Quota stir effect: Jat couple add ‘no caste’ pledge to wedding vows

This can perhaps be the only positive after-effect of what happened during the Jat quota protests in February. The violence and destruction touched a youth so much that he no longer wants himself to be identified with caste.

This can perhaps be the only positive after-effect of what happened during the Jat quota protests in February. The violence and destruction touched a youth so much that he no longer wants himself to be identified with caste.

During his wedding on July 13, Jagdeep Singh, a research scholar, also a Jat, is going to take the `aathwan vachan’ (eighth pledge), apart from the seven conventional vows, that caste will mean little to him and he won’t differentiate between his kids on the basis of gender. Jagdeep Singh, 28, who is doing his PhD in microbiology from Maharshi Dayanand Univeristy, Rohtak, has got the ‘eighth pledge’ printed on the wedding card. “During discussion with my fiancée Seema, we decided to take this pledge.”

On his wedding card, the ‘8th pledge’ reads: “Putri ya putra ki prapti hamare liye ek samaan khushi layegi. Aaj se hum apni jaati-gotra ka tyag kar sarvashrestha manav jaati ke uthaan me sehyog karenge. Apne santan ko bhi hum shresth jati-viheen samaj ki shiksha denge (Son or daughter will make us equally happy. Today, we relinquish the concept of caste and will contribute in propagating humanity instead. We will teach our kids to believe in a caste-less society).”

Jagdeep’s would-be wife is a school teacher in Hisar and is also a Jat.

Jagdeep’s father Rajender Singh, who retired from a bank, says, “I am happy that my son and daughter-in-law are putting human values ahead of caste.” He said it was important for everyone to weigh human values more than anything else. “A society free of caste prejudices will be a better place to live in. There will be lesser problems,” he said.

‘One caste-one india initiative’

Jagdeep said he had started a page on social networking site Facebook by the name of ‘One-Caste India’. “The page is a hit with the MDU students who have seen a lot during the Jat reservation stir. We want to take this slogan to Delhi this Independence Day. We are getting booklets printed on the subject.”