Dalit Bahujan Adivasi | SabrangIndia https://sabrangindia.in/category/hate-harmony/dalit-bahujan-adivasi/ News Related to Human Rights Sat, 31 Oct 2026 11:09:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://sabrangindia.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Favicon_0.png Dalit Bahujan Adivasi | SabrangIndia https://sabrangindia.in/category/hate-harmony/dalit-bahujan-adivasi/ 32 32 From treating Adivasi communities to being branded an instigator: Odisha jails doctor Randall Sequeira https://sabrangindia.in/from-treating-adivasi-communities-to-being-branded-an-instigator-odisha-jails-doctor-randall-sequeira/ Sat, 31 Oct 2026 11:09:44 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49903 Arrested in a case in which his name did not figure in the original FIR, Dr Randall Sequeira faces serious criminal charges amid an intensifying crackdown on Adivasi communities resisting bauxite mining in Odisha

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]]> For nearly ten years, Dr Randall Sequeira’s workplace was not a well-equipped hospital or a private clinic. It was the forested hills, remote settlements and scattered Adivasi villages of Odisha’s Kalahandi and Rayagada districts. Riding his motorcycle through difficult terrain, the 39-year-old physician travelled from one village to another, treating people suffering from malaria, diarrhoea, skin ailments and other illnesses, often providing consultations and medicines free of cost. In places where the nearest primary healthcare centre could be more than 60 kilometres away, he became, as residents described him, a mobile hospital.

Today, that same doctor is lodged in Rayagada sub-jail. On the night of October 16, 2026, Odisha Police arrested Sequeira from his rented residence in Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi, along with Dalit activist Laxman Naik. The arrests came nearly six months after a violent confrontation between villagers and police in Kantamal village on April 7, during protests against a proposed road project connected to the Sijimali bauxite mining project. Neither Sequeira nor Naik figured among the 26 people initially named in the first information report (FIR). Their names were subsequently added from a category of approximately 100 unnamed persons described as ‘others’.

 

According to The Hindu, Sequeira was arrested in connection with the April violence despite having already secured anticipatory bail from the Orissa High Court in another FIR relating to the same incident. He was subsequently booked under serious provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including those relating to attempt to murder and rioting.

The circumstances of his arrest are particularly disturbing. Speaking to The Hindu from Rayagada jail, Sequeira said that he and Naik were made to sleep on the floor of a police station through the night, were subsequently transferred to another police station and were not initially informed of the grounds for their arrest. He also alleged that he was not allowed to speak to his family.

This is not the first time Sequeira has found himself at the receiving end of administrative action for his association with the anti-mining movement. In June 2025, the Rayagada district administration issued an ex parte order prohibiting him and 24 others from entering the district for two months. The administration accused him of attempting to mobilise tribal communities against the proposed Sijimali mining project and raised apprehensions about public order.

The Orissa High Court subsequently quashed the prohibitory order. In its ruling, the court found no material demonstrating that the proposed peaceful gathering posed an immediate and grave threat of violence or public disorder. Justice S.K. Panigrahi observed that constitutional jurisprudence demanded a high threshold of actual risk before fundamental rights could be curtailed. The High Court’s intervention, however, did not end the administration’s pursuit of Sequeira.

 

A doctor who chose the hills over urban medicine

Originally from Mangaluru, Karnataka, and raised in Mumbai, Sequeira completed his MBBS at St John’s Medical College in Bengaluru before pursuing postgraduate studies in internal medicine at Sawai Man Singh Medical College and Hospital in Jaipur. He arrived in Kalahandi in July 2017 and began working with Swasthya Swaraj, a non-profit organisation providing community healthcare in the tribal-dominated Thuamul Rampur block.

He could have pursued a conventional medical career in an urban hospital. Instead, he remained in the region, continuing his work with organisations including Living Farms and the Development Agency for Poor and Tribal Awakening (DAPTA), which work on healthcare, nutrition, education and the rights of marginalised communities.

 

As reported by Article 14, Sequeira travelled to settlements where residents had little access to medical facilities, visiting households and providing treatment. His work extended beyond treating individual patients. He focused on preventive healthcare, community health training and understanding the relationship between environmental degradation and public health.

His experiences in mining-affected areas also led him to examine the health consequences of industrial extraction. He observed that communities living near operational bauxite mines reported more skin ailments than those in non-mining areas. Since March 2022, he has also travelled to Sukinda in Odisha’s Jajpur district to treat patients suffering from tuberculosis in an area affected by extensive chromite mining.

A close friend of his told Article 14 that Sequeira understood the limitations of treating individual patients when the structural conditions producing ill health remained unaddressed. Healthcare, in his understanding, could not be separated from access to clean water, forests, nutrition and a healthy environment.

This understanding increasingly brought him into solidarity with Adivasi communities opposing mining projects that threaten their land and natural resources. Since 2023, he has worked alongside grassroots organisations, including Maa Mati Mali Surakhya Manch and Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti, which have opposed the proposed mining projects in the region. It is this association that has now become central to the allegations against him.

When solidarity becomes an alleged criminal offence

The Odisha Police has rejected allegations that Sequeira’s arrest is intended to suppress anti-mining resistance. Speaking to the Press Trust of India (PTI), Deputy Inspector General of Police Akhileshwar Singh alleged that Sequeira was not merely providing medical services but was instigating Adivasi communities against the state government.

The police have also cited multiple criminal cases against him. However, the central question remains: what evidence supports the serious allegations, and why was he implicated in an FIR in which his name did not originally appear, particularly when he had already secured anticipatory bail in another case arising from the same incident?

In its report, The Quint highlighted the concerns raised by activists over the police’s use of the ‘others’ category in FIRs. Narendra Mohanty, convenor of the Campaign Against Fabricated Cases, alleged that the open-ended category allows the police to subsequently implicate activists who were not named when the complaint was first registered. According to him, this practice has become particularly useful in keeping movement leaders in custody by filing successive cases whenever they secure bail in an earlier one.

The figures are alarming. According to data compiled by the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), 43 cases connected to resistance against bauxite mining were registered in Kalahandi and Rayagada over the past three years, resulting in more than 100 Adivasis and Dalits being jailed. Between March 8 and April 8, 2026, as many as 24 people were arrested, 217 were named as accused and another 1,140 were listed under the category of ‘others’. Sequeira’s arrest is therefore unfolding against a much larger pattern of criminal cases against those resisting mining projects.

The battle over land, forests and the right to resist

The region’s resistance is not new. For decades, Adivasi communities have opposed attempts to convert their forests and hills into mining sites. The Dongria Kondh, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, regard the Niyamgiri hills as sacred and worship Niyam Raja, whom they believe resides in the hills. In its landmark 2013 judgment, the Supreme Court placed the decision on the proposed diversion of forest land for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri before the Gram Sabhas. Subsequently, all 12 Gram Sabhas rejected the proposal, and the Odisha government scrapped the project in 2014.

The renewed push for bauxite extraction in Sijimali has brought the region back into confrontation with mining interests. Vedanta has secured environmental clearance for the Sijimali deposit, while the nearby Kutrumali deposit has been allotted to the Adani Group.

For communities whose livelihoods, water sources, forests and cultural identities are inseparable from these hills, mining is not simply an industrial development project. It is a question of survival, autonomy and their constitutional and statutory rights over their land and resources.

The arrest of Sequeira has also attracted condemnation from sections of the medical and civil society communities. Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known as LiverDoc, appealed to the medical fraternity to stand up for his former St John’s Medical College junior. Recalling Sequeira’s work in Kutrumali, Philips described a physician who had travelled to remote settlements to treat malnourished children and women with limited access to healthcare. He argued that Sequeira understood that prescriptions could not compensate for the destruction of forests, the loss of water resources and the denial of dignity to indigenous communities.

 

The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan has also condemned the arrests, describing them as an attack on people working to address the social and health consequences of mining. The organisation has demanded the immediate release of Sequeira and Naik, withdrawal of the cases and an independent inquiry into allegations of intimidation.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai-based Watchdog Foundation has approached the National Commission for Minorities, seeking scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding Sequeira’s arrest and whether the necessary legal safeguards were followed. Its representation, as reported by the Free Press Journal, specifically flagged the fact that Sequeira was arrested months after the April incident despite not being named in the original FIR.

The Foundation has clarified that the absence of a person’s name in an original FIR does not automatically establish innocence or render a subsequent arrest unlawful. However, it has called for scrutiny of whether the investigation is supported by credible evidence and whether constitutional and procedural safeguards have been respected.

Sequeira’s parents, Alex and Nancy Sequeira, have expressed distress over their son’s incarceration, while maintaining faith in the judicial process. In a statement to Article 14, they said that, to their knowledge, he had dedicated his professional life to serving poor and marginalised communities and hoped that he would receive a fair hearing and be reunited with his family.

Criminalising those who refuse to look away

The question raised by Sequeira’s arrest extends beyond the fate of one doctor. What does it mean when a physician working in areas with little access to healthcare is accused of instigating the very communities he has spent years treating? What does it say about the priorities of a government when those who draw attention to the health and environmental consequences of mining are treated as threats to public order?

For the Adivasi communities of Kalahandi and Rayagada, Sequeira was a doctor who came when hospitals were too far away, who treated their children and who understood that their health was inseparable from the land they inhabited. His arrest has now placed that relationship under the shadow of criminal prosecution. A physician who spent years travelling through forests to reach patients is now confined to a jail cell. And while the state questions whether he was really practising medicine or instigating dissent, the communities he served are left confronting the same questions of healthcare, land and survival, alongside the fear that those who stand with them could be next.

 

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Telangana: Stop forcible ‘re-location of Chenchu Adivasis from Amrabad Tiger Reserve

 

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]]> Mumbai police detain 140 protesters as student’s demand justice for Sahil Wakode, accountability from IIT Bombay https://sabrangindia.in/mumbai-police-detain-140-protesters-as-students-demand-justice-for-sahil-wakode-accountability-from-iit-bombay/ Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:17:22 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49797 120 tribal students also detained at Shivaji Park amid demands for accountability over alleged deaths in residential schools

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]]> Mumbai Police detained around 140 students and activists across Dadar on Sunday, October 25, disrupting two separate protests demanding accountability over alleged institutional failures and the treatment of marginalised students. Among those detained were stand-up comedian Masoom Rajwani and other Ambedkarite activists who had gathered at Chaityabhoomi to hold a candlelight vigil for Sahil Wakode, a 22-year-old Dalit student of IIT Bombay who died by suicide on September 18.

https://www.instagram.com/p/De8wW4MjUw_/ 

Parents of Wakode were also detained, and released later. 

The detentions at Chaityabhoomi, the memorial site of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, came amid mounting demands for accountability from the IIT Bombay administration over allegations of caste-based harassment preceding Wakode’s death. Rather than allowing students and concerned citizens to mourn and demand justice peacefully, the police deployed a heavy force, prevented the gathering from proceeding freely and detained participants on the grounds that the vigil lacked permission. 

According to The Hindu, approximately 20 to 25 people were detained at Chaityabhoomi, with protesters alleging that police personnel forcibly removed participants, including women. The Times of India also reported the detentions, confirming that Rajwani was among those taken into custody. Police maintained that the gathering was unauthorised and cited law-and-order concerns.

The Progressive Students Union (PSU) had called for the candlelight vigil at 5.30 p.m. to pay tribute to Wakode and demand an impartial investigation into his death. Participants included students and activists associated with organisations supporting the struggle for justice, including individuals from IIT Bombay and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

According to accounts reported by The Hindu, protesters alleged that police personnel carried out two rounds of detentions, at around 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tejas Anoop of Aamchi Padhai Aamchi Ladai said police approached individuals and detained those they suspected of participating in the protest, including people carrying candles or placards. He further alleged that people who questioned the detentions or sought written authorisation were also taken away.

Rajwani told The Hindu that he arrived at Chaityabhoomi around 6.10 p.m. and that the march had still not begun by 7.30 p.m. He alleged that four police personnel lifted him by his arms and legs while detaining him, causing a minor scratch. He also claimed that detainees were not told where they were being taken and were not provided water during transportation.

Another participant, Akalya, alleged that four police personnel put her inside a van while she was photographing the gathering. She said she was kept inside for approximately 30 to 45 minutes without being informed of the reason for her detention. Her phone was temporarily taken away when she tried to contact her family, she alleged.

Deepali, another participant, said she had been taken to a police station and released around 6.30 p.m. She maintained that the gathering was intended to be peaceful and condemned the manner in which participants were treated. Social media posts also raised allegations that police had prevented activists, including the general secretary of the All India Independent Scheduled Caste Association (AIISCA), from reaching Chaityabhoomi.

Despite the police action, approximately 40 to 50 people subsequently gathered to pay tribute to Wakode, according to reports. Those detained were released from police stations in Tardeo, Worli and Dadar later that evening.

A month of protests, allegations of police brutality

Wakode, a second-year BTech student at IIT Bombay’s Powai campus, was found dead in his hostel room on September 18, hours after he was allegedly caught using a mobile phone during a mid-semester examination. His parents and fellow students subsequently raised allegations of caste-based harassment and mistreatment.

A police complaint named Professor Suryanarayana Doolla and invoked provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, alongside provisions relating to abetment of suicide. Doolla, who was removed from his position as dean of students’ welfare and sent on leave, has been at the centre of allegations concerning his treatment of Wakode. The professor and IIT Bombay Director Shireesh Kedare have denied allegations of caste-based discrimination. The Mumbai Crime Branch has taken over the investigation and recorded statements from more than 40 people.

The police action at Chaityabhoomi followed earlier detentions of Wakode’s parents and protesting students on October 18, exactly a month after his death. At the time, police also demolished the protest site outside IIT Bombay and detained several people. Students and activists have continued to allege that the police, acting alongside the institutional response to the death, have repeatedly attempted to suppress their demands for accountability.

As The Wire previously reported, a student injured during an earlier protest received a medico-legal certificate from KMJ Hospital in Vikhroli that reportedly recorded “assault by Powai police” as the cause of injury. The certificate also documented blunt trauma to the shoulder and a linear abrasion over the right elbow, alongside a reported attempt to strangle the student. Earlier social media posts had also alleged that women protesters were dragged, beaten and inappropriately touched by police personnel.

84 organisations demand IIT Bombay director’s resignation

The police crackdown came as 84 organisations from across the country issued an open letter demanding the resignation of IIT Bombay Director Professor Shireesh Kedare, describing it as a necessary measure of institutional accountability following Wakode’s death. As reported by Maktoob Media, the letter accused the institute of responding to complaints of caste discrimination with callousness and repression. The signatories questioned the administration’s decision to refer to Wakode as a “cheater” in its initial communication following his death, arguing that the statement risked discrediting the student before the circumstances surrounding his death had been adequately investigated.

The letter also criticised the public support extended by the institute’s faculty body to Doolla, who has been named in the police complaint, and raised concerns about the alleged selective release of examination-hall CCTV footage to the media. It further condemned the police action against Wakode’s parents and fellow students during earlier protests.

“The series of events which has unfolded following the unfortunate demise of your student Sahil Wakode has revealed IIT Bombay administration to be spectacularly callous at best or maliciously repressive towards complaints of caste discrimination,” the letter stated.

The signatories include student unions, Ambedkarite organisations, teachers’ associations and civil rights groups, including the Ambedkar Students’ Association, Students’ Federation of India, All India Students’ Association, National Alliance of People’s Movements and Disha Students’ Organisation.

The organisations argued that the director’s resignation was necessary to establish accountability and send a clear message that allegations of discrimination and harassment against marginalised students cannot be brushed aside through institutional statements or disciplinary narratives that shift scrutiny onto the deceased student.

Tribal students detained at Shivaji Park

The crackdown was not confined to Chaityabhoomi. At nearby Shivaji Park, Mumbai Police detained approximately 120 tribal students and activists who had assembled to demand the resignation of Maharashtra Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike, along with the commissioner and secretary of the tribal development department.

According to PTI and The New Indian Express, the protesters were seeking accountability for deteriorating conditions in tribal residential schools, an inquiry into the alleged deaths of 584 students, improved hostel facilities and the scrapping of the contract system for centralised kitchens in tribal residential schools.

The students had reportedly been agitating since August. Their earlier demonstration on October 5 had ended with police detaining participants and sending them back to their hometowns in Nashik, Nandurbar and Jalgaon. On Sunday, protesters said they were detained at Dadar railway station and near Tilak Bhavan before they could reach the proposed venue. Police personnel were also reportedly deployed at railway stations and bus stops along routes leading to Shivaji Park. The protesters had sought permission to demonstrate at Azad Maidan and Shivaji Park but were denied permission. They said they would continue their agitation at Azad Maidan on Monday.

Taken together, the detentions at Shivaji Park and Chaityabhoomi reveal a disturbing pattern: students raising questions about caste deaths, discrimination and the treatment of vulnerable communities are met with preventive custody and restrictions on assembly rather than meaningful engagement with their grievances.

At Chaityabhoomi, the demand was for justice for a young Dalit student whose death has raised serious questions about caste discrimination and institutional responsibility. At Shivaji Park, tribal students were seeking accountability for conditions in residential schools and alleged student deaths. Both gatherings were disrupted by police action.

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]]> Dalit Class XI student dies by suicide after alleged casteist harassment in Coimbatore School https://sabrangindia.in/dalit-class-xi-student-dies-by-suicide-after-alleged-casteist-harassment-in-coimbatore-school/ Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:02:27 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49744 Family had reportedly complained to school management about caste-based taunts over food choices; headmaster, teacher and two students booked

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]]> A 16-year-old Dalit student, A Akilan, died by suicide at his home in Peelamedu, Coimbatore, on Wednesday, October 21, after allegedly facing repeated caste-based harassment by classmates. The police have registered a case against his school’s headmaster, class teacher and two students, following allegations that casteist abuse and the school authorities’ failure to act contributed to his death.

According to DT Next, Akilan, a Class XI student, had faced taunts from classmates over his caste and eating habits. The harassment had reportedly become so distressing that he left home last month and went to stay with a relative in Alandurai. His father, Ashok Kumar, brought him back and complained to the school management. Although the taunts reportedly stopped for a few days, they later resumed.

The FIR, as reported by South First, alleges that class teacher Vijayakumar asked students which of them ate beef. Following this interaction, two classmates allegedly subjected Akilan to casteist verbal abuse and physical assault. Akilan belonged to a Scheduled Caste community. His mother, Kousalya, has named the two students, the class teacher and headmaster Arunkumar in her complaint, alleging that the school failed to address the discrimination.

The harassment allegedly continued when Akilan returned to school after the Puja holidays on Wednesday. According to DT Next, he was subjected to caste-based taunts during the morning prayer assembly before returning home. His mother found him hanging when she returned home for lunch around 1 pm. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead.

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death and the family’s allegations. A senior police officer told NDTV that the role of the school, the headmaster, the class teacher and others was being examined. The officer confirmed that a case had been registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The accused have also been booked under provisions relating to abetment of suicide and voluntarily causing hurt. Akilan’s body was kept at Coimbatore’s ESI Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

The case raises serious questions about the school’s response to alleged caste-based harassment, particularly after the family had reportedly approached its management. The allegations against the staff and students remain under investigation. The incident also comes amid earlier allegations of caste discrimination in Coimbatore’s schools. Last year, the principal of a private school was suspended after allegedly making a Dalit student who was menstruating sit on the stairs outside her classroom to write her examinations.

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]]> Police detain Adivasi students for second day, force them out of Mumbai https://sabrangindia.in/police-detain-adivasi-students-for-second-day-force-them-out-of-mumbai/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 08:54:13 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49568 Students who marched from Nashik are denied Azad Maidan protest, prevented from leaving Tilak Bhavan and forcefully transported out of the city

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]]> Adivasi students who marched from Nashik to Mumbai demanding accountability over deaths, unsafe conditions and inadequate facilities in tribal schools and hostels were detained for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, October 6, and forcibly taken out of the city, after police prevented them from leaving the Maharashtra Congress headquarters at Tilak Bhavan. The students had been staying at the Congress office after being denied permission to hold their protest at Azad Maidan.

 

According to Hindustan Times, police personnel deployed outside Tilak Bhavan stopped the students from leaving on Tuesday morning before private buses were brought in and the protesters were made to board them. The students continued raising slogans against the Maharashtra government as they were transported out of Mumbai. NSUI state president Sagar Salunke said the students were taken to different locations, including Jalgaon, Nandurbar and Nashik. The Indian Express also reported videos of the operation showing police personnel pushing protesters towards buses, including a woman carrying an infant.

The students had begun their September 28 march from Nashik to Mumbai, after weeks of agitation over conditions in tribal schools and hostels. Their demands include an independent inquiry into deaths at state-run ashram schools, compensation of ₹1 crore each to the families of three girls who died after alleged snakebite at an ashram school in Japtalai, Gadchiroli, ₹50 lakh compensation for those injured, an inquiry into alleged irregularities in the distribution of grants, action against responsible officials and the resignation of Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike. They have also raised concerns over scholarships, food, sanitation, hostel facilities and basic amenities.

The students had sought permission to protest at Azad Maidan. After that request was rejected, they sought to meet Maharashtra Governor Jishnu Dev Varma and submit a memorandum. Instead, they found themselves confined to the Congress office and subjected to police action for the second day in a row. On Monday, police had already forcefully moved students out of Tilak Bhavan and taken them towards Kopri in Thane after shifting them between vehicles and stopping at multiple locations. On Tuesday, the operation took place at the Congress headquarters itself.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal condemned the action, saying the government had denied Adivasi students even the basic democratic right to protest and meet the Governor. Congress leaders also alleged that police behaved abusively towards women students and used force to break up the protest. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had earlier described the Maharashtra government as “Adivasi-virodhi” over the police action.

The police, meanwhile, have denied that students were arrested from Tilak Bhavan. As reported by The Indian Express, police said those attempting to proceed towards Lok Bhavan were detained from different locations and that legal action was being taken. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has also claimed that the students’ demands have been accepted, alleging that the continuing agitation was being driven by some NSUI office-bearers rather than the students themselves.

But the students themselves have rejected any suggestion that the issue is over. Before being driven out of Mumbai, they announced that they would return on October 25 and resume their protest at Azad Maidan.

The episode exposes the stark gap between the government’s claim that the students’ demands have been resolved and the reality of students having to march hundreds of kilometres to Mumbai, seek a hearing from the state’s highest authorities, and then face police action instead of an open response to their grievances. Their demands concern not abstract policy questions, but the safety, dignity and lives of Adivasi students in institutions run by the state.

The government may claim the demands have been accepted. The students’ continued resistance, and their determination to return, suggest otherwise.

 

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]]> From Nashik to Mumbai: Adivasi students’ protest meets police detentions https://sabrangindia.in/from-nashik-to-mumbai-adivasi-students-protest-meets-police-detentions/ Tue, 06 Oct 2026 09:19:20 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49545 Weeks of agitation over tribal hostels and schools culminate in alleged detention of protesters ahead of planned Azad Maidan march

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]]> Adivasi students who marched from Nashik to Mumbai demanding accountability over the state of tribal schools and hostels were allegedly detained by police in the early hours of Monday, October 5, before they could hold a planned protest at Azad Maidan. The students have been protesting for weeks over scholarships, inadequate food and basic amenities in government-run ashram schools and hostels, student safety, and an independent inquiry into deaths in tribal institutions. They are also demanding the resignation of Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike and the department’s commissioner. The Indian Express reported that the students had first staged a month-long agitation in Nashik and that at least 30 protesters were allegedly detained during their march towards Mumbai.

The students travelled to Mumbai by bus and on foot after seeking permission to protest at Azad Maidan. According to the Times of India, the students said they had received no response to their request for permission and, having nowhere to stay in Mumbai, were accommodated overnight at the Maharashtra Congress headquarters, Tilak Bhavan, in Dadar.

The Congress alleged that police action began around midnight, with personnel entering or attempting to enter Tilak Bhavan and threatening students with detention and police cases. Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal claimed that students, including women, were taken into custody and that police also detained NSUI functionaries. The report by Hindustan Times provided that the party further alleged that students were stopped around 3 a.m., photographed and that a bus carrying protesters was taken into custody.

The reported police action has drawn strong criticism from Congress leaders. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh called the Maharashtra government “Adivasi-virodhi”, while Sapkal warned that Congress leaders would gherao Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ official residence, Varsha, if the detained students and party workers were not released. Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also criticised the government over the treatment of the protesting students.

 

The allegations have been disputed by the Mumbai Police. As reported by Times of India, DCP Manish Kalwaniya said that no one was arrested from Tilak Bhavan and that protesters who were planning to march towards Lok Bhavan, the Governor’s official residence, were detained from different locations. Police said legal action was being taken against those participating in the proposed march.

The confrontation comes against the backdrop of a larger dispute over the safety, dignity and living conditions of students in Maharashtra’s tribal residential education system. The students’ demands extend beyond scholarships to basic facilities, food, sanitation, medical care and accountability for deaths and injuries in hostels and ashram schools. After weeks of protest in Nashik, their decision to march to Mumbai was an attempt to press the state government directly on these unresolved grievances.

There were also accusations of women protestors being detained and denied access to food or washrooms, and being driven around the city with no breaks.

The contrast with the treatment of the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest just days earlier is striking. On October 2, the CJP went ahead with a large gathering at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park despite Mumbai Police having denied permission. Hundreds, and according to reports thousands, gathered at the venue, even as police deployed around 500 personnel. The protest proceeded, with participants publicly demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The police subsequently registered an FIR against the organisers and 400–500 unidentified persons, but there were no reports of a comparable midnight operation to prevent protesters from assembling in the first place.

The Adivasi students, by contrast, were stopped before they could reach their proposed protest site. Having marched from Nashik to Mumbai to raise demands concerning scholarships, hostel conditions, food, safety and accountability for deaths in tribal institutions, they were detained from different locations, while Congress alleged that police entered party offices where students had taken shelter. Mumbai Police has disputed the allegation of arrests from the Congress office and said those planning to march towards Lok Bhavan were detained.

The difference raises an uncomfortable question about how the right to protest is being enforced in Maharashtra: why was a large, unauthorised political protest allowed to proceed and dealt with through a subsequent FIR, while Adivasi students who had travelled hundreds of kilometres to press demands over basic educational and living conditions faced preventive detention before their protest could even begin? The contrast is particularly stark when the students’ demands concern their fundamental access to dignity, education and safe living conditions.

 

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]]> From caste to race: Reading ‘Black & Buddhist’ through an Indian lens https://sabrangindia.in/from-caste-to-race-reading-black-buddhist-through-an-indian-lens/ Thu, 24 Sep 2026 11:37:21 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49457 A few days ago, while visiting a local library in a relatively small town on the eastern coast of the United States, the person who took me there asked if I wished to borrow a book. I looked around. While I couldn’t find much that immediately connected with me, one book seemed of particular interest: Black […]

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]]> A few days ago, while visiting a local library in a relatively small town on the eastern coast of the United States, the person who took me there asked if I wished to borrow a book. I looked around. While I couldn’t find much that immediately connected with me, one book seemed of particular interest: Black & Buddhist.

An African American interpretation of Buddhism, it is a collection of articles by scholars and Buddhist activists who, writing from their personal experiences of racial exclusion, explore “trauma, belonging, healing, and transformation,” even as they “wrestle with their suffering.”

Subtitled Buddhism Can Teach Us about Race, Resilience, Transformation & Freedom, the book prompted a thought even as I carried it in my hand: if Dalits in India have been embracing Buddhism in large numbers, why wouldn’t Black Americans do the same, given that they, too, have experienced a qualitatively similar form of discrimination?

Even before I began reading the book, which was published in 2020, I sought to find out what percentage of Americans are Buddhists and, of these, how many are Black. This is what I found: Buddhists represent approximately 1.0% to 1.3% of the U.S. population, or about 3.5 to 4.4 million people. A majority are of Asian descent—roughly 60% to 67%—while about a quarter to one-third are White.

As for Black Americans, they make up roughly 3% of all Buddhists in the United States. And within the broader Black American population, less than 0.5% identify as Buddhist. Yet, from my personal interactions in the United States, I have found that Buddhist cultural presence, visibility, and affinity appear to be growing rapidly.

Someone I know intimately is by no stretch of the imagination a Buddhist. Yet he is among the millions living in America who identify as Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or “spiritual but not religious,” while regularly practising Buddhist meditation or adopting aspects of Buddhist philosophy. Not without reason, according to one source, the absolute number of Buddhist practitioners in the United States grew by more than 20% between 2010 and 2020.

Yet, as far as Black Americans are concerned, they haven’t gone the Dalit way.

Buddhists in India may make up a minuscule 0.7% to 0.8% of the country’s population, or about 8.4 million people, but a vast majority of them are Dalits—around 85% to 90%.

In all likelihood, many of them followed their icon, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who publicly converted to Buddhism at the fag end of his life—in October 1956, just two months before his death in December 1956—after concluding that the caste hierarchy and the practice of “untouchability” were inextricably embedded in orthodox Hindu scriptures.

Returning to Black & Buddhist, I couldn’t find any direct reference to Ambedkar or Dalits in its chapters. This could be because the anthology’s primary focus is specifically on the African American and Black diaspora experience in the United States, examining intergenerational trauma, white supremacy, capitalism, and the distinctive resilience of Black Buddhist practitioners in America.

However, in the book’s introduction, the two editors, Pamela Ayo Yetunde and Cheryl A. Giles, explicitly name “caste designations” alongside racism, sexism, white supremacy, imperialism, and colonialism as inherent, exploitative features of the capitalist system that Buddhism must actively confront.

There is, of course, a critique of Mahatma Gandhi by one of the contributors, Sebene Selassie, similar to what some Indian Dalit intellectuals, as well as the well-known litterateur Arundhati Roy, have been saying.

Selassie writes: “When (Gandhi) was living in South Africa as a young lawyer, his stance on anti-Black racism was well-defined and expressed: he believed Indians and whites to be part of an Aryan brotherhood and inherently superior to Black people, which was not an uncommon stance of Indians living there at the time.”

I didn’t expect Selassie to go on to examine whether Gandhi changed his views thereafter.

But let me turn to the book now.

Each of the eight contributors—Cheryl A. Giles, Lama Rod Owens, Sebene Selassie, Lama Dawa Tarchin Phillips, Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Gyozan Royce Andrew Johnson, Kamilah Majied, and Ruth King—gives graphic details of the suffering and trauma they have experienced, which led them to adopt the Buddhist way of life as a way out.

They go on to conceptualize Buddhism by identifying the paths they believe have helped them overcome their suffering: Right View, Right Mindfulness, Right Intention, Right Livelihood, Right Concentration, Right Action, Right Speech, and Right Effort.

Given this framework, what appeared particularly interesting to me was the way the book looks at capitalism.

While pointing out that in the capitalist society in which they live there is “creativity and freedom,” the book also underscores—and let me quote here—that the system leads to “exploitation, poverty, classism, caste designations, racism, sexism (and other ‘isms’ related to sex and gender), ageism, white supremacy, human supremacy, imperialism, and colonialism.”

Further, capitalism “allows for shortened lifespans for poor people due to chronic stress, hunger, thirst, and treatable but untreated diseases.”

This is quite close to the Marxian analysis—something the powers-that-be in the United States would perhaps detest from the bottom of their hearts.

A closer look, however, suggested that it is nowhere near the typical Communist way of thinking—the proletariat versus the capitalists.

One of the solutions offered is “Right Action.”

The book wonders: “A question Black Buddhists ponder is ‘What is Right Action when confronted by a violent racist?’ Our actions are not just about our own self-preservation but”—and here I paused—“also about the well-being of those around us, including violent perpetrators.”

It says that Black actions, from a Buddhist perspective, should lead to “domino effects and we vow not to become oppressors even while being oppressed.” Insisting that “hatred does not transform hatred” and “only love does that,” it underscores the importance of responding without reproducing the very violence one is confronting.

Quite Gandhian, I thought.

Further: “Right Action, at its core, is love. Love in Right Action applies to everything we do, including our hobbies, vocations, work, and activism. Right Action is necessary in the economic system we live in.”

And how does one observe “Right Livelihood” in a capitalist setup?

Not by rebelling against the system, but by ensuring that one does not make “money in a way that harms others.” In fact, one must live as “spiritually integrated, nonexploitative, generous, and constructive human beings” by beginning with “examining if and how greed operates in our lives.”

The book warns: “Capitalism can breed greed if we have the wrong view that possessing a multitude of things, or having much more money than we need, brings real security and real joy.”

Here, it cites “studies in the US” to argue that “being rich does not make one happy and does not promote mental, emotional, or psychological security.”

Regretting that Black people have “been the objects of capitalism and exploited as property,” the book says that, through the generations, they “have created a collective psychological defense against the vulnerability of being seen as financially insecure.”

The result is that “some of us have come to value things that don’t bring lasting joy.”

Often, “a large home, a luxury car, precious gems and metals, and expensive designer clothing, and paying for these things through doing work that exploits, maims, causes addictions, or kills others” are considered “symbols of success,” feeding the delusion “that being wealthy or appearing to be wealthy protects Black people from exploitation.”

The book believes: “Right Livelihood promotes safety, truth, nonharming, and constructive enterprises. Right Livelihood is not the pursuit of greed and has no interest in impressing others with material excess.”

It adds: “It is not a way to demonstrate economic viability or invulnerability. It can be used as a springboard to create economic alternatives within the system in which we find ourselves. Right Livelihood is certainly a fitting description for Right and Noble anti-racism activism…”

And how does one achieve Right Action and Right Livelihood?

The answer the authors offer is through Right Concentration.

“Supported” by experienced meditation teachers and students, one can undertake “meditation retreats” for this purpose. But here, they warn, one must be selective. One should check whether the retreat centre would be in a position to support participants during what could be an emotionally and mentally vulnerable period.

The book underlines: “Long meditation retreats evoke mental and emotional vulnerability because returning to one’s object of meditation over and over again can trigger trauma.”

But this “should not be taken to mean that meditation is not right… The real questions are these: What type of meditation retreat is appropriate? How long? How often? To what end?”

Why would an African American anti-racism activist want to experience Right Concentration?

By committing to “cultivating peace of mind and peace of body as we struggle for liberation”; by helping each other so that “our collective souls and collective selves may be nourished for generations of communities to come.”

Right Concentration, the book believes, would help one know one’s “traumatized history, without the constructs of race, ethnicity, gender, and religion and without preferences and desires, fears and terrors, anger and rage—imagine how much freedom there may be.”

“We would come out of that experience knowing ourselves as part of the Universal Renaissance in Black Self-Knowledge…”

All this would have to be done, says the book, at a time when, in the United States, one often hears African Americans being told: “Go back to Africa where you belong!”

It says: “Black belonging has always been contested in the United States and we are now being asked to support the exclusion of Brown people at our borders, Black people from African countries, and the Muslim world which is largely populated by people of color.”

This, the book argues, ought to be overcome through “benefactor practice,” which “weaves together the threads of ancestral myth, memory, and connection with others, all of which may be modes of healing intergenerational trauma that lives in our bodies.”

It says: “Integrating these threads is a lifelong process that can be supported by bringing our benefactors into our meditation practice. We know trauma lives in the body. We carry it every day. Trauma cannot be buried, ignored, pushed aside, or denied. As long as we breathe, trauma reminds us it is with us and rises to the surface. Transforming trauma means being willing to address it in our lives.”

“In other words,” the book argues, “being Black-identified does not mean that I am also anger-identified. To be Black has come with significant woundedness and trauma from having to survive a white supremacist culture as well as having to hold the transhistorical trauma of (the) ancestors who also survived the same trauma and passed it on unknowingly” to the next generation.

Yet, through meditation practice, one can experience “Blackness” as something “based upon resiliency, community, deep joy in the face of violence, and a profound gratitude” for Black culture, “which continues to transform marginalization into celebration.”

Courtesy: CounterView

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]]> Three years after Darshan Solanki, Sahil Wakode’s death shows IIT Bombay still has no answer on caste, power and student deaths https://sabrangindia.in/three-years-after-darshan-solanki-sahil-wakodes-death-shows-iit-bombay-still-has-no-answer-on-caste-power-and-student-deaths/ Tue, 22 Sep 2026 11:39:20 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49416 The second-year student died hours after a mid-semester examination; his family alleges caste-based harassment, while the professor named in the FIR continues as faculty despite being removed as Dean

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]]> Sahil Ravindra Wakode, a second-year BTech student of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay, died by suicide on September 18, hours after appearing for a mid-semester examination. According to The Indian Express, Wakode’s parents subsequently alleged that their son had been subjected to caste-based discrimination and harassment and named Professor Suryanarayana Doolla and others in their complaint. The Mumbai Police registered an FIR invoking Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, concerning abetment of suicide, along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The investigation was subsequently transferred to the Mumbai Crime Branch.

The circumstances immediately preceding his death have become a central part of the investigation. Doolla was reportedly the invigilator during Wakode’s examination and, according to the institute’s initial account (later regretfully denied by IIT Mumbai), Wakode had been found using a mobile phone and had uploaded the examination question paper to ChatGPT to obtain answers. IIT Bombay initially stated that no disciplinary action had been initiated against him and that he had been counselled by the concerned faculty members.

But that account quickly became contested. Students and Wakode’s family alleged that the incident involved threats of disciplinary action and suspension and that Wakode had been humiliated. The Indian Express has since reported that Crime Branch investigators are examining CCTV footage from the examination hall showing Doolla approaching Wakode and asking him to leave the hall. The footage is now part of an investigation that is attempting to reconstruct what happened between the examination and Wakode’s death.

IIT Bombay suicide: Sahil Wakode and the caste question - Frontline
Image: PTI

What remains equally important is what happened before September 18. Wakode’s family has alleged that the examination incident was not an isolated interaction but occurred against the backdrop of months of caste-based and mental harassment. Those allegations have not been established, and the Crime Branch investigation must determine whether they are supported by witness statements, communications, institutional records and other evidence. But the absence of a prior formal complaint cannot, by itself, be treated as proof that discrimination did not occur.

 

The apology came only after the institution had already framed the story

The most troubling aspect of IIT Bombay’s handling of the matter may be the speed with which the institution initially presented a particular account of Wakode’s final hours. Its first public communication foregrounded the alleged use of a phone during the examination and the uploading of the question paper on ChatGPT. That communication effectively placed an allegation of academic misconduct at the centre of the public narrative before the circumstances surrounding the death had been independently established.

On September 21, however, IIT Bombay apologised and acknowledged that it had been inappropriate to set out or characterise details relating to the events preceding Wakode’s death before they had been established through the appropriate investigative process. The Times of India reported that the institute apologised for its earlier communication concerning the examination incident, while The Indian Express reported that students had specifically demanded an apology over what they described as the “defamation” of Wakode.

That reversal matters as the question was not whether academic misconduct should be taken seriously. It should. The question is whether, when a student dies hours after an interaction with institutional authority, the first responsibility of the institution should be to establish facts carefully rather than to publicly foreground an allegation that potentially shifts attention towards the student’s conduct.

The institute itself has now acknowledged that the circumstances had not yet been duly established. That acknowledgment should also invite scrutiny of how institutions speak about students after their deaths, particularly when those students belong to communities that have historically experienced discrimination within educational institutions.

Doolla has been removed as Dean. But only as Dean

IIT Bombay has temporarily relieved Professor Suryanarayana Doolla of his duties as Dean of Administrative Affairs pending an investigation. But, as The New Indian Express reported, Doolla continues to remain a professor in the Energy Science and Engineering department. The Times of India similarly reported that the action was limited to his administrative responsibilities and that he would continue as a professor.

This distinction is important because students had demanded that Doolla be removed from his academic duties as well. Their concern was not necessarily a demand that the professor be treated as guilty before investigation, but that a person named in an FIR concerning the death of a student should not continue exercising academic authority over students while the circumstances are being investigated.

The institute has justified his removal from the administrative post as a step intended to ensure an independent and unbiased investigation. That is understandable as an institutional measure. But it also leaves an obvious question: if independence from administrative authority is necessary for the inquiry, what safeguards are in place to ensure that students who may have information relevant to the investigation do not feel vulnerable when the professor continues to teach and exercise academic authority?

The FIR is not the investigation. But neither is institutional denial

The FIR records allegations made by Wakode’s family. The Crime Branch investigation must determine what happened, whether there was sustained harassment, whether caste-based discrimination occurred, whether any conduct contributed to Wakode’s distress, and whether any institutional response failed him. At the same time, IIT Bombay’s statement that no complaint had previously been made to its SC/ST cell or administration cannot settle the question either. The Indian Express reported that the institute relied on the absence of any such formal complaint when responding to the family’s allegations.

Caste discrimination does not necessarily announce itself through a formal written complaint. Students may hesitate to complain against professors who control grades, academic progression, recommendations or other aspects of university life. The possibility of retaliation, stigma or simply the belief that an institution will not act can itself become a barrier to reporting. That is precisely why an investigation into allegations of discrimination cannot be reduced to a search for whether a complaint was filed in the correct institutional forum.

What exactly is IIT Bombay defending?

The response from sections of the IIT Bombay faculty has introduced another dimension to the controversy. The Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay publicly expressed solidarity with Doolla, saying that he had been discharging his duties according to institute-approved academic procedures and that the faculty was distressed by what it described as the tarnishing of his reputation. The Indian Express reported that faculty members gathered in support of Doolla after he was removed as Dean, while faculty bodies at other IITs also expressed support for him.

There is nothing inherently improper about insisting upon due process or resisting a presumption of guilt. But due process cannot mean that institutional solidarity with a faculty member becomes a substitute for investigating allegations made by a student’s family. The two principles can coexist. Doolla is entitled to a fair investigation and should not be declared guilty merely because he has been named in an FIR. At the same time, Wakode’s family is entitled to have allegations of caste-based harassment and institutional failure investigated seriously, independently and without the investigation being overshadowed by a defence of the professor’s professional reputation.

The concern becomes particularly acute when the institution itself had initially issued a public account that it later apologised for.

This is not the first IIT Bombay student death to raise questions about caste

The most difficult part of the present controversy is that IIT Bombay cannot claim to be encountering these questions for the first time. In February 2023, Dalit student Darshan Solanki died by suicide at IIT Bombay. His death generated allegations of caste discrimination and intense campus debate over whether students from marginalised communities were adequately protected within the institution.

Three years later, Solanki’s father, Ramesh Solanki, has returned to the IIT Bombay campus in connection with protests following Wakode’s death. The Indian Express reported that parents of previous IIT Bombay suicide victims joined the protests and raised concerns about transparency, accountability, discrimination and the treatment of students from reserved communities. Ramesh Solanki reportedly continues to question aspects of the investigation into his son’s death.

The significance of Darshan Solanki therefore cannot simply be historical. His death forms part of the institutional memory against which the present case is unfolding. The question now is not only what happened to Sahil Wakode. It is also what IIT Bombay learnt from Darshan Solanki’s death, what institutional mechanisms were changed afterwards, and whether those mechanisms could identify and address the forms of exclusion that students may experience without ever making a formal complaint.

Demonstrators at IIT-Bombay pay tribute to the deceased student on September 21, 2026.
Demonstrators at IIT-Bombay pay tribute to the deceased student on September 21, 2026. | Image Credit: PTI

And then there are the other deaths

Wakode’s death has also occurred amid wider concerns over student suicides at IIT Bombay. Reports have referred to other student deaths this year, adding to the sense among students and parents that the problem cannot be treated as a single tragic incident. Moneycontrol, reporting on the aftermath of Wakode’s death, noted that the episode had once again brought student suicides at premier engineering institutions into focus. The protests at IIT Bombay have consequently expanded beyond the circumstances of one student’s death to include demands relating to mental-health support, institutional accountability and student welfare.

This is important because individualising every death can prevent institutions from examining common structural conditions. If students repeatedly experience academic pressure, fear of disciplinary action, inadequate grievance mechanisms, social isolation or discrimination, then treating each death as an entirely separate personal tragedy leaves the institutional environment itself largely unexamined.

The 18 demands show how much larger the crisis has become

The student protests have made clear that the controversy is no longer limited to the question of what happened inside one examination hall. According to The Indian Express, students placed an 18-point charter before the IIT Bombay administration. Their demands included an independent inquiry, changes to student welfare mechanisms, student representation on committees, a formal mechanism for complaints against professors, greater accountability of institutional authorities and stronger mental-health support, including access to psychiatric care.

These demands matter because they reveal what students themselves see as the larger problem. They are not asking only for an answer about September 18. They are questioning how decisions affecting students are made, who exercises authority over them, what happens when a student has a complaint against a professor, and whether students have any meaningful role in institutions that make decisions about their academic and personal lives.

An institution can have rules on paper and still leave students without meaningful protection if those rules are difficult to invoke against powerful members of the faculty.

The protests have also brought the role of IIT Bombay Director Professor Shireesh Kedare under scrutiny. Students demanded his resignation as part of their broader charter. Reports also emerged suggesting that he had agreed to resign, although IIT Bombay subsequently denied that he had stepped down.

A campus divided between solidarity and accountability

The response to the protests has also raised questions about how dissent is being handled around the campus. The Indian Express reported that police detained activists from different organisations who were protesting outside the IIT Bombay campus. Ramesh Solanki, whose son Darshan died in 2023, was among those participating in the protest and seeking accountability over the earlier case.

The present situation has produced an uncomfortable divide. Faculty groups have rallied around Doolla and emphasised academic integrity and due process. Students have demanded accountability and institutional reform. Wakode’s family has alleged caste-based harassment. The police are investigating. IIT Bombay has apologised for its initial public account while simultaneously maintaining that the circumstances remain under investigation.

The question IIT Bombay must now answer

The academic misconduct allegation has also become central to the public discussion. But academic integrity and caste discrimination are not mutually exclusive questions. Even if the investigation establishes that Wakode violated examination rules, that would not automatically disprove allegations that he may have experienced caste-based discrimination or harassment. Conversely, allegations of caste discrimination cannot be used to establish that an examination rule was not violated.

The two questions require separate examination. The tragedy is that IIT Bombay’s initial public statement blurred those questions by placing the examination incident at the centre of its account of Wakode’s death. Its subsequent apology acknowledged that the circumstances preceding his death should not have been characterised before they were established through investigation.

The most important question is not whether IIT Bombay can defend its procedures. It is whether those procedures are capable of protecting students when the person they may need protection from is someone who exercises institutional authority over them.

Detailed reports on Darshan Solanki suicide case may be read here, here, here, here and here.

 

Related:

Mumbai Dharna for Darshan Solanki makes calls for law against caste discrimination

The Normalisation of Suicide at IITs: Institutional blindness and failure

A Long Battle, A Swift Stay: The Fight for Equitable Campuses

The Anatomy of Humiliation: Defining caste violence in the Constitutional era

Another student lost to suicide at IIT-Delhi

IIT Kanpur: Third incident of suicide in five weeks, a 29-year-old PhD scholar found dead in her dorm room

Another student, belonging to the Scheduled Caste community, dies by suicide in IIT

Crucial evidence overlooked by IIT Committee, internal survey by SC/ST Cell contradicts report findings

 

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]]> Stop construction of Vadhavan Port, have open discussions with local communities: Climate change activists https://sabrangindia.in/stop-construction-of-vadhavan-port-have-open-discussions-with-local-communities-climate-change-activists/ Tue, 22 Sep 2026 07:35:51 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49401 Arguing that the Vadhavan Port Project in Maharashtra has not emerged from the needs of the local communities, and instead threatens the livelihoods of fisher folk, Adivasi lands, agriculture and orchards, the sea, and coastal biodiversity, the NAPM has demanded that the project “should be scrapped immediately”

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]]> Pointing to the serious impact of climate change becoming serious in the coastal areas, building such massive port projects will have far-reaching consequences for both food security and health said the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) that has, after a series of interactions with local communities, demanded that the Vadhavan Port project be scrapped immediately. On the contrary, says the collective, the project threatens the livelihoods of fisherfolk, Adivasi lands, agriculture and orchards, the sea, and coastal biodiversity.

On September 19t and 20 2026, representatives of NAPM from Maharashtra and several other states across the country met and interacted with fisherfolk, Adivasis, farmers, die-makers, landless people, workers, and other affected communities in the Vadhavan area.

The Vadhavan Port project proposes to reclaim approximately 1,448 hectares of the sea to create land. In addition, large areas of land will be required for roads, railways, and other associated infrastructure. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has publicly stated that Vadhavan Port will transform Maharashtra’s economy, turn Palghar into a “Fourth Mumbai,” and create lakhs of jobs. But the fisherfolk, Adivasis, farmers, die-makers, and other local communities protesting along the Vadhavan coast do not want a form of development that destroys their lives and livelihoods.

The proposal for a port in the Vadhavan area had been questioned earlier as well on environmental grounds. Today, various agencies of the Union and State governments are taking the project forward. Yet the environmental and social concerns raised earlier remain unresolved, even as the scale of the project has expanded many times over. The experience of JNPT and other ports must be studied – including the traffic, urbanisation, pollution, impacts on fishing, and expansion of infrastructure that they have brought to coastal areas – and an independent assessment of the overall impacts of Vadhavan must be carried out. The damage already witnessed elsewhere should serve as a grave warning.

“We do not want a Fourth Mumbai. Our sea, our farms, our forests and our villages must remain as they are!”

With this demand, communities across the area have united under the leadership of the Vadhavan Bandar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti to oppose the port. Beyond the port itself, the project entails approximately 1,448 hectares of marine reclamation, over 10 kilometres of breakwater, large-scale dredging, road and rail connectivity, storage and logistics infrastructure, and industrial and commercial development. In other words, this is a project that will transform the entire coastline. In NAPM’s view, this is not a chain of development, but a chain of destruction. The government speaks of an investment of Rs. 76,220 crore and the creation of lakhs of jobs. But alongside government agencies, major international port, terminal, logistics, and dredging operators are participating in this project. Who, then, will count the cost to the generations-old livelihoods of local fisherfolk, Adivasis, farmers, and small producers?

According to government studies, the 16 fishing villages in the project area are home to 20,809 fisherfolk belonging to 5,333 households. Fishing is the principal livelihood of these communities. Skill training or compensation of a few lakh rupees cannot replace the sea for a fisher. Traditional fishing, local fish resources – including lobster – and the entire economy built around them must be protected. Vadhavan lies within the ecologically sensitive Dahanu region. The cumulative impacts of massive marine reclamation, dredging, and the breakwater on sea currents, sediment movement, fishing grounds, and tidal ecosystems must be examined seriously.

A fundamental question remains: Have the traditional knowledge of local communities, their lived experience of the sea, and data on local biodiversity been adequately reflected in these studies?

If mangrove areas are affected, marine ecosystems could be destroyed. Such ecosystems are nearly impossible to recreate elsewhere, making their protection and conservation critically important. The impacts of sourcing material for Vadhavan’s reclamation and associated infrastructure – including quarrying in hilly areas, impacts on Adivasi areas, and deforestation – must also be taken into account. Cutting down a forest in one place and planting trees in another district cannot compensate for the loss of that ecosystem.

Official information indicates that private land, Adivasi land, forest land, and government land will be required for the roads and railways connecting the port. The impact of the project will therefore not remain confined to the port area. For Adivasi communities, land cultivated over generations is the very basis of survival. We cannot accept taking away these lands in the name of development – blasting hills, cutting forests, and dumping reclamation material, and calling this “development.”

It is misleading to present Vadhavan as simply a “container port.” According to official documents, it is a deep-draft major port with the capacity to handle bulk chemical and crude cargo in addition to containers. Under the Central Pollution Control Board’s classification, ports, harbours, jetties, and dredging operations fall under the Red Category, while ports handling only containers fall under the Orange Category.

Government documents claim a sea depth of 20 metres. However, the local Sangharsh Samiti says that measurements taken at low tide found the depth to be lower. Activists say that although this issue was raised during the public hearing, no satisfactory response was provided.

The NAPM has demanded:

—Put a halt to the Vadhavan Port project immediately.

—Immediately halt tree-felling and all related infrastructure works.

—-Conduct an independent and transparent cumulative impact assessment, with the participation of local fisherfolk, Adivasis, farmers, and women.

 

—-Independently re-measure the depth of the sea, including verification of the claim of a 20-metre depth. The exercise must be public and conducted in the presence of local communities.

—-Protect the generations-old livelihoods of fisherfolk. Traditional fishing must not be destroyed in the name of compensation or alternative employment.

—Protect Adivasi land and forests, and safeguard all their legal rights, including rights under PESA.

—-Protect the local ecosystem instead of afforestation in distant districts as compensation for the destruction of local forests.

—-Instead of imposing uncontrolled urbanization in the name of a “Fourth Mumbai,” establish schools, colleges, hospitals, healthcare services, and employment opportunities based on the needs of the local people.

Finally, the statement issued by NAPM states that the people’s movement at Vadhavan is not a struggle against one port alone. It is a struggle to defend the coastline, fisherfolk and Adivasi communities, agriculture, forests, and biodiversity.

“The people of Vadhavan do want development – they want schools, a college, hospitals and doctors; they want markets for their agriculture and horticulture; fisherfolk need facilities and fair prices; and young people need dignified employment in their own region.

“NAPM stands firmly with the Vadhavan Bandar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti and with the fisherfolk, Adivasis, and local communities fighting this project. We reject a model of development built by destroying the sea, forests, land, and livelihoods.NAPM appeals to people’s movements across the country to express their solidarity with the sit-in protest that has now continued for the past 48 days.”

NAPM has been part of this struggle, which has continued for several decades, from the very beginning. Medha Patkar, the late Thomas Kocherry, Rambhau Patil, N. D. Koli and many other activists have stood with this struggle over the years.

The statement has been issued by Sanjay Mangala Gopal, Suniti S. R – National Convenors (from Maharashtra), Sujay More, Sirat Satpute, Maharashtra State Convenors. The Solidarity Team Members include Prasad Chacko, Ahmedabad; Pranjali Tripathi, Jaipur; Adv. Mini Mathew, Bandra; Siddharth Chakravarti, Bengaluru; Sakshi Samant, Thane; Nandkumar Pawar, Mumbai; Ramesh Koli, Uran; Mangesh Koli, Uran; Mayur Koli, Uran; Dhananjay Shinde; Rajshree Shinde, Mumbai


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]]> Outside the World, Outside the Page: Why We Are More Receptive to Dalit Suffering than Dalit Anger https://sabrangindia.in/outside-the-world-outside-the-page-why-we-are-more-receptive-to-dalit-suffering-than-dalit-anger/ Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:22:17 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49349 The author, a student in Bengaluru, asks why Dalit suffering is more readily received than Dalit anger in literature, cinema and public life. Is it because sorrow allows readers and viewers to remain sympathetic observers, while anger and refusal can challenge that comfortable distance?

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]]> Why is it so much easier to feel sorry for a Dalit character than to sit with one who is simply, unapologetically angry?

It’s worth asking because the answer may say less about literature than it does about the way we have learned to read caste. We have, as readers and viewers, built a fairly narrow set of terms under which we are willing to engage with caste at all, and sorrow fits neatly inside those terms. Anger doesn’t.

Sadness is an easier thing to host. A Dalit character suffers, we feel for them, we close the book or leave the theatre a little shaken -quietly proud of ourselves, even, for having felt something at all. It’s a tidy transaction. The pain stays over there, on the page or the screen. We stay over here, safely watching.

But anger doesn’t play by those rules. “Look what was done to me” is a sentence we can pity from a comfortable distance. “You were part of the world that let this happen” is different. It doesn’t ask for our sympathy. It asks what we will do with our discomfort.

Beyond this literary pattern, it played out in real life in July 2016, in a small town called Una in Gujarat. Four Dalit men were skinning a dead cow, their traditional, caste-assigned occupation, when a group of self-declared cow vigilantes accused them of killing it. The men were stripped, tied to a car, and beaten in public with sticks and iron rods while onlookers filmed it. The video spread within hours.

It wasn’t the usual cycle of outrage, sympathy, silence. Thousands of Dalits marched across Gujarat. Tens of thousands eventually joined what came to be called the Dalit Asmita Yatra, the Dalit Pride March. And at the end of it, they didn’t ask to be pitied. They pledged: they would stop removing dead cattle from upper-caste villages altogether. Let the carcasses lie where they fell if no one else would touch them.

That was a refusal. And refusal is harder to watch because it changes the position of the person watching. An entire social order had quietly depended on their silence and that silence had run out.

The instinct to prefer sorrow over refusal has a longer history.

In the 1870s, Jyotirao Phule’s Gulamgiri was asking why a system of oppression had been built in the first place. Later, Dalit writers and theorists would continue to challenge the expectation that Dalit lives should appear on the page primarily through suffering.

The same discomfort appears in the Marathi film Fandry. Jabya, the protagonist, spends the story being humiliated, and the audience is given every reason to feel for him. Then, in the final shot, he picks up a stone and throws it straight at the camera- straight at the viewer. He is no longer simply someone to pity; he is someone looking back. It is harder to sit with than anything that came before it.

That moment matters because the viewer can no longer remain comfortably outside the scene. The stone crosses the invisible distance between the character and the audience.

None of this makes Dalit anger the “right” emotion, any more than suffering ever was. The ask is simple: let people be whatever they actually are, on the page and off it. Let them suffer if that’s true. Let them refuse, the way Una refused, if that’s true too. Nobody should have to stay pitiable to be taken seriously.

Maybe that’s the real thing being asked of all of us: not compassion, which is easy to hand out and feel good about, but the willingness to face Dalit anger without demanding that it make us comfortable. Some voices were never meant to comfort us. They were meant to make us listen.

(The author is a postgraduate student of English Literature with interests in Dalit studies, South Asian Literature, media, cultural identity and representation based in Bengaluru.)

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]]> Swaminarayan, untouchability and the ‘we are not Hindu’ argument https://sabrangindia.in/swaminarayan-untouchability-and-the-we-are-not-hindu-argument/ Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:30:10 +0000 https://sabrangindia.in/?p=49309 Following my blog on why the Eiffel Tower authorities should take all the blame for giving in to the Swaminarayan sadhus’ bizarre demand to “invisibilise” women, including its female staff, during their visit to the internationally renowned Paris tourist centre on September 5, an interesting comment by one of the top academics drew my attention to something I vaguely knew […]

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]]> Following my blog on why the Eiffel Tower authorities should take all the blame for giving in to the Swaminarayan sadhus’ bizarre demand to “invisibilise” women, including its female staff, during their visit to the internationally renowned Paris tourist centre on September 5, an interesting comment by one of the top academics drew my attention to something I vaguely knew about one of India’s most powerful and richest religious sects.

Sent as a personal message, Prof Ghanshyam Shah drew my attention to the fact that, at one point, the sect’s top sadhus had declared that they were not Hindus during a case in the Supreme Court. He further told me that its temples once did not allow “untouchables” to enter.

Nothing unusual, I thought, for a groundbreaking study, supported by an Ahmedabad-based Dalit rights NGO, Navsarjan Trust, “Understanding Untouchability”, had found the widespread prevalence of untouchability in 1,589 Gujarat villages it surveyed. It said that more than 90 per cent of rural Dalits reported facing “no entry” in temples during religious ceremonies. The 2009 survey became such an eyesore for the state government that the latter sponsored a parallel study to counter the Navsarjan claim.

I looked it up, and sources told me that the case was Sastri Yagnapurushdasji and Others v. Muldas Bhudardas Vaishya and Another. It so happened that in 1947, the Province of Bombay passed the Bombay Harijan Temple Entry Act—later superseded by the Bombay Hindu Places of Public Worship (Entry-Authorisation) Act, 1956—to eradicate untouchability by legally granting Dalits (then referred to as Harijans) the right to enter and worship in all Hindu public places of worship on equal terms.

Following the law’s passage, leaders and followers (satsangis) of one of the major Swaminarayan sects, operating from Ahmedabad, filed a suit seeking a permanent injunction to prevent non-satsangi Dalits—those not initiated into the spiritual teachings of Swaminarayan—from entering their temples.

The sect’s argument for exempting its temples from the social reform legislation was that the Swaminarayan faith, or Swaminarayan sampradaya, was an entirely separate and distinct religion, not part of the Hindu religion. Hence, the Bombay temple-entry laws—which applied specifically to “Hindu” places of public worship—did not apply to Swaminarayan temples.

The case, which began in Ahmedabad, went up to the Supreme Court, whose Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar, ruled on January 14, 1966, that the Swaminarayan sect was an integral part of the Hindu religion. The court observed that Hinduism, unlike prophetic, monotheistic religions, does not depend on a single founder, a single holy book, or a uniform dogma. It described Hinduism as a broad, inclusive “way of life” capable of accommodating diverse theological views, reform movements, and sub-traditions. It went on to trace the theological foundation of Swaminarayan (Sahajanand Swami) to the Vishishtadvaita philosophy of Ramanuja. It noted that the sect accepts the authority of foundational Hindu scriptures—the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Bhagavata Purana—and worships traditional Hindu deities alongside its founder. Consequently, internal reforms or distinct sectarian practices did not sever it from the Hindu fold.

The court held that freedom of religion under Articles 25 and 26 cannot override constitutional mandates aimed at ending social evils like untouchability. Article 25(2)(b) specifically preserves the state’s power to provide for social welfare and reform by opening Hindu religious institutions to all classes and sections of Hindus.

Therefore, Swaminarayan temples fall squarely within the scope of public Hindu temples, making it unlawful to bar Dalit Hindus from entry.

Sources tell me that neither BAPS nor the Maninagar group, the two largest branches of the sect, were parties to the litigation, and that the case was fought by followers and sadhus of the original Swaminarayan sampradaya—specifically the Northern Gadi, centred at the Shri Nar Narayan Dev Temple in Kalupur, Ahmedabad.

Yet, despite claims of equality before God, the fact is that historical and sociological evidence suggests that Dalits (formerly untouchables) faced significant exclusion and separate worship practices within the Swaminarayan framework, and BAPS was no exception between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries.

While BAPS and “modern” Swaminarayan organisations emphasise spiritual equality, there have been several ways in which caste distinctions were enforced.

The primary ethical manual for all Swaminarayan followers—including BAPS—is the Shikshapatri, was written the 19th century. The Shikshapatri no doubt sought to initiate followers across caste lines and preached against outward notions of pollution in bhakti, yet it explicitly accommodated traditional Varnashrama Dharma. It referred to Slokas 17–20 and 91 in order to instruct followers not to abandon the duties and ritual observances of their own caste. In fact, there were ritual purity rules which dictated that touching members of the “lowest castes” (antyaja or outcastes) caused ritual impurity requiring purificatory bathing.

An authoritative interpretation of Shikshapatri published by the temple authorities under the title “The Epistle of Precepts” states that the caste system is “designed for effective organisation and management of society. It provides a distribution of manpower for various necessary jobs.” Comparing it with “White collar/Blue collar separation of the work force in the West”, the write-up insists that it is “enforced by birth”, and that depending on “one’s past karmas”, one is “born to endure the miseries or pleasures arising from a particular caste”. It adds: “If the caste system and the duties for each caste were followed then there is no doubt that we could return the former glory of ‘Rama Rajya’. The caste system is in no way a burden and needs to be preserved.”

Because caste rules prevented low-caste followers from worshipping alongside upper-caste Patidars and Brahmins in major temples, the sampradaya is said to have historically addressed Dalit devotion by building separate shrines or requiring external worship. Sociologist Raymond Brady Williams is cited for documenting that in parts of Gujarat (such as Chhani near Vadodara), separate temples were maintained specifically for Dalit devotees, where they could manage and perform rituals themselves without entering dominant-caste shrines. Further, early colonial observers and 19th-century commentators noted that while untouchables were inducted as disciples, social conservatism among dominant-caste followers led them to build segregated shrines or sit outside during satsang assemblies.

It is within this framework that BAPS (or, for that matter, the Maninagar Gadi) never claimed to be non-Hindu. Unlike the orthodox Ahmedabad litigants in the 1948-1966 Yagnapurushdasji case—or groups like the Ramakrishna Mission, which in the 1980s famously petitioned courts for non-Hindu minority status under Article 30 to protect its schools—BAPS never made any legal, institutional, or theological claim of being a separate, non-Hindu religion.

Instead, BAPS took the opposite approach, establishing itself as an assertive, global champion of classical Hindu identity, identifying itself as a “socio-spiritual Hindu organisation” rooted in Vedic Sanatana Dharma, whatever that may mean. Today, its literature, constitutional charters, and global temples—such as the Akshardham complexes in Delhi, Gandhinagar, and Robbinsville, New Jersey—are officially branded as Hindu mandirs and centres of Hindu culture.

In fact, sources insist that BAPS protagonists have sought to justify the claim that the assertion “We are not Hindu” was primarily an expedient legal defence, not an authentic theological shift.

The 1948-1966 court plaint (Sastri Yagnapurushdasji v. Muldas Bhudardas Vaishya), originally filed on January 12, 1948, in the Civil Court at Ahmedabad, explicitly argued that the religion of the Swaminarayan sect was “distinct and separate from the Hindu religion”, just to bypass the Bombay Harijan Temple Entry Act.

Further, BAPS never sought to endorse the “non-Hindu minority” legal trend that prevailed across India during the mid-to-late 20th century, when several prominent Hindu-origin organisations filed official court petitions seeking status as distinct, non-Hindu religious minorities to protect their institutions from state control or social legislation—something the Ramakrishna Mission in West Bengal, as well as the Lingayats in Karnataka, did.

Yet, for a long time, in BAPS, while non-Brahmin dominant castes (predominantly Patidars) made up much of the sadhu leadership, Dalits were not accepted into the ascetic order. Dalit satsangis, it was claimed, historically observed customary caste restrictions as part of their caste duty (dharma), resulting in a virtual absence of Dalit ascetics. It was only beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, under Pramukh Swami Maharaj, that BAPS formally began breaking this precedent by initiating sadhus from Dalit and Adivasi backgrounds and integrating them into full temple rituals and sanctum priesthood.

And what is the Dalit status today in BAPS temples? Sources tell me that while officially there are no caste-based restrictions on Dalits in its temples, neither BAPS nor any other Swaminarayan Gadi publishes an official caste census of its monastic order. Doctrinally, the sects maintain that upon taking initiation (diksha), a sadhu renounces their worldly identity and pre-monastic caste.

However, detailed field studies and academic documentation by sociologists and historians such as Raymond Brady Williams, Rachel Dwyer, David Hardiman, and Ghanshyam Shah provide some idea, stating that while BAPS formally ended caste-based exclusions for monastic initiation in the late 20th century, the actual proportion of Dalit and Adivasi sadhus is estimated to be well under 1%—representing a tiny handful of individuals out of more than 1,100 to 1,200 living sadhus. And most of the marginalised-community inductions into the sadhu order have come from Adivasi (tribal) communities in eastern and southern Gujarat, rather than Dalits. Adivasis, in the caste-based structure of Hinduism, do not fall under the “untouchables” category.

As for other Swaminarayan sects—the Vadtal and Ahmedabad Gadi (the original sampradaya)—the proportion of those wearing saffron robes is effectively 0%. Patidars overwhelmingly rank across almost all Swaminarayan sects and are heavily concentrated among dominant landowning and mercantile castes—estimated by sociologists to make up 60% to over 80% of the sadhus, while Brahmins and Banias comprise most of the remaining portion of the ascetic order.

In several Swaminarayan establishments, the low-caste candidates who entered the monastic path were permanently relegated to the status of parshads (also called palas or bhagats). They wore white clothes, performed manual labour, and were barred from receiving full saffron renunciation (bhagwati diksha).

As for BAPS, in the 1980s–1990s, as part of its expanded youth initiatives, there was tribal/backward-class outreach. At the 1981 Swaminarayan bicentenary mega event in Ahmedabad, Pramukh Swami initiated a massive cohort of young, educated men into the monastic order, beginning a formal systematisation of the training pipeline, which included initiating youths from backward-class and tribal (Adivasi) backgrounds into saffron robes, granting them new ascetic names and the sacred thread.

According to Williams, Pramukh Swami “abolished for BAPS the caste-related category of ascetics permanently in white”. From that period onwards, the parshad (white-clad) status in BAPS ceased to be an indicator of lower caste. Instead, it became a mandatory, temporary probationary phase (typically lasting one to three years) that every novice—regardless of caste or social background—must undergo before taking full saffron vows.

David Hardiman, a prominent subaltern historian and sociologist of modern Gujarat and Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Warwick, noted in “Class Base of the Swaminarayan Sect” (Economic and Political Weekly, 1988) that while the Swaminarayan Sampradaya historically served as an ideological vehicle for the upwardly mobile Kanbi/Patidar agrarian elite, the sect incorporated lower-caste and Adivasi groups through moral reform (temperance, vegetarianism), which structurally limited Dalits from rising into spiritual leadership or ascetic power within dominant institutions.

I would like to end with the following observation by Prof Ghanshyam Shah in “Untouchability in Rural India”, co-authored with Harsh Mander, Sukhadeo Thorat, et al.:

“While the evidence … suggests that the more blatant and extreme forms of untouchability appear to have declined, discrimination continues and is most prevalent in the religious and personal spheres.”

Further:

“Removal of untouchability was on their agenda; it was however primarily confined to removing the taboo of physical touch rather than socio-economic discrimination and inequality.”

Courtesy: CounterView

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