Skip to main content

Gujarat Dalit flogging victim receives death threat, as protesters reach Una town for rally amidst stone pelting

Sarvaiya (right)
By Our Representative
Amidst news coming in that the Dalit Asmita Yatra has reached Una on August 14 evening through “an alternative route” because people from some of the nearby villages pelted stones on those reaching the town for an Independence Day rally, the family of Balubhai Sarvaiya has received a fresh threat that he would not be spared for “killing” a cow.
Four youths of the Dalit community's Rohit (chamar) caste, belonging to the Sarvaiya family and from Mota Samadhiyala village, were flogged after tying them with an SUV on July 11 for skinning a dead cow. The event, which went viral on social media, has triggered a major outrage in Gujarat, with radical sections of Dalits holding the Asmita Yara from Ahmedabad to Una.
The letter to Sarvaiya said that he and his family would be “burnt alive” because they were not involved in skinning a dead cattle, but had killed a living cow. “You are into the business of selling beef, which we cannot tolerate at any cost”, the hand-written letter, sent to his address of Harijan Vas (Dalit locality) in Mota Samadhiyala said.
The threatening letter which Sarvaiya received
“You should have understood as to why you were beaten up and put inside the jail”, the letter tells Sarvaiya, adding, “Yet it seems that your eyes have not opened. Time has come to break apart your legs and hands... You have been kept alive because you need to be taught a lesson.”
Called “march for freedom”, according to sources, villagers from certain villages continued to stone the Dalits who were in the buses going to Una. This continued for 45 minutes. The stone throwing was alleged to have been undertaken by those belonging to dominant castes.
One such village is Santej. It is the same village where multiple accused of the Una incident reside, said Pratik Sinha, one of the rally organizers. Rahul Sharma, former IPS official who gave the idea of the 350 km long yatra, which began in Ahmedabad, advised people not to come on the route passing through Santej, as it was blocked by dominant castee people.
Around 500-600 people pelted stones about 12 kilometres from Una”, added Mujahit Nafees, an Ahmedabad-based social activist who was on his way to Una to participate in the rally. “Even children and women were part of those who were seeking to throw stones. Those pelting stones were shouting “Gay Mata Ki Jai” (hail the mother cow) slogans. When we tried to take photographs, we were threatened”, Nafees added.
A Dalit protester injured during stone pelting
Well-known Delhi-based social activist Shabnam Hashmi, who is in direct touch with Dalit activists reaching Una, has warned ahead of the rally, which is also termed as Azadi Kooch or March for Freedom, that “the situation is not good.”
Quoting Rama Naga, general secretary, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who was on way to Una, she said in a social media post, she says, “The people who do not want this march to happen are attacking media persons and other citizens who are going in solidarity. All the buses staffs both private and government are instructed not to carry any passenger who are from other belts (by language) and going to Una.”
Naga is quoted as saying, “We were refused by many buses to get on for Una. The last bus to Una (which did not tell us that it is going to Una even after we asked the conductor, but we got to know from other passengers) just arrived, and when we took the bus, the conductor informed some other officers that five people are going to Una.”
“We request everyone to inform other friends to take cautious, who are on their way to Una”, Naga said. Meanwhile, attack on the Dalits refusing to lift dead cows continued unabated across Gujarat. Raju Solanki, a senior activist from Ahmedabad, reported that in Mopal village near Okha town in Jamnagar district, Dalits were beaten up for refusing to scavenge cattle.

Comments

TRENDING

Avoidable Narmada floods: Modi birthday fete caused long wait for release of dam waters

Counterview Desk  Top advocacy group, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), has accused the Sardar Sarovar dam operators for once again acting in an "unaccountable" manner, bringing "avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat."  In a detailed analysis, SANDRP has said that the water level at the Golden Bridge in Bharuch approached the highest flood level on September 17, 2023, but these "could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous" both for the upstream and downstream areas of the dam, if the authorities had taken action earlier based on available actionable information.

From 'Naatu-Naatu' to 'Nipah-Nipah': Dancing to the tune of western pipers?

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Some critics have commented that the ecstatic response of most Indians to the Oscar for the racy Indian song, “Naatu-Naatu” from the film, “RRR” reeks of sheer racism, insulting visuals and a colonial hangover. It was perhaps these ingredients that impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one critic says.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Biden urged to warn Modi: US can declare India as worst religious freedom offender

By Our Representative  During a Congressional Briefing held on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, Nadine Maenza, former Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has wondered why the Biden administration should raise issues of mass anti-minority mob violence  -- particularly in Haryana and Manipur -- with Modi. Modi should be told that if such violence continues, the US will be “compelled by law” to designate India as one of the world’s worst offenders of religious freedom, she urged.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Asset managers hold '2.8 times more equity' in fossil fuel cos than in green investments

By Deepanwita Gita Niyogi*  The world’s largest asset managers are far off track to meet the  2050 net zero commitments , a new study  released by InfluenceMap , a London-based think tank working on climate change and sustainability, says. Released on August 1, the Asset Managers and Climate Change 2023 report by FinanceMap, a work stream of InfluenceMap, finds that the world’s largest asset managers have not improved on their climate performance in the past two years.

Evading primary responsibility, ONGC decides to invest Rs 15,000 crore in sick subsidiary

By NS Venkataraman*  It is reported that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will infuse about Rs 15,000 crore in ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL) as part of a financial restructuring exercise. ONGC currently holds 49.36 per cent stake in (OPaL), which operates a mega petrochemical plant at Dahej in Gujarat. GAIL (India) Ltd has 49.21 per cent interest and Gujarat State Petrochemical Corporation (GSPC) has the remaining 1.43 per cent.

Junk food push causing severe public health crisis of obesity, diabetes in India: Report

By Jag Jivan  A new report , “The Junk Push: Rising Consumption of Ultra-processed foods in India- Policy, Politics and Reality”, public health experts, consumers groups, lawyers, youth and patient groups, has called upon the Government of India to check the soaring consumption of High Fat Sugar or Salt (HFSS) foods or ultra-processed foods (UPF), popularly called junk food.

'State-sanctioned terror': Stop drone attack on Adivasis, urge over 80 world academics

Counterview Desk  A joint statement, “Indigenous Peoples’ Un-Freedoms and Our Academic Freedom: A Call for Solidarity”, endorsed by over 80 signatories, including international academics, activists and civil society organizations, as well as diasporic Indian academics and researchers, working with Adivasi (indigenous) communities in India, has made an urgent appeal to prevent future drone bomb attacks by the Indian state on Adivasi villages.