By Sushil Kutty
The Hakki-Pikki!, who are they? The 2011 census put the Hakki-Pikki population at 11,892. The last decade must have seen the number rise. Suffice to say that the Hakki-Pikki are in the news because 31 Hakki-Pikki are stranded in strife-torn Sudan amid allegations that India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar isn’t turning the world upside-down to bring them back to what was once the happy hunting grounds of the Hakki-Pikki tribe.
The one time diplomat is facing flak for turning super-diplomat. He is being attacked without mercy by Congress bigwigs like Jairam Ramesh, who says Jaishankar was once a dear friend, and Shashi Tharoor, a one-time super diplomat himself but now a Congress Lok Sabha Member of Parliament who says Jaishankar must bring home the Hakki-Pikki and stop playing around with words, which is a Tharoor specialty.
How many of us had heard of the Hakki-Pikki before this latest edition of the Karnataka assembly elections? Fact is, Tharoor and Karnataka Congress leader Siddaramaiah wouldn’t have been fighting for the 31 stranded Hakki-Pikki but for the Karnataka assembly elections. Not that this edition of Karnataka elections is starved for issues. But at least, in the process, people not Kannadiga now know the Hakki-Pikki.
The term ‘Hakki-Pikki’ translates to ‘bird-catcher’, which was what the tribe did for a living for centuries before the modern era dawned and birds became as scarce as the dwindling number of the Hakki-Pikki. After the government put a halt to bird-hunting and trade in birds in the 1970s, the tribe switched to trading in, and treating with, their brand of traditional medicines, one which they had built over centuries of living in the wilds.
All the lofty talk of “rehabilitation” fell off the cliff. The Hakki-Pikki have stuck to what they were familiar with. And it appears the tribe shares common vibes with Africa and the African people. Hakki-Pikki traditional medicine is apparently a hit in African countries, which should explain the presence of the 31 Hakki-Pikki in Sudan.
The 31 Hakki-Pikki are stuck because a powerful paramilitary force and Sudan’s armed forces are fighting for supremacy. Last heard, the 31 stranded Hakki-Pikki were running short in food. And their hunger pangs have become an issue in poll-bound Karnataka. Not surprisingly EAM S. Jaishankar and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai are in the Congress party’s crossfire.
Let’s not be naïve, the longer the delay in bringing back the Hakki-Pikki, the greater the hullaballoo over EAM Jaishankar’s “failure”, and greater the electoral-advantage to the Congress. The BJP is aware of this, but can do nothing much except make every effort through available channels to bring home the Hakki-Pikki, all 31 of them in one-piece.
The Modi government, especially the foreign ministry part of it, had in the last nearly one decade won a great amount of appreciation for bringing back stranded Indians from places strife-torn worldwide, including over 20,000 medical students from ‘Tragedy Centre’ Ukraine. Except for one student who was killed in a Ukrainian city and who, for no apparent coincidence, also happened to be from Karnataka.
So, what’s EAM Jaishankar doing? For one, he has got the Saudis and the UAE involved. This, after the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority SOSed the MEA. The stranded Hakki-Pikki have been asked not to stray from their “current location” and obey the Indian Embassy’s orders.
The Hakki-Pikki cannot do much to help themselves other than fret and hope it reaches the right birds. The Hakki-Pikki are an endangered people with a disappearing language called ‘Vaagri’, which UNESCO has listed as endangered . The Saudi and the Emirati wouldn’t delve much on the word ‘Hakki’, which stands for ‘bird’, and ‘Pikki’, which stands for the verb ‘to catch’.
The Hakki-Pikki migrated to Karnataka from north India. They numbered 8414 in 2001. After bird-catching was outlawed, most of the Hakki-Pikki took up jobs like sharpening knives and sickles using cycle-grinders. Selling herbal remedies is another of their livelihoods. Electorally, the Hakki-Pikki cannot make a ripple. But they are a novelty when the plight of 31 Hakki-Pikki becomes a hot button election issue.
The Twitter spat between EAM S. Jaishankar and Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and Shashi Tharoor hadn’t shown signs of abating over the last couple of days as one man’s definition of “appalling” fought with another man’s definition, and then a third man’s, with none of the three getting it right, not even the world-renowned wordsmith who lives in a dungeon of rotting words and is fond of flummoxing ordinary Indians with long-dead words. Getting 31 Hakki-Pikki home before Karnataka goes to polls on May 10 is a BJP must. (IPA Service)
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