Gathering 'storm' around Gujarat Dalit RTI activist's murder amidst official inertia

Jignesh Mevani paying homage to Amrabhai Boricha in Bhavnagar

By Mahesh Trivedi*
Claiming to be harassed and humiliated by upper-caste men, Gujarat Dalits, forming about seven per cent of the state’s six crore plus population, appear all set to begin a fresh move to gird up their loins to take on the "oppression" they have been facing under the BJP rule.
Some 2,500 Scheduled Caste (SC) men and women from all over the state flocked to Sanodar village in Bhavnagar district on March 14 to offer their condolences to a fearless fellow farmer who was hacked to death by headstrong Darbars on March 2, and vowed to stand up and be counted.
Though a strongly-worded memorandum demanding one-acre land and lifetime pension for 50-year-old Amrabhai Boricha’s family was handed over to the district police chief immediately after the prayer meeting, the demands were repeated at another large gathering of the socially-disadvantaged community at Sanand, 22 km from here, on March 20.
On March 22, Dalits, seething with anger over Boricha’s daylight brutal murder inside his own house by ten forward-caste men with swords, spears and steel rods, assembled at the Bhavnagar district collector’s office to submit another memorandum of demands, including a licence for a revolver for protection of the lone Dalit family in the one-horse hamlet.
Jignesh Mevani, independent legislator, known to be the Dalit face of Gujarat, raised the murder issue in the legislative assembly last week asking why the negligent and irresponsible police sub-inspector, an accused in the case, had not been collared so far but the lawmaker was ordered to be forcibly evicted from the House and suspended by the Speaker.
Come April 14, Ambedkar Jayanti, some 3,000 Dalits who have been harassed by high-caste fellow citizens, plan to take out a Lalakaar Yatra (Challenge March) to indicate that they will no more take caste Hindus’ torture lying down but will take on the tormentors.
“On April 14, we will take out the rally and will try to get the possession of 14 land parcels in Gujarat which have been allotted to landless Dalits but have been wrongfully occupied by upper-caste people,” Mevani told this journalist.
After all, at the root of the savage attack on Boricha, a right-to-information (RTI) activist, was his constant complaints to the police against Darbars’ frequent attempts to usurp his land and house for which the Dalit activist was assaulted as many as 13 times, thrice in the presence of policemen.

Dalit gathering in Bhavnagar in memory of Boricha

“Boricha had been receiving death threats for the past seven years but despite his demand for armed policemen at his home, only two baton-carrying guards were provided to him with the result that the goons carrying sharp-edged weapons gate-crashed into his house and killed him,” revealed Niru Chorasia, Bhavnagar district coordinator of Navsarjan, an Ahmedabad-based NGO working for Dalit rights.
According to Kantilal Parmar, social worker and human rights activist, the failure of the state government to provide protection to Dalits has led to the murders of 688 of them, besides 2,500 other crimes like rape, robbery, violent attacks, etc. ever since the anti-atrocities Act came into force in 1990.
“A 2017 circular of the Vijay Rupani government promising pension, employment and land to the bereaved families of SC has only remained on paper,” said Parmar, adding, targeted Dalits are either done to death or are forced to migrate to “safer” places.
While RTI activist Sanjay Ezhva opined that the Gujarat government has completely failed to provide security to anyone who is a conscious citizen, Dalit Adhikar Manch convener Kirit Rathod said, Boricha’s murder has angered the SC community and the saffron-ruled state is sitting on a tinderbox of Dalit unrest.
Top RTI activist Pankti Jog, convener of the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, said that Boricha had to sacrifice his life because under the RTI Act, the state government was obliged to disclose panchayat funds details he had sought in 2013 but did not do its duty and, consequently, the whistleblower was beaten up by panchayat office-bearers.
There have been reports that, like Boricha, many Gujarat Dalit right activists from Kutch, Botad, Banaskantha and Gir Somnath districts also have been facing death threats, but are yet to be given police protection.
Asserts Mevani: “The fact that Boricha was assaulted as many as 14 times shows that there is absolute blatant disregard for the rule of law in Gujarat as if the Constitution has gone for a six in the Rupani regime which, strangely, calls itself a sensitive administration.”
---
*Senior Ahmedabad-based journalist. An earlier version of this report has been published in clarionindia.net

Comments

Anonymous said…

is this not the same Mewani bhai who joined the BJP bhai - albeit briefly . About time he made up his mind instead of flip flopping all over the place. Needless to say such flip flops have great value attached during elections.

March 23, 2021

Did Modi promote Dholavira, a UNESCO site now, as Gujarat CM? Facts don't tally

By Rajiv Shah As would generally happen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tweet – that not only was he “absolutely delighted” with the news of UNESCO tag to Dholavira, but he “ first visited ” the site during his “student days and was mesmerised by the place” – is being doubted by his detractors. None of the two tweets, strangely, even recalls once that it’s a Harappan site in Gujarat.

Labelling a Jesuit a Marxist? It's like saying if you use a plane, you become American

Jesuits: Cedric Prakash, Stan Swamy By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* A thirteen- fourteen-year-old has many dreams! That's an impressionable age; at the cusp of finishing school. It is also a time when one tastes a different kind of freedom: to go for camps with boys of your own age (not with ones family). Such camps and outings were always enjoyed to the hilt. The ones, however, which still remain etched in my memory are the mission camps to the Jesuit missions in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Buddhist shrines massively destroyed by Brahmanical rulers in "pre-Islamic" era: Historian DN Jha's survey

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".

Giant conglomerates 'favoured': Whither tribal rights for jal-jungle-jameen?

Prafull Samantara By Mohammad Irshad Ansari* The struggle for “Jal, Jungle and Jameen” has been a long-drawn battle for the tribal communities of India. This tussle was once again in the limelight with the proposed diamond mining in the Buxwaha forest of Chhatarpur (Madhya Pradesh). The only difference in this movement was the massive social media support it gained, which actually seems to tilt the scale for the tribal people in a long time.

If not Modi, then who? Why? I (an ordinary citizen) am there! Main hoon naa!

By Mansee Bal Bhargava* The number of women ministers is doubled in early July from the first term after cabinet reshuffle by the present government led by Narendra Modi. While there were 06 women ministers in the previous term, this term there are 11. The previous two governments led by Dr Manmohan Singh had 10 women ministers in each tenure. Are these number of women ministers something to rejoice in the near 75 years of independence? Yes maybe, if we think that things are slowly improving in the patriarchal system. This change is less likely to achieve gender balance in the parliament otherwise we require more than 11 as per the 33% reservation . This change is also less likely because the men politicians’ inability to handle the country’s mess is becoming more and more evident and especially during the corona crisis. Seems, the addition of more women ministers may be a result of the recent assembly elections where women played a decisive role in the election results. For example

Effluent discharge into deep sea? Modi told to 'reconsider' Rs 2275 crore Gujarat project

Counterview Desk In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, well-known Gujarat-based environmentalist, Mahesh Pandya of the Paryavaran Mitra, has protested against the manner in with the Gujarat government is continuing with its deep sea effluent disposal project despite environmental concerns.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Gujarat govt gender insensitive? Cyclone package for fisherfolk 'ignores' poor women

By Our Representative A memorandum submitted to the Gujarat government by various fisherfolk associations of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat under the leadership of Ahmedabad NGO Centre for Social Justice's senior activist Arvind Khuman, who is based in Amreli, has suggested that the relief package offered to the fishermen affected by the Tauktae cyclone is not only inadequate, it is also gender insensitive.

Debt bondage, forced labour, sexual abuse in Gujarat's Bt cottonseed farms: Dutch study

By Rajiv Shah A just-released study, sponsored by a Netherlands-based non-profit, Arisa , “Seeds of Oppression Wage sharecropping in Bt cottonseed production in Gujarat, India”, has said that a new form of bondage, or forced labour, exists in North India’s Bt cottonseed farms, in which bhagiyas, or wage sharecroppers, are employed against advances and are then often required to work for years together “without regular payment of wages.”

Covid: We failed to stop religious, political events, admits Modi-dharmacharya meet

Counterview Desk An email alert sent by one the 11 participants, Prof Salim Engineer, on behalf of the Dharmik Jan Morcha regarding their "religious leaders' online meet" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as offering "support to meet challenges of Corona pandemic", blames religious congregations, though without naming the Maha Kumbh and other religious events, which apparently were instrumental in the spread of the second wave.

Counterview

Search This Blog