An uneasy calm prevails in western Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur, after several incidents of caste-based violence were reported from the region. Caste assertions and subsequent face-offs are not unheard of in the area, and the upper-caste Thakurs have sparred with Dalits in the past too. But the Dalits’ increasing assertiveness wasn’t taken very well by the upper castes, who were used to their traditional superiority in society. This has resulted in frequent clashes.
However, a new phenomenon has emerged of late, where Dalit leaders have regrouped, the community reorganised, and lone one-off incidents of clashes transformed into organised resistance movements, where Dalits don’t shy away from standing up to authorities from the upper castes.This new phenomenon is being credited to the rise of the Bheem Army, which had been staging a sit-in in protest ever since clashes broke out last week between Dalits and Thakurs, leaving one person dead and over two dozen injured.They demand equal rights and compensation for those who incurred losses, after 15-20 Dalit houses were burnt. The message in these unified movements is loud and clear: They want justice for the wrongs done to them, and discrimination of any sort will not be tolerated.And this message has bound together an army of 40,000 Dalit youth across seven states in northern India, according to Chandrashekhar, who founded the Bhim Army merely two years ago.
The 30-something lawyer is well-built, often dons a blue scarf and talks of ideas of equality and annihilation of caste. According to a report in The Indian Express, Chandrasheskhar would have gone on to study abroad, but had to scrap his plan because of his ailing father. Staying at his village in Chhutmalpur while looking after his father, he decided that something needed to be done about the upliftment of “his people”, as he thought the political entities touted as Dalit parties are too deeply entrenched in politics to afford to upset the upper castes.Another report in The Quint quotes him as saying, “We need a BSP, but we also need a Bhim Army… political parties must appease all communities: Those lathi-charged for a signboard with their own name on their own land, and those who ordered the lathi-charge.”
Chandrashekhar was referring here to another incident from last year in Gadkauli village, when a major controversy had broken out when some Dalit boys erected a board on their property proclaiming “the great Chamaar” Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Village Gadkauli. According to The Quint, the local Thakurs expressed displeasure over the word “great” and involved the police to work out a compromise. This compromise included blackening of the board. A few days later, a statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar was blackened in the village, and the Dalits already disgruntled by the compromise formula forced on them, roped in Chandrashekhar’s Bhim Sena. Policemen were thrashed, stones were pelted, and the board was re-erected.This incident brought the Bhim Sena into prominence. The mere idea of Dalits standing up to the police was enthralling for many, and since then, Chandrashekhar’s popularity has only swelled.
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