The attacks on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon by sections of dominant caste groups bearing saffron flags on January 1, only vindicated the message of the Elgar Parishad, a massive conference organised by 250 progressive groups of Maharashtra the previous day in Pune. The bicentenary celebrations of the Mahar victory in the Battle of Bhima Koregaon over the Peshwas, who practised the worst forms of caste oppression and untouchability, carried with it a very distinct message for the present this year.  
 
The Elgar Parishad, which was a culmination of a week-long yatra across different parts of Maharasthra, casted the BJP/RSS as the Peshwas of the present times calling upon people to defeat them, taking inspiration from the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. But this neo-Peshwahi, to borrow their term, is not simply a replica of the past. 
 
Two hundred years hence, the ideology of Manuwaad has neatly coalesced with the demands of the market. The latter far from eradicating caste has co-opted and reconfigured it to meet its own requirements of cheap labour, land and other resources. This has accentuated older fissures in society while at the same time adding new layers of marginalization, dehumanization and oppression. 
 
For example, the subordination and indignation of the Dalits in the countryside, reflected in their abysmal land-holdings, has only been compounded by the present agrarian crisis. Or if we were to turn our gaze to our cities, do the Dalit workers forced into inhuman jobs such as manual scavenging and cleaning sewages, where they die unacknowledged deaths amidst toxic gases, even have the option to opt out of their ‘jobs’ when there is hardly any creation of dignified jobs in our country today? 
 
Today in India, the agrarian crisis is at its peak, job creation is at its lowest in the recent past, employment is most informal and insecure than it has ever been, labour reforms have added to the precarity of jobs and fund cuts in education and health have increased with each passing year of the Modi regime. The promises of Vikas & Acche Din have turned out to be bitter and brutal lies and a handful of big corporations have enriched themselves at the cost of the vast majority. Policies such as demonetization and the GST have only added to the woes of the people. Far from the promise of 10 million jobs, the unemployment rate has oly increased to 5%. And for even the jobs that exist ,a whooping majority (71.2%) of workers are beyond the purview of any social security benefits.

On the other hand, the violent manifestation of the RSS’s cultural project of Hindu Rasthra can be seen on a routine basis in lynchings and attacks on minorities and Dalits, be it in Rajasmand, Alwar, Una or Saharanpur – the list is long. The deafening silence of the Prime Minister to most of these attacks, while simultaneous campaigns by the BJP/RSS against cow slaughter or love jihad that were used as a pretext for most of these attacks, exemplify that these attacks enjoy political patronage from the ruling party.

The present regime can be seen as an exemplar of these twin assaults of Manuvaad and the Market. Our Prime Minister is hardly interested in abolishing manual scavenging, for it is not only a source of cheap labour and cost cutting, but he also sees it as a ‘spiritual exercise’ going by the tenets of Brahmanism that RSS upholds!  

But here in also lies an internal contradiction within the Sangh project today. On the one hand, its cultural project seeks to deepen the existing hierarchies and polarise people on the basis of caste and religion. But on the other hand, its economic policies are simultaneously creating an ever expanding underclass of the excluded that cuts across caste and community. 
 
As long as the responses to attacks on minorities and Dalits remained atrocity based and compartmentalized to each community fighting their own battles, it was not being able to make much dent in the larger game-plan of the RSS/BJP. 

Of late however, the historically disadvantaged are not only coming out of their ghettoised existences in resisting the fascism of the Sangh Parivar but are also showing exemplary imagination in seeking to carve out newer alliances. In doing so, they are operationalising in practice Ambedkar’s message that both Brahmanism and capitalism are the enemies of the oppressed in our country. 

For example, the attacks on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon and subsequent protests in Maharashtra were largely portrayed as a caste clash between Dalits and Marathas. But contrary to these representations, both Dalit and Maratha organisations were present at Elgar Parishad in Pune which focussed, apart from other things, on the agrarian crisis, unemployment and famine like conditions in Maharashtra – of which both Dalits and Marathas are victims. Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of farmer suicides in the country. Prior to that in Una, the struggle against lynching of Dalits not only joined hands with the Muslims in their shared oppression, but also sought to raise the question of material dispossession by raising the demand for land for the landless dalits.

The same cross-sectional alliance, hitting out at this internal contradiction of the sangh project, was also visible in the Yuva Hunkar rally which sought to unite a diverse section of students and youth along with minority and dalit organisations. The demand for justice for the persecuted minorities and Dalits was weaved into a larger demand of economic and social justice of all the oppressed. 

A new alignment is emerging on the ground – where the historically oppressed, marginalised and the persecuted along with the students and youth are coming together to take on the sangh. This alignment is still in its nascent stages, and faces enormous challenges.  But if it succeeds in bringing together diverse movements for people’s rights, the Sangh Parivar has much to worry about.
 
(The writer is a research scholar at JNU, member of Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students’ Organisation and was one of the invited speakers at the Elgar Parishad in Pune on the eve of the bicentenary celebrations of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon)

Images Courtesy: Mid-Day and Hindustan Times
 
 

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Image credit: Livemint

Scholar Raosaheb Kasbe’s book Zot—translated from Marathi into English as Spotlight on the RSS—refers to Golwalkar’s “grief” on the Mahars fighting the Peshwas. At a time when Koregaon has become a battleground again, it is important to revisit the underpinnings of caste in every reading of this historical incident. This is what Raosaheb Kasbe has to say:

“Golwalkar expresses grief over untouchables supporting the British and fighting with the Peshwa. There is a Victory Pillar in Koregaon near Pune. There are names of soldiers carved on the pillar who fought with the Peshwa. The national leader of the dalits once spoke of the pillar as ‘This Pillar is a symbol of the victory of Harijans over Brahmins.’ The reason was they fought with Brahmins with support of the British and defeated the Peshwa. While taking note of this event, Golwalkar describes it as ‘What a perversity!’ (Bunch of Thoughts: 111). But he does not talk about the Peshwa, his evil intentions or perversion even. There is not a word or a single mention. Let me quote the entire paragraph from Golwalkar’s book to understand his attitude towards the caste politics:
 

We must read the original texts and find out why and how bahujan communities fought with the Peshwas. The Peshwas had harassed dalits and Maratha farmers. Such harassment was exceedingly crude, inhuman, bestial and malicious, and beyond anyone’s imagination. They raped women and unmarried girls of dalits and Maratha farmers. Such was the menace that even reading or hearing about what the Peshwas did creates fear and turmoil in our minds. The Hinduists of today, on the contrary, like Golwalkar, justify such cruel Peshwas.  Also, they do not want to lose their place as a dictating class.  Similarly, they consider non-Brahmins Shudras, and assert their political supremacy. In spite of such contradictions, they argue that only they are the real nationalists. And the only objective correlative is that they are the only Hindu-Brahmins! Besides, they over-emphasise the message Hinduism as nationalism. Who will venerate such a statement? In a nation in which there is a perpetual climate of slavery; a nation in which the common man is continuously exploited in the name of religion; a nation in which one wealthy class leads a life of luxury and hedonism and is parasitic; in such a nation, nationalism never comes into existence. In such a nation, the only –ism that can sprout is the –ism of class-dominance and, in the context of India, it is a discourse of casteism!”

Extracted from Spotlight on the RSS by Raosaheb Kasbe, translated by Deepak Borgave.

Courtesy: Newsclick.
 

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“The new Brahmanical forces are not just Modi and Amit Shah but Ambani and Adani”

-Jignesh Mevani, MLA, Vadgam

 
It was a spectacular show of solidarity on the last evening of the year 2017 when newly elected MLA Jignesh Mevani, the mother of the late research scholar Rohith Vemula, Radhika Vemula, tribal rights activist Soni Sori, activist Ulka Mahajan, senior leader Prakash Ambedkar and others shared the stage together at the historic and bustling Shanivarwada in Pune, commemorating the bi-centenary year of the battle of Bhima Koregaon and resolved to fight the ‘Neo Peshwai’ unitedly. Shanirwada, coloquially and politically epitomises the hold of Brahmanical hegemony on the rest of Hindu society.
 
Thousands of Dalit Bahujan women and children gather every year at Bhima Koregaon, 30 kms away from Pune, to commemorate the valiant battle that a regiment of 500 Mahars fought against a strength of approximately 28,000 soldiers of the Peshwa Kingdom. This battle is especially remembered as a unique assertion of the Mahar identity against their oppressors-the Peshwa kings. On the occasion of the bi-centenary of Bhima Koregaon, the Elgaar Parishad ascertained that in contemporary India, the oppression against Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis and women has intensified and that there was a need to identify who the contemporary Peshwas.

 
Neo-Peshwas and Punishment
“The way my son and other scholars were punished was a discrimination against people of a particular caste in which the BJP played a vital role. These ministers killed my son. This is the new Peshwa.” said Radhika Vemula speaking to a full audience. She spoke about the various battles she fought at home against her own exploitation and gave a message to women to play a greater role in social movements against regressive forces.
 
To this, Umar Khalid responded, “They killed your son, but behold, several Rohiths have emerged!” He reminded that the city was remembered for the gallantry of the Bhima Koregaon warriors of the Mahar regiment who were very few in numbers and illustrated the relevance of a united force.
 
Attacks on Constitution
“We challenge you, you cannot amend the Constitution. Constitution is in our DNA. ” said Vinay Ratan Singh, the national president of the Bhim Army while stating that the basic premises (of equalityt and non-discrimination) enshrined in the constitution were under threat from the regressive forces of New-Peshwai and they must be fought against. Dontha Prashanth, who was also present on the occasion, asked, “We were socially boycotted because we had started reading Ambedkar and we wanted reservation to be implemented in a systematic manner. Is this not Peshwa Raj?” He said that after the brutalities suffered under the 200 year old Peshwa kingdom, what India is experiencing is Round Two of the Peshwa Raj. He criticised the present government for supporting anti reservation movements, and cutting down welfare schemes for Dalits and Bahujans.
 
Annihilation of Caste will Defeat Ideology of Sangh
Umar Khalid further added that the RSS, established in 1925, had great rapport with the British and identified Muslims as enemies. “Hegdewar of RSS talks against secularism. We can’t defeat Sangh till we fight casteism because the root of RSS is this very caste system.” He added. Pointing out the contradictions in prime minister Modi’s actions, he asked, “Though he goes around inaugurating statues of Ambedkar, does he know what Ambedkar said about Hindu Rashtra being the worst fate of the country?” He stressed that Muslims and Christians are not tenants who are “staying on rent” in India and are as much a citizen of the country as anyone else”

 
The fight is not just in the books anymore!
“When Jignesh won in Gujarat, I could feel the joy in Bastar” expressed Soni Sori, the Adivasi leader who travelled here all the way from Chhattisgarh. She appealed to people to look deeply into the plight of Adivasis and pointed out the increasing number of encounters, illegal detentions and the mass sexual exploitation of women in these regions. She said that her experiences arose from the practical experiences of dealing with these issues day in and day out. “When they inserted stones in my private parts, I did not abandon the path set in our Constitution, whether they killed my husband or attacked my house or compelled my mother to die, I never left the path that the Constitution has showed us. Babasaheb Ambedkar has given a great tool in our hands and we must utilise it for our emancipation!” she said in a forceful speech. 
 
The Battle on the Streets
Amidst huge applause, the newly elected MLA from Vadgam, Gujarat-Jignesh Mevani left the audience spell-bound with his wit and analogies. He said, “While the people were divided through the riots and violence (of 2002), precious land was being silently being transferred over to Ambanis and Adanis. Therefore, these are the real Brahmanical forces that have taken the form of the Neo Peshwai. They are the supremacist and imperialist forces.” He spoke about the need to talk about the issues of farmers, manual scavengers and other such marginalised groups without resorting to sectarianism. “The fight against the Neo-Peshwas will be fought on the streets and not just in Parliament,” asserted Mevani.
 
There were other cultural performances by groups like the Kabir Kala Manch. The program ended with a pledge to come together and fight the Neo Peshwai in the presence of Dalit leader, Prakash Ambedkar and grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. After this, many groups and organisations left for Bhima Koregaon to pay respects to the Mahar community members who fought the battle.
 
There they faced swords and violence of Brahmanical forces who were allowed to unleash their terror as a mute and insufficient police force watched. Sabrangindia reported on this yesterday from ground zero.

Related Articles:
Dalit, Bahujans resist attempts to spread terror: Bhima Koregaon
 
 

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The celebration of the Bhima Koregaon battle points to a re-emergence and celebration of Dalit militancy and a fundamental re-interpretation of history. Since the commemoration and celebration of Bhima Koregaon revolves around the defeat of Peshwas by the untouchable soldiers of the colonial army at that time, the fact that 21^st century Dalits are commemorating it signals a powerful change in narrative. The battle was fought 200 years ago, and is regarded as a heroic chapter of Dalit historical memory.

The contradiction is rife and causes division in progressive history even today. While more fundamental ‘left progressive’ narratives have painted a linear narrative between the colonial powers and Indians, subaltern and depressed castes have pointed out, often that the fall-out of British colonalism –the English language, protestant and Scottish missionary schools etc—often enabled the utterly depressed classes and castes to empower and better themselves through education. This is a complex narrative that is often evaded by ‘progressive’ historians.

The Battle of Koregaon was fought on January 1, 1818, two hundred years ago, between the British East India Company and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy, at Koregaon Bhima. The 28,000-strong Marathas, led by Peshwa Baji Rao II intended to attack Pune. On their way, they were met by an 800-strong Company force that was on its way to reinforce the British troops in Pune. The Peshwa dispatched around 2,000 soldiers to attack the Company force stationed in Koregaon. Led by Captain Francis Staunton, the Company troops defended their position for nearly 12 hours. The Marathas ultimately withdrew, fearing the arrival of a larger British force led by General Joseph Smith.

Acknowledging and remembering this battle – by turning up in such large numbers and assembling at the site – actually runs counter to the normative aspect of the caste system, which does not allow space to a Dalit to act as a militant.  More significantly it calibrates the narrative of history since many of the oppressed castes actually found allies and breakthroughs with and within the actions of an otherwise brute colonial power.

Ancient Hindu scriptures like the Manusmriti have mentioned very clearly that a Dalit, or the lower caste Shudras and the Ati-Shudras, do not have the right to even have this force in their defence. By celebrating Koregaon in this manner, Dalits are saying: “We will celebrate the militancy that is part of our history”. Upper castes have either stifled our histories, or twisted them because they don’t find them suitable for continuing their narrative of Hindu nationalism.

Going to these sites has become a sort of alternate folk culture for both rural and urban Dalits. People are coming to Koregaon from states like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka as well. Over the years, its hold on Dalit memory and consciousness has expanded.

With the spread of the internet, social media platforms and new Dalit web portals, there is a renewed effort to consolidate and reclaim Dalit histories and sites of resistance or memory. Now in India, we have also begun to observe Dalit History Month, which helps in this effort. The celebration at Koregaon is situated in this spectrum.

B.R. Ambedkar himself actively researched and visited such sites of Dalit history. He used to visit Bhima Koregaon every year, he even conducted a big conference there. Ambedkar continued the legacy of Dalit militancy when he formed the Samata Sainik Dal.

Ambedkar showed that militancy refers to a resolve to not be stopped, or threatened by any other force that is looking to subjugate you. And if the protection of the self is required, one is ready to do so by any method. He differentiated between the two meanings of the word ‘militancy’.

Now, this celebration is entering the realm of new spaces that Dalits are carving out in the new century. One can see this pattern in the emergence of small groups that are protesting against authorities, like the Bhim Army.

The Company troops of Indian origin included predominantly Mahar Dalit soldiers belonging to the Bombay Native Infantry, and therefore Dalit activists regard the battle as a heroic episode in Dalit history.

By the 1800s, the Marathas were organized into a loose confederacy, with the major constituents being the Peshwa of Pune, the Scindia of Gwalior, the Holkar of Indore, the Gaekwad of Baroda, and the Bhonsle of Nagpur.  The British had subjugated and signed peace treaties with these factions,
establishing Residencies at their capitals. The British intervened in a revenue-sharing dispute between the Peshwa and Gaekwad, and on 13 June 1817, the Company forced Peshwa Baji Rao II to sign an agreement renouncing claims on Gaekwad’s reveues and ceding large swaths of territory to the British. This treaty of Pune formally ended the Peshwa’s titular overlordship over other Maratha chiefs, thus officially ending the Maratha confederacy. Soon after this, the Peshwa burnt down the British Residency at Pune, but was defeated in the Battle of Khadki near Pune on 5 November 1817.

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