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Dalits face boycott in Punjab village |
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Written by Correspondent
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Saturday, 07 June 2008 |
 Lachru Khurd: The victory of a Dalit in the recent panchayat elections in Punjab has cost all Dalits of this village dearly. Being the fifth member of the panchayat, the vote of a Dalit, Sardara Singh, was the deciding factor for the post of sarpanch. His refusal to vote in favour of SAD candidate has led to the boycott of all Dalits by landlords.
There are 248 votes in this village but only 225 villagers exercised their franchise and elected three Congress candidates Gurmeet Kaur, Tirlochan Singh and Sardara Singh and two SAD candidates Baljit Kaur and Nirmal Kaur.
Jasmer Singh Lachru, an Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) member and circle president of the SAD who belongs to this village, allegedly started pressurising Sardara Singh to vote in favour of his party to save his reputation.
"Jasmer Singh has been pressurising me to vote for his party. But when I did not surrender, he through public address system of the village gurdwara announced our boycott last week and since then we are being socially boycotted by them," Sardara Singh, who has gone into hiding fearing police action, said over phone from an unknown place.
After the alleged announcement no landlord was allowing their entry into their fields and had allegedly blocked many passages to the houses of Dalits. Many Dalit women, who worked as domestic help, had lost jobs for no fault of theirs.
"Although I have nothing to do with any panchayat member, my landlords denied me work because I am a Dalit," said Daropadi. The late-night raids at the houses of Dalits and Congress supporters by the Ghanaur police had terrorised Dalits.
Fearing thrashing at the hands of the police all family members of Sardara Singh and two other Congress supporters have gone into hiding. "It's our land and we could prevent anyone from entering," Lachru, a landlord said. Former Congress minister Jasjit Singh Randhawa said they would start an agitation if the police did not take action.
(Source: The Times of India, 07 June 2008)
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 February 2010 )
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