As Dalits Plant Flag of Self-Respect under Mevani Leadership, Families Get Back land promised since 1970s: Gujarat
The Battle for the Dalit Base:  From the fields of Gujarat to the floor of Parliament

Its election year in Gujarat and the Dalits though numerically strong like Bengal have a seven per cent vote. Its also the month that NDA II under Modi is likely to install Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit to the high office of President. In this context and political atmosphere, the Azaadi kooch yatra commemorating one year of the shameful Una public flogging of 5 Dalits assumed great significance. Jignesh Mevani, the lawyer-leader of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch who led this yatra, planted the flag of self-respect on the land at Lavara in Banaskantha, land promised  to Dalit families since the 1970s.

“If your chest is actually 56 inches, Modiji, then remove the dabang (strongmen)…. If you don’t, your BJP will be finished here…. Your Hindu nationalism is a fraud and it is our duty to expose those who kill peasants, workers and youths in the name of the cow,” Mevani told the cheering crowd at Lavara.

Sabrangindia had been among the first to focus on the land campaign led by Mevani over the years. “Land to the Dalit Tiller, not to Tycoons is our Mission: Jignesh Mevani” was a detailed interview with him on the issue (December 2016).

Keeping Mevani company on July 18, were Kantibhai Solanki, who was supposed to have been given possession of the land in the 1970s, and Dalpat Bhatia, who had taken up the cause of the Dalits in Lavara, a village in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district, 200km from Gandhinagar. Last Saturday, July 15, , Mevani, a 36-year-old lawyer, had issued an ultimatum that if the plots allotted to seven Dalits in Lavara in the 1970s under the Gujarat land ceiling law were not restored, 10,000 protesters would block the highway to Dhanera that branches out to Kandla Port and Rajasthan.
Clearly nervous with the agitation, on July 18, the district administration had restored the plots to two Dalits, one of who was Kantibhai. Today’s “takeover” would have largely been a token gesture devoid of tension but for one factor: Kantibhai complained that he was threatened by Kalusinh Vaghela, from whom the land was taken.

Vaghela belongs to the landed Darbar caste, categorised as part of the Other Backward Classes, while Kantibhai is a Dalit. The latent friction between the two – which need not mean they are openly hostile to each other – represents an undercurrent now at play in Gujarat and some northern Indian states.

As the symbolic march to claim back the promised land took place Mevani received a chit from the police present, in warning. Watched closely by about 2,000 Dalits, communists and Muslims, Mevani read the piece of paper that told him not to carry out a symbolic takeover of the land by planting blue Ambedkarite flags. Mevani, a fiery leader, did so anyway, after limiting the number of those who accompanied him to the plot. A large police force kept watch as Mevani marched through the freshly tilled soil in driving rain and hoisted an indigo blue flag featuring the Ashok Chakra and sporting the words “Jai Bhim”.

An FIR was also lodged against the threats received by the Dalit family prior to the protest event. The FIR was filed at Dhanera where around 2,500 people had gathered at the conclusion of Azadi Kooch, a march to commemorate one year of Una flogging incident. It was after this that the Dalits and rights activists led by Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch leader Jignesh Mewani reached Lavara village, 12 km away, and planted blue flags on the 18-acre land.

“The district administration decided to start the process of returning the land a day before we were planning to forcibly take possession of the land. We take it as a positive sign and now we will make sure that this happens all over Gujarat. On August 15, we will gather at Soneth village in Banaskantha and ensure that Dalits there get their land back,” said Mewani. “We also give the state administration time till December 6, which is Babasaheb Ambedkar’s death anniversary, to make sure that land allotment for Dalits takes place. If not then over 50,000 Dalits will congregate and forcibly take possession of the land,” he added.

The Dalits call it a battle for self-respect – and Mevani is part of a new breed of leaders tapping into the discontent that is also fuelled by rising aspirations. If Mevani makes inroads into the state’s consciousness, a casualty could be the broader “Hindu umbrella” that the Sangh parivar and Narendra Modi are seeking to unfurl.

It was only after the sustained protests under Mevani that these land claims were met. For years, the battle has been within the Courts in Gujarat but there have been no positive gains for Dalits despite Court orders in their favour.

Speaking to the media, Solankibhai, who got the land back, said: “My father had fought for this land since the 1970s. The Darbars wouldn’t part with it. Now we are better off and my brother is a postman. We are not ignorant of our rights. Last year, I complained to the tehsildar. Not a single official came until Jigneshbhai’s Azadi Kooch started. Yesterday the tehsildar came, made us sign some paper and gave us possession of the land. Kalubhai challenged me that he would never allow me to farm here.” Before this moment of empowerment, the Solankis were mere sharecroppers on the same land, growing jowar and bajra and giving Vaghela a fourth of the produce as rent.

Dalits are the most populous in this village, with about 100 households, followed by the dominant Darbars who have 80 families.

The Vaghela household, spread over more than an acre in several concrete dwellings, overlooks the fields. A worker loading grain in Vaghela’s godown said he wasn’t home.Kalusinh’s brother Brahmarsinh Vaghela, a former sarpanch, said: “Yes, my brother held the land but the Dalits were the sharecroppers. There is no question of any conflict. But it is sad that the police had to come to our village for the first time in my memory. There has never been any caste clash here.”

What makes Mevani strike a chord with young Dalits? Vipul Parmar, a computer operator who was part of the land takeover, said: “I had not heard of Jigneshbhai until a week back and was attracted by the posts on social media. He seems to be the only leader in Gujarat who is talking about the Dalits. I am in this land movement not because I want to do farming but because it is about self-respect. Even if Ram Nath Kovind (the NDA candidate) becomes President and comes here, the Thakurs will make him sit in a corner. Dalits who watch the news now know that the BJP is a Manuvadi party that silently hates us and makes us clash with Muslims.”

For Lakshmiben Maharia who came all the way from Ahmedabad to support the Azadi Kooch march it was the gender issue that found resonance. “I joined Jigneshbhai when he came to our village and explained that wearing a ghunghat (veil) is outdated and an unhealthy tradition. Despite anger from elders, all of us women stopped wearing the ghunghat. Land is important but we educate families with drunkard husbands (despite prohibition in the state) not to waste money they will gain from land on liquor. We won’t allow any man from our community to beat his wife if he is drunk.”
The agitation will not end here. In Banaskantha’s Sonheth village, Mevani has announced an agitation to help 63 Dalit families whose allotted land has been under the occupation of of dominant castes. There is some potential for conflict as claims and counter-claims ensue.

Related Articles:

1. If the Cow is Your Mother, You Bury Her: Gujarat Dalits Cry Liberation
2.  The Nation Does Not Need the Gujarat Model: Jignesh Mevani

The post Dalits Claim Back ‘Promised Land’ under Mevani’s Leadership: Gujarat appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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"Dalit is One who Faces Oppression through Caste, Patriarchy or Economic" : Yadav

"Why Can't Dalit Movement Come Together with Farmers," : Yadav

"Why Can't we have Fusion of These Energies? appealed Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj Abhiyan, joining the Azaadi Kooch Yatra that began from Mehsana yesterday commemorating One Year of the Una Lynching

The Azaadi Kooch March was flagged off from Mehsana in Gujarat yesterday. A total of 150 farmers lead by Yogendra Yadav and others had joined the movement. Five kilometers into the march, Gujarat police detained Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and more than 100 activists of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar March. This happened after the march proceeded in the wake of the police denying permission for the same. Thereafter they were formally arrested.

The police have slapped charges under Section 143 of the IPC. The detained are now out on bail. The march is likely to proceed on its week-long journey in buses now, as opposed to foot.

Courtesy: Newsclick
 

The post Dalit & Landless are all Farmers who Till the Land, Need a Fusion of the Energies of the Oppressed: Yogendra Yadav appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Gujarat govt cancels permission for Azaadi Kooch, Dalit Freedom March on Una anniversary: Rally from Ahmedabad to Mehsana to continue, warns Jignesh Mevani. Today, July 11 public meeting at Ambedkar Hall in Saraspur, Ahmedabad, on the Una incident anniversary would be held at 12.00 noon, RDAM added, “Kanhiya Kumar would be its star attraction.”

In the third major attempt since June first week to curb the democratic right to protest, the Gujarat government has cancelled permission to well-known Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani’s Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM) to hold what he called “Azadi Kooch” or Freedom March in North Gujarat. Azaadi Kooch, the Freedom March was to be flagged off on July 12 in North Gujarat’s biggest town, Mehsana, and end further north in Dhanera in Banaskantha district on July 18 with a mass rally, and was planned to coincide with the first anniversary of the gruesome Una incident, in which cow vigilantes flogged four Dalit boys on “suspicion” of cow slaughter.

The Freedom March, Mevani told Sabrangindia, had the support of well-known Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who was participate in the first day rally in Mehsana. It also had the support of “Patel leaders Varun Patel, Reshma Patel and Muslim leaders of North Gujarat”, he adds.

Mevani & Kanhaiya in 2016 at the Una March

Poster announcing Freedom March following cop permissionAlleging that the decision not to allow the Freedom March to take place was behest of Gujarat’s deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, Mevani says, “This shows the BJP government’s anti-Dalit mindset”, adding, “Finding massive support from Patels and Muslims, Sangh Parivar and BJP were terribly disturbed.”

Interestingly, on June 27, the Gujarat government had allowed the Freedom March to take place on the basis of the application given by Kaushik Parmar of the RDAM on June 1. “However”, contends Mevani, “Finding that this would adversely affect the political fortunes BJP in North Gujarat, the decision to withdrawn.”

Notably, on July 7, the Gujarat government detained senior farmers’ leaders Sagar Rabari of the Khedut Samaj Gujarat and Alpesh Thakor of the OBC Ekta Manch, because they took out their pre-announced 25-km footmarch from Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad, to Gandhinagar, the state capital, for which the police refused permission.

After keeping it pending for several days, the Gujarat police granted permission to hold #NotInMyName protest in Ahmedabad on July 8, but limited the period from 3 to 6 pm in a posh area of the Satellite Road, even as declaring that the protesters would not be allowed to use loudspeaker.

Ahmedabad conference to "continue"
A month ago, on June 7, well-known anti-dam leader Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan rally was stopped as it tried to enter into Gujarat from Madhya Pradesh. Patkar, accompanied by several activists, including Magsaysay Award winning Odisha tribal rights leader Prafulla Samantara, who accompanied her, were detained and sent back to Madhya Pradesh.
Warns Mevani, “Despite refusal of permission, we have decided to go ahead with our Freedom March. Let the Gujarat police do what it wants to. Thousands of people will gather in Mehsana’s Somnath Chowk on July 12 at 10 in the morning.”

Menawhile, criticizing the Gujarat government for cancelling the permission, RDAM in a statement has challenged Nitin Patel, who belong to North Gujarat, “to win the next elections”, adding, “Dalits, Patels, farmers’ organizations, businessmen, all will now work out a strategy to defeat him in the assembly polls scheduled in December.” The statement insisted, “Even today, the Una victims have still not been received justice. Cow vigilantes’ terror continues unabated. Farmers’ debts have not been waived. While Dalits’ and neglected sections are denied permission to hold their protest march, crores are spent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s roadshows.”

Jignesh Mevani on the Significance of this Year's Azaadi Kooch, Dalit Freedom March

Appeal from Jignesh Mevani, Coordinator, Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch

Friends,
The coming 11th of July (today) would mark the first anniversary of the historic Una struggle. Last year on the 11th of July Vashram Sarvaiya, his brother Ramesh and their cousins Ashok and Bechar were mercilessly lynched in front of the police station by so called “gau-rakshaks” who then even uploaded this barbarity proudly on social media which shook the world.

In this one year, such atrocities on Dalits and instances of violence perpetrated in the name of “gau-raksha” has only multiplied manifold while the perpetrators roam free with impunity. Una, Dadri, Latehar, Alwar, Saharapur, Pratapgarh – are all witness to the trail of blood left by the RSS/BJP’s path towards a Hindu India.

In this context, the manner in which the Dalits of Gujarat brought the Muslims and various progressive/democratic together last year, it has registered itself as a milestone in the history of Dalit resistance in this country. The manner in which the Dalits left the carcasses of dead cattle in front of the DM’s office in Surendranagar district, it created ripples across the country as a symbol of resistance and resilience against saffron terror. And then on 31stJuly in Ahmedabad 20,000 Dalits came together to take an oath in front of Babasaheb Ambedkar that they will no more do the task of skinning dead animals and instead the government should help them break free from such inter-generational caste-determined labour and they should be provided 5 acres of land each. This was followed by the historic Dalit Asmita Yatra from Ahmedabad to Una where thousands participated and exposed the farce of Modi’s slogan of “sabka saath sabka vikas”.

This movement also provided much needed energy and hope to lakhs of youth and progressive forces across the country. Not only did Dalits of several villages give up skinning dead cattle, but also they took possession of 300 acres of land that had been redistributed 26 years back. Today it is this struggle of both dignity and existence that the Rashtiya Dalit Adhikar Manch is taking forward.

We believe that Dalits in their fight for self-respect and existence, should leave their traditional labour and instead focus on land, government jobs and alternative livelihood and should revitalize themselves to march ahead and organize themselves along with the survivors of Dadri, Alwar and Latehar to initiate the second phase of the historic Una March.

With this objective we are calling upon all Dalits, Muslims, Workers and the unemployed youth of this country to join us in a march – Azaadi Koonch – from Mahsana district of North Gujarat to Banaskhada district to fight against not just the casteist forces and the gau rakshaks, but also the institutionalised murder of workers and farmers and the destitution of thousands of unemployed youth.

At this juncture we would also like to remind one and all about the broken promises made by the then Chief Minister Anandiben Patel last year on her visit to Mota Samadhiyala village after the lynching of Dalits. In fact the casteist Gujarat government did not even bother to challenge the interim bail granted to the accused. The drama-king Narendra Modi who also hails from Gujarat on the one hand calls himself an “Ambedkar bhakt” while on the other hand inspires his puppet government in Gujarat to adopt the Nagpur model of granting life imprisonment for cattle slaughter. Is this the lesson that he has chosen to learn from Una, Saharanpur or Rohith Vemula’s murder?

In this country two Dalits are killed every day with them largely being the victims of mob violence too. But the rulers today find it urgent to enact laws for protection of cows and not against lynching of human beings. Hence as part of Azaadi Koonch we would demand an effective law to address mob lynchings like Dadri or Una so as to punish the perpetrators.

This Azadi Koonch in its last phase shall reach Banaskantha and Rapar Tehsil where landless Dalits have received redistributed land, but only on paper, and where their lands are under dominant caste-hold. So the government basically wants to keep the Dalits landless and thereby force them to continue with manual scavenging, sweeping and cleaning. When corporate are given land, the possession is ensured overnight if required by force. But when it comes to the Dalits and the landless, then we see that more than a lakh of hectares of redistributed land still remain on paper since last forty years with no actual possession in the hands of the Dalits. The Azaadi Koonch shall end with taking possession over this land where the tricoulour shall be unfurled. This is what we mean by our real Azaadi.
Since the fight for land is also the fight for self-respect and freedom from economic exploitation, the Azaadi Koonch would reiterate the principles of annihilation of caste and eradication of economic slavery. We will take all of this into account so as to broaden our consciousness and also broaden the very definition of freedom.

We expect all justice-loving democratic citizen shall come forward and join us to make the Azaadi Koonch a success.   
 
Related Articles:

1. Land to the Dalit Tiller, not to Tycoons is our Mission: Jignesh Mevani

2. If the Cow is Your Mother, You Bury Her: Gujarat Dalits Cry Liberation

3. ‘Pratirodh’: Dalits from 10 Gujarat Villages unite to combat Caste Atrocities

The post Dalit Freedom March, Azaadi Kooch to Continue even as Guj Govt Cancels Permission appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On one year of Una-kand
Appeal from Jignesh Mevani, Coordinator, Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch

Dalits, Muslims, Workers and farmers together shall judge the three years of Modi government and shall roar together again: “Gaay ki poonch tum rakho, hume hamari zameen do” (You keep the tail of your cow, give us our rightful land!)
Friends,

The coming 11th of July would mark the first anniversary of the historic Una struggle. Last year on the 11th of July Vashram Sarvaiya, his brother Ramesh and their cousins Ashok and Bechar were mercilessly lynched in front of the police station by so called “gau-rakshaks” who then even uploaded this barbarity proudly on social media which shook the world.

In this one year, such atrocities on Dalits and instances of violence perpetrated in the name of “gau-raksha” has only multiplied manifold while the perpetrators roam free with impunity. Una, Dadri, Latehar, Alwar, Saharapur, Pratapgarh – are all witness to the trail of blood left by the RSS/BJP’s path towards a Hindu India.
In this context, the manner in which the Dalits of Gujarat brought the Muslims and various progressive/democratic together last year, it has registered itself as a milestone in the history of Dalit resistance in this country. The manner in which the Dalits left the carcasses of dead cattle in front of the DM’s office in Surendranagar district, it created ripples across the country as a symbol of resistance and resilience against saffron terror. And then on 31stJuly in Ahmedabad 20,000 Dalits came together to take an oath in front of Babasaheb Ambedkar that they will no more do the task of skinning dead animals and instead the government should help them break free from such inter-generational caste-determined labour and they should be provided 5 acres of land each. This was followed by the historic Dalit Asmita Yatra from Ahmedabad to Una where thousands participated and exposed the farce of Modi’s slogan of “sabka saath sabka vikas”.
This movement also provided much needed energy and hope to lakhs of youth and progressive forces across the country. Not only did Dalits of several villages give up skinning dead cattle, but also they took possession of 300 acres of land that had been redistributed 26 years back. Today it is this struggle of both dignity and existence that the Rashtiya Dalit Adhikar Manch is taking forward.

We believe that Dalits in their fight for self-respect and existence, should leave their traditional labour and instead focus on land, government jobs and alternative livelihood and should revitalize themselves to march ahead and organize themselves along with the survivors of Dadri, Alwar and Latehar to initiate the second phase of the historic Una March.

With this objective we are calling upon all Dalits, Muslims, Workers and the unemployed youth of this country to join us in a march – Azaadi Koonch – from Mahsana district of North Gujarat to Banaskhada district to fight against not just the casteist forces and the gau rakshaks, but also the institutionalised murder of workers and farmers and the destitution of thousands of unemployed youth.

At this juncture we would also like to remind one and all about the broken promises made by the then Chief Minister Anandiben Patel last year on her visit to Mota Samadhiyala village after the lynching of Dalits. In fact the casteist Gujarat government did not even bother to challenge the interim bail granted to the accused. The drama-king Narendra Modi who also hails from Gujarat on the one hand calls himself an “Ambedkar bhakt” while on the other hand inspires his puppet government in Gujarat to adopt the Nagpur model of granting life imprisonment for cattle slaughter. Is this the lesson that he has chosen to learn from Una, Saharanpur or Rohith Vemula’s murder?

In this country two Dalits are killed every day with them largely being the victims of mob violence too. But the rulers today find it urgent to enact laws for protection of cows and not against lynching of human beings. Hence as part of Azaadi Koonch we would demand an effective law to address mob lynchings like Dadri or Una so as to punish the perpetrators.

This Azadi Koonch in its last phase shall reach Banaskantha and Rapar Tehsil where landless Dalits have received redistributed land, but only on paper, and where their lands are under dominant caste-hold. So the government basically wants to keep the Dalits landless and thereby force them to continue with manual scavenging, sweeping and cleaning. When corporate are given land, the possession is ensured overnight if required by force. But when it comes to the Dalits and the landless, then we see that more than a lakh of hectares of redistributed land still remain on paper since last forty years with no actual possession in the hands of the Dalits. The Azaadi Koonch shall end with taking possession over this land where the tricoulour shall be unfurled. This is what we mean by our real Azaadi.
Since the fight for land is also the fight for self-respect and freedom from economic exploitation, the Azaadi Koonch would reiterate the principles of annihilation of caste and eradication of economic slavery. We will take all of this into account so as to broaden our consciousness and also broaden the very definition of freedom.

We expect all justice-loving democratic citizen shall come forward and join us to make the Azaadi Koonch a success.    

Related Articles:

1. Land to the Dalit Tiller, not to Tycoons is our Mission: Jignesh Mevani

2. If the Cow is Your Mother, You Bury Her: Gujarat Dalits Cry Liberation

3. ‘Pratirodh’: Dalits from 10 Gujarat Villages unite to combat Caste Atrocities

The post One Year of Una: National call for “Azaadi Kooch” appeared first on SabrangIndia.