MP SC/ST welfare fund diverted for the welfare of cow

In Madhya Pradesh, SC/ST welfare fund diverted for the welfare of cow, museum and religious sites. According to documents reviewed by HT, of ₹252 crore meant for cow welfare (Gau Samvardhan and Pashi Samvardhan), ₹95.76 crore has been allocated from SC/ST sub-plan. The cow welfare fund has increased from about ₹90 crore last year.

For redevelopment of six religious sites, almost half of the money allocated for the current financial years is from the SC/ST sub-plan. The government in the budget presented in July announced ₹109 crore for developing Shri Devi Mahalok, Salkanpur in Sehore, Saint Shri Ravidas Mahalok, Sagar, Shri Ram Raja Mahalok Orchha, Shri Ramchandra Vanvasi-Mahalok, Chitrakut and for a memorial of former prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee in Gwalior

Madhya Pradesh is the second state after Karnataka to divert funds from the SC/ST sub-plan for other schemes. Karnataka decided to take ₹14,000 crore from the sub-plan for funding its welfare scheme, following which the National Commission for Scheduled Castes had issued a show cause notice to the state chief secretary seeking an explanation. The ST sub-plan was introduced in 1974 and SC sub-plan in 1979-80 to implement provisions of Article 46 of the Constitution that provides for states to care for promotion of education and economic interests of the weaker sections. Under the scheme, the Central provides 100% special assistance to states to fund their SC/ST sub-plans. As Hindustan Times reported

Dalit teen forced to drink Cow Urine in UP

In UP’s Shravati district three youth were arrested on for forcing a Dalit minor to drink cow uterine. The victim, who is barely 15 years old (technician), setting sound mixers and audio system at social cultural events. When he was on his way home after work on July 9 in night, he was accosted by the trio – Kishan Tiwari, Dilip Mishra and Satyam Tiwari, who were in an inebriated state.

The accused also misbehaved with the minor and thrashed him, and one of them shot a video of the entire incident, Said Gilaula police station SHO Mahima Nath Upadhyay.

The victim reached home and narrated the ordeal to his elder brother. Next day, his parents and brother lodged a police complaint. The accused were allegedly peeved over the boy’s family charging them extra for an audio system they had installed for a function at their house, police said.

20-Year-Old Dalit Man sets Himself on fire after assault by Employer in UP

On July 13, a 20-year-old Dalit man, Kamalkant allegedly committed suicide in UP’s Firozabad by setting himself on fire after being beaten by his employer and associates.

On July 6, Kamalkant requested an advance of Rs 60, 000 from his employer, Pramod alias Pappu, to repay a loan. Instead of helping, Pramod, along with his associates, held Kamalkant hostage and brutally thrashed him, according to Superintendent of Police (Rural) Ranvijay Singh. A case was registered against Pramod and his associates—Bhura, Bholu, Arjun, and Anuj on Thursday. Anuj was arrested on Friday, and efforts are ongoing to arrest the remaining suspects, SP Singh added.

Dalit youth beaten for social media post in Gujarat

On July 17, in Gujrat’s Ahmedabad a 24-year-old Dalit youth was beaten up by a group of upper caste men allegedly for upholding his picture on his social media handle on Instagram, wearing a traditional headgear and sunglasses. 

The incident happened in Sayebapur village in Himatnagar taluka of Sabarkantha district in north Gujrat on the intriguing night of July 17. According to the FIR filed, Ajay Parmar, who runs an auto rickshaw for living, was beaten up by four men from the Darbar community, who consider themselves Kshatriyas. Parmar has said in the FIR, which was registered on July 18, that while he was returning home in his auto, he was stopped by two people near the Navanagar bus stand. The accused allegedly started beating Parmar, objecting to Parmar’s display picture (DP) which he had uploaded on his Instagram account.

Ajay said that “they told me that only from the Darbar community can wear safa and sunglasses”.

The case against the accused has been lodged under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) as well as the SC/ST Act.

This is not the first case in Gujarat where a Dalit has been beaten up for wearing sunglasses. In June 2023, a 21-year-old Dalit youth and his family were allegedly assaulted by the upper caste Rajput community members for purportedly wearing sunglasses and good clothes. The incident had taken place at Mota village in Palampur.

Several incidents of cast-based atrocities and violence have been reported across the country. Recently A Dalit minor boy brutally beaten by a school teacher. His mistake was that he refused to pluck lemons and Jamuns from the tree in the school for the teacher. The incident happened in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh

A #Dalit minor boy brutally beaten by a school teacher. His mistake was that he refused to pluck lemons and Jamuns from the tree in the school for the teacher. The incident happened in #Bareilly district of #UttarPradesh. pic.twitter.com/ZgKnpoaKrp

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) July 23, 2024

However, on July 20, derogatory and hate oriented slogans such as “Chamar Quit India”, “Dalit Quit India”, “Brahmin-Bania Zindabad’, and “Hindu-RSS Zindabad” were found on the walls of Kaveri hostel in Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU).

In agitation various Ambedkarite students raises slogans of “Jai Bheem” in protest against the anti-Dalits Slogans.

जेएनयू में ‘चम#र भारत छोड़ो, दलित भारत छोड़ो, ब्राह्मण-बनिया ज़िंदाबाद, RSS जिंदाबाद’ लिखा गया…छात्रों ने विरोध में ‘जय भीम’ के नारे लगाए…@BAPSA_JNU @AISA_tweets @aisa_delhi pic.twitter.com/S6BqJrROnY

— The Mooknayak (@The_Mooknayak) July 21, 2024

Related:

Violence and assault targeting Dalits rock Uttar Pradesh

No country for Dalits: brutal incidents of violence against Dalits in the last week of August

Rising Concerns as Incidents of Custodial Deaths of Dalits and Muslims Continue Unabated

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Alwar, Rajasthan

In Rajasthan’s Alwar, an eight-year-old Dalit boy was reportedly assaulted for touching a water bucket near a hand pump in a village in Rajasthan’s Alwar district. As per a report by the Indian Express, the police have stated that the incident occurred on the morning of March 30 when the boy, a fourth-grade student at the village’s government school, went to drink water from the hand pump on school grounds. As per the complaint, a man from a higher caste, who was filling the bucket with water at the time, attacked the boy when he touched the bucket. The man refused to apologise and even shouted at the boy’s family, subjecting them to casteist abuse. A police complaint has been lodged in Ramgarh police station by the parents.

Amethi, Uttar Pradesh

A cases of assault against Dalit people have taken place in UP’s Amethi. The first was against Sunil Kumar Harijan who had been unpaid by his employer for over two months of work. As per a report in The Mooknayak, he is a Dalit youth from Mattepur village in Mohanganj, who does ironwork and had been working for contractor Azhar in Ahmedabad since 2020.  However, before Holi, Sunil returned home and asked Azhar for Rs 30,000 in unpaid wages for two months of work. Azhar refused, claiming dissatisfaction with Sunil’s work. When Sunil pressed on regarding his unpaid wages, Azhar threatened him and subjected him casteist abuses. Following this, Mooknayak reports that he has filed a police complaint under sections 504, 506, 507, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of the Indian Penal Code.

Karauli, Rajasthan

In Rajasthan’s Karauli district, in what seems to be a shocking incident, a magistrate reportedly asked a Dalit gang rape survivor to undress to inspect her injuries. The magistrate has been booked after the survivor lodged a complaint on March 30, accusing the magistrate of requesting this during a court session in Hindaun. The incident is being treated as an instance of outraging modesty, and charges have been filed under section 345 of the IPC and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

According to NDTV, Deputy SP (ST-SC) cell Mina Meena stated, “She refused to strip and after recording the statement in the court on March 30, she registered a complaint against the magistrate.” A case has been registered with Kotwali Police Station under charges of outraging modesty on March 27.

Related:

Maharashtra: Save Constitution & Democracy, Dalit Ambedkarites unite, declare support to MVA

Revoke suspension of Dalit scholar, Ramadas: TISS action condemned

Absent in Elections 2024: Dalits and the historic battle for land

Three incidents of violence against Dalits since March 26, two against minors, one against elderly woman

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One of the reasons that instigated the Saharanpur riot was the arrogance of Thakurs to play their loudspeakers loudly near the Ravidas temple during a procession to celebrate Rana Pratap, the local warlord, whose contribution to community's welfare is unknown. However, the thakurs are looking for symbols to assert their pride. This is true all over India, the dominant caste try to assert through their ancestors' work. Sometimes, such an assertion leads to violence. The perpetrators of the crime were the Thakurs, the caste that Adityanath represents and mobilised militantly through Hindu Yuva Vahini. In the aftermath of the violence, over 400 members of the Bhim Army have been held in policy custody by the whimsical Thakur Adityanath. They are looking out for Chandrashekhar, the founder of Bhim Army.

While this tussle is going on, almost like a comic scene to create sympathy of the Ravidasis the President of the BJP, Amit Shah, went to Ravidas temple in RK Puram Delhi to listen to "Man Ki Baat" radio talk of his mentor/accomplice Modi. It has become interesting that the media flashed the images of Shah in the Ravidas temple. While this is happening, the Union Minister of Social Justice is claiming that the violence against the Dalits is reduced and that there are some elements which are creating the stories. These events have a common pattern which an average intelligent person can trace and find.

First, the Ravidasis have huge potential to mobilise. They had stalled Punjab a few years back when the saint from this community was shot dead in Vienna. The Ravidasi mobilisation in UP has a potential to mobilise the community. And with all of this, coupled with the force of Ambedkarism, the Ravidasi community can become a singular political bloc from Maharashtra to J &K, and from Gujarat to Odisha. That is why Ravidas matters, and that is why Shah listens to "Man Ki Baat" in the Ravidas Temple.

The Ravidasis have one single fault, they tend to become excessively spiritual, whereas Ravidas was a great revolutionary who wanted to dismantle the caste system. He used all the weapons in his arsenal to fight the monster of caste. His tradition was taken forward by Babasaheb Ambedkar, who not only celebrated his birth anniversary, but dedicated the Great book "Who were untouchables?" to Ravidas along with Nandanar and Chokamela. Babasaheb Ambedkar mobilised all the possible resources and institutions to kill caste.

We have to take the battle to the next level in the changing paradigm. We need to understand that the BJP tries to pose one of our ancestors against another. They extol Suheldev to attract one community among us, and the same ideal when they enter other communities. We should not enter into the politics of ideals, but find the common thread in all their missions, which was the liberation of their people from the clutches of the caste system and Brahmanism. These days Brahminical machinations (Brahmanikava defined by Phuley) come in many forms: Shah listening to Man Ki Baat in a Ravidas Temple, Gehlot minimising the atrocities committed on his own people, and Thakurs ruling the state along with their own militia.

~~~
Mangesh Dahiwale is Director, Thinking Eye Studio Pvt Ltd, and Chairman, Manuski.
 

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Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh has been on the boil for nearly a month as the Thakurs – also known as Kshatriyas or Rajputs – have been engaged in violent attacks on the Dalits in which several people have been killed, several others injured, houses burnt.

Western Uttar Pradesh is a very fertile land owned by powerful farmers from Jat and Gujjar communities who have dominated the politics with late Charan Singh, former Prime Minister of India, the tallest icon among them. Suddenly it is the most active place for the Hindutva strategists to plan their future politics in the state.

The BJP was never the first choice of the farmer communities in Uttar Pradesh. Charan Singh had actually created an alliance of Ahir, Jat, Gujjar and Rajputs (AJGAR). But later on the Janata brand of socialists converted this into MAJGAR by adding Muslims to it. This was a powerful alliance and leaders succeeded through weaving this secular alliance.

Some added ‘Harijans’ too in the combination which was the term being used for Dalits before 1980s. It is another matter that before the arrival of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), this region’s Dalits could never use their franchise independently without any fear or favor.

But after the hugely successful ‘Muzaffarnagar experiment’ to control politics in Uttar Pradesh, BJP needed to break this alliance and convert it into the Muslim vs non-Muslim binary which gave it high ‘return’’ of votes during the elections.

An analysis of the beneficiaries from BJP’s strategy and harvest of hatred reveals it is the two communities of Thakurs and Brahmins who were absolutely marginalized in the post-Mandal politics. Due to over-ambitious and narrow-minded approach of current day politicians the dedicated workers of the RSS were able to use the contradiction among various communities to convey to the Thakurs and Brahmins that they were victims of ‘appeasement of Muslims’ and got them highly charged.

The problem with the current dispensation is that it has no time for governance as it continues to be in the election mode having learnt the art of democratic dividends through division of votes.

On April 20^th this year, Saharanpur saw an attempt to create a rift between the Dalits and Muslims. BJP MP Ram Lakhan Pal Sharma wanted to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti by organizing a procession which was to pass through some of the Muslim dominated areas. The administration denied permission as the Dalits who had already celebrated the Ambedkar Jayanti Programme on April 14^th felt no need of participating in the BJP-organised programme.

Sharma’s supporters became violent and the police was virtually helpless in front of the goons of the MP. The Superintendent of Police Lav Kumar’s house was ransacked. His wife narrated the ordeal of her family with little children and how they were terrified.

Instead of taking any action against Sharma, the Uttar Pradesh government transferred the honest officer and brought in another officer Subhash Chandra, against whom the previous UP government appointed judicial commission probing Muzaffarnagar riots had passed critical remarks.

The first engineered riots after April 20^th was when the Thakurs decided to celebrate the Maharana Pratap Jayanti. Maharana Pratap has become an important icon for the BJP to exploit in the name of ‘nationalism’. But in fact behind celebrations of Maharana Pratap and Prithviraj Chauhan jayantis is the idea of Rajput supremacy.

BJP has been able to use the powerful dominant communities including Rajputs, Jats, Lodhs, Kurmis into its fold through blatant hate propaganda against Muslims. Celebrating these jayantis not only strengthens the perception but also to give an opportunity to the ‘depressed’ communities who do not have any ‘role models’ to propagate. Two prominent Rajput leaders VP Singh and Arjun Singh were widely associated with the movement for social justice for backward classes. But for Rajputs they are ‘traitors’ as they facilitated the implementation of Mandal’s recommendations at different levels.

Recently Yogi Adityanath was invited as chief guest to commemorate the birthday of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar in Lucknow. Despite claiming to be a ‘socialist’ leader and follower of Acharya Narendra Dev, Chandrashekhar was essentially a Thakur and remained ‘proud’ of his values. In the villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Thakurs still consider Chandrashekhar as one among their top leaders.

Now, this caste unity is growing beyond party lines. After the ascendency of Yogi Adityanath, the Thakurs in Uttar Pradesh are virtually celebrating. They seem unable to understand the responsibility of running a state administration without any caste biases. There are reports of Thakur civil servants being given important positions in administration.

RSS and other allied organisations are not as active in the state as Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini which has outnumbered them. Most of the leaders of the Vahini hail from powerful Rajputs (Thakurs) families as well as dominant OBC communities. This has resulted in violence against Muslims and now against Dalits who are asserting themselves.

Saharanpur has been the hub of the BSP and powerful Ambedkarite assertive politics. The Dalits here have been active in the BSP movement for long and their alliance with Muslims is always a winning combination.

The other powerful community in the district is Gujjar but in the politics of farcical sloganeering the Thakurs and Brahmins have dominated the art of manipulating things. This has reduced Gujjars into a political non-entity despite being in majority in the region.

With elections to the local bodies around the corner, it is reported that BJP’s Raghav Lakhan Pal Sharma is eyeing for his son to contest. However, there is another other side of the story too.

As reported by Sanjiv Chandan in the Forward Press about the possible involvement of Sher Singh Rana, the man accused of killing Samajwadi Party MP Phoolan Devi and who is now on bail. It is no secret that Rana used the murder of Phoolan Devi to promote his political interest by suggesting that he has avenged the killings of the Rajputs in the Behmahi village in Kanpur Dehat allegedly by Phoolan Devi. Sanjiv Chandan, who interviewed him, says that Rana is a politically savvy and highly ambitious person and has been actively promoting Maharana Pratap as the pride of Rajputs.
The rise of Bhim Army can be seen as a threat to Rajput supremacy and there is a possibility of the Hindutva forces supporting such caste army which fights for maintaining status quo.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been paying glorious tributes to Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar. He misses no opportunity to quote him profusely as the builder of modern India. But he has yet to understand that a modern, democratic Ambedkarite cannot go with the old rajas, kings, emperors and monarchs.

Personally speaking, there is no justification of celebrating the valor of rajas and maharajas as they were the product of their period and except for taking pride in their caste, there is nothing much to glorify and celebrate.

Today, if we are talking of ending the caste system, bringing a law against untouchability or affirmative action for the Dalits and other marginalized sections of society, it is because of democracy. Were these possible if we had the old regimes still in place?

Why is Indian society so fanatical about caste and untouchability? If ideologues of the Sangh Parivar who glorify these icons and are deliberately highlighting an icon for each community to celebrate and ‘glory’ over the past, then they should tell us how many of these rajas worked for ending caste discrimination, untouchability in their empire?

In fact the biggest victims of the old system are the Rajputs themselves, where majority of the women still live behind veils (ghoonghat). This is particularly so in Rajasthan which is considered to be a region where Rajputs ruled for long and which still has palaces and forts that make all of us proud of these historical and beautiful structures. But at the same time we have the reality of a highly feudal system, caste system, child marriages and celebration of Sati too. The Sati practice was justified by none less than the Gwalior royal family and one of the founding members of BJP was the late Vijaya Raje Scindia.

The huge protest that the Bhim Army organized at Jantar Mantar last week has shown the strength of the Dalits who may not be willing to depend too much on political parties for resolving their crisis particularly related to their integrity and dignity.

The Bhim Sena has grown in the region by taking up constructive work among in the community, starting schools, developing entrepreneurship among Dalits. Of course, the primary strength of the Bhim Army is the Chamar community. It makes one wonder whether the Hindutva forces see the Bhim Army as a threat or plans to use it to sideline BSP and its leader Mayawati who enjoyed immense power in this region.

People were expecting Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad to be arrested at the Jantar Mantar. But he has not been arrested so far. At the moment we will not speculate about his activities or future plan of action unless there is some more public action on his part.

On May 23^rd, BSP President Mayawati visited Shabbirpur village where the houses of Dalits were ransacked by the Thakurs on May 5^th. The administration did not allow her to use a helicopter. Hence she went there by road which proved to be a boon as thousands of BSP workers from Ghaziabad to Meerut and Muzaffarnagar were waiting for her enroute to Saharanpur.

She had a road show and she spoke of maintaining law and order and asked for actions against the culprits. She also provided financial support from her party to families who had lost their houses, which is something the state government should have done.

One may disagree with her but she has been measured in her response which many of her strong critiques in the community see as tame surrender to upper caste politics. But people should not forget that you can’t expect a four-time chief minister to speak in a tit-for-tat, ‘khoon ka badla khoon se lenge’ kind of language which the Hindutva politicians have been using.

Mayawati showed maturity but it is also time for her to aggressively articulate the demands of young educated Dalits who are getting restive with slow or non-responses by her party on these kinds of issues. People feel that she has taken nearly a month to visit Saharanpur yet it warmed the already depressed cadres.

As soon as the Dalits were returning from Mayawati’s programme in Shabbirpur in Saharanpur district, there were clashes and violence was reported. The Thakurs attacked the Dalits resulting in several deaths. It is ironic that the Uttar Pradesh chief minister or the Prime Minister has not spoken a word on the attacks.

Mere condemnation will not work. The fact is that these kinds of contradictions that the BJP tried to manage during the elections with its one-point agenda of anti-Muslim rhetoric will not work for long. The Rajputs have become hyper during this government. Economically, they are not a power house. With land getting fragmented they do not have the strength of numbers to control politics of the region.

In the government services the percentage of Rajputs is very low. One of the reasons for this was the community’s disdain for it given its feudal outlook. Over the past few decades Rajputs did not engage in caste violence and seemed to have accepted the social reality that they don’t have numbers. Nor do they have the financial power of industrialists like Mukesh Ambani to dictate politics to politicians.

But with the growth of Hindutva and its muscular politics, Rajputs are again being ‘militarised’. This is a desperate attempt which is suicidal for it as we are living in the 21^st century where each one is being watched and observed. It is the age of human dignity and human rights. In the age of democracy Rajputs can’t live in the present glorying in their ‘past’.

A Maharana Pratap can be an icon for the community in terms of valour. But in today’s world you celebrate it through ideas and not guns. It is time for them to take the path of Buddha and that would guarantee their liberation along with all others.

The creation of community-based heroes is a political construct of the Sangh Parivar so that we all are stuck to our communities and do not accept any other thought of liberation. Such confinement reduces Maharana Pratap to a Rajput icon while relegating Dr Ambedkar to merely a Dalit icon.

The Rajputs and for that matter any other ‘sawarna [upper] caste must liberate itself from the prejudices of the past. That is possible only when they are able to positively understand the writings of Dr Ambedkar. But the political parties which want to use Ambedkar just to garner Dalit votes will never be able to do justice with him.

Dalits are responding to the challenges of the present in different ways. Many believe in a political response, others are thinking of a mighty Bhim Army while a few of them are resorting to religious conversion.

Over 180 families converted to Buddhism in Saharanpur. Earlier, in Sambhal district Balmikis [Valmikis], which is a community of manual scavengers, left Hinduism and embraced Buddhism because of their continuous isolation. The tragedy is that even the barbers were not cutting their hair.

How has it happened that all of a sudden the anti-Dalit feelings in the state are growing? We need to probe it. The fact is that barbers are one of the most humiliated communities in India and at many places their job is not just cutting hair. In our traditional village system of Manu they are supposed to serve both the bride and bridegrooms sides.

This includes washing the feet of baratis and all kind of work which none would advise in modern democratic society. But such is the ‘power’ of varnashram dharma that even a humiliated barber enjoys humiliating those who he feels are ‘lower’ than him.

Long ago Babasaheb Ambedkar had called it graded inequality, ascending order of reverence and descending order of contempt.

Religious conversion definitely has been a liberation theology for the Dalits in India. But pressure of the government makes it difficult for them to exercise this right to faith in today’s time. The right to faith is frankly provided to them just for conversion to Buddhism as the Hindutva forces consider Buddhism part of their dharma. Though this is incorrect they don’t feel too much of threat from it.

Other than this, any conversion to Islam or Christianity by the Dalits will not only be violently protested by the Sangh Parivar’s various offshoots but also by the state apparatus. Even when the Sangh Parivar is not seeing Buddhism as a threat at a broader level they are gleeful of the fact that there has not been any major call for conversion to Buddhism since the passing away of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar who embraced Buddhism in Nagpur on October 14^th, 1956 with a large number of his followers.

Can any organization give a call to Dalits over the country to embrace Buddhism on October 14^th 2017 this year? When political parties fail Dalits, they will either embrace militancy or spiritual liberation through conversion. Is there any other way which can give them justice and sense of belonging?

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Moradabad Dalits: Symbolic farewell to Dalits.  

Earlier it was Moradabad and Sambhal. Now, over 2,000 Dalits from Aligarh alleging police inaction in the face of continuing upper caste Thakur atrocities against them have threatened to embrace Islam. In some other instances, Dalits have already converted to Buddhism or declared their intent of doing so in the near future.

The threat to turn to Islam was triggered by a clash last Tuesday over construction of a Bhai Baba temple near an abandoned well which was opposed by local Thakurs, according to a report in the Times of India.

On Sunday they immersed pictures of Hindu gods in a rivulet close to their village in a symbolic goodbye to Hinduism.

Bunti Singh, a Dalit leader and resident of Keshopur Jhopri village told the Times of India they had decided to convert to Islam in protest against “discrimination and harassment: by upper caste Hindus.

Also read: Attacks on Dalits in UP: Valmikis say 'farewell' to Hinduism, threaten to convert to Islam.
                   Threat to convert to Islam helps: Barbers in Sambhal give haircuts to Dalits under police protection.
                  
Alleging political opportunism, Singh said that the upper castes treated Dalits as fellow Hindus at the time of elections but after that reverted to treating them shabbily.

 “They don’t consider us as part of Hindu community and use derogatory language against us. It is better for Dalits to convert,” said Bunty.  

He alleged that since the coming to power of Yogi Adityanath as UP’s chief minister, the upper castes have started flexing their muscles. “Atrocities against Dalits have been on the rise, with the active participation of rightwing Hindu organizations”.

Another Dalit from the village, Jaiveer Singh alleged that the Thakurs have dug up drains from their toilets towards the spot where the Dalits were planning to install their idol with obvious intent.

While admitting that some Thakurs had done so, Devendra Chauhan husband of the village Pradhan, told the Times of India that the matter had since been resolved and that some local Dalit leaders were creating disharmony for their own vested interests.

Aligarh’s senior superintendent of police, Rajesh Pandey told the Times of India that adequate police force has been deputed and attempts were afoot to resolve the issue amicably.   
 

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Agitated over growing attacks on Dalits across several cities of Uttar Pradesh,  the president of the Bharatiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj, Lalla Babu Dravid has said 500 of its members would be converting to Islam.

The Times of India reports that dozens of members of the Valmiki community took out a procession to immerse the idols of Rama, Ganesh and other Hindu gods into the Ramgunga in Moradabad on Saturday. The procession was intended to be a symbolic farewell to Hinduism.

The protestors raised slogans against the BJP and declare they will help rebuild the Babri mosque.

Bajrang Dal activists who tried to stop the procession were outnumbered.

“Incidents of attacks on Dalits have increased after Yogi Adityanath has taken over. Dalits have been targeted in Saharanpur, Sambhal, Moradabad, Meerut. The perpetrators are being shielded by the government,” Dravid told the Times of India.

Dravid also alleged that Dalits were being boycotted in several villages.

Moradabad’s BJP MLA, Ritesh Gupta, told the Times of India: “Its their constitutional right to embrace any religion. But allegations against Dalit atrocities are baseless.”

Gupta alleged that Dravid is trying to give a political colour to the issue after the BJP refused to shield his son Vishal who s wanted by the police in a recent firing incident.   
 

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