The Welcome Address by Chairman Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust, Shri Masud A. Chaudhary on the occasion of the Inauguration of the Gurjar Centre for Culture & Heritage
“Welcome Address by Chairman Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust
Shri Masud A. Chaudhary”
 |
|
|
In the rich array of tribal communities of India, Gujjars have a distinct national presence though they are sizeable in numbers in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Their bravery, their hardiness, their courage, their simplicity and their un-floundering nationalism are some of the virtues that they are justly proud of and that are acknowledged adoringly by the fellow countrymen.
Back in 1940, the first Prime Minister of India Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, chanced to traverse through a Gujjar settlement and on closely seeing their plight observed, “These folks are exceptionally simple. They are totally illiterate. They are perpetually being exploited and oppressed. They are living in stark poverty”. The irony is that even as 70 eventful years have passed by yet the plight of the Gujjars hasn't seen any worthwhile transformation. They are still perched atop forests and mountains and they are still living nomadic and semi-nomadic existence. Backwardness is still their biggest undoing. The developmental works and projects have failed thus far to make any noticeable difference to their living. What is at the core of their unmitigated misery is their educational backwardness, their continuing marginalization and their economic deprivation.
It was against this depressing backdrop that Gutjar Desh Charitable Trust (GDCT) was born in 1991. Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust came up as a self-help group with a futuristic vision. Backwardness and Marginalization of the community were diagnosed as the manifestations and not the disease itself. In fact, 'illteracy' was identified as the real culprit afflicting the community and as responsible for its numerous vulnerabilities. It was felt in GDCT that the campaign against backwardness and deprivation has to be institutionalized and converted into a kind of mass movement. So, an eventful journey started by GDCT setting up a school with barely 12 children. The picture today is that more than 1500 children are enrolled in the school we are running with thousands of them having already passed out and settled in different avocations.
Tribal communities have their distinct existence, their unique customs and traditions, their peculiar dress codes, their arts and artifacts and their belief systems. Unless cautiously protected and conserved, these cultural identities are forever in danger of melting away. Someone has to take lead and do what is needed to be done. Here at Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust this awakening dawned simultaneously with its setting up and the second important initiative that we took after a pioneering lead in education was in protecting Gujjar Culture & Traditions from any kind of onslaught. This led us to the setting up of Centre for Culture & Heritage which has today been inaugurated by Madam Sonia Gandhi. I than Madam Soniaji for doing us this honor and congratulate the entire Gujjar fraternity for this landmark achievement.
The completion of this domed-beauty has taken us many years of persistent and untiring efforts. Representing the collective Islamic , Mughal , Rajasthani and Classical Indian architectural forms melting into each other, the Centre for Culture & Heritage has added to the rich heritage of Jammu city. If we are not stretching too far, this majestic complex holds the same relationship with Jammu as Effiel Tower to Paris, India Gate to Delhi and Chaar Minar to Hyderabad. This is just the outer form and shape. In spirit this will be a centre for Research & Development; this will be a centre of learning & development; this will be a Museum showcasing rich cultural heritage; this will be a rich repository of Books and this will be a centre for publications.
Going back to our humble origins, we started this NGO with just Rupees one lakh and fifty thousand in hand. Today the net worth of the assets of Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust runs into several crores of Rupees. When some curious questioners confront us with questions pertaining to our phenomenal rise all we have to say back in reply is:
' Mein Sahib-e-Izzat Hoon, Meri Laash in Kholo
Dastaar Ke Purzon se Kafan Mein ne siya hai'
(I am, after all a respectable person, please don't tear apart my Kafan.
My Kafan is darnered with thread obtained from rags)
Today's thanksgiving would be incomplete in the absence of our acknowledgement of the valuable support rand help that we have all along been getting from a whole galaxy of our well wishers and benefactors. It will not be possible to list everyone who came forward with liberal help and support whenever approached by Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust to do so, but providing us unflinching patrons are people like Dr Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mufti Mohammad Sayed, Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz and youth icon and role model , Omar Abdullah. Over and above these patrons, there are vast multitudes who have ever been eager to bail us out of any kind of challenge or crisis which we may have faced as a progressive & front ranking NGO of Jammu & Kashmir.
What we honestly believe is that the journey for us has just begun. This is not the last signpost that we have conquered but mile-zero from where a journey of thousand miles has to be undertaken. For instance, we have already taken noteworthy initiative in Secondary Education. From here we have to move forward and set up a Tribal University in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. We have to have Gojri language carve its rightful place and get included in the VIII Schedule of the Constitution. We have to have more airtime for Gojri Programmes in AIR and Doordarshan like we have in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Khand and Uttar Pradesh. On a different level, we have to have Gujjar Scouts raised on the pattern of Ladakh Scouts for which the Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust has already taken initiative by approaching the GOI.
Here I have to speak a word about ST status of Gujjars. The community remembers with gratitude the benign role played by Late Prime Minister , Shri Rajeev Gandhi on whose persuasion it got ST status. Now what is required next is political reservations. It has been dismaying to see the Gujjar community still confined to the fringes of the society and this will perhaps continue to be so unless we a political reservations in the state for which we will continue to struggle as long as this just demand is not conceded. We will not allow the innocence and simplicity of the community becoming an object of ex-exploitative politics. Next, we want to see Gujjars getting rehabilitated. In 21st century, the very idea of a sizeable human community living a nomadic life bereft of even basic amenities, seems bizarre and unsavory. It will be our continuing effort to see Gujjars and their culture acquiring national identity and acceptance rather than remaining confined in pockets of inaccessibility. For this our efforts are already on for setting up a Gojri Cultural Centre at New Delhi.
All of us here at Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust extend our heartiest welcome to all the Union Ministers as well as Ministers of Jammu & Kashmir Government besides to all our reverend guests from the state as well as outside who have made us proud by their warm, gracious and inspiring presence. We express a deep sense of gratitude to Madam Sonia Gandhi to have blessed the entire community by her ever supportive, re-assuring and inspiring presence. She is mother-figure to whom the whole community looks for love, concern and caring. With her coming, a lamp of optimism and hope has been lit and in times to come, hopefully, GDCT will emerge stronger than ever before.
For all intents and purposes, Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust is a non-political , educational and cultural organization and we will cautiously stay away from making any political observation or statement. However, whole of the country acknowledges the fact that you took over the stewardship of this party when it had been terribly destabilized and when the secular forces had been pushed to the corner. It was only after your rival on the political firmament of the state that there was re-configuration of political forces and what had degenerated into mess reversed to its original health. The communal forces out to destroy the pluralistic fabric of our society have convincingly been defeated. That gives immense hope to the country and the countrymen.
In Jammu & Kashmir, things are shaping up in positive manner. This is happening because a young, dynamic and progressive leader like Omar Abdullah is leading the state from the front in coalition with the Congress whose priorities and policies are under continuing review under your farsighted leadership and vision. It is an encouraging sign that whereas the statistics for terror have plummeted the influx of tourists in J&K has already registered a manifold rise. This is a good augury. We hope this march towards prosperity and progress will continue and the lamp of hope Madam Sonia Gandhi has lit in the minds of the members of Gujjar community will continue to get brighter and brighter. For us in Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust, this day is already an immortal moment of history which will have the same appeal for us as 15th of August or Diwali which we celebrate year after year.
I conclude this note with an urdu couplet:
“Charaghon ko aankhon mein mehfooz rakhana
Bahut Door tak Raat Hi Raat Hogi”
(Keep burning lamps protected under the id of your eyes
For a long distance all you will see is the all-encompassing night and its impenetrable darkness)
