466 votes, who was then support­ed by the Akal is . Since then A j i t Kumar has been in active poli t ics .

In 1959 he went on an eight days hunger s t r ike in the food agi ta t ion. Later, d u r i n g the ant i -betterment levy agitation an agi tat ion against the increase in land taxes imposed on the plea that government projects had increased agr icu l tura l yields, a sort of pros­per i ty tax — he was arrested in 1959 and sent to Amr i t s a r j a i l for 40 days. D u r i n g the Punjabi Suba agi ta t ion he was arrested for his part in the agitation for the protec­tion of c iv i l liberties, going on at the same t ime, and served 37 days

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I I I Religion and Caste in the Punjab: Sidhwan Bet Constituency

Baldev Raj Nayar

August 4, 1962 T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y

in j a i l . Though he himself went to j a i l on the issue of c i v i l l ibert ies and though the Republican Par ty itself is neutral on the issue of the fo rmat ion of the Punjabi Suba, A j i t K u m a r could satisfy the A k u l i -or iented voters in (he constituency that he had made sacrifices by go­i n g to j a i l d u r i n g the Punjabi Suba agi ta t ion in 1961,

Gopal Singh Khalsa. the Congress candidate, was born in a scheduled caste Ramdasia S ikh fami ly in 1903, in a vi l lage which is outside the Sidhwan Bet constituency but not too far f rom i t . After s tudying at the Ma lwa Khalsa H i g h School in Ludhiana , Khalsa went to the Un i t ed States in 1923 and spent three years at the Univers i ty o' Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, and later in a college at Stockton, Cal i forn ia . However, he d i d not graduate bu t jo ined the Hindustan National Par ty and f ina l ly returned to I n d i a in 1931 . Af te r his re turn to Ind ia , he took keen interest in the welfare of the scheduled castes and jo ined the A l l I nd i a Scheduled Castes Federation of Dr B R Ambedkar . He was a member of the S C F W o r k i n g Committee and a close associate of Dr Ambedkar f r o m 1937 to 1946. I n 1937 he ran as an independent for the Punjab Legislative Assembly and was elect-ed. He was then appointed Par l ia­mentary Secretary to the Punjab Premier Sir Sikander Hya t K h a n . F r o m 1937 to 1946 he was also a nominated member of the D i s t r i c t Board of Ludhiana , Af te r the war , in 1946, he was appointed as an officer in the Labour Depar tment o f the government o f I n d i a . In 1952 he joined the Aka l i Da l , ran on its t icket for the Punjab Legis­lative Assembly, was elected w i t h 28,179 votes as against the Congress candidate's 15,067 and the S C F candidate's 8,993 votes. He then became the Leader of the Opposi­t ion in the Punjab Assembly. He had d u r i n g his pol i t ical career edited a couple of magazines and papers, and f rom 1952 to 1954 was Chief E d i t o r of the Dai ly Prabhat , the U r d u spokesman of the A k a l i D a l . In 1956 as a result of the merger of the Akal i Dal w i t h the Congress par ty , he joined the latter organizat ion but was unable to get the Congress ticket for the assemb­ly in 1957. He played a prominent o a r t in the organization of the M a l w a Akal i Da l to oppose Master

Tara Singh and his A k a l i D a l i n the 1959 elections to the S G P C ("Shromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Commit tee") — the central orga­nization responsible for the manage­ment of gurudwaras in the Pun­jab — though the Malwa A k a l i Dal as well as other organisations runn ing against Master Tara Singh met wi th disastrous defeat in these gurudwara elections.

C a m p a i g n i n g a n d C a n v a s s i n g The Akali Dal Candidate

A j i t K u m a r proved an able orga­nizer of his election campaign. He started his campaigning in the se­cond week of January 1962 wi th a definite programme to visit the 170 or so villages at least once and twice if possible. He established offices at strategic places manned by workers w i t h the members of his f ami ly playing an active role. His main strategy was based on the caste composit ion of the constitu­ency. For the scheduled caste votes, he approached the scheduled caste panchayats. On his behalf, about five to ten members f rom some 30 such panchayats went to various villages on foot canvassing for votes. In addi t ion there were four groups of workers on bicycles. Two stat ion wagons were also used to car ry workers to villages.

As far as the Jat Sikh vote was concerned, the campaigning was left to Aka l i workers, and the gurudwaras were the main centres of campaigning. A l l the gurud­waras in the constituency were under the control of the A k a l i D a l . The managers of these gurud­waras were active sympathisers and canvassers for the A k a l i candidate. The A k a l i candidate and workers, when they entered a vil lage, i n v a r i ­ably headed for the gurudwara for canvassing, speech mak ing and for refreshments. On the other hand, the Congress candidate d id not, or rather could not. go to the gurud­waras for electioneering. This was an avenue closed to the Congress candidate - though one active Congress worker remarked, as his station wagon slopped in front of the Publ ic Relations Office of the Punjab Government in Ludh iana , " Y o u see. we use the Publ ic Relations Depar tment as much as the Aka l i s use the gurudwaras. T h i s is our eauival-ent of the A k a l i gurudumras" Use of the Publ ic Relations Depar tment by the Congress took the f o r m of

bo r rowing entertainers and workers f r o m this department,

Gurudwara-Based Campaign In the gwrudwaras, when the

people assembled f o r da i ly prayers or on special occasions, the priest or the manager of the gurudwara or a p rominent personality of the area, appealed to them in the name of the S ikh re l ig ion to vote fo r the Aka l i candidate A j i t Kumar . One of the points wh ich the Congress Par ty t r ied to explo i t was tha t A j i t K u m a r was not a S ikh . But in the gurudwaras and outside, A k a l i workers explained that what they wanted was to elect a member to the Assembly, and not a priest to the gurudwara. It was also poin ted out that since the Sikhs were ac­cused of being communal , they should elect A j i t K u m a r to v i n d i ­cate their posit ion and prove that they were not communal-minded. Bu t as far as the Jat Sikhs were concerned the appeal was made f rankly and openly in the name of re l ig ion . W i t h war cries of Sat Sri Akal, A k a l i workers asked the voters to vote for the S ikh Panth. In the speeches, given in the gurudwarars, the sacrifices of the Sikhs were recounted, especially of Guru Gobind Singh and his sons, and the latter-day sacrifices in the cause of the Punjab i Suba; it was emphasized that now it was merely a question of casting the ballot whereas in the past the Sikhs had to fane bullets. If the Sikhs wanted to achieve the Pun jab i Suba, they should vote for A j i t K u m a r , be­cause if A k a l i candidates were re­turned in large enough numbers they could just, vote for the Pun­j a b i Suba in the Assembly. In this connection A j i t Kumar ' s j a i l sen­tences d u r i n g the agitation days were recalled. Professional singers of mar t i a l music created an emoti­onally receptive atmosphere fo r the pronouncements of the A k a l i workers.

T w o impor tan t personalities in A k a l i pol i t ics also campaigned br ief ly for A j i t K u m a r in his con­stituency —- Sant Fateh S ingh and the A k a l i Dal Propaganda Secre­ta ry Kehar Singh V a i r a g i . In his campaigning , A j i t K u m a r received fu l l cooperation f r o m the A k a l i workers who sincerely worked for h i m . W h i l e in the i n i t i a l stage there was some g r u m b l i n g because the A k a l i D a l had not p u | up a

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par ty member as a candidate, there was no question of anybody t r y i n g to sabotage his election when, as it was explained, "once the Panth has made the decision." One must note here the identif ica­t ion of the Aka l i Dal w i t h the S ikh Panth. The A k a l i par ty work­ers were no financial burden on A j i t K u m a r as they came either f rom gurudwaras or were pa id by the p a r t y : their food and trans-por ta l ion was taken care of by the A k a l i Dal either on its own or through the gurudumrus.

The Aka l i Dal campaign was reinforced by posters from the Akal i Dal office in Amr i l s a r . These included : (1) an appeal from Master Tara Singh and Sant Patch Singh to vote for Aj i t K u m a r ; (2 ) several pictures of maimed or dead persons in an attempt to depict the a t roci t ies committed by the party in power; (3) a p ic ture of the op­ponent of Punjab Chief Min i s te r Pratap Singh K a i r o n in Sarhali constituency, shown contesting; his election f r o m behind pr ison bars; (4) a poster c r i t ic is ing the Con­gress government's cu l tura l pro­grammes, showing half-dressed dancing girls and drunken m e n ; (4) a poster showing the Congress government as a demon-goddess, crushing people and c iv i l l iber t ies : (5) f inally, a poster entit led " o l d souls, new lives" showing Nehru w i t h Aurangzeb in the background, and Pratap Singh Ka i ron wi th Nawab of S i rh ind in the back-ground Aurangzeb and Nawab of S i rh ind are the two most hated characters in Sikh history. In addi­t ion there was an appeal f rom the son of Dr B K Ambedkar to vote for A j i t Kumar . emphasizing for the benefit of the scheduled caste vote that A j i t K u m a r was a candidate of the Republican Party.

The Congress Candidate The Congress candidate's cam­

paign was, in contrast, highly dis­organized. Khalsa himself is a wi t ty speaker, and could pour scorn and r id icule on the A k a l i Da l . its leader Master Ta ra Singh and the opposing candidate. But, in con­trast to earlier elections, voters now - wanted the candidate to visit them ind iv idua l ly at their houses. Large meetings no longer interested them. Besides, publ ic meetings needed Organisation. This

proved a handicap because Khalsa had in 1952 r u n in a double-mem­ber constituency where the mem­ber runn ing for the general seat had done most of the organizational work, and the candidate runn ing for the reserved scat merely tagged along. Congress workers themsel­ves were very cr i t ica l of Khalsa for his lack of organization. For (me th ing he started late in the election campaign, almost a month after A j i t Kumar . Some of the Congress workers were cr i t ica l of his practice of re turning to L u d h i -ana Ci ty in the evening which was precisely the time to meet the voters who were in the fit-Ids d u r i n g the daytime. They also cri t icised h i m for choosing K h u -shkismet Singh. vice-president of the District Congress Committee of Ludhiana , as his election aide since Khushkismet Singh was not l iked by certain sections of Congress voters in the villages. These Con­gressmen said that Khushkismet Singh was openly work ing fo r his close relative, Shamsher Singh Dhandar i , who was runn ing on the A k a l i Dal ticket from the adjo in ing Ludhiana South constituency. Con­gress leaders and workers in the area were generally disappointed at Khalsa's selection of people to accompany h im d u r i n g his camp­aign in the villages. He had cho­sen people who were anathema to many Congress-men. Moreover he had wi th him workers f rom the Chamar caste most of the t ime, w i t h the result that he was unable to gain an effective entry into the Jat sections. At times he was even stoned and prevented from entering villages.

One of the reasons for Khalsa s lack of attention to organization, was his over-confidence at the be­g inn ing , s temming from the feeling that A j i t Kumar was "only a lad" in politics, a non-Sikh runn ing in a predominant ly Sikh constituency against a Sikh candidate of the Congress par ty . Moreover. the Republican Party was not influen­t ia l among the scheduled castes in the Ludhiana Distr ic t , and Khalsa was wel l -known in the t e r r i to ry be­cause of his long history of pa r t i -eipation in politics.

Another of the factors responsi­ble for the mismanagement; of Khaisa's campaign was a rift in the Congress ranks. An impor tant

269

fact ion in the Congress party in the area left the par ty and helped the Akal i s . The leader of this fac­t ion. Joginder Singh, had been an honorary magistrate and an impor t ­ant government official, and com­manded considerable respect and influence among the Jats. His go­ing over to the Akalis was a great blow to the Congress candidate. In the Block Samit i elections, his son had been opposed by the other major faction in the Congress in the area and because he feared that attempts were being made to undermine his influence in the Con­gress he went over to the Akal is . This defection to the Aka l i Dal was inf luential in swinging the Jat S ikh votes to A j i t K u m a r in 14 of the 70 po l l ing stations. In addi t ion to this major breakaway f rom the Congress party, there was much fac­t ionalism w i t h i n the par ty .

Approach through Panchayats Khalsa's main strategy, as of

most Congress candidates, was to approach panches, sarpanches and landlords, and take them along for campaigning among other voters. I t must be said that other pol i t ica l parties also approach panches and sarpanches depending on whether they have their pa r ty men on the panchayats. A l i t t le more than 50 per cent of the panchayats in the constituency are controlled by the Congress par ty , about 3() per cent by the Akalis and the rest by the Communist party and the Hepublic­an par ty . These are rough figures, because, for one th ing, the p a w h a -vat elections are supposed to be fought on a non-party basis and no records are kept as to which party controls a par t icular panchayat. and. secondly, at the t ime panchayat elections took place the Akalis had not completely separated themselves f rom the Congress par ty . The Aka l i panchayats today have broken away from the Congress Party after the panchayat elections. S imi lar ly , the Block Samit i was under the control of the Congress party, but its chair­man went over to the Akal i Dal on the eve of the general elections and won a seat to the l e g i s l a t e assemb­ly on the A k a l i ticket from an ad­j o i n i n g constituency. In i t ia l l ly domi­nated by the Congress, about 50 per cent of its members are Akal i now. some. 12 per cent are Republicans and Communists and the rest are Congressmen. The Zila Parishad

August 4, 1962 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

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has a Congressman for its cha i rman, hut some 40 per cent of the mem-hers are Akalis . Except for a very small number of cases such as Pamali (pol l ing station number 1) and Pamal (2 ) and some v i l l a ­ges in the Sidhwan Bel area — the panchayats, as far as the Congress was concerned, were unable to exert any special influence on the voters.

Khalsa's main point of attack was that A j i t K u m a r was not a Sikh and that he was a chain-smoker, which he indeed is ( i n Sikh re l i ­gion smoking is t aboo) . To the Jat Sikhs, A j i t K u m a r was presented by the Congress workers as an advocate

of nationalization of land and of industries, as belonging to a par ty whose founder. B R Ambedkar , was responsible for the H i n d u Succes­sion Act (which the jats opposed) and as an ant i -Ja l . To the scheduled casles, A ji t K u m a r was presented as having crossed over to the Aka ­lis and having favoured the forma­t ion of the Punjabi Suba in w h i c h scheduled cash's would f ind it hard to l ive in the villages. The Congress par ty , on the other hand, was pre­sell led as the protector of the sche­duled castes. I t is an i r o n y of p o l i ­tics how roles can be reversed from election to election. In the 1952 elections, A j i t K u m a r then cam­pa ign ing for the S C F candidate against Khalsa, warned the scheduled castes that the Aka l i s w i l l " f in i sh them" if they came into power. Now, in 1962, Khalsa r u n n i n g on the Congress par ty ticket was using exactly the same argument. Workers campaigning for Khalsa also drop­ped hints that Khalsa. because of his close connections w i t h Chief Min i s te r K a i r o n , would become a minis ter after the elections and that people should vote for h i m i f they wanted to get their work done later.

T h e E l e c t i o n R e s u l t s

The election for the Sidhwan Bet constituency, as for the rest of the Punjab, was held on February 24, 1962. The results of the election are

Table 1 : E lec t ion Results fo r Sidh­w a n Bet Consti tuency in 1962

Candidate P a r t y Votes Pol led

A j i t K u m a r A k a l i D a l 23,567 Gopal S ingh

K h a l s a Congress 11,763 Bachan Singh Independent 473 B i r S ingh S w a t a n t r a 481 Lal S ingh Independent 783

given in Table 1. The A k a l i - D a l -supported candidate won easily. This seat had been won by an A k a l i candidate in 1952 (by Khalsa, who was now runn ing on the Congress t i cke t ) , a Congress-Akali candidate in 1957, and now in 1962 i t had gone to an Akal i -supported but non-Sikh candidate. This testifies to the abi l i ty of the Aka l i Dal to swing the vote to any candidate of its choice in this Sikh ma jo r i ty consti­tuency.

I I

Analysis of Vot ing Behaviour About 30 per cent of the popula­

t ion of the Sidhwan Bet constituen­cy belong to the scheduled castes, the non-scheduled caste popula t ion consisting p r i m a r i l y of Jat Sikhs, w i t h a sp r ink l i ng of caste Hindus and some other backward classes. The Hindus are mostly shopkeepers and small-scale businessmen. Data on the populat ion of Hindus and backward classes in the villages is not available, but on the basis of interview's some estimate of these w i l l be given where possible and necessary. The Jat Sikhs are the cul t ivator-farmers who own their land. The scheduled castes are land, less agr icu l tu ra l labourers. They also engage in leather and scaveng­ing work . Whi le no figures are available, in the Dakha part of the constituency, about 50 per cent of the scheduled caste populat ion is etigaged in shoemaking, the other 50 per cent in agricul ture , ha l f of them being tenants and the other-half agr icul tural labour. In the Sidh­wan Bet area, 75 per cent of them work as agr icul tura l labourers, and about 20 per cent work as labour­ers engaged in d igg ing wells, cons­t ruc t ing roads or mak ing mats and baskets. About 5 per cent: or so are small l andowning cult ivators ,. Except for this last category, in both Dak­ha and Sidhwan Bet sections, the landowners arc invar iab ly Jat Sikhs.

Data on the populat ion of sche­duled castes in the various villages was obtained f rom the Office of the Superintendent of Census Operations (Punjab) in Chandigarh. However, i t was difficult to locate al l the v i l ­lages which f o r m par t of the po l l ­i ng stations in the constituency, but data is available for a total of 58 po l l ing stations — either by i n d i ­v idua l p o l l i n g stations or a combina­t ion of po l l ing stations ( i n case a

village or group of villages are split in to two or more po l l ing sta­t ions ) . The analysis here w i l l be based on the vot ing statistics for pol l ing stations; one pol l ing station covers approximately a thousand voters.

Theory of Factions

One approach by Congress candi­dates in their election campaigning is based on what may he called ' T h e Theory of Factions." Accord­i n g to this theory, every village, more par t i cu la r ly the Jat section of every village, is d ivided into two factions, resulting f rom a variety of factors in vi l lage l i fe . These factions, it is said, govern the whole l ife of the vil lage. At the t ime of the gene­ral elections, these factions a l ign themselves w i t h different pol i t ica l parties, characterist ically one a l ign­ing itself to the Congress pa r ty and the other to the A k a l i Da l . In other words, the voter's loyal ty is not to any pol i t ica l par ty , or to a p o l i t i ­cal appeal, or to a par t icu lar candi­date, but to the local fact ion whose leaders can swing the vote to any par ty . These factions may switch their loyalties at the last m i n u t e ; if one changes one way, i ts oppo­nent w i l l go the other way. In other words, the main determinant of the voter's choice is loyal ty to the local fact ion rather than to a pol i t ica l pa r ty or candidate. To be sure, most villages are fac t ion r idden. Even where panchayat elections have taken place unanimously, factions are present, because unan imi ty in most cases emerged as a result of candidates w i t h d r a w i n g after having been convinced of certain defeat — not f rom an absence of contest. However, if the election results of S idhwan Bet constituency are any guide, the theory does not seem to hold . I t is significant that the Con­gress candidate could get more than 51 per cent of the vote at only two of the 70 po l l i ng stations in the constituency. At 25 po l l ing stations he got less than 25 per cent of the vote. Except for 12 po l l ing stations. his vote at every other po l l ing sta­t ion was less than 41 per cent. On the other hand, except for I I po l ­l i n g stations, the Aka l i -Da l -Repub l i -can candidate got more than 51 per cent of the vote at every one of the 70 po l l i ng stations. Table 2 sets out in detail the vote percent­ages of the candidate by po l l ing stations.

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T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y August 4, 1962

It is t rue that a pa l l ing station may include more than one vi l lage and the results would thus be dis­torted, but the election figures for those single villages for which data are available, indicate the same trend, as w i l l be seen f rom Table 3. I f the theory of factions had been true, i t is odd that the Congress candidate gets the smaller fact ion in the overwhelming m a j o r i t y of the cases. Data f r o m the S idhwan Bet constituency shows a m a j o r i t y for the A k a l i Da l candidate in most villages. However, the theory is not to be dismissed ent i rely for it does contain some t r u t h in regard to those villages where factionalism is bit ter , or the prestige of the leaders of the factions is at stake in the election. In these villages, each fac­t ion , whether large or small, does a l ign itself w i t h opposing pol i t ica l parties. On the basis of in fo rma t ion available f rom interviews, fact ional­ism in the village was inf luent ia l in the fo l lowing po l l ing stations or villages mentioned in Table 4 (these examples are i l lus t ra t ive and not exclusive) .

Scheduled Caste Vote An essential supplement to the

so-called "theory of factions'1 is that scheduled castes — at least in the Malwa area of w h i c h Ludhiana Dis t r ic t is a par t - and the Hindus invar iab ly vote for the Congress, when the choice is between an A k a l i S ikh and a Congress Sikh . The Hindus vote for the Congress be­cause the A k a l i Dal is professedly a single communi ty pa r ty s tanding for S ikh interests exclusively. The scheduled castes are sympathetic to the Congress, it is said, because the Congress Government has abolished untouehabi l i ty , has provided for the reservation of seats in legislatures and posts in Government offices for scheduled castes, and enacted va r i ­ous measures fo r thei r welfare and advancement. Another reason is that the scheduled castes f o r m the under, pr iv i leged sections of the village, and come in to conflict w i t h Jal S ikh landlords. The Jat Sikhs are behind the A k a l i Dal and its de­mand for the Pun jab i Suba. where­at* the scheduled castes are against Pun jab i Suba because of the p o l i t i ­cal power i t w i l l vest in the Jat Sikhs. Consequently, i t is said, the scheduled castes overwhelmingly vote for the Congress pa r ty . I t may we l l be that S idhwan Bet consti tu­

ency is an exception, bu t a look at the po l l i ng station figures does not show any consistent correlat ion be­tween the percentage of scheduled caste persons in the total popula t ion of a po l l ing station and the vo t ing percentage of the Congress candi­date (See Table 5 ) ,

To be sure, in this constituency the sharpness of the contest between the Congress par ty and the A k a l i D a l , as far as the scheduled castes were concerned, was blunted by the fact that two scheduled caste candi­dates opposed each other w i t h a resultant d iv is ion of the scheduled caste vote. It may be that the sche-duled caste popula t ion does vote for a Congress candidate bu t only where the choice is between a -fat S ikh of the A k a l i Da l and a Jat S ikh of the Congress par ty ( i n such constituencies, the A k a l i Da l candi­dates do not even approach the

scheduled castes, convinced as they are that they would inev i tab ly vote for the Congress candidate) . More

T a b l e d : Vo te Percentages of Con­gress and A k a l i Candidates in Sidh­

w a n Bet Consti tuency

Percentage of Number of Po l l i ng Votes Polled Stations

A j i t K u m a r Kha l sa 10-20 13 21-25 1 12 26-30 10 81-35 7 36-40 2 16 41-45 2 6 46-50 6 4 51-55 5 56-60 12 2 61-65 9 66-70 8 71-75 18 76-80 5 81-85 1 — 86-90 1 —

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August 4, 1962 T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y

THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY August 4, 1962

impo r tan t , in th is case, the non-Congress scheduled caste candidate though r u n n i n g on the A k a l i Da l t icket in fac t belonged to a dist inct po l i t i ca l pa r t y wh i ch , in spi te o f its name — the Republ ican Par ty — re­presents exclusively the interests of the scheduled castes. Moreover , he had worked in the const i tuency over a pe r iod of f ou r or f ive years and had been able to bu i l d an image of

h imsel f as a sincere and dedicated worker f o r the cause of the sche­duled castes. I t may be noted that even in 1957, when runn ing on his o w n par ty 's t icket in the Raikot double member consti tuency, of w h i c h the present consti tuency was then a pa r t , he was able to secure 43.2 per cent of the vote as against the Congress candidate's 56.8 per cent, at a t ime when the Aka l i s were merged organizat ional ly w i t h the Congress pa r t y .

In fact , the vote of the scheduled caste sections is f u l l of subtleties, compounded of gra t i tude, fear , and revol t . There is genuine gra t i tude on the pa r t o f many scheduled caste persons f o r wha t the Cong­

ress has done fo r them. As one Ramdasia S ikh v i l lager belonging to the scheduled castes remarked, " G u r u Gobind S ingh made a condi ­t ion of these symbols" — po in t i ng to­ward his beard — "be fo re mak ing us an equal of the other Sikhs. The Congress, however, granted us equa­l i t y uncond i t iona l ly " . At the same t ime there is a feel ing that the scheduled castes have got al l they could get f r o m the Congress, and that they have now to adopt other means and organizat ions to fu r the r the i r ends. The element of fear spr ings f r o m the fact that the sche­duled castes can be subjected to reprisals — social, economic and pol i t ica l — if they go against the wishes of the local vi l lage leaders who come f r o m among the Jat Sikhs. In the S idhwan Bet section of the constituency, many scheduled caste voters voted against the Aka l i candidate because, due to their own weak and dependent economic pos i ­t ion , they accepted the leadership of the Jat S ikh leaders, some of w h o m were against the A k a l i candidate for his par t in f ight ing fo r the r ights of the landless agr icu l tu ra l labour in the past in th is area. One S ikh v i l lager was asked as to the vo t ing in tent ion of h is v i l lage: " W e are go ing to vote f o r the man who i s in j a i l . " " B u t that i s in Amr i t sa r D is t r i c t , f a r f r o m here . " " W e l l , we are going to vote fo r the P a n t h . " " H o w about the scheduled castes peop le?" " T h e y too w i l l vote w i t h us . " " W h y , won ' t they vote for the Congress?" " N o , we wou ld stop the i r fodder , "

W h e n the relations between the Jats and the scheduled castes are bad, then the scheduled castes vote against the side w i th whom the Jat Sikhs are a l igned — and since in this area the Jat sections are, gene­ra l ly though not tota l ly , inc l ined toward the A k a l i Da l — and since the contest is between the Aka l i Da l and the Congress, the scheduled castes wou ld tend to vote fo r the Congress. In S idhwan Bet constitu­ency, however, in 1962 relations be­tween the Jals and the scheduled caste sections were by and large good, par t ly perhaps because of the real izat ion on the par t of Jat S i kh voters that since this was a reserved constituency they had to wo rk th rough a scheduled caste member in the legislature, and par t l y per­haps because of the electoral a l l i ­

ance between the A k a l i D a l and the Republ ican Pa r t y wh i ch in t u r n helped the j o i n t Aka l i -Repub l i can candidate. Something may also be said for the loyalty of scheduled caste voters to the leadership of the late B K Ambedkar , his pa r t y — the SCF — and i ts successor, the Republ ican par ty . Khalsa who had been elected in 1952 f r o m this area had been a close associate of Ambedkar , and A j i t K u m a r who won in 1962 is the general secretary of the Pun jab State Republ ican Par ty .

Hindus, Christians and Backward Classes

Hindus f o r m an ins igni f icant par t of the popu la t ion in this con­st i tuency. Bu t where there is a concentrat ion of H indus , this com­mun i ty votes f o r the Congress in the Pun jab when the choice is bet­ween the Congress and the Aka l i Da l . Th is is obvious f r o m two po l l ing stat ions: (1) S idhwan Bet, po l l i ng station number 2 1 , where the Congress candidate received 50.3 per cent of the vote pol led, and (2 ) Aka lga rh , po l l ing stat ion n u m ­ber 6 1 , (where H i n d u s consti tute about 50 per cent of the populat ion and Chr is t ians another 20 per cent) where the Congress candidate re­ceived 60.2 per cent of the vote pol led. Da ta on the backward classes is not avai lable. These classes consist largely of carpenters, i ronsmiths and barbers, and are present in every v i l lage. Wh i le they were converted to S ikh ism long ago, they are not completely accepted into the Sikh fo ld by the Jat Sikhs who consider them in fe r i o r Sikhs. On the other hand, they insistently want to prove that they are as good Sikhs as any other, and the act of vo t ing becomes a f o r m of self-assurance and a publ ic demon­strat ion of being a complete S ikh . They v igorously and demonstrat ively supported A j i t K u m a r because he was a candidate of the Aka l i Dal and all staunch Sikhs were supposed to be w i t h that par ty .

Jat Sikh Vote

Accord ing to some, a corol lary of the propos i t ion that scheduled castes tend to vote fo r the Congress pa r t y is that the Jat Sikhs are uni tedly behind the Aka l i Da l . A look at the vot ing returns fo r the Congress candidate shown in Table 5 wou ld indicate that at several

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August 4, 1962 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

places he secured a h igher percent, age of voles than the scheduled caste .percentage of the populat ion. Whi le part of this may he f rom other categories of backward classes, the evidence ' suggests that the Con­gress candidate d id cut into the Jat S ikh vole, and that the Jal Sikhs d id vole for the Congress party. Precisely what the bases of this loyalty are it is hard to say. Oppo­sit ion workers at t r ibute i t to the grant of quotas, al location of depots and other favours shown by the ru l ing party. However, there is a variety of factors involved, work ing not only in the case of the Congress candidate hut also the other candi­dates. One of the most s t r i k ing features of election campaign ing by all candidates in Ludhiana Dis t r ic t is the extent to which affinal and agnatic ties are used by candidates and their workers to put pressure on voters to vote for a par t icu lar candidate. These relatives help irrespective of their own pol i t ica l incl inat ions. The whole system of relat ionships is reactivated du r ing elections. Daughters- in- law, for instance, visi t their ancestral villages to w in support for a certain candi­date. Candidates depute special workers for approaching relatives. Past po l i t ica l affiliations do not make any difference, and helping relatives cuts across party- l ines. A person may be helping two opposing parties in ad jo in ing constituencies. Wh i le in this case the Congress candidate was a member of the scheduled castes, there were always a consider­able number of people who were interested in his v ic to ry and had a stake in i t . Thus Jat S ikh leaders having lies with the Congress par ty b r i ng along other relatives and fr iends into the par ty fold for vot­ing fo r the Congress candidate.

Another factor is the past pol i t ica l history of the vi l lage. Vi l lages which were strongholds of the Congress movement in the pre-independence per iod find it difficult to break away f rom their old loyal ty. Sometimes old Congressmen, torn between their loyal ty to the o ld Congress and Nehru , on the one hand, and their dissatisfaction w i th the present Congress regime in the Pun jab , on the other, just sit it out at home. On the other hand, the experiences w i t h the Congress Government may induce the voters of a par t icu lar vi l lage to vote against the Congress

candidate, An example of this is the vi l lage of A i t iana where the Aka l i Dal candidate received 75.6 per cent of the votes. This vil lage was a prominent centre of the an t i -betterment levy agi ta t ion in 1959 and witnessed a police f i r i ng in which a couple of people were k i l led, inc luding a scheduled caste woman, and several were in ju red . The Congress candidate, .because of the resentment against the Govern, ment among the vi l lagers of A i t iana. was able to secure only 1.1,2 per cent of the vote.

Aga in , another factor is the pre­sence in certain villages of extre­mely hostile and bi t ter factions which d iv ide the vil lage in its vot­ing; The vot ing here is an ex­pression of host i l i ty against the opposing fact ion rather than of pol i t ical preference. Many Jat S ikh votes go to (he Congress Party in this manner. Then, some vote fo r the Congress par ty because it embodies governmental power. As one vi l lager said, " W e voted for the Br i t ish Government when there was a Br i t ish Government ; we vote for the Congress Government when there is a Congress Government ; if the Akal is ever f o rm a Government we wi l l vote for them too. We vote for the Government, whosoever it is - not the pol i t ical party. '1 On the other hand, it should be noted that the electorate voted over­whelmingly against the Government in the Sidhwan Bet constituency. As a matter of fact, one could point to the existence of an ant i -govern­ment sentiment. Th is is obvious f rom the fact that in 1957. when even the Akal is were in all iance wi th the Congress par ty . Aj i t Kumar could secure 30,011 voles as against 39.166 votes for the Congress candi­date. Perhaps it may well be that part of the reason for the success of the Akal i Dal lies in its ab i l i ty to attract to itself this ant i -govern­ment sentiment.

St i l l another factor inf luencing the voter's choice, though not in the case of the Congress candidate here whose ancestral vi l lage lay outside the consti tuency, is geogra­phical loyal ty. A j i t K u m a r polled 85,4 per cent of the polled voles at po l l ing station number 48, wh ich included his vi l lage Dhat . S im i la r l y , whi le the election returns fo r the other candidates were extremely

low, at Bhund r i po l l ing stat ion (18) they went up to 37.9 per cent be­cause that po l l ing station includes, the vi l lage of La i S ingh, one of the other candidates. It was a combi ­nat ion of such factors that cut across ethnic and rel igious loyalties that enabled the Congress candidate to cut into the Jat S ikh vote.

Conclusion

What can we say in conclusion about the factors that made possible, the overwhelming v ic tory of the Akal i -suppor ted-Republ ican candi-dale? It can be said that, consider­ing the composit ion of the consti­tuency since there is no large town hav ing a large H i n d u popula­tion and the scheduled caste popu­lat ion is only 30 per cent — .the candidate pu t up by the Aka l i Dal would have won, not only because of the rel igious appeal the Akal i Dal makes to the Sikhs but also in its ab i l i ty to marshall on its side ant i-government sentiment. What made possible the overwhelming victory of A j i t Kumar was h is own work among the scheduled caste populat ion and his super io r -o rgan i ­sation.

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