Gujarat Dalit agitation leaders "regret" lack of support from non-Dalit communities, well-known secularists

JIgnesh Mevani

While agitations may have rocked Gujarat's urban and semi-urban areas against cow vigilantes in Una violently thrashing four Dalits belonging to the Rohit (chamar) sub-caste after tying them with SUV on July 11, questions are beginning to be raised about their sustainability.
Claiming a “strong wave of anger” among Dalits, a day ahead of the Dalit “mahasammelan” of July 31 in Ahmedabad, even the top organizers lament “lack of support” from other communities, as also “lack of awareness” among non-Dalits about untouchability and caste discrimination, and refusal to join in, in any manner.
“We are a largely spontaneous movement spread out of anger against the injustice meted out to the Dalits in the recent past. We are angry ever since the Thangadh incident, in which three Dalit youths were killed in police firing. In two cases, even the chargesheet has not been filed. Worse, the official report prepared on the incident by IAS official Sanjay Prasad has not been made public”, says Jignesh Mevani, the chief organizer of the “mahasammelan”, planned for Saturday.
Suggesting that this suggests the “pent-up” anger is “not new”, Mevani, a young human rights lawyer groomed by late Mukul Sinha, a top-notch Gujarat High Court advocate who fought 2002 Gujarat riots cases, however, admits, “Not to talk of other non-Dalit communities, even Gujarat's secularists, active with huge placards during attacks on minorities, have failed to show up and organize protests. This suggests some sort of caste bias.”
Indeed, spread of the video on social media showing the cow vigilantes thrashing the four Dalits all the way to the Una police station was a major reason why the spontaneous agitation picked up. The agitators are not even recalling, and many of them are not aware, that two days earlier, July 9, a Dalit farm worker, Rama Singrakhiya, was hacked to death in village Sodhana, about 35 km away from Porbandar, and not very far from Una.
The spontaneous Dalit anger received a major “fillip” following the spread of another video showing Shambhunath Tundiya, a “dharmaguru” among Dalits with a religious seat (gadi) in Zanzarka, angrily speaking out against cow vigilantes. A BJP Rajya Sabha MP, he was seen as angrily telling the Anandiben Patel government that injustice “would not be tolerated”.
Indeed, the July 11 incident has helped radicalize the Dalits. The Dalit youths belonging to the Rohit community never liked scavenging and skinning of a dead cow, with many of them in villages and towns moving away from their age-old the hierarchical caste occupation.
“Dalits have stopped picking up cows in scores of towns and villages. In Surendranagar district, local officials are being forced to employ costly earth movers to remove the cattle corpses, many of them lying for over a week”, says Martin Macwan, founder, Navsarjan Trust, a well-known Dalit rights organization.
“One of them was lying in front a top hotel on the national highway off Surendranagar town for about a week, with people complaining of the terrible stench, but the authorities showing helplessness”, Macwan says, adding, “One can well imagine what would happen to a large number of government cow sheds (panjrapols), which take care of aging, abandoned cows. At least 250 cows die every day in panjrapols. They have already stopped accepting more cows.”
Yet, the fact is, despite the planned mahasammelan, so far there is little indication that the spontaneous agitation would turn into a formal movement. As a well-known development expert, refusing to be named, put it, “It is difficult to say this openly, but the hard truth is, movements are a very, very costly affair. Where are the resources to sustain the Dalit agitation?”
Natubhai Parmar, a former government official who is an active organizer of the July 31 mahasammelan, claims that they are “collecting funds” from the more resourceful sections of Dalits, many of them “beneficiaries” of the government reservation system. “Dalit government officials in Sachivalaya may not be participating in the agitations, but they supporting us”, says Parmar. There are also reports that the Congress have lately begun funding the agitation.
Yet, if one goes by what the grassroots Dalit activists say, majority of them “cannot sustain” the agitation for long because it is a question of their livelihood. The question being asked is: For a movement to last long, who will take care of the cadres' livelihood problem? The Dalit neo-middle class is not as resourceful as the Patidars, the most occupationally diversified community of Gujarat. For a year, the Patel quota stir, despite hurdles being created by the state government, has been continuing unabated, despite seeing major ups and downs.

Comments

Beyond the Sattvik plate: Prof Anil Gupta's take on food, ethics, and sustainability

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather lengthy comment (I don't want to call it a rejoinder) on my blog post about the Sattvik Food Festival, held near the Sola Temple in Ahmedabad late last year. It came from no less a person than Anil Gupta, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), under whose guidance this annual event was held.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

'Potentially lethal, carcinogenic': Global NGO questions India refusing to ban white asbestos

Associated with the Fight Inequality Alliance, a global movement that began in 2016 to "counter the concentration of power and wealth among a small elite", claiming to have members in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, and Denmark, the advocacy group Confront Power appears all set to intensify its campaign against India as "the world’s largest asbestos importer".

No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.

In lieu of tribute to Pritish Nandy, said to be instrumental in collapse of Reliance-controlled daily

It is widely reported that Pritish Nandy , journalist, author, animal activist, and politician, has passed away. While it is customary to pay tributes to a departing soul—and I, too, have joined those who have posted heartfelt condolences on social media—I cannot forget the way he treated me when he was editor of the Reliance-controlled Business and Political Observer (BPO), for which I had been working informally in Moscow.

Shyam Benegal's Mathan a propaganda film that supported 'system'? No way

A few days ago, I watched Manthan, a Shyam Benegal movie released in 1976. If I remember correctly, the first time I saw this movie was with Safdar Hashmi, one of the rare young theater icons who was brutally murdered in January 1989. Back then, having completed an M.A. in English Literature from Delhi University in 1975, we would often move around together.

Sattvik Food Festival: Shouldn't one question notion of purity, cultural exclusion in food choices?

Recently, I visited the Sattvik Food Festival, an annual event in Ahmedabad organized by Anil Gupta, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). I have known Prof. Gupta since 1993, when I sought an appointment to meet him a few months after joining The Times of India in Ahmedabad—one reason why I have always been interested in the activities he is involved in.

To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...

Would Gujarat Governor, govt 'open up' their premises for NGOs? Activists apprehensive

Soon after I uploaded my blog about the Gujarat Governor possibly softening his stance on NGOs—evidenced by allowing a fisherfolk association to address the media at a venue controlled by the Raj Bhawan about India’s alleged failure to repatriate fishermen from Pakistani prisons—one of the media conference organizers called me. He expressed concern that my blog might harm their efforts to secure permission to hold meetings on state premises.

Search This Blog