Preface of my Upcoming Book “Murky Politics of Haryana: A Deep Dive into the State’s Politics ,culture and Governance”Readers are requested to share interesting inputs.
Gustakhi Maaf Haryana-Pawan Kumar Bansal
Preface of my soon coming book on Politics culture and governance of Haryana titled “Murky Politics of Haryana “.PREFACE
Haryana is a land of paradoxes. There is a sharp contrast between the state of politics on the one hand and the economic and industrial state of Haryana on the other. About Haryana, it is said, “Desha me Desh Haryana-Jit Doodh Dahi ka Khaana,” (Among other states, Haryana is a prominent as here we find millk and curds in abundance). The state is nick-named “The milk pail of Haryana.” During its fifty years of existence this tiny state, having only ten Loksabha seats, has made tremendous progress in field of education, health, transportation and information technology. Gurugram (until recently called Gurgaon), known as millennium city, is the hub of a large number of multinational companies. Haryana occupies a prominent place in India’s history. The Battle of Mahabharta was fought here. The three battles of Panipat were fought here (although, at that time, Haryana as such did not exist). This state is the largest contributor to India’s food granary and armed forces.
People here contributed in large number in freedom movement. Much before the start of the revolution at Meerath in 1857, the army had revolted at Ambala. In 1922, Pt.Shriram Sharma
had hoisted the national flag at town Hall, Jhajjar putting Union Jack. The British government put him into a chilly bag, tied him to a jeep and dragged in streets of Jhajjar. Haryana has produced a great leader like Sir Chhotu who was a messiah of the farmers and the downtrodden.
Haryana’s people are considered simple hearted, sturdy and honest. But it is an irony that politicians, who come out of the same people, become corrupt and power-hungry the moment they are bitten by the politics bug. The politicians and political parties, cutting across party lines have exploited them for their political interests.
In Haryana elections are won on populist slogans and by raking up caste and regional feelings. The unholy politicians-bureaucrats-police nexus is looting the state, even putting Mahmood Gajni to shame. To this unholy alliance, add criminals and the picture of “Chandaal-Chokdi” is complete. Most of the media tows the lines of the politicians as it is influenced by the politicians by advertisements and other crumbs thrown to them. Intrigues by politicians and officers are common here. Here politicians keep their moles in opposite camps: It is a matter of survival in the murky world of politics. Political conspiracies against central leaders are hatched in Surjkund tourist complex in Haryana bordering Delhi. Here politicians instigate and engineer widespread riots for no other motive than to defame the Chief Minister who belongs to a caste different from theirs.
India’s capital, New Delhi, is surrounded from three sides by Haryana. The fodder of political public meetings in Delhi, that is, audiences, is drawn from Haryana. Eggs , milk and even water is supplied to Delhi from Haryana. The unscrupulous Haryanvi bosses and agitators often put Delhi on tenterhooks by threatening to stop water supply from Haryana.
The three Lals of Haryana — Bansi Lal, Devilal and Bhajan Lal became famous as well as notorious for their rules. They kept hitting national and international media headlines for their various acts of omission and commission. Now to that trio another Lal — Manohar Lal – has been added. He has also drawn flak from the people who have termed him as a ‘weak’ Chief Minister.
Thus in the political world of Haryana, you will find opportunism, corruption, nepotism, casteism, back-stabbing, mutual acrimonies, defections, horse trading, meanness, power-play, self-interest, and what not!
And humour?
Can you expect to find wit and humour in a field which is universally acknowledged as “Dirty”?
And yet, I have endeavoured to do exactly the same. I have tried to extract humour from the situations or conversation where the politicians have provided humour, often unwittingly. Yet, this book is not exactly on humour. It is an objective, honest and straight forward commentary on the state of politics in Haryana. But at many places, the reader will find wry humour arising out of the situations and comments. Being in the field of Journalism for forty years, and having been touch with the those who matter, I have, I humbly confess, imbibed a lot of the flavor of political atmosphere of Haryana. Once, referring to me, the late Prhabash Joshi, eminent journalist, said that Haryan’s politics “is tricky to understand but it is on tips of Pawan Kumar Bansal”.
Such a vast subject as Haryana’s politics, would require thousands of pages to do it justice. On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the state, I have tried to make a humble attempt to put in this book, my views and perceptions about major events of this state.
celebrating its Golden Jubilee. During my long stint in journalism I had interacted with top politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, officers and others. I had two trunks full of the copies of official documents and other papers managed thorough my goodwill from Govt. records.
Needless to say this material has gone a long way in the preparation of this book.
In 2000 came my first book ‘Haryana Ke Lalo ke Sabrange Kisse’. Eminent journalist Khushwant Singh, while reviewing this book, wrote to me that although he could Hindi with difficulty, yet he had enjoyed it and found it vastly amusing. Later when I met him at Delhi residence, he asked me to write a book for English readers also. I must honestly confess that my hold on English language is not commanding. So I requested my old friend, Prof.M.R.Sethi for editing.He is a scholar and an author and has written seven books and more than 500 articles in English. He gladly granted my request. He has diligently and painstaking edited, the book to it presentable. I must admit that I have merely gave him the raw material and the end product is almost entirely by him. My literary friendship with Prof. Sethi has been a long one. About three decades back we had jointly written a book of scathing criticism on an eminent political personality of Haryana. But the book never saw the light of the day, inspite of the fact that no less than a person of Kuldeep Nayyar’s fame had recommend the book to a famous publisher of New Delhi. It was because we were both new in the field of journalism or writing. I was only a stringer in the Indian Express at Jind and Mr. M.R.Sethi was a Lecturer in English in a college of the same city. In the field of publishing which is dominated by big names, we were only small fishes, rather shrimps, and no publisher could dare to take risk of publishing a book against a famous political personality, that too, written by unknown writers.