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Communal and Caste Tension Watch
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Jan 24
Madhya Pradesh: Three youths arrested for offensive post against queen Padmini
Padmaavat protests: Pune mob torches 10 vehicles, 15 arrested
Protests continue, Padmaavat may not be screened in Gujarat
Padmaavat protests rock six states: There’s freedom to stone school bus with children
Stop Padmaavat Or We'll Jump Into Fire, Warn Hundreds Of Rajasthan Women
Madhya Pradesh: Three youths arrested for offensive post against queen Padmini
Padmaavat protests: Pune mob torches 10 vehicles, 15 arrested
Protests continue, Padmaavat may not be screened in Gujarat
Padmaavat protests rock six states: There’s freedom to stone school bus with children
A VIDEO of terrified school children huddled in a Gurgaon school bus as a mob, protesting the release of Padmaavat, attacked them with stones and sticks Wednesday became a symbol of government apathy to maintenance of law and order.
Shot by a passenger on the bus, the video captures just 13 seconds of the four-minute ordeal that students — the youngest was aged four — teachers and school staff went through as the bus drove past a mob that had just torched a Haryana Roadways bus.
Read | Section 144 in Gurgaon as Karni Sena plans protests
The attack on the school bus was among dozens of protests across at least six states Wednesday, a day before the release of the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. The Supreme Court had Tuesday cleared the decks for the film’s release for Thursday.
Anti-Padmaavat Protesters Attack School Bus In Gurugram
Despite the SC order, violent protests spread to cities and towns in several states including Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharastra. The Multiplex Association of India (MAI) announced that its members in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa would not screen Padmaavat.
In the Gurgaon video, staff and students are seen crouching on the floor of the bus and the shattered windows in the background only underscore the horror and confusion. One student is heard sobbing constantly, while at the end of the video a girl, clad in a red sweater, is seen crying in the arms of a staff member trying to reassure her. As the bus races away, staff members are heard telling each other and the children to keep low and not get up, fearing more violence.
“Traffic was clearing up when some men from the mob began throwing stones at us. They came at us with faces covered,” said Parvesh Kumar, the driver of the GD Goenka World School, Sohna, school bus.
According to officials, there were ten children on board the bus at the time. who study in grades ranging from nursery to class XII. In addition, there were three teachers, one conductor, and a helper who were also in the vehicle, apart from the driver.
Also Read | Padmaavat release today, Haryana govt is silent, wary
“We did not even have a chance to understand what was happening, or request the men to not harm us. They attacked us so suddenly that we barely had enough time to get ourselves and the students out of the harm’s way,” said a school employee who was in the bus.
Confirming the incident, Manish Sehgal, PRO of Gurgaon Police, said, “The school bus was driving past the area when a roadways bus was set afire, and protesters threw stones at the school bus as well. Some glass was shattered, but no injuries have been reported until now.”
Neeta Bali, the principal of the school, said, “We immediately called all our buses back. Parents were informed, snacks were given to them and they were dispersed an hour later. We have decided to observe a holiday tomorrow, seeing the unrest.” Following the incident, at least 10 other schools in Gurgaon informed parents that they would remain shut as a precautionary measure.
The Gurgaon police have detained 13 following the incident. Commissioner of Police, Sandeep Khirwar, confirmed that the video of the incident “will be included” in the investigation. Khirwar said adequate forces would be deployment to ensure “no such targeting of school buses”.
Asked if police had identified the group the mob belong to he said: “I will not ascribe any of those detained to any group. These are miscreants who have carried out this incident. Any leaders or organisations who have facilitated the violence, however, will also be held culpable.”
Despite earlier SC orders, which put the onus of security on state governments, several multiplexes and single screen theatres have refused to screen Padmavaat citing law and order trouble. The MAI, which represents close to 75 per cent of multiplex owners, said the film would not be screened in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.
Citing the “prevailing law and order situation”, MAI president Deepak Asher said the decision was taken by the association members on their own. “The safety of our patrons and visitors to the malls and multiplexes is of paramount importance, and under the present circumstances, it was apprehended that there could be a potential risk to such safety, all the members of the Association have individually considered it prudent to not screen the movie at present,” he said, adding that the situation may be reviewed.
Taking cue, single screens in three states have also chosen to play it safe. The chairman of the Bhopal Cinema Owners’ Association, Ranveer Singh, said no theatre in the city would screen the film. Sudhir Bindal of Velocity in Indore said that the violence and the government’s inaction has led to the decision. “Pad man has been postponed and we have no film to show. But we don’t have a choice. The situation is scary and the government is watching the drama,” said Bindal. “No one wants to take the risk,” confirmed the owner of Jaipur’s Raj Mandir, Pushpendra Surana.
State govt beefed up security outside the multiplexes. (Express Photo)
Following the apex court’s orders, the Shri Rajput Karni Sena (SRKS), which has spearheaded protests against the film, Wednesday asked for a ‘Janta curfew’ (curfew by the people) to “block” the movie, a day ahead of its release.
In Delhi too, police confirmed mobs had vandalised vehicles in Maurya Enclave despite heavy security cover before the Republic Day parade and a major summit with southeast Asian leaders. Pune police confirmed the arrest of 15 demonstrators, allegedly from Rajasthan, after a mob damaged at least ten vehicles.
“Let us not come to a stage where exhibition of a movie of this nature after issuance of certificate is crippled… People must understand that it (CBFC) is a statutory body. Supreme Court has passed an order. People have to abide by it. If they don’t like it, don’t watch,” Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had said Tuesday.
Stop Padmaavat Or We'll Jump Into Fire, Warn Hundreds Of Rajasthan Women
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After being stripped and beaten, Dalits are abandoning the Hindutva fountainhead RSS
The Dalit unrest over the last few months has more than just clouded the Bharatiya Janata Party’s electoral prospects in upcoming assembly elections. It has also left a large number of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakhas—branches, literally—bereft of Dalit members. Several such branches had been started in lower-caste localities across north and western India after Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014.
The phenomenon is glaring in Maharashtra and Gujarat, where Dalits recently took to the streets to protest against attacks by Hindutva-inspired groups. It is also evident in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, where assembly elections are due early next year. In Bihar and Haryana, too, Dalits have significantly disappeared from RSS shakhas.
Deadly love. (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton)
The latest outrage among the Dalits was sparked a few months ago when four young men skinning a dead cow, along with another aged person, were mercilessly thrashed by a group of cow-protection vigilantes in Gujarat’s Una town on July 11.
A series of such attacks followed, undermining the massive drive launched by the RSS to spread its presence among people belonging to the lower castes.
“New shakhas in Dalit localities were started because we had noticed that shakhas in upper-caste localities were not being able to attract Dalit men,” said a senior office-bearer of the RSS from Meerut. “For some time there was a lot of enthusiasm and a significant number of young men started attending shakhas in Dalit localities. But now, despite our karyakartas (activists) trying hard, most of these shakhashave become a farce.”
In the rest of India…
It isn’t only the Meerut prant (region) that has run into trouble. Senior RSS office bearers of five other prants in Uttar Pradesh—Braj, Awadh, Kashi, Kanpur, and Goraksha—also admitted that Dalits were refusing to attend shakhas. The same complaint was repeated by RSS office-bearers in prants like west Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Bihar, and south Bihar.
The exodus was strongly felt over a month ago when the BJP was forced to cancel the July 31 Agra Dalit rally to be led by party president Amit Shah. Two days before the event, the RSS realised that it wouldn’t be able to achieve its goal of bringing 40,000 Dalits to the meeting. Agra, part of the RSS’s Braj prant, was one of the places where the Sangh Parivar claimed to have a significant presence among Dalits.
This cancellation so jolted the Sangh Parivar that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had to spend five days in Agra starting from August 20, followed by a week in Lucknow. In both the places, he held meetings with workers and leaders of various RSS outfits to discuss the crisis, emphasising the need to revive the campaign to bring back people from the lower castes.
The Sangh Parivar’s concerted effort to integrate Dalits into their fold began as early as 1983, when the RSS chose April 14, BR Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, to establish its Samajik Samrasta Manch (social harmony platform). Subsequently, the RSS tried to harmonise the Phule-Ambedkar ideology with its Hindutva philosophy.
Annihilation of caste
The Samajik Samrasta Manch’s campaign was aimed at ending untouchability and integrating Dalits into the Hindutva fold, a necessary precondition to consolidate the Hindu vote. However, the RSS was unable to make any headway without upsetting the hierarchy of caste system. Its philosophy seemed to be a far cry from Ambedkar’s call for the annihilation of caste.
By and large, Dalits remained suspicious of the RSS, treating it like an organisation with an essentially upper-caste mindset.
Ahead of the 2014 elections, the Sangh launched a massive campaign to mobilise Dalits in favour of Modi. It was in this context that the RSS began a large number of shakhas in Dalit localities. Simultaneously, it intensified efforts to rewrite history in a bid to attribute the genesis of Dalits, other lower castes, and tribals to the “Muslim invasion” of medieval times.
All those attempts over the last two years have now been rendered meaningless, RSS insiders complain.
Jan 25
The Dalit unrest over the last few months has more than just clouded the Bharatiya Janata Party’s electoral prospects in upcoming assembly elections. It has also left a large number of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakhas—branches, literally—bereft of Dalit members. Several such branches had been started in lower-caste localities across north and western India after Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014.
The phenomenon is glaring in Maharashtra and Gujarat, where Dalits recently took to the streets to protest against attacks by Hindutva-inspired groups. It is also evident in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, where assembly elections are due early next year. In Bihar and Haryana, too, Dalits have significantly disappeared from RSS shakhas.
Deadly love. (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton)
The latest outrage among the Dalits was sparked a few months ago when four young men skinning a dead cow, along with another aged person, were mercilessly thrashed by a group of cow-protection vigilantes in Gujarat’s Una town on July 11.
A series of such attacks followed, undermining the massive drive launched by the RSS to spread its presence among people belonging to the lower castes.
“New shakhas in Dalit localities were started because we had noticed that shakhas in upper-caste localities were not being able to attract Dalit men,” said a senior office-bearer of the RSS from Meerut. “For some time there was a lot of enthusiasm and a significant number of young men started attending shakhas in Dalit localities. But now, despite our karyakartas (activists) trying hard, most of these shakhashave become a farce.”
In the rest of India…
It isn’t only the Meerut prant (region) that has run into trouble. Senior RSS office bearers of five other prants in Uttar Pradesh—Braj, Awadh, Kashi, Kanpur, and Goraksha—also admitted that Dalits were refusing to attend shakhas. The same complaint was repeated by RSS office-bearers in prants like west Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Bihar, and south Bihar.
The exodus was strongly felt over a month ago when the BJP was forced to cancel the July 31 Agra Dalit rally to be led by party president Amit Shah. Two days before the event, the RSS realised that it wouldn’t be able to achieve its goal of bringing 40,000 Dalits to the meeting. Agra, part of the RSS’s Braj prant, was one of the places where the Sangh Parivar claimed to have a significant presence among Dalits.
This cancellation so jolted the Sangh Parivar that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had to spend five days in Agra starting from August 20, followed by a week in Lucknow. In both the places, he held meetings with workers and leaders of various RSS outfits to discuss the crisis, emphasising the need to revive the campaign to bring back people from the lower castes.
The Sangh Parivar’s concerted effort to integrate Dalits into their fold began as early as 1983, when the RSS chose April 14, BR Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, to establish its Samajik Samrasta Manch (social harmony platform). Subsequently, the RSS tried to harmonise the Phule-Ambedkar ideology with its Hindutva philosophy.
Annihilation of caste
The Samajik Samrasta Manch’s campaign was aimed at ending untouchability and integrating Dalits into the Hindutva fold, a necessary precondition to consolidate the Hindu vote. However, the RSS was unable to make any headway without upsetting the hierarchy of caste system. Its philosophy seemed to be a far cry from Ambedkar’s call for the annihilation of caste.
By and large, Dalits remained suspicious of the RSS, treating it like an organisation with an essentially upper-caste mindset.
Ahead of the 2014 elections, the Sangh launched a massive campaign to mobilise Dalits in favour of Modi. It was in this context that the RSS began a large number of shakhas in Dalit localities. Simultaneously, it intensified efforts to rewrite history in a bid to attribute the genesis of Dalits, other lower castes, and tribals to the “Muslim invasion” of medieval times.
All those attempts over the last two years have now been rendered meaningless, RSS insiders complain.
Jan 25
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Jan 26
Uttar Pradesh: Tension grips Kasganj as one dead, 12 injured in communal clashes over R-day celebration; section 144 imposed
Uttar Pradesh: Tension grips Kasganj as one dead, 12 injured in communal clashes over R-day celebration; section 144 imposed
Republic Day celebrations in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj district were marred by a spurt of violence, as two communities clashed, leading to the death of a 16-year-old boy, and leaving several people injured. Police said that over two dozen trouble makers from both communities have been detained and prohibitory orders under section 144 have been issued.
Additional police forces, including Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) are kept on stand-by as a precautionary measure.
The incident was reported on Friday afternoon, when one community objected to the Tiranga Yatra (flag march) by another community in their area. Around 36 volunteers of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had taken out a bike rally with tricolours in their hands and were booed at while passing through a locality of another community. The group had reached the Mathura-Bareilly highway near the Bilram Gate area when some unidentified people hurled stones at them.
Additional police force has been deployed in Kasganj in view of the clashes. PAC has been kept on standby. Saurabh Sharma/ Team 101 Reporters
A verbal altercation followed, which soon turned violent. The angry mob went on a rampage, damaging more than 12 vehicles and property, a district official said. The agitated people also tried to set afire a place of religious worship and some religious texts.
There were reports of firing as well and sources told Firstpost that three people are critically injured, while one person was dead.
Meanwhile, the other side's version of the story was that a specific community was peacefully observing flag hoisting in their locality when a bunch of rowdy motorcycle riders came there with tricolours. A resident of the area told Firstpost that several people from the community told the youngsters to not loiter around in the area or create ruckus and leave peacefully. The youth insisted on roaming the roads of the area and hurled religious abuse, after which the situation spiraled out of control.
Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar told IANS the district administration increased the security presence and the crowds have been dispersed. The district administration has also imposed Section 144 of CrPC in the trouble-hit area, District Magistrate RP Singh said.
"The situation is under control. It seems the incident was not pre-planned but was a spontaneous one. The district magistrate, superintendent of police, and Rapid Action Force and PAC personnel are reaching the spot," Additional DG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said.
"The troublemakers are being identified, and stringent action will be initiated against them. The district administration has been able to control the situation so far, but additional forces will be called to ensure that the situation does not worsen," he said.
Although the mob has been contained, the situation remains tense in the city and a curfew-like situation prevails. Superintendent of Police, Sunil Kumar Singh told Firstpost that owing to the sensitivity of the situation, additional police forces have been called from adjacent police stations as a precautionary measure.
Police said three Scorpio SUVs, two Magic passenger transport vehicles and a truck were also targeted by the mob on the Mathura-Bareilly highway.
The unruly crowd also set afire a kiosk near a petrol pump and a waste dump. Fire tenders were rushed to douse the fire.
According to a report in Jagran, a regional newspaper, all traffic entering the city from Agra and Mathura is being diverted for the time being.
The District Magistrate (DM) and Superintendent of Police (SP) were patrolling the disturbed areas to ensure the violence does not spread further, a senior officer at the state police chief's headquarters said.
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Jan 27
Anti-Padmaavat protest: Kerosene blast outside theatre in Kalyan, no casualties
49 Arrested In UP Town After Violence Over A Death, Internet Shut Down
Dalit family counters exaggerated tale of ‘forced conversion in Mewat’
Article in response to the story you posted.
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Padmaavat: Police quash rumour that Muslim men attacked school bus in Bhondsi
Anti-Padmaavat protest: Kerosene blast outside theatre in Kalyan, no casualties
49 Arrested In UP Town After Violence Over A Death, Internet Shut Down
LUCKNOW: Fresh violence erupted in western Uttar Pradesh on Saturday when groups of people went on a rampage in the state's Kasganj town after the cremation of a young man killed in clashes yesterday. One group burnt down a few shops in the town's main market, others vandalised shops at an intersection a short distance away and burnt down two buses. Sporadic incidents continued through the day leading the police use drones to keep an eye on the situation and shut down Internet in the district for a day.
Chandan Gupta, 22, had died in clashes that broke out on Friday during a "Tiranga bike rally" by activists of the RSS-backed students' group, ABVP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Another person injured in the communal clashes, Naushad, is admitted to hospital. According to reports, both had bullet injuries.
The incidents of vandalism on Saturday - a car was torched late in the evening also - were seen as a reaction to Chandan Gupta's death. It is, however, not clear why the police was not able to keep peace in the area. It had figured that there could be more violence and had requisitioned additional forces soon after yesterday's round of violence.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had yesterday responded swiftly to the death of the young man and appealed to both communities to maintain peace. The police also had been ordered to deal sternly with the culprits.
Too busy fire-fighting yesterday, much of this crackdown started today.
By the end of the day, Kasganj's district magistrate RP Singh declared that the police had arrested 49 people. Senior police officers from western UP were also rushed to the town 170 km from the national capital.
Mr Singh said section 144 that prohibits assembly of people is in place in the entire town and sufficient police force deployed. The police's drone camera team was also requisitioned from Aligarh to help the police keep a watch on sensitive areas of the town.
But there is still no cohesive sequence of the events that led to yesterday's communal clash.
A short video clip of Friday's bike rally that emerged today shows hundreds of young men, many of them holding the National Flag and saffron flag, standing in one of the streets of the town. This is where they had been reportedly told by local residents from another community to take a different route.
In the background, some voices can be heard saying that they would not change their route. Someone else raises the slogan that everyone would have to say Vande Mataram if they want to stay in India.
From all accounts, the violence started soon after. It started with hurling stones with each other and ended with gunshots being fired. In between, motorcycles were set on fire, stones thrown at passing vehicles and a place of worship set on fire.
Dalit family counters exaggerated tale of ‘forced conversion in Mewat’
Nearly 100 kilometre away from Delhi is Haryana’s Mewat district, also known as Nuh. In contrast to the fast-paced development Delhi and Gurugram have witnessed, this district of Haryana has largely remained backward and underdeveloped - suffering the neglect of successive governments.
On January 18, a news item from this district became the talking point of social media conversations. Leading Hindi daily Navbharat Times reported that a Dalit family in Mewat’s Mohlaka village had been attacked by goons for not converting to Islam. The headline read, “Dharam parivartan na karne par Dalit parivaar par hamla (Dalit family attacked for refusing to convert).”
A day earlier, Dainik Jagran had also carried a report detailing that a Dalit family was being tormented by one Mohammad Islam - a local goon of sorts who possessed illegal weapons. The report also emphasised that the village has a majority of Muslims with just seven Dalit families.
When Newslaundry spoke to local police officials, we were told that the issue was a fight, “a result of personal dispute”. This correspondent later travelled to the village to ascertain the facts in the incident.
A road passes through Mohlaka that serves as a connecting lane to the nearby state of Rajasthan. It is a typical Mewat village with over 300 families, five mosques in the locality and one government school. Except for seven Jatav-Dalit families who live here, all families belong to the Muslim Meo community.
Around 700 metre away from the main settlement of the village is the BPL colony where a few below-poverty-line families have been allotted plots. Shri Kishan, who lives here in a two-room house, stated that he and his wife were beaten up by Islam and four others on January 15.
“It was 6 in the morning when I saw Islam taking away three-four of my cow-dung cakes. When I objected, he hurled abuse and passed casteist slurs at me,” said 44-year-old Kishan.
As the argument escalated, Islam, who owns four under-construction shops 30 metre away, called his family members. “He called me by names and they attacked us with lathis,” Kishan’s wife Shakuntala said. The 35-year-old added: “Ever since this Islam has shifted here, he has been creating trouble over some issue or the other.”
While Kishan sustained a minor injury on the palm of his right hand, his 55-year-old sister-in-law Bishan Devi said she too was beaten by attackers.
Kishan’s is a poor family, Islam is among the rich of the village who runs a dairy business. He along with his two brothers have built houses away from the village’s main settlement and live nearly 200 metre away from the BPL colony.
When asked about the allegations of being pressured to convert to Islam, Kishan said: “It’s only one person who has been putting pressure on us.” He added that, “It started four-five days before the incident happened. He used to ask me to become a Muslim. I told him not to bother me like this.”
Kishan and his family had approached the police on January 15 itself. The police station’s entry for the day mentions that a fight between Islam and Kishan was reported. “His family requested us not to file a police complaint. We told them - let’s call the panchayat and let them decide the matter. When he didn’t pay heed, we filed the FIR on January 17,” said Kishan’s elder brother, Ram Kishan, who too was present during the incident. "We would have still ignored the casteist abuses but how can we ignore the pressure to convert?" added Ram Kishan.
Shri Kishan in his statement, in the FIR, has alleged conversion charges against Islam. The police have filed the FIR under six sections - SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, IPC sections 148 (armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (offence committed by unlawful assembly), 323 (causing hurt), 452 (trespass) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Interestingly, both brothers state that had Islam accepted his mistake and apologised in front of the panchayat, they would have forgiven him.
They, however, were careful about not presenting this incident as one where Dalits were being forced en masse to convert in a Muslim-dominated village. Kishan and his brother Ram both kept on emphasising that the entire village stood with them.
“Gaon ka support hai aur iss ghatna mein ek aadmi ke alawa (Islam), kisi ka koi hanth nahi hai (the entire village is standing with us. Besides one person, no one has any role in the incident),” they said.
It is important to note the power dynamics in the village. Except for the seven Jatav families, the entire village comprises the Muslim community - even so no one stood with Islam.
Sitting inside a small, temporary hut-like structure made of rice-straw, Ram Kishan, his angered son Rajesh Kumar and Shri Kishan narrated the incident and the behaviour of other villagers. When asked whether such incidents have happened in the past, 25-year-old Kumar responded: “Humara gaon accha hai, warna hum itne saalon se gaon mein kaise reh rahe hote? Ab tak to gaon chhod ke ja chuke hote (those in our village are nice, else how would we have lived here for so long? We would have left the village years ago).” Inside the same hut, Sabir Khan, the son of one of the accused in the FIR, Atru, had come to meet Kishan’s family.
Kishan's family.
It is important to note the details of three of the five accused in the case.
Atru is an old man in his late 80s, who was present in the neighbourhood. “We don’t have any fight with Atru. He had come to stop the fight but slapped two of our married daughters who had come to celebrate Sankranti festival,” Ram Kishan and Shri Kishan told this correspondent. Atru’s son Sabir too agreed and said he has apologised on behalf of his father.
Islam’s wife Asmeena and younger son Mausim, 13, are named in the FIR. Facing SC/ST atrocity charges, while Islam, his elder son Tareef and Asmeena are on the run, Mausim is waiting for their return at home.
Interestingly, the Navbharat Times’ story did not mention the age of these accused. Reading Dainik Jagran’sreport it appears that the entire issue was one of forced conversion. Kishan, however, has said it was only Islam who pressured him. Also, in what capacity can a minor pressure someone for religious conversion?
Mausim, a Class 9 student, doesn’t even understand the charges lodged against him. “My sister told me about the scuffle. I informed my mother and brother Tareef about it and rushed to the spot,” he said.
According to him, both parties resorted to abuse and were fighting. The family members said that even though the police have visited after the incident was reported, they have not interrogated Mausim so far.
Islam’s 13-year-old son Mausim is one of the accused in the case.
Interestingly, Mausim was friends with Kishan’s 15-year-old son Manoj Kumar until the incident took place. “After returning from school, we used to play cricket together,” Manoj said. But now the friendship is over, he claimed, as “that day he slapped me”. Kishan’s family claimed Mausim too tried to pelt stones at them.
This correspondent spoke to other Dalit families in the village as well as other residents to find out whether such incidents have been reported in the past. All fingers pointed at Islam. “He (Islam) commented that why do you dress up so much, wear saree and put bindis. He insisted, why don’t you people become Meo?” said Parvesh, 30, who lives with three other families inside the village.
Another Dalit family accused that Islam didn’t pay their wages due for the construction of his shops. “Three to four days before Sankranti, when we went to ask for our dues of Rs 2,500, he called me a prostitute and pelted stones at us,” said Shankutala Devi. Similarly, another family claimed they didn’t shift to the BPL colony fearing Islam’s attitude. “We didn’t shift to the plot allotted to us in the BPL colony because of him,” said Rakesh Kumar, 19, who lives with his family along with three other Dalit families inside the village.
Muslims in the village too reported Islam has a reputation of being a troublemaker. Mohammad Saabeer, a truck driver, said: “Islam and I are not on good terms because of his attitude. He abuses and his conduct is foul. While everyone is standing with Kishan’s family, we can hardly trust the allegation of forced conversion.”
Station house officer of Nagina police station Vipin Kadiyan told Newslaundry: “There has been no attempt of forced conversion. Besides one person (Islam) against whom an FIR has been filed, no one in the village has been reported of putting pressure on the family.”
Kadiyan met the Dalit family after the incident was reported. Repeated calls and text message to DSP Sajeev Balara, now in charge of the case, went unanswered. (The story will be updated as and when he responds.)
Speaking about ensuring the safety of the Dalits in the village, 90-year-old Mohammad Munaar said: “Our fathers assured that they (Dalits) remained safe in the village even during the turmoil that gripped the country after Partition. Unlike Hindus, the Muslims in this village have never discriminated against them on the basis of their caste. Now we are hearing of such allegations, it is dangerous for the village.”
Mohammad Yunus, a government employee, pointed at the danger looming over them. “These days news channels twist such stories and they are widely circulated on WhatsApp. I saw on the internet that this news is spreading like a forest fire and bringing bad repute to the village. It will work against our community and harmony of the society,” he pointed out.
Article in response to the story you posted.
@ranjeet @Syama Ayas
Padmaavat: Police quash rumour that Muslim men attacked school bus in Bhondsi
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Uttar Pradesh: One killed, dozen injured over flag march
Curfew has been imposed in the Kasganj district of Uttar Pradesh, neighbouring Agra, after a youth was killed during a clash between two groups on Friday morning.
According to reports, the incident took place in Bilgram when members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Vishva Hindu Parishad took out a ‘Tiranga Yatra’ on the Mathura – Bareli highway.
The clash took place after some objected to the youth, who were on motorcycles, shouting slogans. However, things turned ugly and both the groups started hurling stones at each other.
Following the incident, police forces were called in. But by the time cops arrived, about a dozen vehicles were already torched and some public properties were damaged.
“Battalions of PAC and RAF have been pressed into service and the district has been divided into sectors for effective patrolling. The situation is under control and teams have been formed to nab the culprits”, OP Singh, the newly appointed DGP of UP, said.
Curfew has been imposed in the Kasganj district of Uttar Pradesh, neighbouring Agra, after a youth was killed during a clash between two groups on Friday morning.
According to reports, the incident took place in Bilgram when members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Vishva Hindu Parishad took out a ‘Tiranga Yatra’ on the Mathura – Bareli highway.
The clash took place after some objected to the youth, who were on motorcycles, shouting slogans. However, things turned ugly and both the groups started hurling stones at each other.
Following the incident, police forces were called in. But by the time cops arrived, about a dozen vehicles were already torched and some public properties were damaged.
“Battalions of PAC and RAF have been pressed into service and the district has been divided into sectors for effective patrolling. The situation is under control and teams have been formed to nab the culprits”, OP Singh, the newly appointed DGP of UP, said.
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Probe after Hindu Yuva Vahini leader talks love jihad at Republic-Day event
FB account on the context surrounding the recent clashes in UP.
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Growing Up with a Muslim Name, These Are Stories I Recognise
What we are dealing with is a form of Hindu privilege that few want to recognise – the privilege of not tensing up when someone asks you your name, the privilege of not having your patriotism questioned.
Representative image of a school in Delhi. Credit: Francois Deaillet/Flickr CC 2.0
Having grown up with a Muslim name in New Delhi, the stories in Nazia Erum’s Mothering a Muslim: The Dar Secret in Our Schools and Playgrounds did not surprise me. Incidents of Islamophobia are common and – for those of us who are targeted by them – easy to recognise. The biggest accomplishment of Erum’s book, therefore, has been to document these stories for those who would not as easily have noticed, or even imagined, their existence. As she puts it herself, she has begun to fill a large gap in Indian literature.
Not only has she called attention to this particular variety of prejudice, her research also suggests that the problem is widespread and makes clear that it applies to elite schools and children as well. I have myself attended one of the schools that is flagged in the book and I can say from personal experience that the matter has not in any terms been exaggerated. The stories she tells are moving and powerful and for those of us who can relate to them, they hit close to home.
Essentially, Erum walks us through the many dimensions of Islamaphobic bullying by addressing the institutional, psychological, and familial manifestations of the incidents she has written about. For instance, when discussing an incident where a Muslim boy is accused by a fellow classmate of having something to do with a terrorist attack, Erum talks about the silence of the teacher, the fear of the young boy, and the recognition of the parents that the mood in schools has changed since the 2014 elections (p. 17).
Nazia Erum
Mothering a Muslim: The Dark Secret in Our Schools and Playgrounds
Juggernaut 2018
This incident, as others, also highlights an issue not often recognised, i.e. the lack of representation of Muslims in schools, especially the elite schools of Delhi. Not only are there very few Muslim students in them, there are also very few Muslim teachers. This exacerbates the problem as children don’t have fellow students to share their stories with and parents find it difficult to approach these institutions as members of the minority community.
In some cases the institutions themselves promote segregation. For instance, the schools of Bhopal, described in one of the examples in the book, offer Sanskrit and Urdu to students and they divide up sections based on the chosen language. Inevitably, the Muslim students take Urdu and the non-Muslim students take Sanskrit.
Erum reports that in these schools, the Urdu sections are associated with “trouble maker students” and “non-scorers. For this reason, Ahmed Sameer wanted to be in the Sanskrit section. On his very first day when the teacher began to take attendance in the familiar rhythm of the Indian roll call, she stopped at his name. Her rhythm was broken and she said, “Ahmed, you’re in the Sanskrit section?”. When he replied saying yes, she said “Ok good…very good”. As Erum says, “The teacher had signalled her approval of Sameer’s decision, but her pause in the middle of the roll call was an even bigger signal. The point was driven home – Sameer was an outsider, not like the rest of the batch. And this he would be reminded of time and again”.
Fortunately, Erum has also provided a variety of helpful suggestions for schools in order to help them combat the problems she identifies. The solutions range from simply “being positive” and having a “zero tolerance policy” to “actively checking faith coding” and creating “diversity leaders” to report incidents of discrimination.
While Erum does talk about the impact of the 2014 elections on Islamophobia in playgrounds and she even mentions a study conducted in the United States relating to the increase in discriminatory bullying due to “Trump Talk”, her book can still be seen as staying mostly in the realm of the personal, rather than the political, in terms of the language she uses and the frame of analysis she applies.
To emphasise the political is, in my opinion, critical in times like these –where words are almost as important as actions and language matters. When we begin to see and refer to an issue as reflective of the state of the entire country, as opposed to an isolated collection of incidents, it attains a gravity that necessitates a wider lens. The incidents cited in the book clearly indicate that the idea of India is under threat and in order to rise to this challenge we have to begin to view this problem in political terms involving all sections of society, particularly the majority community.
The first step in the fight against such incidents in schools or elsewhere is to assign an appropriate vocabulary to the problem. To make clear that bullying minorities is different from your garden variety school bullying – it is Islamophobia. To emphasise that there is a correlation between the rise of Hindutva nationalism and incidents of islamophobia – Hindutva has fostered an ethos that is against the foundations of the nation and its constitution. Such incidents and many others need to be called out as such. The following example from the book, brings home this point in its entirety:
“My little one is only six and a half years old and got hit for being a Muslim in school,’ says Zareen Siddique, whose daughter Samaira studies in an internationally accredited school in Noida.
A student sitting on the same bench as her asked, ‘Are you a Muslim?’ He then started hitting Samaira, saying ‘I hate Muslims.’
Zareen says it took a few days before her daughter could open up about it. ‘I was appalled and shocked. I immediately called up the class teacher who had a two-word response, “It happens.”
However, the teacher did try to find a resolution and informed the parents of the child. But they said, ‘You are lying. My kid isn’t like that.’
The teacher, a Muslim herself, told Zareen, ‘there is a lot of denial but you can’t help it, the children carry the biases of their parents to the classrooms. It’s from both the sides, both Muslims and Hindus. So often during a class educational tour, the Muslim children will refuse to enter a mandir.’
Zareen says, ‘I have noticed these changes in the last few years. My elder kid has been in the same school for the past seven years but never faced anything like this. Only in the past two years do these incidents seem to be arising. But six- or seven-year-olds are just too young for such hate.’
There seems to be a growing tension that is going unchecked. Zareen asks me how long she can ask her kids to ignore this. I have no answer for her. She says, ‘It will affect them. I think we should move out of India.’ I tell her to hold on.
While Erum attempts to make some of these links, in her book, I would go further and encourage the recognition that we are dealing with a form of Hindu privilege that is not being explicitly recognised even by her.
In fact, since the book deals largely with examples from schools, it does not touch upon the many other cases from everyday life that are now commonplace for Muslims.
For instance, I do not like to tell the Uber drivers my name. Or, when I am trying to enter a club, my Indian driver’s license is considered fake as I am suspected of being an ‘Afghan refugee with a fake license’ – this actually happened to me earlier this month – even as my Hindu friends walk right in without a murmur. Or when my male Muslim cousins fear travelling in the metro on Id, in their kurta pyjamas, for fear of some untoward incident involving them.
The sense of security that every citizen should have in their own country has turned into a privilege reserved for the majority – the privilege of not tensing up whenever anybody asks their name. The privilege of not worrying when their patriotism will be questioned. The privilege of having what is personal to them also being the social (and now political) norm.
Also read Nazia Erum’s interview:
Mothering a Muslim in Times of Hate: How Communal Bullying Has Taken Root in India’s Schools
However, the collective nature of this privilege also comes with a collective responsibility. A first step towards taking that responsibility is an acknowledgement, of the privilege, by the majority community. This acknowledgment would go a long way in validating the sentiments of Muslims. It would also help to foster a sense of solidarity between the two communities. The absence on the other hand can (and probably is) turning the Muslim community inwards with the potential for seeking solidarity amongst other Muslims only. This is not just divisive, it could be toxic too.
Erum’s book must be read widely, as it has opened the doors for further conversations and analysis of the rise of Islamophobia that is now knocking on everyone’s doors. It is a crucial and brave first step in the fight against bigotry and prejudice that has begun to plague India. Mothering a Muslim should signal the beginning of a new culture amongst communities – one of communication, solidarity and as always, hope.
Lyala Khan grew up and studied in New Delhi and is now an undergraduate at Oberlin College, Ohio in the United States.
What we are dealing with is a form of Hindu privilege that few want to recognise – the privilege of not tensing up when someone asks you your name, the privilege of not having your patriotism questioned.
Representative image of a school in Delhi. Credit: Francois Deaillet/Flickr CC 2.0
Having grown up with a Muslim name in New Delhi, the stories in Nazia Erum’s Mothering a Muslim: The Dar Secret in Our Schools and Playgrounds did not surprise me. Incidents of Islamophobia are common and – for those of us who are targeted by them – easy to recognise. The biggest accomplishment of Erum’s book, therefore, has been to document these stories for those who would not as easily have noticed, or even imagined, their existence. As she puts it herself, she has begun to fill a large gap in Indian literature.
Not only has she called attention to this particular variety of prejudice, her research also suggests that the problem is widespread and makes clear that it applies to elite schools and children as well. I have myself attended one of the schools that is flagged in the book and I can say from personal experience that the matter has not in any terms been exaggerated. The stories she tells are moving and powerful and for those of us who can relate to them, they hit close to home.
Essentially, Erum walks us through the many dimensions of Islamaphobic bullying by addressing the institutional, psychological, and familial manifestations of the incidents she has written about. For instance, when discussing an incident where a Muslim boy is accused by a fellow classmate of having something to do with a terrorist attack, Erum talks about the silence of the teacher, the fear of the young boy, and the recognition of the parents that the mood in schools has changed since the 2014 elections (p. 17).
Nazia Erum
Mothering a Muslim: The Dark Secret in Our Schools and Playgrounds
Juggernaut 2018
This incident, as others, also highlights an issue not often recognised, i.e. the lack of representation of Muslims in schools, especially the elite schools of Delhi. Not only are there very few Muslim students in them, there are also very few Muslim teachers. This exacerbates the problem as children don’t have fellow students to share their stories with and parents find it difficult to approach these institutions as members of the minority community.
In some cases the institutions themselves promote segregation. For instance, the schools of Bhopal, described in one of the examples in the book, offer Sanskrit and Urdu to students and they divide up sections based on the chosen language. Inevitably, the Muslim students take Urdu and the non-Muslim students take Sanskrit.
Erum reports that in these schools, the Urdu sections are associated with “trouble maker students” and “non-scorers. For this reason, Ahmed Sameer wanted to be in the Sanskrit section. On his very first day when the teacher began to take attendance in the familiar rhythm of the Indian roll call, she stopped at his name. Her rhythm was broken and she said, “Ahmed, you’re in the Sanskrit section?”. When he replied saying yes, she said “Ok good…very good”. As Erum says, “The teacher had signalled her approval of Sameer’s decision, but her pause in the middle of the roll call was an even bigger signal. The point was driven home – Sameer was an outsider, not like the rest of the batch. And this he would be reminded of time and again”.
Fortunately, Erum has also provided a variety of helpful suggestions for schools in order to help them combat the problems she identifies. The solutions range from simply “being positive” and having a “zero tolerance policy” to “actively checking faith coding” and creating “diversity leaders” to report incidents of discrimination.
While Erum does talk about the impact of the 2014 elections on Islamophobia in playgrounds and she even mentions a study conducted in the United States relating to the increase in discriminatory bullying due to “Trump Talk”, her book can still be seen as staying mostly in the realm of the personal, rather than the political, in terms of the language she uses and the frame of analysis she applies.
To emphasise the political is, in my opinion, critical in times like these –where words are almost as important as actions and language matters. When we begin to see and refer to an issue as reflective of the state of the entire country, as opposed to an isolated collection of incidents, it attains a gravity that necessitates a wider lens. The incidents cited in the book clearly indicate that the idea of India is under threat and in order to rise to this challenge we have to begin to view this problem in political terms involving all sections of society, particularly the majority community.
The first step in the fight against such incidents in schools or elsewhere is to assign an appropriate vocabulary to the problem. To make clear that bullying minorities is different from your garden variety school bullying – it is Islamophobia. To emphasise that there is a correlation between the rise of Hindutva nationalism and incidents of islamophobia – Hindutva has fostered an ethos that is against the foundations of the nation and its constitution. Such incidents and many others need to be called out as such. The following example from the book, brings home this point in its entirety:
“My little one is only six and a half years old and got hit for being a Muslim in school,’ says Zareen Siddique, whose daughter Samaira studies in an internationally accredited school in Noida.
A student sitting on the same bench as her asked, ‘Are you a Muslim?’ He then started hitting Samaira, saying ‘I hate Muslims.’
Zareen says it took a few days before her daughter could open up about it. ‘I was appalled and shocked. I immediately called up the class teacher who had a two-word response, “It happens.”
However, the teacher did try to find a resolution and informed the parents of the child. But they said, ‘You are lying. My kid isn’t like that.’
The teacher, a Muslim herself, told Zareen, ‘there is a lot of denial but you can’t help it, the children carry the biases of their parents to the classrooms. It’s from both the sides, both Muslims and Hindus. So often during a class educational tour, the Muslim children will refuse to enter a mandir.’
Zareen says, ‘I have noticed these changes in the last few years. My elder kid has been in the same school for the past seven years but never faced anything like this. Only in the past two years do these incidents seem to be arising. But six- or seven-year-olds are just too young for such hate.’
There seems to be a growing tension that is going unchecked. Zareen asks me how long she can ask her kids to ignore this. I have no answer for her. She says, ‘It will affect them. I think we should move out of India.’ I tell her to hold on.
While Erum attempts to make some of these links, in her book, I would go further and encourage the recognition that we are dealing with a form of Hindu privilege that is not being explicitly recognised even by her.
In fact, since the book deals largely with examples from schools, it does not touch upon the many other cases from everyday life that are now commonplace for Muslims.
For instance, I do not like to tell the Uber drivers my name. Or, when I am trying to enter a club, my Indian driver’s license is considered fake as I am suspected of being an ‘Afghan refugee with a fake license’ – this actually happened to me earlier this month – even as my Hindu friends walk right in without a murmur. Or when my male Muslim cousins fear travelling in the metro on Id, in their kurta pyjamas, for fear of some untoward incident involving them.
The sense of security that every citizen should have in their own country has turned into a privilege reserved for the majority – the privilege of not tensing up whenever anybody asks their name. The privilege of not worrying when their patriotism will be questioned. The privilege of having what is personal to them also being the social (and now political) norm.
Also read Nazia Erum’s interview:
Mothering a Muslim in Times of Hate: How Communal Bullying Has Taken Root in India’s Schools
However, the collective nature of this privilege also comes with a collective responsibility. A first step towards taking that responsibility is an acknowledgement, of the privilege, by the majority community. This acknowledgment would go a long way in validating the sentiments of Muslims. It would also help to foster a sense of solidarity between the two communities. The absence on the other hand can (and probably is) turning the Muslim community inwards with the potential for seeking solidarity amongst other Muslims only. This is not just divisive, it could be toxic too.
Erum’s book must be read widely, as it has opened the doors for further conversations and analysis of the rise of Islamophobia that is now knocking on everyone’s doors. It is a crucial and brave first step in the fight against bigotry and prejudice that has begun to plague India. Mothering a Muslim should signal the beginning of a new culture amongst communities – one of communication, solidarity and as always, hope.
Lyala Khan grew up and studied in New Delhi and is now an undergraduate at Oberlin College, Ohio in the United States.
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Jan 24
Chennai: Death of pastor raises eyebrows, family seeks investigation
Jan 29
‘What’s wrong with killing Basheer?’: Karnataka VHP leader justifies communal killing
Chennai: Death of pastor raises eyebrows, family seeks investigation
CHENNAI: Four days after the alleged suicide by pastor V Gideon Periyasamy allegedly due to harassment by certain religious outfits, villagers of Adaiyalachery finally allowed the autopsy of the body to be performed at the Government Hospital in Chengalpattu on Tuesday.
Police personnel assured the people that they will take unbiased action against the suspects if autopsy confirmed that pastor Gideon was murdered and his body hung by a rope.
V Gideon Periyasamy
Almost 22 years ago Ramamurthy, then 23, a native of Tambaram, embraced pentecostal Christianity taking the name, Gideon.
Since his conversion, he was said to be an active preacher and left his house at the age of 30, said his elder sister Mallika. “Gideon spent more than 10 years in villages around Kalpakkam and five years ago built the present Maknayeem Church at Adaiyalachery on East Coast Road.
On Saturday morning, when Esther and Sivaranjani went to meet Gideon to ask about the Sunday services, they were in for a shock.
“I saw pastor kneeling on the floor and a chair in front of him. The left hand was on the chair and the right hand was hanging. There was a rope around his neck, tied to the roof of the hut,” said Sivaranjani.
As word spread, information was given to Ponjur police who sent the body to Chengalpattu government hospital on Satuday for post-mortem.
Talking about the suspects, Pastor Anandan, a close associate of Gideon, said the latter had a lot of troubles from some persons alleged to be Hindu activists, who did not approve of the pastor’s works.
He claimed, two years ago, four men from a Hindu group trespassed into the church and ransacked the church by removing the thatched roof.
Pastor Selothraj, Synod co-ordinator of Kancheepuram district, told Express that every time they met, Gideon would tell him about the problems he was facing. The church and the house that are adjacent to each other, were totally isolated from the rest of the village.
Alleging the death of the pastor to be a murder, hundreds of Christians from the State gathered near Chengalpattu government hospital, demanding an inquiry into the “planned murder.’
On Monday, VCK leader was also present to condemn the incident.
On Tuesday, the fourth day of the protest, the autopsy was done and the body was handed over to his elder sister Mallika and the fellow pastors.
The body was then taken to Adayalachery for final prayers. Hundreds of people gathered before the body arrived and almost a hundred police personnel were posted along ECR to prevent any untoward incidents.
“The body was found hanging with no injury marks. Only a post-mortem result will confirm the nature of the death,” said DSP Mathivanan of Chengalpattu.
“The Christian community has mentioned four suspects in the complaint based on the previous troubles caused by them,” said another police officer, who added, an FIR has been filed.
Since permission to bury the body of the pastor in his church was not granted, the burial took place in the colony graveyard 200 metres away from the church.
“After the post-mortem results are out, we will decide if we should continue the fight,” said Pastor E Selothraj.
Jan 29
‘What’s wrong with killing Basheer?’: Karnataka VHP leader justifies communal killing
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ABP News editor gets death threats for his reporting on Kasganj violence
ABP News editor gets death threats for his reporting on Kasganj violence
One of the editors of ABP News, Pankaj Jha, has stated that he has received death threats for his reportage on Kasganj communal violence. ABP News was one of the first news organisations to counter rumours being spread about the violence in Kasganj.
When the incident was first reported, it was being rumoured that ABVP activists were attacked for raising the national flag and chanting nationalist slogans. News anchors such Aaj Tak's Rohit Sardana only helped legitimise such conspiracy theories.
In contrast to this, ABP News was one of the first news channels to counter these rumours through wide coverage on Kasganj. In its report – Desh Bhakti Ke Naam Par Danga - the channel showed that both communities were celebrating Republic Day when the altercation began. In its back-to-back reports, the channel not only brought a clear picture of what could have triggered the clashes, but also put out the alleged provocative speech made by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Rajveer Singh.
These reports seemed to have irked some people. ABP editor Pankaj Jha has stated that he has been receiving threat calls since this morning. These callers have given threats to abduct his daughter and are questioning him for his reports on Kasganj. Jha in a series of tweets has shared the numbers of these callers and said that several of them have hurled abuses at him.
Pankaj Jha@pankajjha_
सवेरे से कुछ ख़ास तरह के लोग हमें फ़ोन कर गालियॉं दे रहे हैं,जान से मारने की धमकी दे रहे हैं,बेटी का अपहरण करने की चुनौती दे रहे हैं।ये पूछ रहे हैं कि क्या देश में तिरंगा यात्रा निकालने के लिए भी परमिशन की ज़रूरत पड़ेगी?लेकिन ऐसा तो कासगंज के डीएम ने कहा था, तो सवाल उनसे बनता है
8:36 AM - Jan 28, 2018
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सालों के पत्रकारिता करते हुए आज ये दिन भी देखना पड़ा है। इन नंबरों को उठाना मैंने बंद कर दिया है। आप पूछेंगे क्यों ? उधर से आती हैं गालियॉं और गोली मारने की धमकियॉं
1:01 PM - Jan 28, 2018
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According to Jha, he has informed the police about these phone numbers and text messages.
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Jan 30
Uttar Pradesh: 1 dead, 4 injured in clashes in Amethi; heavy police deployed
Police action against Dalit villagers protesting a ‘caste wall’ bares old fissures in Kerala
Pulayas and Naikas of Vadayampady accuse upper-caste Nairs of grabbing public land and erecting a wall around the plot to bar them from the village temple.
TA Ameerudheen
TA Ameerudheen
“Who said untouchability is not practised in Kerala?” asked the Dalit activist MP Ayyappan Kutty. “We pulled down a caste wall erected by upper-caste Hindus to keep Dalits from going near a temple. But they still consider us untouchable.”
For the past 10 months, Kutty has been leading a protest by 180 Dalit families in Vadayampady village of Kerala’s Ernakulam district to reclaim their right of way though land adjacent to a temple run by upper-caste Nair Hindus. The Dalits insist that the plot claimed by the Nair Service Society, a community organisation that runs the Bhajana Madam Devi Temple, is actually public land. The society has rejected the allegation.
On January 21, the protest drew wide media attention when the police dismantled a tent protestors had erected on the ground. They also arrested seven protestors and two journalists covering the demonstration. Abhilash Padacherry, a reporter with a Malayalam news website, and Ananthu Rajagopal, an intern with an English newspaper, were detained on charges of obstructing public servants from performing their duty. They were given bail on Wednesday.
The police action has invited severe criticism. On Wednesday, a group of writers and civil society figures, including K Satchidandan, Sashikumar, Paul Zacharia and NS Madhavan, issued a statement condemning the treatment meted out to the protestors. They particularly took exception to the police’s accusation that the protestors were being incited by Maoists.
But Sajan Xavier, circle inspector of Puthen Cruz, justified the police action. “We have evidence that Maoists and workers of the Social Democratic Party of India and the Jama’at-e-Islami have infiltrated the agitation,” he said. “They are inciting the Dalits against the government. We will not allow this agitation to continue.”
Bhajana Madam Devi Temple in Vadayampady. Photo credit: TA Ameerudheen
Long struggle
The agitation by the Dalit villagers had been launched in March, when the Nair Service Society erected a 10-foot-high wall around the land “to keep away Dalits”. The tension had been brewing since the previous year, when the temple committee allegedly prevented Dalits from organising the traditional Deshavilakku festival on the ground.
“Later, we came to know that they had grabbed the public land,” claimed Kutty, the convener of Bhoo Avakasha Samara Munnani, or the Dalit Land Rights Agitation Front, which is coordinating the protest. “They started building the wall in March 2017 and we pulled it down on April 14, 2017, on Ambedkar Jayanti.”
The presence of the wall forced the Dalit villagers to take a longer route to fetch water from a well on the other side of the ground and deprived their children of a playing area, Kutty said. It also left the Dalit families, who live on small pieces of land given to them by the government, without a place to conduct marriages and other functions.
In Vadayampady, Dalits, who mostly belong to Pulaya and Naika tribes, live in three settlements near the ground – Bhajana Madam Colony, one of Kerala’s first Dalit colonies established in 1967, Laksham Veedu Colony and Settlement Colony. Few Nair families live near the temple.
Said Kutty, who lives in Bhajana Madam Colony: “We lost a social place.”
Despite the peaceful nature of the agitation over the months, the police last week evicted the protestors. On Wednesday, the police arrested VK Joy, an activist who has been rallying support for the Dalit protestors, under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act. The police alleged that Joy had abused workers of the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha who opposed the protest being moved to the premises of their office.
The Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha was formed in the 1970s to work for the welfare of the Pulaya community. It split in the 1990s, with the faction headed by TV Babu joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Front in 2016. The other faction headed by Punnala Sreekumar remains independent. The Sabha’s Vadayampady chapter owes allegiance to the Babu faction.
“Police and local BJP leaders put pressure on the KPMS workers who are not living in our area to file a complaint against Joy and it resulted in his arrest,” said Mohanan, a protestor.
The temple committee erected a new entrance after the police evicted the protestors. Photo credit: TA Ameerudheen
Police action
On January 16, the police had issued a notice telling the protestors to dismantle the tent as it would cause inconvenience to devotees attending the annual temple festival, which was held from January 22 to 25. The protestors refused.
After the protestors were evicted, the temple committee hurriedly erected a metal entrance next to where the shelter had stood.
By dismantling the tent, the protesters alleged, the police and temple officials had violated a peace accord negotiated by the Ernakulam collector in June. The accord was to maintain status quo until a final court verdict was announced.
The society had gone to the Kerala High Court in February 2017 armed with a title deed for 95 cents of land adjacent to the temple. It claimed to have received the land from the government in 1981, and sought police protection to construct a wall around it. In a ruling on February 22, the court held that “the land assignment order was valid and if the Nair Service Society wanted to enclose the property along with the remaining temple property that cannot be objected to by anyone”. It also told the police to provide security till the wall was built.
The High Court, however, did not settle the question of whether the title deed was valid, leaving it to a civil court where the society had separately filed a claim. The case is pending.
On their part, the protesters said they have doubts about the veracity of the title deed. “A Right to Information application revealed that records of the NSS [Nair Service Society] getting the title deed were missing from Aikkaranad village and Kunnathunadu taluk office,” claimed Arun Chellappan, who had filed the application. “We think it was a clandestine deal.”
The Nair Service Society rejected the allegation, insisting the land was granted to the temple by the government. “Temple committee has the right to protect its property,” said Ramesh Kumar, president of the committee and also the Nair Service Society. The temple is said to have been built around 150 years ago.
Dalits in Vadayampady pulled down this wall built by the Nair Service Society on April 14, 2017. Photo credit: TA Ameerudheen
Caste wall
Kutty said Dalits in Vadayampady did not feel caste discrimination until 2016. “Earlier, we used to help the temple committee organise the festival,” he said. “I was the convener of the festival committee in 2012. Things came to head with the wall construction. It was a caste wall built to keep Dalits away from using the playground and the temple.”
But Kumar of the Nair Service Society insisted his community opposed the practice of untouchability. As for the wall, he said the temple committee had decided to build it in January 2017. “It was done to protect the temple land,” he said. “But we kept three gates for the local people to enter the ground.”
Kutty countered, “They kept the gates locked all the time. It was like telling us not to trespass.”
Angered by the attitude of upper-caste Hindus, many Dalit villagers have stopped visiting the temple. “No one would prevent us from entering the temple,” said Vijaya, a Dalit resident of Bhajana Madam colony. “But we decided not to go there. They consider us second-class citizens.”
They even kept away from the annual temple festival last week as a mark of protest. “We do not want to associate with them after all that has happened,” said Bindu, a resident of Laksham Veedu colony.
Protesters cook food at the Kerala Pulaya Maha Sabah office in Vadayampady. Photo: TA Ameerudheen
‘RSS support’
On the other side, a temple official who asked not to be identified said they would be forced to seek support from organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh if the agitation by the Dalits continued. “The Sangh Parivar outfits have been in touch with us ever since this fresh round of agitation began,” he said. “We have been restraining them. But we will be forced to use their help if things do not improve.”
The circle inspector confirmed that Hinduvta groups “are planning to protect the temple”.
Kutty and fellow protestors take these whispers about the Sangh Parivar as a veiled threat, but insist they are not scared. “We will continue to fight till our death,” Kutty said. “The government must notify the land grabbed by the Nair Service Society as public property.”
As if to buttress his point, Kutty claimed that some of the protesters had planned to immolate themselves during Sunday’s police action. “We had stocked diesel in the tent, but the police found it before we could grab it,” he said. “We are not afraid of death. It is a fight for our dignity.”
A police official confirmed that a barrel containing nine litres of diesel was seized from the protestors’ tent on Sunday.
The Dalit activists are now collecting records to challenge the Nair Service Society legally, Kutty said. “Apart from continuing with the protest, we will challenge the Nair Service Society in the courts too.”
Uttar Pradesh: 1 dead, 4 injured in clashes in Amethi; heavy police deployed
Police action against Dalit villagers protesting a ‘caste wall’ bares old fissures in Kerala
Pulayas and Naikas of Vadayampady accuse upper-caste Nairs of grabbing public land and erecting a wall around the plot to bar them from the village temple.
TA Ameerudheen
TA Ameerudheen
“Who said untouchability is not practised in Kerala?” asked the Dalit activist MP Ayyappan Kutty. “We pulled down a caste wall erected by upper-caste Hindus to keep Dalits from going near a temple. But they still consider us untouchable.”
For the past 10 months, Kutty has been leading a protest by 180 Dalit families in Vadayampady village of Kerala’s Ernakulam district to reclaim their right of way though land adjacent to a temple run by upper-caste Nair Hindus. The Dalits insist that the plot claimed by the Nair Service Society, a community organisation that runs the Bhajana Madam Devi Temple, is actually public land. The society has rejected the allegation.
On January 21, the protest drew wide media attention when the police dismantled a tent protestors had erected on the ground. They also arrested seven protestors and two journalists covering the demonstration. Abhilash Padacherry, a reporter with a Malayalam news website, and Ananthu Rajagopal, an intern with an English newspaper, were detained on charges of obstructing public servants from performing their duty. They were given bail on Wednesday.
The police action has invited severe criticism. On Wednesday, a group of writers and civil society figures, including K Satchidandan, Sashikumar, Paul Zacharia and NS Madhavan, issued a statement condemning the treatment meted out to the protestors. They particularly took exception to the police’s accusation that the protestors were being incited by Maoists.
But Sajan Xavier, circle inspector of Puthen Cruz, justified the police action. “We have evidence that Maoists and workers of the Social Democratic Party of India and the Jama’at-e-Islami have infiltrated the agitation,” he said. “They are inciting the Dalits against the government. We will not allow this agitation to continue.”
Bhajana Madam Devi Temple in Vadayampady. Photo credit: TA Ameerudheen
Long struggle
The agitation by the Dalit villagers had been launched in March, when the Nair Service Society erected a 10-foot-high wall around the land “to keep away Dalits”. The tension had been brewing since the previous year, when the temple committee allegedly prevented Dalits from organising the traditional Deshavilakku festival on the ground.
“Later, we came to know that they had grabbed the public land,” claimed Kutty, the convener of Bhoo Avakasha Samara Munnani, or the Dalit Land Rights Agitation Front, which is coordinating the protest. “They started building the wall in March 2017 and we pulled it down on April 14, 2017, on Ambedkar Jayanti.”
The presence of the wall forced the Dalit villagers to take a longer route to fetch water from a well on the other side of the ground and deprived their children of a playing area, Kutty said. It also left the Dalit families, who live on small pieces of land given to them by the government, without a place to conduct marriages and other functions.
In Vadayampady, Dalits, who mostly belong to Pulaya and Naika tribes, live in three settlements near the ground – Bhajana Madam Colony, one of Kerala’s first Dalit colonies established in 1967, Laksham Veedu Colony and Settlement Colony. Few Nair families live near the temple.
Said Kutty, who lives in Bhajana Madam Colony: “We lost a social place.”
Despite the peaceful nature of the agitation over the months, the police last week evicted the protestors. On Wednesday, the police arrested VK Joy, an activist who has been rallying support for the Dalit protestors, under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act. The police alleged that Joy had abused workers of the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha who opposed the protest being moved to the premises of their office.
The Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha was formed in the 1970s to work for the welfare of the Pulaya community. It split in the 1990s, with the faction headed by TV Babu joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Front in 2016. The other faction headed by Punnala Sreekumar remains independent. The Sabha’s Vadayampady chapter owes allegiance to the Babu faction.
“Police and local BJP leaders put pressure on the KPMS workers who are not living in our area to file a complaint against Joy and it resulted in his arrest,” said Mohanan, a protestor.
The temple committee erected a new entrance after the police evicted the protestors. Photo credit: TA Ameerudheen
Police action
On January 16, the police had issued a notice telling the protestors to dismantle the tent as it would cause inconvenience to devotees attending the annual temple festival, which was held from January 22 to 25. The protestors refused.
After the protestors were evicted, the temple committee hurriedly erected a metal entrance next to where the shelter had stood.
By dismantling the tent, the protesters alleged, the police and temple officials had violated a peace accord negotiated by the Ernakulam collector in June. The accord was to maintain status quo until a final court verdict was announced.
The society had gone to the Kerala High Court in February 2017 armed with a title deed for 95 cents of land adjacent to the temple. It claimed to have received the land from the government in 1981, and sought police protection to construct a wall around it. In a ruling on February 22, the court held that “the land assignment order was valid and if the Nair Service Society wanted to enclose the property along with the remaining temple property that cannot be objected to by anyone”. It also told the police to provide security till the wall was built.
The High Court, however, did not settle the question of whether the title deed was valid, leaving it to a civil court where the society had separately filed a claim. The case is pending.
On their part, the protesters said they have doubts about the veracity of the title deed. “A Right to Information application revealed that records of the NSS [Nair Service Society] getting the title deed were missing from Aikkaranad village and Kunnathunadu taluk office,” claimed Arun Chellappan, who had filed the application. “We think it was a clandestine deal.”
The Nair Service Society rejected the allegation, insisting the land was granted to the temple by the government. “Temple committee has the right to protect its property,” said Ramesh Kumar, president of the committee and also the Nair Service Society. The temple is said to have been built around 150 years ago.
Dalits in Vadayampady pulled down this wall built by the Nair Service Society on April 14, 2017. Photo credit: TA Ameerudheen
Caste wall
Kutty said Dalits in Vadayampady did not feel caste discrimination until 2016. “Earlier, we used to help the temple committee organise the festival,” he said. “I was the convener of the festival committee in 2012. Things came to head with the wall construction. It was a caste wall built to keep Dalits away from using the playground and the temple.”
But Kumar of the Nair Service Society insisted his community opposed the practice of untouchability. As for the wall, he said the temple committee had decided to build it in January 2017. “It was done to protect the temple land,” he said. “But we kept three gates for the local people to enter the ground.”
Kutty countered, “They kept the gates locked all the time. It was like telling us not to trespass.”
Angered by the attitude of upper-caste Hindus, many Dalit villagers have stopped visiting the temple. “No one would prevent us from entering the temple,” said Vijaya, a Dalit resident of Bhajana Madam colony. “But we decided not to go there. They consider us second-class citizens.”
They even kept away from the annual temple festival last week as a mark of protest. “We do not want to associate with them after all that has happened,” said Bindu, a resident of Laksham Veedu colony.
Protesters cook food at the Kerala Pulaya Maha Sabah office in Vadayampady. Photo: TA Ameerudheen
‘RSS support’
On the other side, a temple official who asked not to be identified said they would be forced to seek support from organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh if the agitation by the Dalits continued. “The Sangh Parivar outfits have been in touch with us ever since this fresh round of agitation began,” he said. “We have been restraining them. But we will be forced to use their help if things do not improve.”
The circle inspector confirmed that Hinduvta groups “are planning to protect the temple”.
Kutty and fellow protestors take these whispers about the Sangh Parivar as a veiled threat, but insist they are not scared. “We will continue to fight till our death,” Kutty said. “The government must notify the land grabbed by the Nair Service Society as public property.”
As if to buttress his point, Kutty claimed that some of the protesters had planned to immolate themselves during Sunday’s police action. “We had stocked diesel in the tent, but the police found it before we could grab it,” he said. “We are not afraid of death. It is a fight for our dignity.”
A police official confirmed that a barrel containing nine litres of diesel was seized from the protestors’ tent on Sunday.
The Dalit activists are now collecting records to challenge the Nair Service Society legally, Kutty said. “Apart from continuing with the protest, we will challenge the Nair Service Society in the courts too.”
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