Admn, police rise to the occasion; only minor incidents of violence, arson reported from various areas of the city Aparna Banerji Jalandhar, April 2 The city witnessed a complete shutdown on Monday as thousands of Dalit activists, belonging to various organisations, held huge protests and dharnas across the district in response to the nationwide bandh call against the proposed revision of the SC/ST Act. Barring two incidents, one of marginal stone-pelting at Kapurthala and another of a car being vandalised in Jalandhar, the bandh in was largely peaceful. Observed by over 30 small and big Dalit organisations, the bandh witnessed an overwhelming participation by the Dalit community – starting from the grassroots level and village sabhas to huge gatherings in city areas. Jalandhar has a predominantly Dalit population, as over 40 per cent of the population of the district is of Dalits. The biggest gatherings of the city were witnessed at Company Bagh Chowk, BMC Chowk, Nakodar Chowk, Ravidass Chowk, PAP to Rama Mandi stretch, among other areas. Heavy police force remained deputed across the city, with barricades put up on all main roads and chowks. While all shops and markets of the city faced a complete shutdown, activists riding bikes traversed the key markets of the city as well as residential areas. While at the Company Bagh Chowk, 1,800 to 1,900 safai karmcharis gathered under the banner of the Safai Karmchari Union Punjab, one of the biggest gatherings in the city was witnessed the Ambedkar Chowk. Guru Ravidass Sabhas, Ambedkar Sabhas, among many other banners, participated in various bandhs, organised in various city areas.Among various political parties, while the Akali leader and Adampur MLA Pawan Tinu attended the dharna at the local Ravidass Chowk, no other key leader from any of the political parties visited the dharna sites in the district. While Congress MP Santokh Chaudhary had questioned the Central government’s silence on the issue at a press briefing held yesterday, the dharnas today witnessed the presence of Congress workers, but none of the Congress leaders or MLAs visited the dharna. Chaudhary himself took up the issue in Parliament today. The BSP held its rally at the Nurpur-Bulandpur Adda where a huge gathering of party workers gathered under district president Bawinder Singh. The party also held a protest march across areas the Rehru Chowk, Doaba Chowk and Maqsudan areas. District president of the party Balwinder Singh said, “People have ensured an overwhelming support for the dharna. People from every village, mohalla and area participated in the dharna and especially women have pitched in with huge support. This only goes to show the anger the populace against the Modi government.” Blue flags dominate dharna The entire district was dressed in blue on Monday, with Dalit activists carrying blue flags, traversing the city streets – bearing Dr Ambedkar’s face – and blue buntings and flags marked very dharna site. Activists chanted slogans, euologising Dr Ambedkar like “Ambedkar teri soch te pehra deyange thok ke” as well as against the BJP government. Protesters were dressed in blue scarves tied on their heads. Interestingly, women participated in huge numbers in the dharna. While a huge gathering of Dalit women activists was witnessed at Rama Mandi, many women activists also joined men in traversing the city on bikes.While the protests were largely peaceful, these were marked by two marginal incidents in Jalandhar and Kapurthala. After an Innova hit a protester on the Jalandhar-Amritsar Highway, some activists pulled out the car driver and vandalised the vehicle. The protester, who was injured, was later admitted to a private hospital. Some of the protesters also entered the Jalandhar Cantt railway station while indulging in sloganeering.While Jalandhar has a huge Dalit population, the prominent stretches where protests were witnessed included Abadpura, Boota Mandi, Lambra near the Nakodar road areas. In the North constituency area, the other areas which have a big Dalit population include Santokhpura, Sahipur, Maqsudan, Rehru, Ballanpur Road, Rama Mandi pocket and Basti areas. People from many villages and mohallas also held their independent dharnas and protests as well as marches to back the bandh. Dharna at Kartarpur Thousands of people gathered at Kartarpur during the bandh given in the district on Monday. Under the banner of the Dr BR Ambedkar Sangharsh Committee, people burned the effigy of RSS-BJP and indulged in sloganeering. Before this, the protesters gathered at the local Guru Ravidass Gurdwara at Arya Nagar. Holding a protest there, the activists traversed the Kartarpur town, forcing establishments to close, following which a dharna was held on the national highway. On the occasion, activists while addressing the gathering, said the RSS-BJP government had speeded up its plan to render the country a Hindu rashtra. On the occasion, the 21-member Sangharsh Committee activists PMU’s Kashmir Singh Ghugshore, Rajpal, president of the Shri Guru Ravidass Prabandhak Committee Narinder Pal, Guru Valmik Education Trust Mandi Mohalla leader Heera Lal Khosla, Rajinder Lovely from the Guru Gyan Nath Valmik Dharam Samaj were present on the occasion. Preventive measures Preventive measures taken by the district administration and the police and their well-coordinated strategy ensured peaceful protest in the district in the wake of the bharat bandh call on Monday. While as many as 5,000 security personnel, five sub-divisional magistrates, along with 30 executive magistrates, remained on their toes to ensure that the bandh was held peacefully in the district. The top brass of district administration, led by Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma, Commissioner of Police Praveen Kumar Sinha and Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, kept a vigil over the law and order situation in the district. Officers monitored city areas like Rama Mandi to Dr BR Ambedkar Chowk, Mai Heeran Gate, BSF Chowk, PAP Chowk, Workshop Chowk, Kapurthala Chowk, Bhagwan Valmiki Chowk and others. When they got reports of tension at the railway station, Peeli Kothi (headquarters of RSS) and other places, they themselves reached the spot to ensure that there was no conflict.A Complete bandh was witnessed at Phagwara, Goraya, Phillaur, Noormahal, Nakodar, Bilga, Apra and Banga on Monday. Five Dalits including Rajinder Gherra, Rajwinder Kaur, Santosh Kumari, Meena Kumari and Paramjit Kaur sat on indefinite hunger strike near General Bus Stand Phagwara on Monday morning. Delhi bound International Indo-Pak bus remained stranded at Sirhind for several hours till afternoon. Thousands of activists belonging to more than one dozen Dalit organisations including Aam Aadmi Party, Ambedeker Sena, Bahujan Samaj Party, Ambedeker Sena Mool Niwasi besides Sadhu Samrdhya, Safai Karamchari Union, besides few Congressmen led by District Congress Committee President Joginder Singh Maan assembled at local Hargobind Nagar Chowk and took out a protest march which concluded at local rest house after taking a round of the town. Though no untoward incident was reported but a petrol pump on the Phagwara - Hoshiarpur Road was ransacked in a minor way and few activists were seen forcing the people to put down their shutters in few rural localities. The protesting Youth having iron rods, swords and lathis raised noisy slogans against BJP- led Modi government. Later a protest rally was organised at the local rest house which was addressed by various dalit leaders including Jarnail Nangal, Harbhghan Suman, SL Virdi, Sadhu Samrdya Punjab Head Sant Kulwant Ram Bharomazara,Sant Mahinder Paul Pandhwa, Sant Tehal Dasswho strongly condemned the Modi Government amidst noisy slogans. Slogans were raised even against Union Minister of State Vijay Sampla and Phagwara MLA Som Prakash. Deputy Inspector General of Police Jalandhar Range camped at Phagwara to monitor the situation and led a flag march along with SP Phagwara Parminder Singh Bhandhal. Around 500 additional cops including 70 from Border Security Forces, 100 from Anti-Riots Squads, 70 Commandoes, 65 Women Cops besides cops of Punjab Police remained deputed at very sensitive places to maintain law and order. Additional DCBabita Kaler, SDM Jyoti Bala kept a watch on the situation and remained in touch with higher authorities. Station House Officer Gurmit Singh Sidhu worked hard to maintain law and order situation.

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