The Old Boys Stalked By Modern Times

Haryana바카라�s khap panchayats are in the news again, this time for a rather unusual reason. The Kundu khap, a self-regula­ted caste panchayat of the Kundu Jat clan, hit the Rohtak-­Jind highway last week demanding justice바카라�hold your breath바카라�for a young woman. Vernika Kundu, a young DJ from Chandigarh, was rec­ently stalked by two men and later complained that the police had wat­ered down charges against the ­alleged stalkers. The Kundu khap warned the Haryana government of a wider agitation unless kidnapping charges were restored.

Quite in contrast to the stand taken by the Kundu khap in the Chandigarh case, Haryana바카라�s khaps have earned a bad reputation due to their harsh diktats against women and young people. Khaps wield considerable influence over society wherever Jats are the dominant caste, and the institution has inv­ited opprobrium for imposing sanctions defending caste orthodoxy from social change. In fact, the word 바카라�khap바카라� is most closely associated in the public mind with the phrase 바카라�honour killing바카라�바카라�brutal, cold-blooded murders of couples who seek to marry outside their caste, or within the gotra (clan), whose members are considered by the khaps to be consanguinous either by actual kinship or historically close ties.

Considering the khaps바카라� unabashed app­eal to patriarchal orthodoxy, their zeal to prevent or punish the breaching of boundaries that sustain hierarchies of caste, many are surprised by the Kundu khap바카라�s stand in the stalking case. Vernika바카라�s everyday life, after all, would be in violation of many of the taboos khaps are known to have imposed on young women바카라�from using mobile phones to wearing jeans, the khap list of don바카라�ts for women is long. A financially independent working woman who looks 바카라�westernised바카라� cannot be someone whom a khap would accept as a role model for women.

바카라�She does not fit the image that khaps associate with women,바카라� says Vikas Rathee, who teaches history at the Central University of Punjab. This is what makes the Kundu khap바카라�s support for Vernika worth reflecting on, to try and decipher how the khaps are framing the discourse on gender. Rathee ventures that for khaps the question of women바카라�s rights and the limits to those rights are not one-size-fits-all. 바카라�What khaps do when an issue related to ­women바카라�s rights arises varies according to place and time. That is, it varies from khap to khap and case to case,바카라� he says.

From the Kundu khap바카라�s perspective, their protest reflects bhaichara (brotherhood) among the Jats. Khap pradhan Rajendra Kundu, however, insists that 바카라�even if she were not a Kundu, we would still have protested바카라�. Acknowledging that Vernika is not bound by the rules khaps impose on Jat women in Haryana바카라�s villages, he says, 바카라�In the cities, everybody stays out late. That바카라�s no reason to harass somebody.바카라�

Does this suggest that khaps are being affected by liberal tendencies through constant exposure, which might eventually help them get rid of obscurantist notions about gender relations? IGNOU professor Jagpal Singh, who specialises in democracy, development and identity issues, says the Kundu khap has indeed acted 바카라�unusually바카라�, but it is possible to locate its protest within the norm for khaps. 바카라�We tend to note only the negative tendencies in a community, caste or region, but in all such groups, including the Jats, democratic forces are also alw­ays present,바카라� he says, referring to families such as Vernika바카라�s Chandigarh-based one. Vernika and her parents bel­ong to the urbane sections of Jats, but have found, even without seeking, explicit approval from their khap.

In fact, there is no way the khap can exercise power over Vernika, unless her family allows it, which they, thankfully, do not. 바카라�If khaps had their way, Vernika would not be a DJ and I would not train in martial arts,바카라� says Vernika바카라�s mother Sucheta Kundu, a former sociology professor and a Bishnoi married to a Jat. 바카라�If a khap speaks up [for her], that바카라�s good. If they don바카라�t, it wouldn바카라�t matter.바카라�

Not just that. The Kundus never brought up their caste in the aftermath of the stalking episode. That is what Jagpal Singh emphasises. 바카라�Vernika or her father do not identify with the khap,바카라� he says. 바카라�It is the opposite. By speaking for Vernika, it is the khap that is identifying with this family.바카라� With higher education a norm for three generations in Vernika바카라�s family, and because of being well-off, it is they who break the khap (and Jat) mould, not the other way around.

This ties up with a prevailing critique of the khaps바카라�that the rules they enforce on women do not apply equally on all Jats. The khaps respect powerful people and allow the rules prohibiting inter-­caste or even same-village marriages to be broken from time to time. However, these relaxations are not across the board. 바카라�Since the Kundu family is elite, the khap tried to benefit from the agitation,바카라� says Jagmati Sangwan, an AIDWA activist in Haryana. 바카라�But just a year ago, when two non-Jat girls were harassed in a bus, the khaps supported the administration바카라�s smear campaign against them.바카라�

The arbitrariness necessary for this differential application of sanctions is made possible by the fact the khaps바카라� int­erpretation of tradition follows no holy book or standardised ideology바카라�as Rathee puts it, 바카라�they do whatever they think tradition demands바카라�.

Marriages among villages near each other and gotras considered consanguinous are, of course, taboo irrespective of whether they are within or outside the Jat fold. Insisting that khaps are trying to accommodate the aspirations of the younger generation, but that there are limits, khap leader Surendra Dahiya of the Dahiya 바카라�gotra바카라� says, 바카라�The khaps will not allow marriages within three gotras바카라�the mother바카라�s gotra and both the grandmothers바카라� gotras. People in the villages listen to the khaps as ties are deeper among all castes and within Jats.바카라�

It바카라�s mostly the rural Jats who bear the brunt of khap diktats. The class cleavage, at the same time, is rapidly increasing social distance within the Jats, driven by shrinking landholdings. A growing Jat middle class is exiting the khap sphere of influence too. This has implications for the commun­ity바카라�s 바카라�unity바카라�, at both the pol­itical and social levels. 바카라�We need to move with the times or we바카라�ll be left beh­ind,바카라� says Mahinder Singh Rithaal, who heads the Majra khap, formed last year after the centuries-old Kandela khap 바카라�split바카라�. Rithaal wants to relax marriage rules to permit marriages with Redhu 바카라�gotra바카라� Jats in 14 Majra villages. Such marriages are barred due to what the Kandelas consider bhaichara, or deep social ties, though not actual kinship, within the undivided khap. 바카라�Inter-caste marriages would be best,바카라� Rithaal says. 바카라�Parents permit them now from a sense of compulsion바카라�they should start acc­epting them happily.바카라�

Critics say that these liberalising imp­ulses barely conceal the khaps바카라� hunt for ways to retain control over women and the youth. Even the Kundu khap바카라�s support for Vernika can be seen as a way to protect one of 바카라�their바카라� girls. Yet, communities rarely reform without extraneous compulsions. In the context of Haryana politics, where the Jats바카라� traditional poli­tical allies, the Congress and Lok Dal, face intense competition from the BJP, the need to 바카라�unite바카라� over issues beyond reservations is likely to be felt sooner rather than later.

바카라�It바카라�s an unstable landscape the khaps confront. They are running out of women to marry their men with. Families with fragmented land are seeking brides from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar,바카라� says Vineet Rathee, a historian researching issues related to middle-­class culture among Jats at McGill University, Canada. The all-male khap faces challenges from the growing number of Jat women in higher echelons of education and business too.

Entrepreneur and activist Sangita Dah­iya recently uploaded a video online criticising the police for watering down the charges in Vernika바카라�s case. 바카라�It was a matter of women바카라�s dignity and rights. She must get justice, no matter who the alleged perpetrators are,바카라� she says. One of the alleged stalkers is the son of senior BJP leader Subhash Barala. Like many in Haryana, she feels the Kundu khap should not have got involved in the affair at all. 바카라�It is a matter for the courts to settle and the khap바카라�s intervention reeks of pol­itical conspiracy,바카라� she says.

As a traditionally entrenched dominant caste in Haryana, low on social mobility, Jats remain rooted in a conservative ethos. A section of the youngsters, however, are forcing the khaps to change, questioning how powerful they really are. 바카라�The jajmani system, of co-dependence between social groups, has only just broken. Among Jats, it is mostly the first or second generation that is getting educated today. Reform in gender relations will take time,바카라� says Singh, who dismisses many of the seemingly liberalising tendencies in khaps as 바카라�mere rhetoric바카라�, especially because Jats are still reluctant to allow girls to marry outside the caste. 바카라�They prefer only to bring a daughter-in-law into the family, as women are in short supply.바카라�