Ground Zero Saharanpur: We were Hindus only till polling, Dalits complain

[The_Showstopper]

Ground Zero Saharanpur: We were Hindus only till polling, Dalits complain

Ground Zero Saharanpur: We were Hindus only till polling, Dalits complain

“When the elections come around, we are seen as Hindus. But as soon as they end, we again become chamars, jhimars, valmikis,” Lokesh Kumar, a Dalit, says, as we chat under a tree in the courtyard of the Ravidas Hostel in Saharanpur.

Lokesh, one of almost 80 students who stay in this 16-room building, is preparing for a teaching job.

Monu Kumar, another student pursuing MSc at a local college, reluctantly pitches in: “We also voted for the BJP. See what they are doing to us.”

The tension is palpable as more residents come out to the courtyard.

The Ravidas Hostel, painted in yellow and white colours, a reminder of Raj Era architecture with semi-circular arches, was established in 1952. A Ravidas temple seems to have come up later at its entrance – the glossy tiles on its walls are a mismatch to the older building.

Since Tuesday, when a mob said to be hundreds strong, engaged in arson in multiple places on the periphery of the Saharanpur city, attacking police, members of the district administration, and even mediapersons, the mention of the hostel inadvertently comes up in most conversations about the incident.

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Residents at the Ravidas Hostel in Saharanpur
Sadiq Naqvi/Catch NewsResidents at the Ravidas Hostel in Saharanpur." data-reactid="38" style="margin-bottom: 1em;">Sadiq Naqvi/Catch NewsResidents at the Ravidas Hostel in Saharanpur.

The Bhim Army
The mob, comprising of mostly youth, belongs to a group which calls itself the Bhim Army. Some locals call Ravidas Hostel, 'the adda' for all the planning and the venue for the meetings of the organisation.

The Tuesday violence which followed the May 5 incident in Shabbirpur village, exposed the divide in this deeply casteist region. It also comes on the heels of the municipal elections.

In Shabbirpur, a village with a sizeable population of both the Dalits and the Thakurs, violence erupted after Dalits attacked an unplanned procession of Rajputs celebrating Maharana Pratap Jayanti. In retaliation, several Dalit houses were burnt by the Rajputs in the two villages of Shabbirpur and Maheshpur.

The Tuesday violence by the Bhim Sena, the armed group claims, was a result of the angst against the partisan attitude of the administration against the Dalits. The group is headed by one Chandrashekhar, a lawyer, and claims to have more than 40,000 members in multiple states. The figure may be an exaggeration, locals point out, as most of them are not even aware of its existence.

Youth at the Ravidas hostel, meanwhile, seem to be reluctant to talk about the Bhim Army. Most of its members have gone underground since the Tuesday incident. The organisation faces more than two dozen criminal cases now. SSP SC Dubey says the police has activated all its wings, including the ATS, the STF and the intelligence branches, to go to the root of the incident. A few, high value, strategic arrests, as he put it, are likely in the coming days.

“If a Dalit woman is attacked, it is seen as a routine incident. If a Brahmin is attacked, it makes to prime time and front pages. Why?” Karamchand, who deals in-second hand cars asks this reporter. “Why is it that no compensation was announced for those Dalits whose houses were torched? Is it not a bias?” he says.

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Karamchand (right) deals in second-hand cars
Sadiq Naqvi/Catch NewsKaramchand (right) deals in second-hand cars." data-reactid="66" style="margin-bottom: 1em;">Sadiq Naqvi/Catch NewsKaramchand (right) deals in second-hand cars.

The Shabbirpur incident
The 5 May violence in Shabbirpur has a background. The locals wanted an Ambedkar statue installed at the entrance of the village, something which was opposed by the local Thakurs.

“The Dalits houses are the first ones at the entry,” says Nathi Singh, vice-president of the All India Kshatriya Sabha. “It was opposed by the Rajputs for they were not comfortable with such a big statue at the entrance,” Singh claims.

So when on 5 May, the Thakurs, not just from the nearby villages but also from other districts, were heading to Simlana to take part in the Maharana Pratap Jayanti celebrations, “dancing and singing” and even wielding “weapons” as some local eyewitnesses claim, the procession was attacked with stones by the local Dalits. Sumit, from Rasoolpur village, succumbed to his injuries.


https://in.news.yahoo.com/ground-zero-saharanpur-were-hindus-172100346.html

 

[The_Showstopper]

Ambedkarite 2.0: Saharanpur's Bhim Army signals the rise of a new, aggressive Dalit politics
The BSP's failure to articulate Dalit grievances has given birth to a brand of belligerent Dalit politics in western Uttar Pradesh.

Chandrashekhar Azad’s small room has a total of four posters of Bhimrao Ambedkar and one each of Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram, Dalit reformer Jyotirao Phule and the Buddha. There is also an Ambedkar quote: “Go! write this on the walls of your house: we rule this country.”

Below the posters sits Chandrashekhar’s worried family. His mother periodically breaks out into sobs. Chandrashekhar’s two brothers (one of them named Bhagat Singh) stand by, frowning. Two days back, Chandrashekhar fled his home village of Chhutmalpur in western Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district. He and the organisation he started, the Bhim Army, is being blamed for violence in Saharanpur town on May 9, where clashes took place between agitating Dalits and the police. Dalit organisations were protesting an upper caste attack on Dalit homes four days earlier.

The May 9 incident has resulted in a police crackdown on the Bhim Army. Many of its leaders are either under arrest or – like Chandrashekhar – in hiding. On Friday, the Uttar Pradesh police even said that it would investigate whether the Bhim Army had Naxal links and claimed it was ready to use the draconian National Security Act on the Dalit organisation’s leaders.

Formed two years ago to fight caste discrimination, the current incident illustrates the rapid growth of the Bhim Army and the appeal of its aggressive stance among the region’s Dalits, marking the emergence of a new style of Ambedkarite politics.

Maharana Pratap versus Ambedkar
The current round of caste violence started on April 14, Bhimrao Ambedkar’s 126th birth anniversary. In Shabbirpur village, in the district of Saharanpur, Dalits of the Jatav caste wanted to install a statue of the reformer to mark the occasion. However, the upper caste Thakurs of their village stopped them, demanding that the Dalits first obtain permission from the administration.

The matter festered till May 5 – the birth anniversary of the Rajput king Maharana Pratap. The Thakurs of Shabbirpur village took out their own procession, only to be stopped by the village’s Dalits. Did the Thakurs have permission to celebrate Pratap’s anniversary? If the Dalits needed permission to install a statue of Ambedkar, this would need permission too.

"Bhim Army" and "Jai Bhim" stickers in Chandrashekhar's house.
Enraged by what they saw as the impertinence of the Dalits, Thakurs sacked the Dalit quarter of Shabbirpur. Dalits claim that the Thakurs assaulted them, set fire to their houses and even desecrated their Sant Ravi Das temple. Thakurs, in turn, claim that Dalits killed one person, even as the Jatavs insist he accidentally suffocated himself to death while torching Dalit homes.

In response, Dalits organised a protest meet in Saharanpur city on May 9. While not held under the banner of the Bhim Army, the organisation had an important role to play, using its strong network across the district to mobilise Dalit youth. The May 9 protests descended into police-Dalit clashes, with each side blaming the other for starting the fight. Protestors attacked a Maharana Pratap memorial in the city and videos of policemen being beaten up circulated after the incident.

While caste oppression is not new to these parts, what surprised the administration was the aggressive Dalit demand on May 9 for justice in the Shabbirpur attack – an aggression best symbolised by the Bhim Army, which is now being blamed for the violence by the police.

An Ambedkarite army
Chandrashekhar started the Bhim Army in 2015, as a tool to fight caste oppression. “At the AHP inter-college, Thakur boys broke a Dalit’s hand because he drank water before them,” recounts Vinay Ratan Singh, National President of the Bhim Army. “Dalits were humiliated by the Thakurs and forced to clean classroom benches.” The Bhim Army intervened, providing muscle to the bullied Dalit students. “After that, they stopped beating out boys,” concluded Vinay Ratan laconically.

A few months later, the Bhim Army was called in as Thakurs objected to a board which read “The Great Chamar”. So deep was caste sentiment in the region that upper castes could not stand the board’s trimphalist message – even though it was on private land. Again, the Bhim Army’s intervention prevented the Thakurs from having their way. In another incident, a Dalit groom was forced off his horse by Thakurs. The village’s Dalits phoned the Bhim Army and sure enough the groom was soon back on his steed, honour restored.

"The Great Chamar" board in Gharkauli village, Saharanpur district.
“We were working on the ideals of Babasaheb [Ambedkar],” explained Vinay Ratan Singh. “Apart from stopping caste oppression, we started Bhim Army pathshalas, schools, where seniors Dalit students helped out their juniors in order to overcome the poor quality of teaching in government schools.”

“Chandrashekar was not afraid of anyone,”Vinay Ratan said. “We fought caste oppression head on in Saharanpur; that’s why people know us.” On Bhim Army posters, Chandrashekhar wears blue aviators, sports a thick chevron moustache and uses the nickname “Raavan”, the antagonist of the Hindu epic Ramayana – a name thick with symbolism in a state where the epic’s protagonist Ram is a major religio-political figure. “Raavan respected woman. He never laid a finger on Sita and waged war to avenge his sister Surpanakha’s insult,” explained Vinay Ratan. “That’s why Chandrashekhar used that name. He wanted to be like Raavan and respect women.”

Fighting for Dalit-Muslim unity
Vinay Ratan brings in a communal angle to the story so far. On April 20, the Bharatiya Janata Party had taken out a march in Sadak Dhudhali village, Saharanpur, to belatedly celebrate Ambedkar’s birth anniversary (which was on April 14). The march, which did not get permission from the police, led to clashes in a Muslim locality. In anger, the BJP MP Lakhanpal Sharma, who had led the march, attacked the house of the senior superintendent of police.

“Why did they celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti six days after Babasaheb’s birth anniversary? asked Vinay Ratan “And why make it pass through a Muslim area with slogans like “Is desh main rehna hoga, to Yogi-Yogi kehna hoga” – if you have to stay in this country, you will have to chant the name of [Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath] Yogi?

The Bhim Army claimed that the BJP had called them to the April 20 event, but they refused to go. “We knew this was being done to polarise people, divide Muslims and Dalits for the upcoming Saharanpur Municipal elections,” said Praveen Gautam, head of the Bhim Army in Saharanpur town. “This angered the BJP and now they are taking their revenge by arresting us and calling us terrorists.”

Video: Chandrashekhar calling the Sadak Dhudhali riot as one organised by the BJP for political gain [Hindi].

Saharanpur’s senior superintendent of police Subhash Dubey has announced that an investigation will be carried out to determine whether the Bhim Army has links with Naxal groups. The Uttar Pradesh police has also announced the use of the draconian National Security Act against the Bhim Army. “We raised our voice against caste atrocities walked on the path of Babasaheb, and for that we get termed terrorists?” asks Kamal Singh Waliya, speaking to Scroll.in on the phone. Waliya is the Saharanpur district head of the Bhim Army and is now in hiding.

A new aggression
While the police have presented little evidence to back up serious allegations such as Naxal links, the Bhim Army does signify a new, aggressive phase in Dalit politics. Western Uttar Pradesh has a long history of Dalit mobilisation and it was here that the Bahujan Samaj Party struck roots as north Indian politics was Mandalised in the 1980s. In 1984, Mayawati fought her first Lok Sabha election from Kairana, two hours from Saharanpur town.

The Bhim Army, though, is both an outcome of this Dalit mobilisation as well as the BSP’s recent reverses. “The Dalit is in despair since no one raises their issues, not even the BSP,” explained Satish Prakash, a professor at Meerut University and a Dalit intellectual. “Faced with a lack of response from mainstream political parties, the Dalit in Saharanpur has turned to organisations such as the Bhim Army to address caste atrocities.”

There is bubbling resentment against Mayawati for her lack of strong response after the Shabbirpur assault too. “There is anger in Dalit society since there has been no concrete statement by Mayawati,” says Praveen Gautam, head of the Bhim Army in Saharanpur town. “She is more interested in her vote bank than Dalit welfare.”

The Bhim Army’s aggressive style is spreading beyond Saharanpur. On May 11, Dalits in Meerut felt slighted that Chief Minister Adityanath had declined to garland an Ambedkar state while on a visit to a Dalit neighbourhood. In response, they shouted slogans against Adityanath and went on a rampage, even as the chief minister had to be spirited out by the police.

The Ambedkar statue in Meerut which Adityanath did not garland.
A doctorate from Meerut University, Sushil Gautam supports bellicose attempts to assert Dalit rights like in Saharanpur and Meerut. “The Bhim Army is doing the right thing,” argues Gautam. “Yahaan daliton ke paas chetna hai, par woh kaafi nahin: ab hamen lath bhi uthana hai.” The Dalits here have political consciousness but that’s not enough – we also need to pick up a stick.

Source: https://scroll.in/article/837494/am...s-the-rise-of-a-new-aggressive-dalit-politics

 

[The_Showstopper]

 

[Gadkari]

Interesting article.

SP Lawless and castiest governance in UP has given life to vigilante groups in society.

So Hindus had to form Hindu Yuva Vahini, and Dalits have formed Bhim sena.

But it would be a mistake for dalit sena to try and use the same goonish tactics against Yogi, as they have used against the SP govt. Yogi will crack down HARD.

Its better for dalits to work WITH Yogi rather than against Yogi if they want what is best for their community.

 

[Gadkari]

An interesting and educative video,

 

[The_Showstopper]

 

[Imran Khan]

its not only them we feel same here too

 

[IndoCarib]

Uttar Pradesh crime stats: 699 murders in 45 days of Akhilesh Yadav's rule

In the backfoot over deterioration of law and order in the Uttar Pradesh (UP) after it came to power in March earlier this year, the Samajwadi Party (SP) government released crime stats in the state assembly claiming that between March 1 to April 15, only 699 cases of murder, 263 rape cases and 249 incidents of loot have taken place in the state.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...Akhilesh-Yadavs-rule/articleshow/14062681.cms

Did any body make a meme of Secular Akhilesh and posted on forums back then ?

 

[Imran Khan]

 

[adil_minhas]

It starts.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

@Nilgiri

@ranjeet

@Roybot

@Robinhood Pandey

@Soumitra

 

[The_Showstopper]

 

[adil_minhas]

View attachment 399191

Wait till they start on the south.

 

[IndoCarib]

@The_Showstopper
stop shedding crocodile tears for Dalits. They are not exactly saints as secular liberals paint them to be
Saharanpur violence: the fallacy of the conventional narrative

Reports of how the upper-caste Rajput (Thakur) community attacked homes of poor Dalits in Saharanpur has hogged headlines in mainstream media. The same narrative has lionised a little-known Dalit outfit Bhim Army for taking on the so-called dominant Thakurs over injustice being meted out to them. This is the same organisation that doesn’t take no for an answer and held a rally in Jantar Mantar despite being denied permission by Delhi Police. Yet the focus remains oppression of Dalits, rather than the more serious issue of Union home ministry remaining a mute spectator to arm-twisting tactics by the Bhim Army.

There is no question that Dalit oppression is a serious issue in the country but this doesn’t mean that every incident of a Dalit clash should automatically be seen from the same prism, irrespective of the facts of the case.

https://twitter.com/x/status/866908277954576384

After this incident, Dalits wanted to organise a mahapanchayat to protest against Thakur brutality. Local administration denied permission to them as emotions were running high and it could have led to further violence. It was then that the Bhim Army and its founder, Chandrashekhar, circulated fake and objectionable material on whatsapp and social media about the May 5 incident to incite Dalits. This eventually resulted in supporters of Bhim Army clashing with the police on May 9 which saw nearly 20 vehicles being torched and loss of livelihood for the common man. Chandrashekhar and his associates have been absconding since then and have been booked for trying to instigating people from different communities and creating an atmosphere of violence. The fact is that not only did one person belonging to the Thakur community lose his life but Dalit organisations too brazenly took the law into their own hands. Yet, the public narrative that has framed this incident is based on the conventional lens of Dalits being at the receiving end.

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatime...ce-the-fallacy-of-the-conventional-narrative/

 

[The_Showstopper]

Wait till they start on the south.

I don't think they can anytime soon.

 

[adil_minhas]

I don't think they can anytime soon.

Wait.

Two years to go.

It's coming.

Hindi.