Sir Chhotu Ram
Sir Chhotu Ram (1881-1945) was one of the most prominent
Pre-partition politicians in Punjab and an ideologue of the Jat peasantry and a
champion of its interests. He was born on 24 November 1881 in Ghari Sampla in
Rohtak district in Jat Gotra Ohlan family.
He was associated with organizations representing peasant interests like the
Zamindar League and the Unionist Party (after resigning from the Congress in
1920). He was one of the founders of the Unionist Party (along with Sir Sikander
Hayat Khan). The Unionists ruled Punjab for its first two decades of (limited)
democracy. They represented a coalition between Hindu farmers in the eastern
part of the province and feudal Muslim landlords in the west. As an important
minister (he held the revenue portfolio) in the then Unionist Party Government
in Punjab , he did a lot to improve the economic status of the peasants through
numerous legislative measures.
Sir Chhotu Ram was part of a massive recruiting drive for the army during World War II
across Punjab , led by Punjab Premier Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan. His support of the British war effort (during World War II) is often seen as a controversial step as the Congress had given a call not to provide any help to the British. He actively promoted recruitment of Jats in the army as he felt that it was economically beneficial to the community.
The recurring theme of his campaigns was India
said: "My hope is that after this war Hindustan will be free. And it will be
free in a real sense."
Growing up in the prevailing economic misery at his time, he was strongly
influenced and motivated by the slights and insults, intended and otherwise,
that he had undergo on the path to achieving an education. In his time the Jat
peasants were victims at the hands of the usurious Mahajans. He exhorted
peasants to shed their inferiority complex and fatalistic outlook and become
assertive and self-confident.
He played a very significant role in the organization of the Jats as a
self-conscious community and helped them acquire self-confidence and
self-respect. As he was outside the political mainstream (Congress), his
contributions have been rather unfairly neglected from Indian history.
His own understanding of the Jat identity combined the themes of caste
(Kshatriya) assertions and land ownership. "The Jats are a quam of warriors and
zamindars", he wrote. His political language drew upon peasant culture and the warrior traditions of the Jats. In this respect, he differed from the other Unionist leaders whose
activities were confined to the formal imperial structures and not connected
with any mass movement in Punjab . He worked to project the Jats as a community lacking in self-confidence and in need for both protection and recognition, to bolster their self-confidence and transform them into a politically, culturally and economically viable entity.
Equally he broadened the meaning of Jat identity by unifying the cultural
strands of the Hindu Jats of Rajasthan, UP and southeast Punjab by providing
them with a common language against the cultural subordination of the
brahman-bania castes. He did not confine Jatness to a class but rather projected
it as a homogeneous cultural community with its distinct identity. Moreover, he
was able to establish a direct and close connection with other peasant groupings
in Punjab . The sahukar or bania (moneylender) was a major motif in his narratives. Portrayed as an 'evil force' within the countryside with his easy access to law, land and capital, the moneylender was constantly chided and ridiculed for manipulating
prices and controlling marketing and debt relations. He bemoaned the Jat
peasants' subservience to the banias.
He employed the bhajniks to propagate the concept of biradari (peasant
brotherhood) among the different peasant groups, who in turn saw him as a leader
who spoke their language and responded to their needs and aspirations.
After his death in 1945, he was equated with Dayanand Saraswati, their names
evoking notions of heroism and serving as reference points for the collective
identity of the Jats. Muslim Jats too gave him the title of Rehbar-i-Azam (great guide).
( MAIN SOURCES: FAMOUS JATS WEBSITE AND WIKIPEDIA)
