Farmers’ Heroine Vs RSS’s Heroine

Suddenly a young paramilitary woman in uniform by name Kulwinder Kaur became more popular than a well-known RSS/BJP newly elected MP, the rabble- rousing Bollywood actor, Kangana Ranaut. Kaur became a household name in Punjab as well as attracted attention globally. She has become the heroine of farmers, who fought and won a two-year battle against the very powerful Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party government, headed by Narendra Modi.

Ranaut contributed her might to keep the farmers' anger boiling, in an unforgettable manner. Punjabiat, particularly farmer Punjabiat, is a very nationalist and self-respecting sentiment, with enormous will for self- sacrifice.  Revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh did that. In the airport named after him, Kaur did another unusual thing in the history of women policing. She took revenge against Ranaut (for publicly demeaning the farmers’ struggle), who is now a BJP MP.           

Kaur is daughter of a farmer in Punjab. Through hard work she got a job in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). She was on duty at Chandigarh’s Shahid Bhagat Singh Airport, which is located in Haryana state land. Her entire family, including her mother, Veer Kaur, were part of the historic farmers' struggle against the RSS/BJP government that brought out three farm laws that were meant to hand over the entire agribusiness of India to the Adani and Ambani corporate monopoly houses in 2020.

Ranaut, a pro-RSS Hindi cinema actor, who was admitted into BJP, was given a ticket to contest from the Lok Sabha seat of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, where her caste Rajput (Kshatriya) population is significant. She won the election.

On June 6, she was travelling to Delhi. At the airport there was reportedly a scuffle between Kaur and Ranaut, who, through a video message, alleged that Kaur slapped her at the security check. She did not reveal how that scuffle took place. Once the video went public, Kaur was suspended and a case was registered by the Haryana police against her.

But in the same video, Ranaut said that aatankwad (terrorism) is growing in Punjab, suggesting that Kaur’s action was part of ‘that Punjab terrorism’. The people of Punjab, particularly farmer organisations, took offence to her statement and protests erupted. On June 9, a massive rally was organised by the farmers in Mohali.

Veer Kaur, while defending her daughter’s rebellion against Ranaut at the airport, said that “Kangana must have instigated her (Kulwinder) by using inappropriate language, claiming that her daughter wouldn’t have done this otherwise”. The kisan (farmer) leaders also alleged that “when Kulwinder asked Kangana to deposit her phone and purse for security check, she was alleged to have called her “Khalistani” just by looking her name ‘Kaur’ on her uniform badge.   

The facts of the case will have to be established only by an enquiry committee. The Haryana government has already constituted a SIT (Special Investigation Team) to go into the details of the ‘scuffle’.    

Though Ranaut comes from a middle-class Rajput community, after turning into a film actor, she started speaking like a hardcore RSS activist. She has come to be identified as a ‘RSS heroine’. Since the RSS/BJP government at the Centre treated the protesting farmers, whose labour feeds the nation, as an un-Indian social force, Ranaut seems to echoed the same thought. 

The actor went a step further and in 2020, had termed the farmers terrorists and the women, fighting for their rights, as “women available for Rs.100/”.  Kaur was heard saying in the airport CCTV footage that her mother took part in the farmers' protest and she had (Kangana) abused her with a slur that she was there in the protest having taken Rs 100. Kaur later said she was willing to forgo her job for what she did.        

Ranaut has had quarrels with many within Bollywood. As a person, she seems to be individualist and freedom loving to the extreme. The RSS/BJP normally does not approve such female individualism, as they stand for classical conservative ‘Hindu Nari’ life. But in Ranaut’s case, they went out of the way and gave her a BJP ticket.     

Though the RSS/BJP combine knows that Ranuat has a history of using abusive language against farmers of India when they were fighting against the dangerous farm laws, yet they admitted her into the party. The RSS/BJP Central government went on supporting her.  In 2020, she fought with Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena. She was given a Y-security by the Central government. Now, they have brought her into Parliament itself, and she has started her usual activity of creating conflict and controversy before even taking oath as MP.

Ranaut just did not allow the issue to die down by condemning the act of the alleged slap but went further and characterised the whole of Punjab as a terrorism breeder. This has widened the ground for conflict. No RSS/BJP leader tried to intervene to say that characterising the whole of Punjab as a breeding ground for terrorism is wrong. They know that Punjab is not Kashmir.

However, ever since the farmers’ movement was led by the Punjabi Jat and other Shudra/OBC/Dalits (both Sikhs and non-Sikhs) communities, the RSS/BJP forces have attacked them as Khalistanis. The farmers’ struggle against the farm laws was an all-India food producers’ problem. The RSS/BJP intellectuals, cultural leaders come from Dwija non-agrarian background. They began to attack them as if they too were Muslims. This attitude of the RSS/BJP leadership is what has given courage to Ranaut.                

The actor kept tweeting against the protesting farmers, in which about 700 people were killed over a period of two years of historic struggle. Replying to a post on X by international celebrity Rihanna, Ranaut had called the singer a "fool" and said, "No one is talking about it (the farmers’ struggle) because they are not farmers they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like USA... Sit down you fool, we are not selling our nation like you dummies."

The whole of Punjab is up in arms against Ranaut, who, instead of asking for action against Kaur, has dragged the entire state into the controversy.

The issue may come up in Parliament once the session starts (in June third week). The RSS/BJP combine has shown its unwillingness to treat farmers as respectable nationalists. Generally, there is a view that the RSS/BJP forces are not just against Muslims, but are against the Shudra/OBC food producers, who do not go along with their ideological agendas.   

The writer is former Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. The views are personal.