Amir Malik

Medha Kale

Editor

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“Who
will give pensions to old people like us? No one,” an elderly man sitting in a
chair at an election rally complains loudly. The candidate answers, “tau, you will get it and tai will also get 6,000 rupees a month.”
An elderly man who is listening lifts his turban and blesses the candidate by
putting it on his head as he finishes his speech. A sign of honour in this northern
state.



The
candidate was Deepender Singh Hooda, campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in
his constituency, Rohtak. People listened. A few of them asked questions and
shared what was on their minds. 



(Update:
Deepender Singh Hooda of the Indian National Congress won the seat with 7,83,578
votes. Results were announced on June 4, 2024.)

“Why
vote for a party which attempted to take away farmers’ land and called it
reform?”  Krishn asks PARI in early May,
well before the polling date of May 25. We are in Nigana, a village in Kalanaur
block of Rohtak district. It is the harvest season. The wheat crop is cut and
farmers are waiting for the monsoon, preparing their fields for the upcoming
paddy season. With not a cloud in sight, the dust from the roads and smoke from
burning fields move freely with the wind. 



The
mercury is touching 42 degrees Celsius; election fever is rising. In his early
forties, Krishn is an electrician and is working in a house nearby. He
gets a daily wage of Rs. 500 for work that will last for a week. He also does other
wage labour and runs a small shop. In this part of Rohtak district, most of the
people depend on farm labour, work at construction sites and MGNREGA (Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) for their
survival.

On
the way to his home, we reach a junction. “Farmers and workers are at a
crossroad,” he says, “and are getting thrashed from all four sides with Saam-Daam-Dand-Bhed.”
Krishn is referring to the four key principles of rule – patience, persuasion
using gifts or money, punishment and brute force - laid down in the Arthashastra
by Kautilya, also identified as Chanakya, an Indian teacher, strategist and
royal adviser who lived in the third Century, BCE). 



But
Krishn’s mention of Chanakya is more about the modern one! 



“The
ruling party [BJP] took no responsibility for the deaths of over 700 farmers on
the Delhi border,” he says referring to the historic farmers’ protests in 2020
and condemns the BJP for its much-criticised farm laws, taken back after more than
a year. 



“Remember,
how Teni [BJP leader’s son] mowed down farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri? Ye maarne mein kanjoosi nahi karte.
[They are not misers when it comes to killing].” The 2021 incident from Uttar
Pradesh is etched in his mind. 



The
fact that BJP didn&#39;t take any action against its own lawmaker and Wrestling Federation of India (WFI)
president Brij Bhushan Singh, accused of sexual harassment, has not gone down
well with people like him. “Sakshi Malik and many renowned wrestlers had
protested for months in New Delhi last year. They were demanding his arrest for
allegedly sexually harassing several women, including a minor,” he says. 



In 2014, BJP had promised to curtail violence
against women. “What happened to all those promises?”
Krishn asks. “They promised to bring black money from Switzerland and put 15
lakhs into our accounts. What we finally got was hunger and ration.”

At
his home, his sister-in-law Babli has just finished preparing breakfast on a chulha.
She lost her husband to a liver ailment six years ago. Since then, 42-year-old
Babli has been working on the MGNREGA sites. 



“I
hardly get a full month’s work. If I do, I do not get paid on time. If indeed I
get paid on time, the payment is so low that it’s hard to run the household,”
she says. In March 2024 she worked for seven days but her wages of Rs. 2,345 is
yet to be paid. 



Haryana
has seen a <a></a><a href="https://nreganarep.nic.in/netnrega/all_lvl_details_dashboard_new.aspx?Fin_Year=2024-2025&amp;Digest=cz7jP1J6fbHTWNeFeforFA">sharp decline</a> in available work on the MGNREGA in last four years. In 2020-21, more
than 14,000 households in the state got 100 days of work as promised under the
Act. That number fell to 3,447 in 2023-2024. In Rohtak district, only 479
households got 100 days of work in 2023 as against 1,030 in 2021-22. 



“Life
was not easier a decade ago but it was not this tough back then,” says Babli.

Just
six kilometres from Nigana, at Kahnaur, for Kesu Prajapati, the rise in prices remains
the most important issue in these elections. Kesu, 44, fits tiles on the
flooring in houses and buildings. He measures inflation through prices of
staples such as salt and sugar. A daily-wage labourer and a member of Bhawan
Nirman Karigar Mazdoor Union, a labour union in Rohtak, Kesu says that a decade
ago, milk cost Rs. 30 - Rs. 35 a litre. Now, it’s Rs. 70. A kilogram of salt then cost Rs. 16 , now it’s Rs. 27. 



“Ration
was our right. Now, it feels like a government dole, for which we have to bow
down.” Presently, a yellow card holder gets five kilos wheat, one kilo sugar
and cooking oil, while a pink card holder gets 35 kilos wheat a month.
“Earlier, the government used to provide kerosene on ration. That’s been
stopped and it’s hard to refill the LPG [liquified petroleum gas] cylinders. We
also got chana [Bengal gram] and salt,” he says, which is no longer
supplied.   



With
salt no longer on the list, he says “at least, we can say ‘humne sarkar ka namak nahi khaya’ [we did not eat the salt given by
the state and therefore do not need to be loyal to the ruling government].” 



The
‘double engine’ government in Haryana with BJP in power at both centre and
state, has not done enough for someone like Ramrati, a cook in Kahnaur’s
government school. Ramrati, 48 prepares mid-day meals at a government school.
“In such heat, where a minute in front of the fire is unbearable, I make around
6,000 rotis a month.” She gets Rs. 7,000 as monthly wages for this work. She
feels that half her labour goes unpaid. Inflation has made it very difficult to
manage her family of six. She is not even counting her own domestic work. “I
work longer than the sun hours,” she says.

“I
won’t vote for mandir [Ram temple]. Nor do I have anything to do with
that Kashmir thing,” says Harish Kumar. The two achievements that the BJP takes
pride in – inauguration of a temple in Ayodhya and abolition of Article 370 of
the Constitution (relating to Jammu and Kashmir) do not resonate with this
daily wage worker. 



Harish
is busy working at the road construction site at Makrouli Kalan, 30 kilometres
from Kahnaur. Heavy vehicles pass by while Harish alongwith a few men and women
work in blistering heat. Women lift and pass concrete blocks, one after the
other. Men join the red, grey and yellow ones to make a paved road. 



Harish
is from Sampal village in Kalanaur tehsil. He gets Rs. 500 a day for this work.
“Our daily wage didn’t keep pace with inflation. Majboori mein mehnat bechne ko mazdoori kehte hain [Those who live
solely by selling their labour out of compulsion are labourers].”

As
he finishes his lunch, he hurries up as he has to return to his work of mixing
concrete. Like almost all his co-workers in India, he too is underpaid and
overworked in this harsh climate. “On my first day of work, I thought if I
earned money, people would respect me. Till date, I’m still looking for that
one bit of respect,” he says. 



“A
higher wage is not our only demand. We also seek equality.”



More
than a century ago, Kalanaur tehsil had witnessed a milestone moment in
the Indian freedom struggle. Mahatma Gandhi and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
addressed a public meeting in Kalanaur. On November 8, 1920, at a conference in
Rohtak, a resolution was passed to promote the non-cooperation movement in the
region. It proved to be a milestone in India’s freedom struggle.



In 2024,
people of Rohtak were again at the crossroads waiting for yet another turning
point in their nation’s tryst with democracy, and their own struggle for
survival.

Workers in Rohtak vote for change

تبدیلی کی خاطر روہتک کے مزدوروں کا ووٹ

మార్పు కోసం వోటు వేసిన రోహ్‌తక్ శ్రామికులు

மாற்றத்துக்கு வாக்களிக்கும் ரோஹ்தாக் தொழிலாளர்கள்

ਰੋਹਤਕ: ਅਜ਼ਾਦੀ ਦੀ ਲੜਾਈ ਤੋਂ ਰੋਟੀ ਦੀ ਲੜਾਈ ਤੱਕ ਦਾ ਸਫ਼ਰ

ପରିବର୍ତ୍ତନ ପାଇଁ ଭୋଟ୍‌ ଦେଲେ ରୋହତକର ଶ୍ରମିକ

रोहतकच्या श्रमिकांचं मत बदलाला

റോത്തക്കിലെ തൊഴിലാളികൾ മാറ്റത്തിനായി വോട്ട് ചെയ്യുന്നു

ರೋಹ್ಟಕ್: ಬದಲಾವಣೆಗಾಗಿ ಮತ ಚಲಾಯಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು

રોહતકમાં શ્રમિકોનો મત બદલાવને

रोहतक मं मजूर मन बदलाव सेती डारिन वोट

रोहतक में कामगार लोगन के वोट बदलाव खातिर

দিনবদলের আশায় ভোট দিলেন রোহতকের মজুরেরা

গণতন্ত্ৰৰ সন্ধিক্ষণ আৰু জীৱিকাৰ সংগ্ৰাম

रोहतक: बदलाव की बयार और मज़दूरों का मुश्किल संसार

Nigana

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Workers in Rohtak vote for change

More than a century ago, this tehsil in Haryana was witness to a milestone in India’s struggle for freedom. Today workers from the region share what General Elections 2024 means to them

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