With the Assembly elections not too far away in Punjab, there is a constant effort by political parties to woo dalits, who constitute nearly one-third of the state’s population. However, unlike in the past when Punjab dalits voted as voiceless monolithic block, there is deep churning within the community — an indicator of ongoing social change and an attempt to assert dalit identity.
Music is one domain where the dalits of Punjab have made a name for themselves in the past. Singer Hans Raj Hans, who tried his luck in politics as an Akali candidate and later joined Congress, Mohammad Sadique, now a Congress MLA, and singer Chamkila, who was shot dead my militants for singing “vulgar” songs, are some examples.
Moving in the same league is a teenaged dalit girl who eulogises Bhim Rao Ambedkar and sings songs of dalit pride. She has become a rage amongst dalits in Punjab. Eighteen-year-old Gurkanwal Bharti, now famous as Ginni Mahi — the name she took after becoming a singer, hails from Jalandar and belongs to the Ravidassia community.
Unlike the other dalit singers of Punjab who sing mainstream songs, Ginni Mahi sings about Amebedkar. Her song Main fan han Baba sahib de jinane savidahan likhya (I am fan of Baba Saheb Ambedkar who has written the Constitution) has become very popular amongst the dalits with more than fifty thousand hits on Youtube in short span of time. The song praises Ambedkar for writing the Constitution and helping in the emancipation of the downtrodden. The song describes Ambedkar as the biggest intellectual. “Baba Saheb is our god, he has done so much for people like us, I thought I must sing a song on him,” said Ginni Mahi.
According to Punjab University professor Raunki Ram, who has done extensive work on the dalits of Punjab, the emergence of Ginni Mahi and her songs are a manifestation of the assertion of dalit identity. “In the last decade-and-a-half, the dalits of Doaba region in Punjab, especially those belonging to the Ravidasia community, have made a lot economic progress by the moving to foreign countries. With new found economic success, there is an effort to assert their identity,” he said.
In other songs, Ginni Mahi also sings about dalit pride. Her song Danger 2 goes “Chamar hunde asle nalo katharnak ve (Chamars are even more lethal than weapons)”.
In the video of the song Ginni Mahi is singing, and in the background a dalit hero is shown pumping iron and showing his muscles. The song praises chamars — a term which is considered derogatory— for keeping their word and making supreme sacrifices for honour. It also says that dalit attack their enemies like a swarm of bees together. The song also has more than 50,000 hits on Youtube and is played at almost every dalit birthday or marriage function these days.
Ginni Mahi, like most of teenagers, is not interested in politics and wants to be a famous Bollywood singer. “I only believe in Baba Saheb as he has done a lot for us, and stay away from politics and politicians. I feel happy when some dalits are proud of my success,” she says.
Box Dalits are found both amongst Hindus and Sikhs in Punjab. However, despite Sikhism considered an egalitarian religion there is not much difference in the plight of Dalits even within Sikhs. Dalits are known as Majbi Sikhs and have separate Gurudwaras in villages with little social interaction with other upper caste people. “
