Bhima-Koregaon: When new Dalit leadership faces off with Hindutva project

The educated Dalit doesn't just want a ride on the bus of democracy; it wants to be at the steering wheels

Maharashtra saw violent protests after clashes between Dalits and some Maratha groups in Bhima Koregaon. Dalits had gathered in Pune to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon. These clashes and the subsequent protests brought the focus back on Dalit assertion and its conflict with Hindutva politics. The writer analyses this conflict in this Business Standard Special.

The determination and force of the response of the Dalits to the violence at the Bhima Koregaon has unsettled the BJP governments of the state of Maharashtra and the centre. It has also baffled the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. This time it has not been easy for the BJP and the governments to denounce the protests the way could do in the past. Previously the Student leaders of the JNU were successfully branded as anti-national. The students and teachers of the Ramjas college of the university of Delhi were also declared anti-national. Before them, the student unrest - mainly led by Dalits - at the central University of Hyderabad was condemned as casteist and anti national. This time the response from the centre’s of power has been slightly complex.

It is true that the RSS tried to blame the violence at the Bhima Koregaon on Umar Khalid and Jignesh Mevani. It did say that the Bharat tere tukde honge gang was responsible for the violence. But interestingly, this time this allegation could not create the kind of frenzied attack on these leaders as we have seen on the previous occasions directed at Kanhaiya, Umar and others....Read more

Maharashtra bandh: Over 30 cops injured, 300 persons detained in Mumbai

Most of the injuries were a result of stones pelted on police personnel, said an official

 

 

Over 30 policemen sustained injuries in Mumbai on Wednesday during the protest called by various Dalit groups, a senior police official said on Thursday.

Most of the injuries were a result of stones pelted on police personnel, said an official.

He added that Powai and Govandi in the north-eastern part of the city saw the maximum number of cases with 11 policemen sustaining injuries in areas around Powai.

ALSO READ: Maharashtra bandh: 12 flights cancelled, 235 delayed; passengers stranded

Deputy Commissioner of Police Sahaji Umap of Zone VI said that 11 personnel were injured in Govandi and adjoining areas.

Police officials said that 16 First Information Reports (FIR) had been registered under relevant sections of the Maharashtra Police Act, the Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act and the Indian Penal Code...

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Maharashtra bandh: Loss of over Rs 7 bn as protests put brakes on business

Incident will impact trade and tourism in the state, fear industry associations

 

 

Business houses in Maharashtra are counting their losses after a day-long bandh brought the state to a grinding halt on Wednesday.

While revenue loss from the shutdown is pegged at over Rs 7 billion, the larger worry is that the incident will adversely impact travel and trade in the state.

Buses and trains were halted and hotels and shops forced to down shutters, paralysing business activity around the state, in a bandh to protest the attack on the Dalit community in Pune district.

ALSO READ: Maharashtra bandh: Over 30 cops injured, 300 persons detained in Mumbai

"We have lost nearly Rs 1 billion worth of business in the past two days in Mumbai. There have been cancellations and the business cycle has got disrupted," said Dilip Datwani, vice-president of Federation of Hotels and Restaurant Associations of India. The city has over 7,000 hotels and restaurants.

Malls, which attract around 25,000 footfalls a day, were deserted till evening. Cinema halls did not see much of a business impact as business is generally thin during weekdays. Further, there were no new movie releases.

However, small establishments suffered the most. "There are around 3.5 million trade licence holders in the state. Even if we assume Rs 2,000 loss for each of them, the total revenue loss due to the bandh is Rs 7 billion. This is a good season for retailers due to weddings and foreign tourist arrivals. It is the second negative incident after the Kamala Mills fire and trade and tourism in the city is bound to be affected," said Viren Shah, president of Federation of Retail Trade Welfare Association.

ALSO READ: Maharashtra bandh called off; govt to probe incidents of violence, says CM

"Around 85 per cent of the costs for retailers are fixed in nature and a single-day business loss can wipe off 1.5 per cent of annual profit. Such bandhs do not help anyone," said Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of Retailers Association of India.

Stone pelting, traffic blocked: Dalit protesters bring Mumbai to a halt

Striking Indian low-caste workers bring chaos to Mumbai

 

Many businesses in the Indian financial hub of Mumbai closed on Wednesday as from a low-caste community blocked traffic and shopping malls and staged sitprotesters -ins on railway lines after clashes with right-wing Hindus.

The call for a general strike across the western state of Maharashtra led to largely peaceful protests, but life in many parts of Mumbai was disrupted with Dalits pelting buses with stones and deflating tyres in some areas. Railway lines and some major roads leading into the city were blocked.

Also read : Maharashtra bandh: Internet blocked, school buses off roads, cops on alert

The Dalits, who rank at the bottom in India's ancient caste hierarchy, called the strike in protest against attacks from right-wing groups in the city of Pune on Monday. The strike shut businesses and schools in Mumbai and other cities across the state.

"The government didn't arrest the perpetrators of violence in Pune. Hindu group members were beating Dalits and the police were just watching from afar," said protester Sandeep Kamble.

"We are demanding the arrest of the culprits." The protest came a day after thousands of Dalits hurled stones and caused traffic disruption across Mumbai. Dalits have been ostracized by upper-caste Hindus for centuries for jobs they deemed as impure, such as garbage pickers and tannery workers....

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Bhima Koregaon's myth in Maha reinforces identities it seeks to transcend

The resolve to fight Hindutva forces is certainly laudable, but the myth used for the purpose may be grossly counterproductive

 

Two hundred years ago, the last battle of the Anglo-Maratha war was fought at Koregaon village on the banks of Bhima river near Pune. The battle marked the firm hold of the British Empire in India. The British erected an obelisk at the battleground in the memory of the dead. It has 49 names, 22 of them are identified by their ‘nak’ suffix as Mahars. It was construed as the testimony to the gallantry of Mahar soldiers, and was rightly used by the first batch of Mahar leaders such as Gopal Baba Walangkar, Shivram Janba Kamble and even Ramji Ambedkar, B R Ambedkar’s father, when pleading the British for the restoration of Mahar recruitment in the British army when it was stopped in 1893. The stoppage of Mahar recruitment was a consequence of the Indian uprising of 1857, after which the British reassessed their recruiting strategies to include only those from ‘martial races’ in the army.

But when Babasaheb Ambedkar painted the Battle of Bhima Koregaon as the battle of Mahar soldiers against their caste oppression in Peshwa rule, he was creating a pure myth. As myths are required to build movements, he perhaps saw its necessity then. But after a century, when it solidifies into a quasi-history and tends to push Dalits deeper into an identitarian marshland, it should become a worrisome matter. Many Dalit organisations recently formed a joint front to observe the 200th anniversary of this battle as a campaign to launch an attack on the new Peshwai, the rising Brahmanic rule of the Hindutva forces. Their long marches culminated into an Elgar Parishad (conference) at the Shaniwarwada at Pune on December 31. While the resolve to fight the Hindutva forces is certainly laudable, the myth used for the purpose may be grossly counterproductive insofar as it reinforces identitarian tendencies whereas the necessity is to transcend them.

As regards history, it is a fact that when the East India Company developed its military aspirations, it recruited Dalits in disproportionately large numbers, perhaps for their unflinching loyalty and faithfulness and also because they were cheaply available. One finds disproportionate numbers of the Namshudras in Bengal, the Parayas in Madras and the Mahars in Maharashtra in its army. If the Dalits wanted to claim significant contribution to the establishment of the British Raj in India, it may not be as such incorrect. But to attribute motive of fighting caste oppression to their soldiery shall be far-fetched and unhistorical.

The East India Company fought and won several battles from the first one in Plassey in 1757 before the last battle of the Anglo-Maratha war. Obviously, all of them were not against the Peshwas. Most of them were not even against the Hindus....

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Maharashtra bandh: Internet blocked, school buses off roads, cops on alert

BJP and other right-wing parties have accused Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani of inciting the Bhima-Koregaon violence

Maharashtra remained on edge after the anniversary of a battle fought 200 years ago brought to fore simmering caste tensions even as a statewide bandh called on Wednesday to protest the state government's alleged failure to stop violence witnessed stray protest by Dalits.

Violence spilled over to adjoining parts of Maharashtra after clashes broke out between the Dalits and alleged right-wing groups on January 1, during the bicentenary celebration of the Bhima-Koregaon battle near Pune.

The right-wing groups were objecting to the observance of 'Victory Day' since they considered it to be an anti-national celebration.

Also read : Maharashtra bandh: Bhima Koregaon's myth reinforces identities it seeks to transcend

In the battle, which was fought between the British East India Company, containing Dalits in its infantry, and the Peshwas, who were upper-caste Brahmins, at Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 1818, the Marathas ultimately withdrew. Since then, the lower-caste communities have been viewing it as a symbolic victory for themselves.

Here are the top 10 developments:

1. Internet services have been suspended in Aurangabad to keep the spread of rumours in check.

2.In Mumbai, colleges and schools opened as usual but school buses stayed off roads as a precaution. One private school bus was stoned in Chembur but there were no injuries. Mumbai's Dabbawala association on Tuesday decided not to run its delivery service, fearing the law and order issues in the city.

3. Air India and other domestic carriers have waived off cancellation for no-show due to the protests in Maharashtra, the Economic Times reported. The state-backed carrier said it won't charge any fee for rescheduling flights from/to Mumbai on 2nd or 3rd January.

4. In wake of the ongoing protest against the Bhima Koregaon violence, the Mumbai Police on Wednesday advised the residents of the city neither to believe in rumours. Additional forces have been deployed at vulnerable areas in Pune, Thane, Mumbai. Section 144 has been imposed in Thane till January 4. Section 144 empowers an executive magistrate to prohibit an assembly of more than four people in an area...

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