|
The incidents of Gohana, Haryana, on
August 30 th is like a story repeated
thousands of times each year in the rural areas of the country — a case of the
upper caste elite giving vent to their casteist venom against dalits with total
collaboration of the administration, police, political parties, etc. After the
event much crocodile tears are shed by the politicians, and the parliamentary
vultures of dalit/left parties try and make political (vote) capital and the
government tries to barter dalit self-respect for monetary compensation. In this
case the price kept rising gauged on the extent of dalit resentment/retaliation
— first when all seemed quiet the going rate was Rs.5,000 per family; after the
all-Haryana bandh call which turned militant it went up to Rs.50,000; and
finally after the massive clashes of dalits and police on Sept 5th
in Amritsar the price tag went up to a lakh per family. But, no action is taken
against the powerful jat panchayat — the khap — which unleashed the terror. So,
today it is Gohana, earlier Jhajjar, Badhran, Jhind, and numerous other
unreported instances of dalit atrocities in Haryana. But, this time the dalits
of the state were not silent they hit back!!!
The Gohana Tale
In this village the dalits had refused to
do "begar" or forced labour on the lands of the jats. Many dalits in this
village had also improved their economic status with good houses, jobs and
education. All this had become a point of hatred for the jat elite.
On August 27 th
some dalits of Gohana killed a notorious moneylender, Baljeet. There is no
report whatsoever as to the reason for the clash, but the police promptly
arrested Shiv Kumar and his three associates and launched a man-hunt for ten
more dalits. Then the entire one thousand dalits of the village fled the area
fearing jat reprisal. On the morning of the incident the jat panchayat (khap)
met and openly demanded the presence of the CM or else threatened to act on
their own.
By noon, with the CM not arriving, the
1,500 jats gathered there, began to vent their fury on the dalit basti in broad
day-light. In spite of all the open threats and the fleeing of the entire dalit
basti the police were conspicuous by their absence. Equipped with petrol and
local weapons they began looting and ransacking houses and then setting them on
fire. Had the dalits not fled the village many would have been killed, such was
the intensity of the fury unleashed on the basti. Upper caste venom cannot
tolerate even the slightest assertion of dalits; even a small rise in their
economic status is sufficient to trigger their casteist fury. Here not only had
they come up the economic ladder, they refused to do "begar" and even had the
‘audacity’ to challenge a money-lending shark. All the 54 houses of the dalits
were ransacked and looted and then burnt down. Property worth crores was
destroyed.
After all had been destroyed the police
turn up and declare section 144 for fear their may be retaliation against the
jats and to protect them from dalit anger. For days not a single person was
arrested. The police and administration, including the IG of police, again and
again repeated that this was not a casteist attack but merely public anger to
the killing of Baljit. They went out of their way to give the jats a clean chit.
On the next day the so-called
‘sarvajatiya panchayat’ attended by the sarpanches from 96 villages, with 5,000
people in attendance, also termed the burning of houses as not a casteist attack
but as a retaliation against the killing of Baljeet. They demanded the immediate
arrest of the accused in the ‘murder’. They gave the police a deadline of two
days to do so. They claimed that the 23 charged with the burning and loot were
not true, it was done by others. The aggressive tone of the panchayats comes
from their confidence of the full backing of the state machinery. In fact the IG
of police ‘confirmed’ that the 14 dalits charged with the ‘murder’ had criminal
backgrounds and were hunting for the ten not yet arrested. Their arrogance went
so far that at a so-called ‘sarvajatiya panchayat’ on Sept 8 th
they called for the release of even the few who had been arrested in the carnage
and against giving even the Rs. 1 lakh monetary compensation to the dalits. No
one is even mentioning a word to recover the properties looted and now in the
houses of the upper caste hoodlums.
Today the dalits of Gohana have lost
everything. There is absolutely no talk of retrieving the property looted by the
upper-caste mobs. Even after a week of the incident though 23 have been
mentioned in the charge-sheet only 4 have been arrested. The dalits of Gohana
reported to a fact-finding team that visited the area that they feared the
police as much as the upper-caste mob. Ever since they arrested even the elderly
mother of 70 and wife Babli (42) of Shiv Kumar Kaka, the main accused in the
killing of the moneylender, they have feared the police will arrest many. But
now a police camp has been set up, ostensibly for their protection. The police
have been ‘cleaning’ up the houses even before the residents return in a bid to
cover up the damage. Most have lost all their property and life savings and
there is not water or even electricity in most of the burnt-down houses.
The police attack is not surprising as
the upper-caste moneylender wielded enormous power in the area. So, much so that
at his 13 th day function (tehravin)
there was in attendance several MLAs and even the Chief Minister’s son!!!
The Political Vultures
It is clear from all reports that the BJP
MP of the region was directly involved in the attack on dalits. His son and
brother were said to be present during the action instigating the crowd. But no
action has been taken against them. On the contrary the BJP has been organising
the Valmiki Mahapancha-yatas and backing the Valmiki Samaj to form a new party
to break the Cong-ress influence on the community. The INLD has backed these
steps, exonera-ted the BJP and called for the dismissal of the Congress. In
typical duplicity it is they who primarily instigated the mob and now it is they
who are mobilising Valmikis for so-called justice!!!
The Congress government of Haryana gave
full support to their administration and police; yet not to get an anti-dalit
image, made a show of mock sympathy. They sought to barter dalit self-respect
for monetary compensation, taking little or no efforts to catch the culprits.
When crores of property have been destroyed and looted this method of offering
compensation, as to a beggar, was itself humiliating. Hooda also repeated that
because of "police restrain" not a single life was lost — in other words allow
the burning and looting or else lives may have been lost. The Congress Social
Welfare Minister went even one step further, praising the jat panchayats for
being peaceful, and on the contrary issuing veiled threats to the dalits. She
appealed to dalits to "exercise restraint and not be led by anti-social
elements"
Then came the dalit party vultures to
utilize caste affinities to gain votes. Mayavati of the BSP, who had spent the
bulk of her last four months organising 50 Brahaman sammelans in 26 districts of
UP and a maha samme-llan in Lucknow, found time to visit the basti to make a few
demagogic state-ments in order to help her maintain the dalit vote bank. She was
followed by Ram Vilas Paswan who also sought to make political capital. Both
also sought to pacify the dalits, keep them peaceful and merely demanded
compensation.
Also those to turn up were the CPM who
have become now the professional fire-fighters of the Congress to dampen peoples
anger and diffuse protest. They too did not mention a word against the jat
panchayats but merely called for the suspension of officials.
But the dalits had little faith in these
political vultures and instead came out militantly on to the streets.
Dalit Retaliation
The all Haryana bandh on Sept 2 nd
turned militant in many places. There were serious clashes in the Panchakula
near Chandigarh where buses were burnt and a police motorcycle destroyed. Police
resorted to a lathi charge. Road blocks appeared in many places of Haryana and
reports of vehicles being damaged came in from Ambala, Pehowa and Hansi. Markets
were closed in Karnal. Bhiwani and Panipat. In Narwana a bus was burnt.
On Sept 5 th
the agitations continued and spread to Punjab, particularly in Amritsar. An all
Punjab bandh was called on that date. It took a militant turn in many towns of
Punjab. In Amritsar youth roamed the streets with swords and other weapons in
their hands. They smashed property and vehicles. The demonstrators fought
pitched battles with the police and set fire to 17 vehicles. 40 police officials
were said to have been injured in the clashes. It became so violent that a
curfew like situation prevailed, "reminiscent of the days of militancy". The SP
of Police had a narrow escape when the furious crowd pelted stones on his gypsy.
The police retaliated with brutal violence arresting 70 and injuring many. In
Kapurthala about 1,000 dalit youth roamed the streets brandishing swords and
other sharp-edged weapons. They attacked government offices, business
establishments and religious centres creating panic in the city. Bajrang dal and
Akali Dal activists provoked businessmen to open their shops. In Jalandhar
tension prevailed in the Nakodar area and nearby villages. Here the police and
shop-keepers took an aggressive posture against the dalits. In Ropar a complete
bandh was observed. Also there was a total bandh in Rahon town of Nawashahr
district. In Phagwara dalit activists were picked up by the police before any
agitation could start. Yet many educational institutions remained closed on Sept
5th. In Barnala dalit activists
blocked traffic at Court’s Chowk. A similar demonstration was also held at Tapa
at the sub-tehsil office. They also blocked traffic at Taajo Ke Kanchain. In
Hoshiarpur a bandh was observed in various parts of the district.
In all this retaliation not one of the
parties and dalit leaders were to be seen. They were confined to the
peacefulness of their offices and headquarters to issue statements, peaceful
demonstrations, and pathetic demands for action against the authorities. So, the
CPI(ML) Liberation and the New Democracy also issued statements from Delhi. But
what the dalits really need to stop the atrocities is not vote-bank politics
that only further consolidates caste identities, but the mobilization of all
democrats in the battle against the feudal caste elites in the rural areas of
Haryana to break the back of Khap authority.
Attacks on dalits and caste
discrimination and atrocities is not a dalit question it is a democratic
question.
The Dalit Mahpanchayat organised in Delhi
by the Valmiki Samaj with caste representatives from all over India attending
also did not serve much purpose than politicking calling for the dismissal of
the Hooda government with not a work mentioned against the BJP MP, and demanding
Rs.20 lakh compensation. Caste politics kills the growth of a real democratic
movement against the inhumanities of caste oppression and untouchability.
Growing attacks on dalits Countrywide
The Haryana incidents are the mere tip of
the iceberg. In the same week 25 more dalit houses were torched in Akola,
Maharashtra.
Tamilnadu has seen massive clashes of
dalits and upper castes, a recent incident being the Kandadevi temple issue.
Dalits have here sought to partake in the Car festival held every year. Dalits
from the neighbouring villages have been banned from doing so for years. This
year the High Court specifically ordered the administration to see that dalits
should participate. But, around June 17 th,
the day of the festival, plainclothes polce swarmed into the villages persuading
dalits not to go. Dalit local leaders were arrested while others went
underground. The women who started walking towards the temple were stopped and
detained for the whole day at a wedding hall readied by the police. 800 were
thus detained and dalits who lived in the village around the temple were
prevented from entry by the building of barricades. Such is the extent to which
the establishment and upper caste elite go to maintain the ‘sanctity’ of their
places of worship — in spite of the court order. In fact in Tamilnadu Frontline
Magazine has brought out a full anthology of such attacks over the years where
even dalit sarpanches are killed to prevent them getting elected or after they
are elected. The book shows the extent to which attacks have grown in Tamilnadu.
This, in the land of the Dravid movement!!!
In Punjab, according to a report of the
National Commission of SC/ST in the last one year eight dalits have been killed
in police custody. Also the last year has witnessed a number of instances of
violence on dalits such as the recent cases in Kurd village (Bhatinda district)
and Hasnapur village of Sangrur district.
Legislations and UN Resolutions
Meaningless
In 2001 the then government tried its
utmost to prevent the question of caste-based discrimination being raised at the
UN sponsored World Council Against racism. They claimed that they had abolished
the caste system and had provided enough mechanism to do away with castes. Well,
it was raised in spite of the objections and this has helped to bring to the
notice of people around the world of the horrors of the caste system. But the
elite dalit bodies that dabble in such international events play little role in
fighting it at the ground level, where it is really needed. Being UN-sponsored
they seek merely to fit it into the entire globalization framework, with some
human face. So, the Katmandu Dalit Declaration in 2004 sought to provide
"concrete measures" by the very pillars of the oppressive system — NGOs, the
government, FIIs, the Private sector, and the establishment trade unions. And
now in April 2005 the UN Commission on Human Rights has adopted a resolution to
appoint two Special Rapporteurs to do a three-year study on caste-based
discrimination.
These bodies are nothing but a process
for the co-option of a section of the elite dalit crowd and to take them away
further from the reality and brutality in the villages. Other methods of
co-option are also there like the granting this year of the Golden Jubilee Life
Time Achievement Award to the dalit poet, Namdeo Dhasal — a one time leader of
the Dalits Panther movement who later co-habitated with the Hindu fundamentalist
Shiv Sena. Also the caste-based panchayats, as those of the Valmiki Samaj, that
have got hyperactive after Gohana, are nothing but outfits by leaders of the
community to bargain their caste votes to the highest bidder in the electoral
fray. Most act as tools of one party or the other and in no way help fight caste
oppression and the increasing atrocities.
The time has come for all genuine
democrats of all castes and communities to join with the dalits in the concrete
battles against caste discrimination, caste atrocities, caste humiliation and
all the other forms of subtle and not so subtle caste biases. Let no longer
caste oppression be a dalit question, but a democratic question of all the
progressive forces in the country.
Also the dalits would soon realize that
they can never get justice within this system. Their humiliation and derogatory
existence will continue as long as the feudal basis of this system remains. They
should not fall prey to the duplicity of their caste ‘leaders’ who seek only to
bargain their votes to the ruling parties for monetary favours. It is only by
joining the revolutionary mainstream that they can get justice.
In Gohana the first task would be to
smash these Khap panchayats (and the state machinery that backs them) that wield
feudal authority in the villages by mobilising the masses and fighting back
unitedly not only against dalit oppression but all oppression and replacing this
feudal authority with the authority of the oppressed masses. For this the poor
and the middle amongst upper castes must be made to realize that their future
does not lie in their egotistic maintenance of upper-caste superiority but in
allying with the other oppressed classes and castes to also overthrow the feudal
authority of the Jat elite which also keeps them in a state of poverty though
giving the appearance of a make-believe world of superiority. But such a unity
of the oppressed is only possible by first-and-foremost educating the
upper-castes to give up their casteist prejudices, not by ignoring these, and by
jointly taking up issues of exploitation and oppression. Firm dalit assertion of
their self-respect also helps this process if it is directed in a correct
direction.
|
