The Bihar police has trained its guns on Dr Vilakshan Ravidas, a noted Dalitbahujan thinker. At a press conference on 4 August 2022, Pankaj Kumar, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Lakhisarai district, levelled several serious charges against Dr Ravidas. The SP said that Ravidas had instigated youth to indulge in violence during a protest against the Agnipath scheme in Lakhisarai on 17 June 2022. He said Ravidas had used his mobile phone to mobilize the youth. The district police chief’s accusations were based solely on the statement of one Manshyam Das, who was arrested on 4 August 2022 on the suspicion of being a Naxalite. Even as the police are trying to implicate Ravidas, many Dalitbahujan intellectuals and social activists have come out in his support. They include former Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar, according to whom this is a conspiracy to silence a powerful Dalitbahujan voice.
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