[Reader-list] Urban Delhi meets country cousins

[Shivam Vij]

Urban Delhi meets country cousins


Neha Lalchandani
TIMES NEWS NETWORK / 5 Jun, 2007
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Urban_Delhi_meets_country_cousins/articleshow/2098329.cms

NEW DELHI: It isn't easy to shake the Delhiite's phlegmatic
self-absorbtion. But the Capital's urban cocoon was shattered on
Monday when the Gujjars hit the town. Agitated mobs, driven by the
force of caste interests, lathis in hand, made the city feel
vulnerable.

The Gujjars who torched buses, clashed with police and turned the
office-goers morning into a heated crawl displayed the power of
community bonding coupled with a readiness to impose themselves onto
the heart of urban Delhi, its new economy extention of Gurgaon and the
eastern enclaves of Noida and Ghaziabad. In a swift, military move,
Gujjars sniped Delhi's arteries.

Suddenly, it was not about newspaper headlines about some people
wanting a change of status, from OBC to ST, which sounded distant and
quite unrelated to the urban cycle. Meenas and Gujjars killing each in
Rajasthan, though only a few hours away, sounded far-away and not "my
problem."

The gunshots that reverberated in Lalsot in Rajasthan's Dausa
district, had found an echo in Delhi as Gujjars, an agressive
community, took to the streets. In the last one week, slogans on the
back of buses like "sherni Gujjar ki" came to mean more than quaint
trivia to residents of Delhi's leafy colonies. Drawing rooms with
split a/cs learn't all about Gujjars.

"People in Delhi are politically indifferent. Even when agitations
happen, it is just the disruption to their lives that bothers them,
not the cause per se. Only when it hurts directly, like reservations
or demolitions and sealings, do they react," said Dr Anuja Agarwal,
sociologist.

Delhi, as the capital of the country, is the hub of political activity
but it is not often that the city is held ransom by a particular
community. "Gujjars were just another community. Truthfully, I would
not have given them a second thought. Even when the rioting started in
Rajasthan, it didn't really matter to me but when they took over the
city on Monday did I realise how important it had become," said Sayali
Mathur, a DU student.

The previous two agitations the city witnessed in the recent past have
been different. For many, the quota protests had a PLU factor and the
traders' agitation found its sympathisers. Though not on the same
scale, Gujjars reminded citizens of the 1991 Mandal stir and the even
earlier "kisan" rallies of Devi Lal. In teh mid-80's Delhi came to
fear Devi Lal's anti-Rajiv Gandhi mobilisations which saw rallyists
"capture" India Gate.

Delhi's urban indifference is hardly unique, said sociologist Pratap
Bhanu Mehta. "Such a reaction holds true for all places — from metros
to rural areas. Why would anyone bother if the issue doesn't concern
them. The engagement of the middle class with mass politics is
increasingly diminishing but it is nothing peculiar to Delhi.

Each group keeps to itself which is why it is impossible to create any
coalition," he said. Agreed Dipankar Gupta of JNU. "Delhi is the
Capital city so everyone turns up here for greater visibility. Why
should we react to each and everything even when it does not affect
us," he asked.

neha.lalchandani at timesgroup.com