The Malaise of Jat Consciousness

Ajmer Singh

The jat factor has played the dominant role in the politics of Punjab, especially after 1947. This factor
needs some deeper analysis.

Several legends about the origin of the Jat community are available. The more acceptable belief is that
the fore-fathers of the Jats had been the roaming tribes of Central Asia, namely the ‘Huun’, ‘Shuk’ and
‘Cythian’ tribes. They had migrated to this land much later than the Aryans. As these tribes did not
have permanent settlements, they survived through skirmishes and loots etc. Fighting got imbued in
their blood. They are counted amongst the most adventurous and ferocious people in the world. It is
believed that after migration in this region these tribes drove the Aryan settlers away towards the
Ganga basin and began land cultivation. It was maybe this reason that the brahamnical influence on the
farming community was limited to areas other than the Punjab.

The economic and community bonds that defined the clannish setup, visible through its spirit of
freedom, equality and self-assertion, had been the striking traits of the Jats settled in Punjab. The
second defining trait of this community has been its belief in the personality cult. In a way, the Jat is
highly individualistic. He does what suits him or what he likes and does not bother the implications of
his actions for others. Nor does he tolerate anybody’s interference in the pursuit of his goal. He is full
of excessive self-confidence, which borders on arrogance. A doer of things, a Jat is a man of initiative
and drive. Whenever he is required to act he acts even without consulting his leader. Records prove that
a Jat has failed miserably whenever he is required to think deeply of an issue and act collectively. There
have been exceptions when he was motivated by a strong personality to act for a higher cause. The jat
has shown greater interest in land cultivation and farming than in administration.

The Jat does not accept any other caste superior to his own. He has a strong inclination to denigrate
others. Unlike other non-brahamnical or non-upper caste communities, he has never suffered from
inferiority complex and has nursed self-esteem of being superior to any other caste. Whenever he is
economically strong his self-importance shoots out of the roof.The Jat’s democratic or fraternal spirit
has been confined mainly to his own community. He has never brooked any non-Jat in the village as
the owner of land. The very idea of a non-Jat buying land around the village inflames him. This shows
a congenital lack of democratic spirit. His self-esteem, a distinct feature of his character, is offset by his
yearnings gained through Manu’s influence. He revels in denigrating and humiliating low caste people.
His behaviour, in general, makes him no different from the arrogant members of the so-called swarna
castes.

The Jat’s sense of close-circuit fraternity, as also his fighting spirit, attracted him towards Sikhism. The
Sikh ideology gave a boost to his fraternal spirit but the same could not be sustained for a long time.
His social behaviour and economic interests were at odds with the basic ideals of the rupture created by
Sikhism. His contempt for the lower caste menials and members of the artisan class had been
antithetical to the tenets of Sikhism. Deadly opposed to share land with the depressed classes he had
never been prepared to treat them his equal (except for a brief period when the egalitarian spirit
prevailed in the sikh society i. e. during the ascendancy of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and the
formative years of the Misls). The democractic and socially revolutionary spirit of the Sikh movement
had no value if it negated his psychic predilections. That’s the reason whenever the jats had an edge
over the rulers, and the Sikhs felt empowered, the Sikh ideals got a beating. Instead of ‘Bhai’, a
spiritual honorific title given to a revered Sikh, the empowered jats were proud to be called ‘Sirdars’.
During the later period of the Misls, and what happened later, the Sikh ideals were forgotten.

However, because of the Sikh religion the lethal effect of caste system had not been as deadly as it had
been in other areas of the country. However, the jat’s assumed superiority towards the artisan and other
lowly castes had been so blatant that his rise to power was always looked with unease by other castes.

As Sant Fateh Singh sidelined Master Tara Singh in early sixties, the dominance of the Jat-farming
class on the Akali Dal’s political line-up was complete. The educated urban middle class Sikh felt
marginalised. That was another factor which created apprehensions in the lower caste Sikhs in the
countryside. It is difficult for the weaker sections of the society to compete with those in power. As a
device, they align with new spiritual masters, gurus or cultists offering solace to the under-privileged.
In Punjab the under-privileged sections of the society turned to the Radha Soami sect or the ‘Sacha
Sauda’ sect and yet others sought shelter in the cult propounderd by Dera Wadbhag Singh. Many
became followers of Nirankaris and Namdharis, etc. Besides, there were local ‘babas’, the spiritual
vendors, at several places.

This was a highly detrimental situation for the Sikh movement. The sects and cults had serious
implications: they divided the Sikh society into fragments of believers and pitted them against each
other; besides, through their self-seeking activities the sects polluted the ideals of the Sikh religion thus
paving the way for, and facilitating the process of, assimilation of Sikhism in to the absorbent current
of Hinduism. The blame for such aberrations and distortions lay squarely on the Akalis. They proved to
be cause of the boost these sects got. Their casteist arrogance and insensitive approach to the weaker
sections of the Sikh society literally drove them away from the Sikh fold. To compound this lapse, the
Akali leaders not only got reconciled to what the sects and cults were indulging in, they sought their
help on the sly to seek votes of their followers.

The semi-literate leadership of the Akalis had been past masters in the game of obscurantist beliefs and
superstitions; they had never refrained from bowing before the sadhus and sants of any hue. Their
support to such men was a source of encouragement to the cult vendors, particularly in the rural areas.
So long as the Akali leadership had remained in the hands of the urban middle class leaders, the above
tendencies got discouraged. The Jat culture, fondly flaunted by the Akalis, had been responsible for
such distortions.

As for the fighting spirit of the Jat, it had been in his blood as they had originally been landless
wanders. They fought for their survival. Having faced sudden dangers they would just plunge into
fighting for survival, unable to give much thought to the whole scenario. It appears during the ages
fighting became their second nature and ‘thinking’ was never needed; not thinking about doing or not
doing something too became a habit with them. However, another truism about them is that in times of
external danger, they fight unitedly and as soon as the danger disappears they fight with each other. A
study of the Jat’s role in history suggests that time has not changed his basic clannish traits. He has
preserved the legacy of ‘fighting without thinking’ though it is a proven fact that Sikhism was able to
give his traits and characteristics a revolutionary coating. His behaviour gives a negative projection if
not seen through the prism of Sikh ideology. In the eighteenth century there were sections of the Jat
community who remained aloof from the Sikh principles.
They were instrumental in giving a fillip to the negative practices and tendencies. But those who were
awash with the spirit and principles of Sikhism demonstrated high character and commitment. Thus,
when a Jat is imbued with the spirit and principles of Sikhism, he is worth his weight in gold.
Otherwise, he stands devalued and is no different from brass. When he prides himself as Jat he behaves
like an arrogant rustic. The late Professor Kishan Singh puts it aptly: “A serious contradiction afflicts
the Jat farmer of the Punjab. He has unflinching faith in Guru Gobind Singh, yet at the same time he is
inbued with traits typical of a Jat. There are two sides to the Jat’s known traits.

One has a positive effect in the sense that it saves him from feeling inferior; and the other side is
negative. It makes him overbearing and arrogant which is a disease. A jat’s negative traits can be
suppressed only through the true spirit of Sikhism.” A Jat, drained off political consciousness, can be a
foot soldier of any political power, can kill for nothing and with any justification and can be foolhardy
enough to be proud of his misdeeds. Any ruler is acceptable to him if he does not damage his economic
interests and lets him indulge in his micro world. Such characteristics of the Jat were too well known to
the British and the same are amply being demonstrated in contemporary times.

13 August, 2008