State’s political capital hosts both celebrations & protests

Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 26
A 30" by 15" tent pitched outside the Mini-secretariat is the house for a number of teachers of the Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan in the state. They are sitting on a chain hunger strike for a month seeking salaries and cancellation of retrenchment orders of 900 of them. In between, these teachers take out rallies, clean roads to mark their protest while men go topless and try to gherao ministers of the Punjab Government.

Not very far away from them, preparations for the World Cup Kabbadi are in full swing. While protesters sleep on the floor thinking about the benefits of their education qualifications, with some of them even being M.Phil and PhD.

Such protests apart from political rallies and whirl-wind tours of Member Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal are held regularly here in this political capital of Punjab.

Celebrations and demonstrations virtually go side by side in this district that is shown immense interest by the Badal family.

A joyous procession of participants of the Virasat Mela where artistes attired in traditional clothes and young girls and boys danced merrily was hardly over yesterday when protesting teachers of the Sarv Sikhya Abhayan took to the same roads.

"We are specifically carrying brooms to clean the roads. We would be left to adopt cleaning roads as a vocation as the government was spending money on festivals and music nights and political functions instead of paying our salaries," said Satinder Singh Kang, Tarn Taran district president of the SSA teachers.

He along with other teachers alleged that they were supposed to receive Rs 3,500 per month as salary under the Centre-funded scheme. However, the state government was giving them Rs 2,000 - Rs 2,500 only.

Further, the immediate confrontation took place when the government relieved 900 teachers from duty. Under the SSA, slum or poor children in the age group of 6-14 years are provided education. The government relieved the teachers from those areas where the number of students fell less than 10.

Though an understanding was reached with the government regarding acceptance of their demands, but the dharnas will continue till the demands were implemented.

Not only the SSA but teachers from aided schools along with unaided staff of the schools, linesmen union, farmers union and action committees of various incidents like the Shruti Kidnapping case and others reach Bathinda to take on the government.

A tactical game of chess also goes on between the government and the protesting groups. Both try to outsmart each other.

The protesters try to gherao a minister or create a scene so that their voice is heard and on the other hand, the police aims at keeping them away from the government functions.

Usually, one meeting is held about the preparations of the programme and the second special one is on how to keep protesters at bay.

"It is all about who can out-think the other," said a senior police official, adding: "Every time, protesters come out with a new strategy to obstruct the functions. Our job is to pre-empt their moves without using much force."

link : http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121127/battrib.htm#4