Prema Negi in conversation with renowned Dalit writer Sharan Kumar Limbale:
Sharan Kumar Limbale
How would you define Bahujan?
Bahujan means many people. In Uttar Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party came into existence for the Bahujans. Kanshi Ram gave political clothing to the concept of Bahujans and tried to implement Babasaheb’s thoughts on the ground. The credit for defining and publicizing the word “Bahujan” in the Hindi belt must go to Kanshi Ram. In Maharashtra, many conventions have been organized to popularize the concept of Bahujan literature. However, those at the forefront of the Bahujan literary movement in Maharashtra are not SCs or STs but OBCs. A fairly large number of seminars, meetings and conventions on this issue have been organized in the state. In convention after convention, it was stressed that all backward and Dalit castes should be brought under the umbrella of Bahujans. The concept of Bahujan literature predates the Mandal Commission. Kancha Ilaiah, who comes from an OBC background, took a major initiative in this direction. His book Why I am not a Hindu subtitled “A Sudra critique of Hindutva philosophy, culture and political economy” makes it clear that every feature of Hindu religion is designed to oppress Dalitbahujans in one way or the other. This book should form one of the basic documents of the Bahujan discourse. In this book, Kancha Ilaiah also raises issues pertaining to women. He says that despite Saraswati being the goddess of knowledge in the Hindu religion, women were never allowed to study and despite Laxmi being the goddess of wealth, women never got property rights. In Maharashtra, Dalit Movement had begun with the movement of the Dalit Panthers in the 1970s. Dalit discourse began in the Hindi belt quite late and OBC discourse is in its initial stages.
After Dalit and women’s discourse, why is the need for OBC discourse being felt now?
People have woken up to the need for OBC discourse owing to the success of Dalit movements and literature. A new round of OBC discourse, inspired by Phule and Ambedkar, has begun. Phule and Ambedkar are the guiding lights of this discourse. The OBCs are gradually realizing that the savarnas used them as tools for centuries and that is also one reason why this discourse is marching ahead. The Mandal Commission not only gave a new direction but also a new tenor and a new face to the OBC discourse. This has also benefited the Dalit movement as the OBCs are now aligning with the Dalits and their coming together is strengthening the progressive forces. The expansion of education after Independence has led to writers emerging from the ranks of such castes and communities that could never boast of literary talents. As far as Bahujan literature is concerned, its format was more of a movement than of a consciousness. However, the Mandal Commission led to the spreading of the consciousness. As OBCs started getting educated, they felt the need for a movement. Around 60 per cent of the country’s population is OBC and today, they are conscious of their strength. In these circumstances, it would have been surprising had a discourse not begun.
Can a non-Dalit writer express the pain of the Dalits in the same way as a Dalit writer?
A non-Dalit writer can express the pain of the Dalits but with certain limitations. And there are reasons for this. The writings of non-Dalit writers are based on what they think; those of Dalit writers, on what they feel. This difference is palpable when one reads the writings of Dalit and non-Dalit writers. Over the last couple of years, innumerable stories and novels centred on Dalits have been written in Hindi and Marathi by non-Dalits, but these are more virtual than real. Now, what the Dalits are writing is based on their personal experience. But this is being projected in a wrong way. A message is being sent out that Dalit writers do not want non-Dalits to join the Dalit discourse or write anything about them. One question that naturally arises in this context is why this question was raised only after the Dalits began giving expression to their pain. Why was nothing written about the Dalits earlier? I want to know where these so-called pillars of literature were when the Dalits were being oppressed and suppressed. Why did they not spare a word for them? They are now conspiring to widen the chasm between the Dalits and the non-Dalits.
Why is the presence of women in Dalit Literature so small?
Women seem to be in the margins in Dalit Literature because Dalit women writers have yet to start writing in the true sense. Some Dalit women have become articulate. With time, their numbers will rise. Those who belong to the new generation are acquiring education. It would be natural for them to pick up the pen to document the pains and miseries, oppression and exploitation of their communities. But it is true that to date, Dalit women writers have not gone beyond autobiographical accounts. Secondly, a woman is a woman – no matter which community she belongs to. Dalit men are as patriarchal as non-Dalits. They ill-treat women as much as savarna men do.
Some say that OBC is only a political category.
Bahujan is a political category and so is Dalit. The literature of Dalits, however, is not only political. That is because we are raising our voice against tradition, caste, inequality, social evils and inertia. We are writing to build an equitable society, which definitely falls in the category of political writing. The backwards are not writing for the heck of it. Their writing has a definite objective. They have set out to achieve something.
How will dividing literature into different castes and camps affect democratic values?
This question sounds very logical but in reality it is not. When the Dalits are negating the caste system, who are the people who are branding their literature as Dalit-Backwards? It is not the Dalits but the savarnas who have divided literature into various castes and camps. We all have to work jointly to ensure that literature is not divided into castes and camps. But this does not seem to be happening. We are being branded because we are talking against the caste system.
How do you the view the initiative to bring the Shudra, Ati-Shudra, women’s and Tribal literature under one umbrella as part of the endeavour to establish the concept of Bahujan literature?Undoubtedly this is a very good initiative and it should be welcomed. I and many other thinkers believe that the tragedy of Shudras, Ati-Shudras, women and Tribals is the same. But as far as bringing the literature of all of them under the umbrella of Bahujan literature is concerned, it is an ideal which, like most ideals, is unachievable. And that is because of the cultural diversities. For instance, the Tribals are entirely different from others and their exploiter is the capitalist system, not society. Hierarchies accentuate these differences, and this is something that cannot be changed overnight. This can be understood by an example. Small plants cannot grow under a big tree. They need a separate place. Similarly, Shudras, Ati-Shudras, women, Tribals – they are different streams which will be able to grow and develop only if they are allowed to grow independently. Once they are developed, we can think about bringing them under one umbrella. But till now, they have not got an opportunity to grow. That is why they should be allowed to come forward in the way they want to; let them become vocal against injustice, let us leave them to themselves. What is most important is that they are breaking their silence. This will lead to the building of a new society. Every stream is giving birth to new heroes with new ideas, their circle is widening, their horizon is widening. In a sense, this is also an initiative to strengthen democracy.
It is often alleged that the historiography of Hindi literature did not objectively review and critique Kabir and dismissed him by describing him merely as a poet of “khandan-mandan” (one who puts forth only arguments and counterarguments). And in this context, the need for his objective assessment through OBC criticism is being emphasized. Your take?
Yes, that is true. But Kabir is a poet from another time, so is the novelist Premchand. They cannot be used as parameters for the evaluation of today’s OBC literature. This is modern Bahujan literature. How can Kabir be its parameter? Of course, Kabir can be critiqued and assessed in the historical context. As for the literature of the Backwards, it was written post Independence. Kabir lived much much earlier. Kabir was great. We should discuss him but not in the context of OBC literature. Ambedkar had said, “I have three gurus: Buddha, Kabir and Jotiba Phule.” But Kabir does not impress me much. He was basically a spiritual thinker. We are Dalit-OBC thinkers. Similarly, women’s discourse is also political, not spiritual. Bahujan literature is also not spiritual. The writers are writing about their rights, their oppression. I believe that linking Kabir with today’s Bahujan writers would not be doing injustice to Kabir but to the Bahujan writers. Today, we have to expand Bahujan Literature, critique it. We need not compare it with what Kabir had said. Those who want to confine Bahujan discourse to Buddha and Kabir want it to lose its way. Word is the biggest weapon of the writers from the OBC communities.
Jotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule were among those personalities who ushered in the modern age in India. They opposed the caste system and the brahmanical inertia. They advocated improvement in the economic condition of farmers. But why are both of them missing from the history of Hindi literature and criticism – and this, despite the fact that a large number of Hindi writers and critics were progressives?
If the Phule couple is missing from Hindi Literature it is because Hindi criticism has mainly been spiritual. It kept on revolving in the orbit of Hindu religion around Tulsi, Sur and Kabir. I don’t know when the critics and reviewers of Hindi literature will get rid of ancient spiritual gurus. That, even in the 21st century, the Untouchables cannot enter temples does not worry them. In a way, history and culture are tools of exploitation. A new India is being built after Independence but our Hindi writers are irresponsible. Independent India has failed to build an independent culture. Though I do not believe in God, I pray to him to free Hindi from Kabir and Premchand. Hindi literature is not idealistic. Much has been written against women, Dalits and Tribals in it. We have to reject it. A new way of thinking is not talked about. Our reviewers and critics do not know the problems that are confronting us. And that is why there is no new discourse. The Hindi critics have a closed mind; they are intellectual pygmies. Instead of grappling with cultural issues, they are obsessed with history and tradition. I reject them outright. Now, new critics should emerge from the ranks of Dalits, Tribals and women.
All paintings by Dr Lal Ratnakar
In Hindi literature, the Bhakti, progressive and Nai Kahani movements were considered part of the mainstream but the Dalit, women’s and Tribal literature – that laid the foundation of social justice and equality – is still on the margins. Why is it so?Whether it is Bhakti or progressive or Nai Kahani Movements, they were all not mainstream movements but movements of the savarnas. Does mainstream mean Brahmin? I say it is wrong to consider them mainstream movements. Savarnas were dominating literature till recently. But now, writers have changed, their caste has changed, the caste of literature has changed, and the caste of thinkers has changed. Democracy has demolished the culture of inertia that was thousands of years old. Brahmins have lost their privileges. And that is why they are talking of mainstream and back-stream. What should have happened was that what was written by the others should have been considered mainstream. I put what is described as the mainstream literature in the dock. It is the stream of caste, it is a stream of confusion, it represents savarna mindset, it glorifies old traditions and wrong practices. Since only one caste had a monopoly over the acquisition of knowledge, what its members said or wrote was declared the mainstream. With the expansion of education, writers arose from different castes and the bastions of domination crumbled. Now they are in a state of panic. I want to make it clear that I am not saying that all Brahmin writers are casteist. I am only against the brahmanical system, not progressive Brahmins. Progressive thoughts could not transcend the boundaries of caste. I do not give any importance to such a mainstream; we do not need it. When the real mainstream is built, it will include Dalits, women, Tribals and all others.
What is the difference in the Dalit consciousness of Hindi and Marathi literature?
There are significant differences between Hindi and Marathi writers. Marathi writers are associated with a movement, hence they are aggressive. The Hindi writers are government servants. They are obsessed with the “mainstream” mindset. Hindi literature is not a rebel literature; it lacks the aggressiveness of Marathi literature. Unlike Marathi, Hindi literature has not given voice to the Dalit movement. Secondly, Hindi writers have the advantage of being close to the capital. We have to struggle hard. We have to struggle even to get our books published. This can be understood with an example. Om Prakash Valmiki became well known in the Hindi belt by only writing one book Jhoothan. I got recognition in Hindi after writing over a hundred books.
Kabir, Phule, Gandhi, Bhartendu, Maithilisharan Gupta, Jaishankar Prasad – all are credited with laying the foundations of Bahujan Literature. But as far as women’s emancipation is considered, except Phule, the credentials of all others are under a cloud. To what extent would the women’s discourse centred on their emancipation agree with these thinkers?Definitely all of them have been sources of inspiration but as far as women’s discourse is concerned, I believe that only Phule and Ambedkar can show us the way. Phule does not need any certificate for what he did for the emancipation of women. It is another matter that few in the Hindi belt know about him. That is because Hindi literature never took him seriously.
Published in the Bahujan Literary Annual May 2014 issue of the Forward Press magazine
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1)only Mahars or Buddhists as they call themselves. In the entire Maharashtra, the Mahars become the target of the Savarna Maratha as they are the most assertive and politically organized peopleThey coloured them as per their convenience. The Sonia Gandhi sponsored fact finding team of the Congress came out with its report that saw one of the goriest incidents as a clash between two anti-social elements. It rightly met with indignation and condemnation by the Dalit organizations. Maratha Mahasangh openly called these incidents as fake and demanded annulment of Atrocity Act itself
Bhutegaon has 75 % Savarna Maratha population. It has 14 households belonging to Buddhists, 18 households to Matangs, and one household each to Bhoi (fisherman), Muslim and Kumbhar (potter) communities. Savarna Maratha community owns most of the land in this village. Dalits are landless labourers, few owning small pieces of fallow (gayaran) land. They depend upon the Savarna landlords for farm jobs for their livelihood. A male farm labourer gets Rs. 40 per day and in the cropping season it is raised to Rs. 50; the female labourer gets Rs. 15-20 as daily wages. In the cotton picking season, the wages are based on piece rate of Re. 1 per Kg.’
. Over the years, rigidity of tradition appears to have loosened but not to the extent where its contours are not visible Untouchability is still practiced in its quintessential form.
upper caste Bhutekars lived. It was not accessible to lower castes. When the government installed 12 hand pumps, none of them were put up in the Dalit colony.
Datta and Vitthal Bhutekars and gets into physical fight with them. Several people of Bhutekar rush to the spot and start beating Dilip and Lata. Dilip fights back but Lata gets badly beaten. Some one kicks her in the stomach and she falls unconscious. Ramesh and Nanda who witness the incident desperately plead with the Bhutekars to stop the fight.
At around 5 pm, the entire Bhutekar mob of some 20 people with sticks and axes reach Dilip Shedge’s house. Dilip’s mother shuts him up inside the hut and blocks the door. One Shyam Bhutekar climbs on the top of the hut for entering through the roof and in the process gets his leg broken. The crowd pushes Shantabai aside and around 13 persons thrust into the house and start beating Dilip with sticks. Others hold back Ramesh and other family members. Dilip’s mother and sister rush for saving Dilip and get themselves badly beaten. Soon they drag Dilip out of the hut into the courtyard. Ramesh Bhutekar, the most educated person in Bhutegaon, who is a professor in a college in Jalana, pours kerosene on him and sets him ablaze. Dilip’s mother and sister rush to save him and also get burnt.
Shiwaji, who belonged to an OBC caste, enthusiastically narrated how casteism is observed in Bhutegaon. He said that there was virtually no transaction between the Dalits and the Marathas.
Organizations like Akhil Bharatiya Chhava and Maratha Mahasangh have taken processions and did demonstrations claiming that the incident was fake. They are trying to project that Dilip had Aids and hence he got himself burnt.
Ramesh Bhutekar, who is a professor in a Jalana college, was in forefront in beating up Dilip and he distinguished himself in inhumanity, by pouring kerosene over Dilip and setting him ablaze. The source of his temerity can well be found in his traditional caste-positioning in the village as well as in contemporary political patronage (He is said to have support of a NCP bigwig Shri Tope of Jalana in whose college he is a professor).
2) MURTI INCIDENT-The incident happened on July 9, 2003 as a result of a clash between two minor girls- Kalpana Ankush Thorat belonging to Matang community and Ayodhhya Sandipan Surashe belonging to Sawarna community, Kalpana was abused in the caste name- ‘Mangate majale’. On the other side on the complaint of Sandipan Surashe Police had registered the crime against Baban Aadhave, Santosh Aadhave, Laxman Aadhave and Janabai Aadhave under IPC Art. 324, 504, 506, and 34. According to the police, there is no caste issue in this incident. Probably, the same can be said of any other incident.
3) SONNA KHOTA- On that fateful day, the daughter of Dadarao Dongre went to fetch water from a tanker in the morning at about 9 or 10 am. At that time, she was asked by some youth from the Savarna community to go away. They said that they got polluted with the Dalit presence and hence she should come after they finish. Seema went home and reported the matter to all. The Dongre family was quite enraged by this incident. Nothing however happened until that afternoon.
The three major incidents dealt with above may appear as discrete incidents but they are not. In the context of time and space they are a veritable part of a pattern of violence created by a series of incidents that have happened and are still happening all over Marathwada. A perfunctory survey of news appearing in only one Aurangabad newspaper for a limited period can testify to this fact:
• There was a clash between Dalits and Savarnas Maratha at Chaturwadi in Ambajogai taluka on the issue of fallow (Gayaran) land on July 11, 2003. Savarnas burnt down huts of Nagnath Kamble and other Dalits. When Nagnath Kamble sat on fast unto death along with his family, the Police have recorded the crime against Ramkisan Limbaji Pawar, Shivaji Ramkisan Pawar, Mahadu Ramkisan Pawar and Rajebhau Narayan Khandekar under the Atrocity Act. (Saptahik Maharashtra, 18 July, 2003)
• June 10, 2003: At Anvi Bangal village of Badnapur Taluka a Dalit family in the clash on the issue of water. One Sanjay Gangadhar Bhosle, a Savarna Maratha person threw away the vessel of Ranjanabai Dattatraya Patole, a Matang woman and abused her. Many people from Bhosale family came running to the spot and started beating Matang people. Police intervened and arrested the accused.
• June 22, 2003: At Karadgaon in the Dhansawangi Taluka, a clash broke out between the Dalits and Savarnas.
• May 21, 2003: At Matmal in Lonar taluka on the border of Vidarbh-Marathwada a Dalit bridegroom was paraded in the village with his shoes on his head for the crime of entering the Hanuman Temple. The Savarnas Maratha abused the Dalits in the caste name- ‘Mharade majalet’, beat up bridegroom’s mother till she fell unconscious and humiliated Taterao Lahane to the extent that he has threatened self immolation if the Savarna criminals are not punished. (Saptahik Maharashtra, dated June 9, 2003, Report by Narendra Lanjewar- Mandir Batawale: Nawardevachi Dhind, p. 35)
• July 23, 2003: The Savarnas Maratha have imposed collective boycott on the Dalits in Asola (lakh) village in Aundha Nagnath taluka and stopped giving them water. Balu Rangnath Karhale and Jagannath Nana Karhale belonging to Savarna caste beat a Dalit youth named Baban Bhagorao Nangre severely and threatened him of dire consequences if the matter was reported to Police. Baban however reported the matter to Kurunda Police Station on July 25, 2003. Enraged by this act, the Savarnas have imposed the social boycott on Dalits that included stopping the supply of drinking water.
• A Dalit woman was beaten, her house was devastated and she as dragged and humiliated by the Savarna people at Moregaon in Selu taluka of Parabhani district on the issue of polluting their pots at the public water tap. (Dainik Mahanayak, Aurangabad, 11.06.03)
• June 23, 2003: Just 4 Km from Bhutegaon, at Karandgaonwadi, a clash between one Narayan Lahane of Buddhist community and Dattu Mitkari of a Savarna caste on the issue of a pathway between farms, culminated in death of a Savarna person and serious injury to the three Dalit persons.
• July 20, 2003: Savarna attack a Dalit- Madhav Male at Shahapur in Deglur Taluka with public declaration because Male refused to give his Gayaran land for building Mahadev temple.
4)INCROCHMENT OF DALIT PROPERTY BY MARATHA Much of the land in Block Number 132 belonged to the Kedar household, a large landowning upper caste (Maratha).the Kedar household attached itself to the Nationalist Congress Party NCP.Apparently, the Kedars believed that their social prestige was lowered by the Dalit ownership of the plot in their midst.
Bharat Raout confronted some of the Kedars and asked them to stop driving through their plot.then Raout was greeted with a flurry of abuse, including the use of caste names.
(You Chambhar, what business do you have in farming? Your caste is to work with animal skin).
(You Chambhars appear to be enjoying [cultivation]. We will see how you Chambhars cultivate this land).Then Bharat insisted on filing the case
under the Atrocities Act. But the Head Constable at the police station refused and told him: “All that cannot be done. You do not know what the Atrocities Act is. Thisincident does not fall under its purview.”
Angry over Dhondiba’s victory in the court of the
Taluk Judicial Magistrate (First Class), members of the Kedar household came inwith wooden poles and began to hit Hirabai and Bharat. Hirabai was hit on the backof her head, leaving her bleeding. Bharat was beaten up by more than one person forover 10 minutes, and suffered a fracture of his left arm and bruises all over his body.
5)DALIT YOUTH EYE GOUGED-the Sategaon village in Nanded,20 houses are of the dalit Matang community, 25 houses of the dalit Buddhist community and most other houses of the upper caste Maratha community. Pramila Jadhav comes from Maratha and dalit Matang boy Chandrakant Gaikwad were secretly in love for the last five years.Family members of Pramila Using a knife and nails, they gouged out one eye of Chandrakant and Milind. Then Both the boys were taken to the hospital in an unconscious state.
6)DALIT BOY HANG IN AFFIRES CASE-, Nitin Aage, had been allegedly killed by a group of Maratha men for daring to speak to an upper-caste girl. In school when he was allegedly taken out by three Maratha men, beaten in the school premises, dragged across to the nearby highway road and eventually taken to an abandoned area where they smeared him with burning embers and hung him from a tree, to make it look like a suicide.“That school is well-known in the area because its committee members include NCP [Nationalist Congress Party] leaders like Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule,” said Shyam Sonar, a member of the Republican Panthers organisation. “The Golekars the accused themselves are part of the administration of the institute, so it is not surprising that they are being protected.”The Golekar family, according to the report, is closely associated with the NCP and enjoys a lot of “economic and socio-political clout” in Kharda village. While Nitin Aage’s father is a landless labourer in a stone-crushing mill, the Golekars own more than 500 acres of land and a number of businesses.When the fact finding team members spoke to the local Dalit activists, they said that many of the accused persons have close associations with Rashtrawadi Congress Party ( NCP ).
7)DALLIT ATTACK AND KILLED BY MARATHA-On 25 April, Umesh Agale, who belonged to the Matang caste (a Dalit caste), was stabbed to death in a field close to Deopur village in Kannad block of district Aurangabad. Agale was suspected of having a love affair with a girl from a dominant caste. The accused Kailash Kaje, Pandurang Ghuge, Sagar Ghuge and Ganesh Pawar. On the fateful day, the accused, who are from the Maratha community, called Agale out of his house and led him to the fields where he was later killed.
8)DALLIT ATTACK AND KILLED BY MARATHA- In the Jalna district, Nanegaon Dalit sarpanch Manoj Kasab was assaulted on April 3, 2014 by former sarpanch Ganesh Chavan, and ten others, and after battling for his life for around a month, he succumbed to his injuries. Chavan disliked Kasab immensely because he became the sarpanch through the reservation quota three years ago and it was a caste-based case of revenge killing.
9)DALLIT ATTACK AND KILLED BY MARATHA-, Nitin Aghe belonging to the Mahar caste, out of his school, and paraded him through the village before attacking him with sticks and rods. He was later strangled to death with a rope and then hanged from a tree. While the police initially registered a case of accidental death, investigations later revealed that Nitin had been killed. The police then registered a case of murder and arrested two men — the girl’s brother Sachin Golekar (21) and one Sheshrao Yeole (42). A minor boy, Aakash Surve was also detained.
22-year-old Manik Udaage, a Dalit Budddhist, was killed on 1 May by the Marathas for celebrating Ambedkar Jayanti on 14 April this year.the Maratha community in the Chikhali village of Pune district were opposed to the organisation and the subsequent celebrations. The accused Santosh Bate (38), Sagar Khandale (23), Nilesh Tate (26) and Vishal Nemane (27) abducted Udaage from his house and took him to the stone mine in Moshi where they crushed his head with a big stone.
10)DALLIT ATTACK AND KILLED BY MARATHA-another attack on Dalits in Adoli village of Washim district of Vidarbha region on 15 April, four children and 14 others were severely injured in stone pelting by the Marathas. The injured were part of a peaceful rally marking Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. Following the attack, the Washim police arrested 34 persons.
11)DALLIT ATTACK BY MARATHA-, Dalit sarpanch Datta Haribhau Kamble, 48, of Umra village in Parbhani district, who is battling for life after being set upon and attacked by upper-caste Marathas, has learnt this the hard way.– Hanumant Kolhe, Dayanand Kolhe, Mahadu Kolhe, Bhimrao Kolhe, Manikrao Kolhe – under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 along with several other sections of the IPC for the life-threatening assault,Mahadu Kolhe, one of those involved in the attack. Instead he said, “Until two generations ago these Matangs didn’t dare to look us in the eye and talk.
12) DALLIT WHO OSTRACISED BY MARATHA-in Ansurda village near Osmanabad,have been ostracised by the villagers, majority of whom are from the Maratha community.these Dalit families in the village of 1,500 people are not allowed to fetch water from the community well, the grocers refuse to sell them even the day-to-day items, and they are being forced to travel to Osmanabad.
where songs dedicated to Dr Ambedkar were played on the loudspeaker. One of the Dalits, Nishikant Humbe, 40, said that a few youngsters objected to the songs, and demanded that songs dedicated to Chhatrapati Shivaji be played instead. “We have been residing in this village for decades and didn’t want trouble. We immediately played songs dedicated to Chhatrapati Shivaji but the youths abused our women and desecrated Babasaheb Ambedkar’s poster,” Humbe alleged.
13)DALLIT ATTACK BY MARATHA-A mob of over 60 men and women — all from the dominant Maratha caste — allegedly attacked the Dalit basti of Rajwada in Shevge Dang village, Nashik district, on Sunday, causing serious head injuries to 13 men.
According to reports, the fight ensued over a small accident, when a tempo owned by a person belonging to the Maratha caste rammed into a tree on October 15, injuring several persons travelling in it, including a 50-year-old Dalit woman Lata Bharit.
14) DALLIT ATTACK BY MARATHA-A Dalit youth in the temple town of Shirdi in Maharashtra was crushed to death for allegedly having an Ambedkar song as his mobile ringtone. Police have arrested four of the eight assailants who were allegedly involved in the brutal assault of the 21-year-old youth in Shirdi town of Ahmednagar district last week.Those arrested were identified as Vishal Kote, Rupesh Wadekar, S Wadekar and Sunil Jadhav.The assailants belong to the dominant Maratha.
15)MARATHA WHO ATTACK ON DALLIT AND OBC-The recent attacks on Dalits and other backward classes (OBC) [in Maharashtra state] is being seen as an attempt by the dominant Maratha caste to suppress the voice of Dalit/other backward classes for having opposed reservations for the Marathas.“At Shrirampur, OBC activists who merely attended a political rally were arrested for promoting caste conflict, but when Maratha activists pelted stones at the chief minister’s aircraft, the police did not arrest a single person.
16)DALLIT WOMAN PAREDED NECKED-In Beed, two women were paraded naked in their village while an activist was brutally beaten up for raising his voice when talking to so-called upper caste leaders. In Parbhani, an old dalit woman was killed over a land dispute and on Tuesday, a young Dalit boy was killed in Aurangabad for allegedly teasing an upper caste girl.
17) MARATHA MEJORITY AREA ATTACK ON DALLIT- on 20th October 2014. Sunil was cut in two pieces, waist down and his penis was battered. His father Sanjay Jagannath Jadhav was also attacked in the same way. His mother Jayashri Sanjay Jadhav was struck on her head and her ear was cut.A few days before the killing of the family, their watch-dog who watches over the adjacent farm, was killed by anonymous people. The “Wagh” families, which belong to a majority Maratha community live in close proximity as also the Vanjari community.
18)MARATHA WHO ATTACK ON DALLIT AND OBC-Baban Misal had brought to light the corruptions of Kailash Jadhav (upper caste opponent of Victim) in administeringStudents’ Hostel. Babanrao had also started to demolish all wine shops owned by Kailash Jadhav in order to protect thepeople living in the area from Alcohol abuse.5th July 08, while he was going to Jamkhed from Sonegaon with his friend Shayam Sathe; a car numbered
MH-12 YA- 7929 dashed his motorbike from behind. He got thrown on the road. All the six accused namely,Kailash Jadhav, Shahaji Bolbhatt, Arun Bhagal, Marian Birangal, Taljarao Jadhav, Rajesh Ralke (all betweenage of 30 -40 years) caught him. A scuffle ensued between them. But since the accused possessed axes,
daggers & sickles, they overpowered them and threatened his friend Shaym Sathe to leave the place.
19)MARATHA WHO ATTACK ON DALLIT AND OBC-Late Sahebrao Jondhale was living in Karanjala with his wife, two daughters & a son.On the night of June 16, 2008 while returning home in his Tata Sumo, vehicle, he was charred to death in Karanjala
village of Hingoli District in Marathwada region allegedly by a group of villagers belonging to the upper caste Maratha.
20)MARATHA WHO ATTACK ON DALLIT-Mrs. Suhshilabai Pawar belonged to Pardhi tribe community; living with her only son Santosh Pawar and daughter in law Vimalabai
Pawar in Mungi village of Latur district, Maharashtra. On 31/12/2007, when she was sitting in her house with her son and daughter in law,accused Bhaskar Somvanshi (a co-villager) came inside, and asked victim’s son about his wife and offered 60 rupees to take her away.Hearing this, Mr. Santosh Pawar got angry and called other community members. Victim Sushilalbai slapped and threw the accused out of her house.Frustrated and infuriated, accused Bhaskar then came at night to victim’s house with other accused, Sahadev Somvanshi and Sudhakar
Somvanshi. They started abusing the victims’ family by calling them by their caste name and ransacked thehouse. Bhasakar Somvanshi and his friends dragged Mrs. Vimalabai out of the house, beat her with sticks onchest, destroyed the belongings, and started beating other family members. When Sushilabai intervened, shewas killed on the spot.
21)MARATHA WHO ATTACK ON DALLIT-Khadki village is situated in Beed district There are people from Maratha and dalit community. The population of
dalits is less than Maratha community. There are only five houses of dalits in the village. Mr. Popat Waghmare, a dalit, lives withhis four brothers and their families in the village.Waghmare belonging to Mang caste (ex-untouchable), was elected the sarpanch of this village, the Maratha caste people starteddisagreeing and non-cooperating with the dalit sarpanch from the village.During discussions in gramsabha on corruption, the accused Babasaheb Taware and Bandu Babasaheb Taware started fighting with the sarpanch. When Waghmare family came to know about this incident, they arrived there to resolve the conflict. They saw that the five accused from Maratha community were fighting with the Popat Waghmare and arguing on the issues of the gram panchayat. Meanwhile, two accused, Babasaheb Taware and Bandu Babasaheb Bhosale went out and burnt four houses of Waghmare family. When thepeople from Waghmare family came to know about this, they ran towards their houses and tried to control the fire. Butunfortunately the hoses were burnt badly. At that time miss. Rajni Waghmare was present in the house and she recognized theaccused burning the houses.
22)MARATHA WHO ATTACK ON DALLIT BRAVE GIRL-The brave and smart dalit sisters, Diksha and Panchashila are residents of Shindi village, Beed district, Maharashtra. Diksha’s
family belongs to newly Converted Buddhist fold which comes under Schedule Caste.Diksha is studying B.A.Diksha and her elder sister, Suvarna’s daughter named Priya (age 4) were
returning from the fields, accused Jagganath Jadhav, Bharat Jadhav, Kailash Deshmukh and Barik Deshmukh were following the
sisters with blowing whistle and ringing songs in the mobile. After some time Jagganath Jadhav pushed Panchshila. She asked
him as to why he was doing so. But Jagganath slapped both the sisters. He also abused them on caste lines “Dhedgyano Lay
Mazlat kay ani amahala vicharayachi tumachi maharachi himmat hai ka?” (“You untouchables have no right to ask whatever we do) The four accused then started hurling abuses of caste and mother.beating them by hands, legs, sticks and iron rods; they smashed girls on chick, hand,chest, and waist and pulled their hairs. Jagganath called his friends namely 1.Tukaram Rajaram Jadhav 2. Datta AshrubaDeshmukh 3. Anil Jadhav 4. Devidas Jadhav 5. Shashikant Jadhav 6. Shyam Jadhav 7. Manubai Jadhav 8. Limbabai Deshmukh.They all again started abusing “lai mazalet dhed” (“These Mahars arrogant”) and threatened to kill them. They brought thembeating to the village.
23)MARATHA WHO ATTACK ON DALLIT-Rohidas Tupe, a brilliant and smart young boy belonging to Mang community.Vaishali Vitthal Jadhav was Rohidas’s class mate in his school. She belonged to Marathacommunity, an upper caste.Vaishali got attracted to his personality and naturally fall in love with Rohidas.On the fateful day of 23rd Feb 2009,Maratha villagers gathered and caught him.They started beating him. They took him to statue of KingShivaji where his cloths were removed. Rohidas was tied to an electricity poll and was beaten by mob. Villagers threw chillipowder and salt on his wounds. When Rohidas asked water to drink, the accused, Bhausaheb Tejrao Jadhav urinated in hismouth. Kerosene was thrown over his body. Whole episode was shamelessly witnessed by the village mob of 150 villagers, just similar to Khairlanji. Most of them took part in the crime, beating him till death. Rohidas died soon.
24)MARATHA WHO RAPE ON DALLIT-A former Maharashtra legislative council member, the 63-year old Mane has been charged with raping three women who were working as temporary cooks at a residential tribal school he runs at Jakatwadi in Satara,- married and aged between 30-35 – alleging Mane raped them under the lure of making them permanent employees of the school.
25)MARATHA WHO RAPE ON DALLIT-Wednesday sentenced Prakash Adare, Vibhu Jadhav and Samadhan Pawar to life imprisonment.a dalit woman who was 30 years old was gang raped by theconvicted youths on the evening of September 3, 2003 at around 7.30pm.
26)MARATHA WHO RAPE ON 4 YEARS INFANT DALLIT GIRL-She was raped by a 17-year-old Maratha boy in Karad’s Kathavli village on Friday, police said on Saturday. Source: The Hindu January 29, 2012.
27)MARATHA WHO RAPE ON DALLIT-On September 24, a 16-year-old Dalit girl in Maharashtra’s Dhule district was gang-raped twice in broad daylight, Surekha is from the Mahar caste. She was first gang-raped by four upper-caste Maratha men she knew, including her boyfriend of two years.
28)Rekha was assaulted because her son allegedly eloped with a Maratha girl
Four days after she was beaten up, stripped and paraded in her own village, 42-year-old Dalit widow Rekha Arun Chavan wonders if she would have lived a life of more dignity had she been born in an upper caste. Rekha was assaulted because her son Amol allegedly eloped with a Maratha girl Anita Desai from Mulgaon village in Karad, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s hometown. Relatives of the girl confessed to The Hindu that they had indeed beaten her up.
Bai aahe ka kutri? Am I woman or a dog to be beaten up like that,” Rekha asked this correspondent while she lay in a bed on Friday afternoon in Karad’s Krishna Hospital. “About 12 persons of the Desai family assaulted me for one and a half hours. They called me names and swore at me for being from a lower caste. Would they have tortured me the same [way] had I not been a Dalit,” she asked. She had no clue about her 22-year-old son Amol’s relationship with 17-year-old Anita, their neighbour.
“What was wrong?”
Speaking to The Hindu in Mulgaon village, where the incident happened, Anita’s cousin Bhimrao Desai said, “What is wrong? How would anyone else react if their daughter had run away with a lower caste man?”
So far, five persons from the Desai household have been arrested in the case, and are under police custody.
The Desais are Marathas. According to Rekha, the village always lives in fear of the Marathas. Nobody speaks against them. There are about 25 Dalit families, and 100 Maratha families, she said. “When I was being beaten up, everyone just watched. They want to live safely in the village,” she said, showing the black and blue marks on the thighs, back and hands. Rekha said she had been ostracised by the villagers, even from her community, on the orders of the Marathas. She owns a small provision store. She lost her husband 22 years ago.
Like every village in Maharashtra, Mulgaon also boasts a ‘Tanta Mukti Samiti’ (committee to resolve disputes) under the much talked about Mahatma Gandhi Tanta Mukti Gaon Yojana (dispute-free village scheme). A dispute like this should have been identified and resolved at the village level. However, as Bhimrao Desai reveals, the head of the committee is also from the Desai community. “When things are going wrong in your own house, what can the committee do,” he asks.
Rekha’s son left the house stating that he was going to Pune for a job. “He left on December 13. I haven’t heard of him since,” she said. Anita went missing a day after. Since then, Rekha was threatened repeatedly. Her nephew Sharad and sister-in-law Surekha were also beaten up. While Sharad has lodged a police complaint, Surekha was too scared to take the step. It is also perhaps a sense of guilt that stopped her. “Amol had told me before leaving. He wanted me to give his mobile phone to Anita and help her hide her bag, I had conveyed the message to her,” Surekha said.
When attempts to get the information about her son from her relatives failed, the Desais targeted her, Rekha says. I kept begging them to leave me, and I repeatedly told them that I didn’t know about his whereabouts. But nobody listened. Both the men and women were merciless,” she stated.
In Mulgaon, though, there is a sense of acceptance of the atrocity. “Such things [inter-caste marriages] can happen in cities, but even we don’t feel good that it is happening in our own village,” Eknath Chavan, also a Dalit, said. “We know it is permitted by law but we cannot be OK with it,” he said.
Rekha’s neighbour Samabai Chavan, who was one of the eyewitnesses, said: “I tried to stop them. She held on to my feet while they were beating her with sticks.” According to Samabai, Rekha went to the hospital alone after being assaulted. Nobody from the village has gone to visit Rekha in the hospital. “She is paying for what she has done. We have to do our own work,” Eknath Chavan says nonchalantly.
In the hospital, Rekha’s 70-year-old mother Gayabai Sathe asks, “What has my daughter done? How will she go back and live in her house?”
Says Rekha: “I want to prove to them that I cannot be scared away. I will go back to my house in the village and live with dignity.”
Keywords: Attack on Dalit woman, Mulgaon village, Prithviraj Chavan hometown
29) Saturday, March 6, 2004 (Mumbai):
On Thursday, a group of Marathas attacked 80 Dalit homes in Shinde village in Maharashtra, 150 kilometres from Mumbai.
22 Dalits, including children were badly hurt in the attack.
The Dalits in the area have traditionally owned small plots of land and their own cattle and haven’t ever had to depend on the rich Maratha farmers for their livelihood.
Caste war
And that’s the big reason why the Marathas have repeatedly attacked Dalits and have tried to throw them out of the village.
Ironically, the latest round of violence comes just when a compromise had almost been worked out. It was even going to be signed by village elders on March 4. But the Marathas say a prominent Dalit leader, Meera Ambedkar put a spanner in the works.
“Meera Ambedkar refused to allow the compromise to go through. She insisted that we first arrest the Marathas under the Atrocities against Minorities Act and the Marathas fearing they may be prosecuted under a false case, resorted to violence,” said RM Katke, Additional Superintendent of Police of Ahmednagar.
Fear of reprisals
In fact, it was the local police who first tried to broker peace between the two communities. But now they too have got caught in the caste-wars.
7 police officers were injured when a group of Dalits turned violent outside the local police station.
“They attacked the police station. The ACP tried to control the situation, but we had to fire 6 rounds in the air to disperse the mob,” added Additional SP Katke.
There is fear of reprisals in the Maratha areas of the village as well. Doors are shut and everyone is staying indoors. Now the police fear that things could get worse as caste politics takes centrestage ahead of the elections.
Source: NDTV, March 6, 2004
It is all documents are made by government though why Bramhins are targetted?