'Insult to Ambedkar's anti-untouchability mission': brass coin yatra forced to return

By Our Representative
The anti-untouchability caravan led by top Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, stopped about five kilometres inside Haryana, allegedly on instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has been forced to begin its return journey after failing to be allowed to proceed further to Delhi. It will reach Ahmedabad on Tuesday afternoon.
On crossing the Haryana border and reaching Shahjahanpur, the caravan, consisting of a huge 1,111 kg brass coin having the photograph of Dr BR Ambedkar on one side and Lord Buddha on the other about 25 lakh one rupee coins and a huge Ambadkar statue, was stopped on August 7 evening by a large posse of the state police, which also put up barricades.
Consisting of six buses with 350 Dalit activists and four trucks loaded with the huge brass coin, the Ambedkar statue, and 25 lakh one rupee coins, the activists sat for the whole day on dharna on August 8. Kirit Rathod, a senior activist, termed the refusal of the Haryana police not to allow the caravan to proceed further “an insult to Dr BR Ambedkar, whose mission was to remove untouchability.”

While the brass coin was minted following contribution of brass utensils from Dalits across Gujarat and other parts of India, the one rupee coins were donations from as many individuals – both meant as their contribution to the need for commitment from the MPs who would sit in the Parliament building, to fulfill Dr Ambedkar’s dream of untouchability free India.
The Dalit leaders had proposed to hand over the brass coin and 25 lakh one rupee coins to the President, the Vice President, and the Lok Sabha speaker, stating, this was their contribution to the new Parliament building, as a stark reminder that even 75 years after Independence, the powers-that-be have not been able to abrogate untouchability. The brass coin is embossed with the pointed question: “Will India be untouchability free by 2047?”, i.e. the centenary year lof the Independence.
The caravan, which began its journey on August 1 from the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), the technical-cum-Dalit empowerment centre founded by Macwan about two decades ago 20 kilometres south-east of Ahmedabad, was to reach Delhi via Rajasthan and Haryana on August 7. Macwan had announced that if they were not given the appointment to hand over the brass coin and 25 lakh one rupee coins, they would return to DSK, hoping to make similar attempt next year.

Asked what did his brass coin yatra -- which began its return journey on August 8 evening -- achieve, Macwan told Counterview, the very fact that about 1,000 cops with water cannons were deployed to stop their yatra from processing to Delhi, and barricades were put up, "suggests we succeeded in highlighting the issue of untouchability, which was our main purpose."

According to him, "The support that we received all the way, in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana, was overwhelming. Clearly, the brass coin had become larger... Not without reason", he said, "Lots of media people reached up to us to find out what was our mission and why were we being stopped." Quoting cops, he added, they were stopped on the highway to Delhi “on instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs.”

In Delhi, the Dalit caravan was to be welcomed at the Ambedkar Bhawan, where a large number of human rights, mainly Dalit, activists had already gathered.

Comments

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.

'Anti-poor stand': Even British wouldn't reduce Railways' sleeper and general coaches

By Anandi Pandey, Sandeep Pandey* Probably even the British, who introduced railways in India, would not have done what the Bhartiya Janata Party government is doing. The number of Sleeper and General class coaches in various trains are surreptitiously and ominously disappearing accompanied by a simultaneous increase in Air Conditioned coaches. In the characteristic style of BJP government there was no discussion or debate on this move by the Indian Railways either in the Parliament or outside of it.

Why convert growing badminton popularity into an 'inclusive sports opportunity'

By Sudhansu R Das Over the years badminton has become the second most popular game in the world after soccer. Today, nearly 220 million people across the world play badminton. The game has become very popular in urban India after India won medals in various international badminton tournaments. One will come across a badminton court in every one kilometer radius of Hyderabad.

Faith leaders agree: All religious places should display ‘anti-child marriage’ messages

By Jitendra Parmar* As many as 17 faith leaders, together for an interfaith dialogue on child marriage in New Delhi, unanimously have agreed that no faith allows or endorses child marriage. The faith leaders advocated that all religious places should display information on child marriage.

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.

Ayurveda, Sidda, and knowledge: Three-day workshop begins in Pala town

By Rosamma Thomas* Pala town in Kottayam district of Kerala is about 25 km from the district headquarters. St Thomas College in Pala is currently hosting a three-day workshop on knowledge systems, and gathered together are philosophers, sociologists, medical practitioners in homeopathy and Ayurveda, one of them from Nepal, and a few guests from Europe. The discussions on the first day focused on knowledge systems, power structures, and epistemic diversity. French researcher Jacquiline Descarpentries, who represents a unique cooperative of researchers, some of whom have no formal institutional affiliation, laid the ground, addressing the audience over the Internet.

Article 21 'overturned' by new criminal laws: Lawyers, activists remember Stan Swamy

By Gova Rathod* The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Gujarat, organised an event in Ahmedabad entitled “Remembering Fr. Stan Swamy in Today’s Challenging Reality” in the memory of Fr. Stan Swamy on his third death anniversary. The event included a discussion of the new criminal laws enforced since July 1, 2024.

Hindutva economics? 12% decline in manufacturing enterprises, 22.5% fall in employment

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* The messiah of Hindutva politics, Narendra Modi, assumed office as the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014. He pledged to transform the Indian economy and deliver a developed nation with prosperous citizens. However, despite Modi's continued tenure as the Prime Minister, his ambitious electoral promises seem increasingly elusive.

Union budget 'outrageously scraps' scheme meant for rehabilitating manual scavengers

By Bezwada Wilson* The Union Budget for the year 2024-2025, placed by the Finance Minister in Parliament has completely deceived the Safai Karmachari community. There is no mention of persons engaged in manual scavenging in the entire Budget. Even the scheme meant for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers (SRMS) has been outrageously scrapped.

Search This Blog