Even as Chief Minister Amarinder Singh accused ‘‘outsiders’’ of creating trouble in Jalandhar’s Talhan village and his ministers hunt for a solution, it was not long ago that Talhan itself had come knocking at ministers’ doors, only to be spurned.With violence refusing to subside and caste consciousness finding a permanent place here, Talhan has become a case study of administrative inaction, police mishandling and government apathy. Investigations by The Indian Express into the background of the Dalit-Jat dispute over the samadh shrine tells a story of flawed understanding and lost opportunities. When Dalits went to meet Local Bodies Minister Ch Jagjit Singh to ensure they were represented in managing the shrine, he misunderstood the issue and offered to help them build a new gurdwara. Local MLA Gurkanwal Kaur and MP Balbir Singh are missing from the picture, abdicating their responsibility to provide a healing touch. Most of the people involved, including district police and officials, were summoned last month to CM’s residence, but Amarinder skipped the meeting.Talhan didn’t happen in a day. Dalits had won a case in a local court to force elections to the shrine’s management panel in their supervision. The Jats boycotted, so they elected a Dalit panel, clearly a bargaining move.A meeting to resolve this dispute resulted in a lathicharge and written calls of social boycott signed by Jats. Since Dalit Action Committee president Chanan Ram Pal, a retired PSEB employee, belonged to Radha Soami sect, posters against the sect also made an appearance in the village. Amarinder now claims his officers identified some outsiders as trouble-makers even though Dalits have repeatedly named Amrik Singh Kahlon, a veterinary pharmacist, Joginder Singh Jogi, Khajula village sarpanch Sant Dhian Singh, Bhakhrian village’s Jang Bahadur and Kotli Thansingh village’s Phuman Singh besides Bhupinder Bhinda, Kewal Bhangu as those who were instigating trouble.Drawing strength from the likes of Bhai Mohkam Singh of Damdami Taksal, these men minced no words about their intentions. Decades-old samadhs inside the Talhan shrine were demolished, Guru Granth Sahib scriptures installed and even signboards of the shrine repainted. Then SSP Paramjit Singh Gill’s promise to restore status quo remained unfulfilled. The National Commission for SC/ST made some recommendations, but the government sat tight, forcing Dalit leaders to travel to Delhi only to find that every officer was aware of the report. ‘‘Not one recommendation was conceded,’’ said Chanan Ram Pal.DIG shifted; curfew on, violence spreads to PhagwaraAnju Agnihotri ChabaTalhan/Jalandhar, June 9: Five days after caste violence rocked Jalandhar and Talhan, the Punjab Government replaced the district police top brass even as there was no let-up in tension in affected areas. The administration also ordered villagers in Talhan to surrender their weapons or face a police search.In a related development, DGP M.S. Bhullar today ordered police to stop Dalits from entering Jalandhar after clashes in Phagwara, where the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had called a bandh today. Police were also told to tighten vigil in Dalit settlements across the state. Neighbours take cue While the Punjab government failed to see the crisis snowballing, Jats in Talhan’s neighbouring village Salempur Masanda were quick to react. Salempur too has a cash-rich shrine of Baba Dasa managed by an all-Jat panel. After the violence in Talhan, Jats have now included Dalits in the management lest their village amity is threatened. If only the government had learnt that fast. Later, in what was called a confidence-building measure, the entire police machinery was replaced in one stroke. DIG Rohit Choudhary and SSP Varinder Kumar will be replaced with Dinkar Gupta and Harpreet Sidhu, respectively, while J.P. Birdi, IG (PAP), will take additional charge as IG (Zonal) in the absence of S.K. Sharma, who is on leave. Pawan Kumar Uppal and Gurmeet Singh will be the new SP City II and SP (Operations).Earlier, the administration asked Jats and Dalits at Talhan to submit their licensed and unlicensed weapons. But when The Indian Express visited the village, residents feared surrendering weapons as they felt it would make them vulnerable to attacks. The administration, however, is not ready to lift the curfew till the weapons are not collected from villagers.Meanwhile, Dalits accused the Jats of stockpiling arms at the gurdwara, which is the bone of contention, even as the latter accused Dalits of smuggling weapons in fodder trolleys. The district administration did not relax the curfew at Talhan today. At Boota Mandi and surrounding areas, however, it was relaxed from 8 am to 10 am, and from 5.15 pm to 6.30 pm. Although Jalandhar was largely peaceful, other parts of the district saw stray violence. In Adampur, BSP workers blocked traffic and damaged a Punjab Roadways bus.A near-total bandh, though a forced one, was observed in Phagwara to protest against the Talhan clashes, and G.T. Road remained blocked for about five hours.In the morning, BSP activists and other organisations took out a procession and forced shopkeepers to down their shutters. Two Punjab Roadways buses, a Maruti car and a Matador were also damaged.In a related development, administrative sources revealed that magisterial enquiry into police firing will start tomorrow.
