After Huge Dalit Rally In Una, Dalits eaten up by mob, police inaction
AHMEDABAD : It seems Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to stop atrocities against Dalits have fallen on deaf ears.Twenty Dalits were attacked by a crowd at Samter village near Una in Gujarat, while they were returning home after attending a protest rally on Monday evening.
The victims were coming back after attending a Dalit Sammelan in Una town of Gir Somnath district when the attack happened. While the members of the community allege that police didn’t take any action against the culprits, the officials have maintained that the cops lobbed teargas shells to disperse the crowd and resorted to mild lathi-charge.
Balubhai Sarvaiya, one of the four young Dalits who was filmed being thrashed in Una after wrongly being accused of killing a cow, needed eight policemen to escort him to his village last evening. Because of seething caste tension in this south-western part of Gujarat. 19 people, including three policemen, were injured in clashes last evening and are now being treated at a local hospital in Una.
Yesterday, Mr Sarvaiya was among nearly 10,000 people who poured into a school’s grounds to protest against repeated attacks on Dalits in Gujarat. Together, they pledged they will no longer remove dead cows or skin them, refusing to subscribe to poorly-paid and grueling occupations thrust upon lower castes.
After the rally ended, at about 5 pm, Dalits, many of them riding motorcycles, were near the village of Samter, when they say they were attacked by upper castes, who were angered by the rally. Samter is home to nearly half of the 30 men arrested after the video went viral of Mr Sarvaiya and three others being tied to a car and beaten repeatedly
The Dalits who were assaulted yesterday say the police did little to protect them from their attackers. But three policemen were also hospitalized, allegedly when they tried to use batons and tear gas to disperse the angry mob. 26 people have been arrested.
“It was a pre-planned attack, as all the alternate roads were also blocked by them (upper castes). We were attacked in the presence of police. When the situation went out of control, the police fired some tear gas shells on the mob,” alleged Marvibhai Sarvaiya, who was riding a motorcycle, according to news agency pti.
At yesterday’s rally, Dalit leaders announced that in a month, land that was set aside by the government for lower caste farmers must be handed over to them after years of stalling; if those and other rights are not delivered, they warned, they will begin a large protest. At the start of this month, Dalits attacked buses and blocked roads in Ahmedabad to protest against the government’s alleged failure to protect them. The ruling BJP removed Anandiben as Chief Minister a few days later.
Dalits form 8% of Gujarat’s population; the rage over the Una attack has spread to Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, both of which vote soon and have large sections of Dalits.Last weekend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized cow vigilantes or “gau rakshakhs,” stating most use religion as a cover for crimes that have nothing to do with protecting the cow, which is held sacred by Hindus. The vigilantes chase trucks transporting cattle and raid slaughter houses.
Radhika Vemula, mother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula and Balu Sarvaiya, father of one of the victims of Una Dalit flogging incident, hoisted the national flag at the event.Last month, seven Dalits had been brutally beaten up by cow vigilantes in Mota Samadhiyala village.Meanwhile, political parties have hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party for failing to protect the community.
Congress said that by just changing the chief minister in Gujarat won’t stop atrocities against the Dalits. Ruling party’s mindset needs to be changed, the grand old party said.Janata Dal (United) took pot shots at the BJP and RSS saying, both are only interested in lip-service.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said discrimination against Dalits should stop and the onus for this lay on everyone.”Stop attacking my Dalit brethren. If you have to shoot, shoot me, but not my Dalit brothers. This game should stop,” he had said.
