16th February 2016: It was a
casual Tuesday morning in Rohtak, when we left for office. The excitement was
all about resumption of operations after a month long shut down of the factory.
While some scurried to apply finishing touches, others planned critical
start-up activities. No one had imagined that the turn of events would be so
dramatic even before the sun had set for the day.
At 5 PM, the
PA system buzzed with an announcement in a rough voice that we needed to
evacuate in 10 minutes. Further inquiry revealed that a certain community was
demanding reservations in educational institutes and government jobs and had
staged a blockade of roads all around the city. There was just a single route
to the city that was still accessible. It was critical to get people out before
that route also got blocked! And then, in a scene almost rivaling that from the
movie “Airlift”, a line of 7 buses and many more cars & bikes “escaped” the
blockade.
Back home,
it was important to stock up on essential supplies. Violence was not expected
until then but it always made sense to prepare for the worst. Ready-to-eat food
was secured, enough to last about 7 days. The next morning, a quick but
cautious drive via one of the open routes got us to office. It surprised me to
not see even a single cop anywhere across the 6 km drive! Weren’t we in the
middle of a law and order situation already? Did the government care at all?
Frenzied activity in the plant broke the thought process. With production start-up
planned for the next day, everyone had their work cut out.
At 4:15 PM
that evening, the sounds of beeping forklifts and firing pumps was interrupted
with an announcement. Déjà vu! 10 minutes is what we had again to reach the
waiting buses. And then again a motorcade left for the city meandering through
fields and narrow lanes – roads that were never traveled before.
18th February 2016: While on
our way to the plant, we came across a blockade. NH10 was blocked using the
bark of a fallen tree guarded by 4 young men probably still in their teens. THAT
is all it takes to completely stop the flow of traffic on a major national
highway in India! Wow! Back in office, there was an eerie silence. Rumors were
doing the rounds that the situation is only going to get worse. Some companies
around had started to suspend operations indefinitely. Most schools were
already forced shut. The volcano of emotions trapped in the agitating community
could erupt at any moment, and in the process, engulf the entire town in a
smoke of devastation!
The rumors
were validated that afternoon when we learnt that all vehicular traffic in
Rohtak had been completely shut. All roads around the town were blocked and we
were all stranded as we were! Production start had now become a secondary
concern and safe evacuation of all was the priority. Almost everyone from the
plant had gathered at the gate in a sea of confusion and uncertainty. Just
then, a Tsunami broke the shore!
A group of
about 25 men of different ages had blocked the gate with a tractor and a few
bikes. They threatened us with hockey sticks, laathis, knifes and a language filled with abuse of all kind! The
situation was unexpected and I must admit, the resources at hand to handle any
potential violence, were inadequate. There is only so much that a few unarmed
guards can do against a knife wielding, high on adrenaline mob! Shocked, we stood our ground… Retreating would
leave the gates unmanned and taking them on could be devastating. It was a game
of patience and it was up to us to keep calm and not add fodder to their hunger
for provocation. For a time that seemed like eternity, they continued to threaten
us to shut the plant down. Eventually, they left. We continued to wait where we
were, dumbstruck! The world outside was not safe!
It took us
some time to get ourselves out of the shock and plan an evacuation. Meanwhile,
all the gates were deployed with additional security and we divided ourselves
to man different areas of the plant. Frantic calls were made to all government authorities
to seek help, but the police were too few, too far and too helpless to act. It
was finally the pradhan of a near-by
village who reached for our help with several of his men. They all carried
local guns or kattas, which was to be
our protection that evening. We packed ourselves into buses and moved through
blockade after blockade with our armed protectors marching along! The deafening
silence in the town was only broken by chants of sword wielding protesters. The
entire scene was flimsy as hell, only that it was for real!
19th to 24th February 2016:
Internet access was blocked by the next morning and voice calls only went
through with difficulty. The only connection with the outside world was a local
news channel which gave very limited and polished information. Food supplies
had to be judicially used to last us for we didn’t know how long, and after the
first couple of days, there was no interest left to eat that ill-tasting,
self-cooked, one meal a day. The scenes from the terrace were depressing – all
that could be seen was smoke and fire erupting from different directions of the
town. When phone calls went through, they always came with news of some or the
other neighborhood being raided and burnt down by protesters. All we could do
was keep an iron rod at our bedside and take turns to be awake through the night in the hope of being able to protect ourselves. The days were spent with
a feeling of complete helplessness.
Food for thought: The
agitations engulfed the whole of Haryana and violence lasted for about a week.
30 people were killed and the state suffered an estimated loss of Rs.34,000
crore. About 1,100 properties were destroyed in Rohtak alone. The protests were
a result of a demand for reservations for Jat community that was rejected by
the Supreme Court of India in March 2015. Haryana has one of the highest
population of Jat community and one of the highest per capita income across all
Indian states.
