The woman victim, reports The Indian Express, 19-year-old Aishwarya from Neyvaviduthi in Pattukottai, had fallen in love with Naveen, a 19-year-old Dalit man from Poovaloor village, Thanjavur. Naveen belongs to the Devendra Kula Vellalar community, a Scheduled Caste, while Aishwarya hails from the Kallar (backward) community, a dominant caste and a subgroup of the politically influential Thevar community.

A senior police officer familiar with the case said their love story began in their school days. Naveen, after completing a diploma in mechanical engineering, secured employment in a garments factory in Tirupur. Aishwarya, after her higher secondary education, found work in a power loom in the same town.

 “Their relationship blossomed over a year and a half, and they married on December 31, 2023 in a temple in Avarampalayam near Coimbatore. The marriage was not legally valid since Naveen is only 19,” the officer said.

Not quite aware of this legal hitch, the couple rented a house in Veerapandi locality, Tirupur, to start a new life together which, however, was short-lived.

On January 2, seven days ago, Palladam police, acting on a missing person complaint filed by Aishwarya’s father Perumal, unfortunately took her from the couple’s residence. Naveen, her husband, followed the police team and waited outside the station. According to a complaint he filed later, it was around 2 pm that day that Aishwarya’s father Perumal and his associates reached the police station and took her home within 30 minutes.

Naveen was told that she agreed to go with her parents and was also warned against trying to contact her again. Naveen went to his native village that night and he received the news of her death the next morning. Her body had allegedly been cremated hurriedly by relatives.

According to the FIR, she was found dead in her room on January 3. Naveen lodged a complaint on January 7, accusing Aishwarya’s family of murder.

The police have now detained six family members for questioning, including her father, suspecting their involvement in the crime. The case has been registered under sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, which stipulates punishment for destroying evidence.

According to the Tirupur Superintendent of Police’s office, Aishwarya had agreed to go with her parents after a negotiation with them was held before the police. “Local officers also might have advised her to go with parents considering her age, but not knowing that a tragedy would unfold in the following hours,” an officer said.

Related:

A Woman, Pregnant Was Burnt Alive for Marrying a Dalit: Karnataka

Do Dalit lives matter in India?: Reflecting on condition of Dalits and apathy

Outlawed caste-based militia Ranvir Sena issues death threats over social media in Bihar!

SC/ST Commission in UP headless for over 7 months

The post Within hours of police mediating her return home, young woman from Tamil Nadu ‘killed by family for marrying Dalit man’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The news of the ECI’s move also comes at a turbulent period when the parliament introduced a bill in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday last week that will allow the PM to select a minister to replace the Chief Justice of India in the committee which will select the Election Commission members, including the Chief Election Commissioner. Raising serious questions of the union government’s intent—in this case to remote control the entire election process —it also will overturn an earlier judgement of the Supreme Court. Arguably then, if this control of the ECI itself is left unchallenged even by the Supreme Court the nationwide de-limitation process due in 2026 will itself be controlled by any government in power at the time.

The final de-limitation order, released under Section 8-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, marks a crucial development on Assam’s electoral map. The commission’s press release, released on August 11, detailed that its  approach involved an extensive consultative process with a wide range of stakeholders. This included three days of public hearings in Guwahati in July 2023, supplemented by pre-meetings held in March 2023. According the press note, all representations, suggestions, and objections were considered by the commission, composed of Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel.

As many as 30 assembly constituencies will cease to exist in their current form while 26 new ones will be created, the Economic Times had reported in June. The final order did not further change any constituency boundaries, but renamed 19 assembly constituencies and one parliamentary constituency.

Representatives from various opposition national and state parties, including Aam Aadmi Party, Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as state-specific parties like All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Asom Gana Parishad, United Peoples Party Liberal, and Bodoland People’s Front, provided their feedback and suggestions to the Commission. Additionally, the United Opposition Forum Assam, comprising of multiple parties, and Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs) such as Raijor Dal, Bhartiya Gana Parishad, National Republican Congress, and Assam Jatiya Parishad, also took part in the discussions. Over the course of three days, the Commission engaged with more than 1200 representations from 31 districts and conducted meetings with over 20 political parties. 

The commission says it incorporated. Around 45% of the total 1222 suggestions/objections. According to the press release, while some 5 % of the demands were found to be outside the bounds of constitutional and statutory provisions, and the rest of the 50 % were not deemed suitable. According to a report by The Hindu, the poll panel has largely retained the changes that were introduced in the original draft proposal released earlier in the year. 

The current chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma –whose term has been marred by aggressive steps and posturing against the state’s minorities– has also given his support to the ECI earlier. Assam chief minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said that if the ECI’s draft proposal was approved, the “people of Assam” would have a greater say in their constituencies.

“Assam should not be taken over by unfamiliar persons, and for that we worked religiously to protect jati [community], mati [land], and bheti [foundation], so as to retain the political power in the hands of our people.”

আমাৰ লক্ষ্য – জাতি, মাটি আৰু ভেটিৰ সুৰক্ষা

We are committed to protect the interests of our indigenous communities.

If the EC’s draft on delimitation is approved, people of Assam will have a greater say in their constituencies.

Lakhimpur#MahaJansamparkAbhiyan pic.twitter.com/sQ6ZWatM2L

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 23, 2023

His remarks and the delimitation proposal have been criticised as an attempt to weaken the representation of the state’s Bengali-origin Muslim community, who are often vilified as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

It is also not a coincidence that it is only the current ruling party BJP remains to be one party that welcomes the order, amidst many oppositions by other parties, including the Congress and AIUDF.

Gaurav Gogoi, a two term MP from the Congress party in Assam, has stated on Twitter that the Delimitation Exercise only ‘suits’ the BJP. 

Election Commission publishes delimitation of Assam in 2023 based on 22 year old census. Hence no benefit to Assam in terms of increase in Lok Sabha seats. The result is a reorganization of existing seats to suit BJP voting trends. No wonder BJP doesn’t want CJI to select ECs.

— Gaurav Gogoi (@GauravGogoiAsm) August 11, 2023

Changes in the Final Draft

The delimitation exercise is based on the 2001 Census data a move which has been largely questioned by critics. The last delimitation was carried out in Assam in 2008. The latest delimitation exercise has resulted in the allocation of 126 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) and 14 Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) in Assam.  The commission’s final proposal includes revisions to the names of certain constituencies. Existing names such as Mankachar and South Salmara have been changed to Birsing Jarua and Mankachar respectively, amongst other changes.

Image: ECI Final Order.

When the initial draft was released, many apprehensions were made as for the new allocation of constituencies reserved for the scheduled castes (SCs). According to the final order, the SC seats are distributed among districts based on the proportion of the population of SCs in each district compared to the overall SC population in the entire state. Within each district, the priority was given to assembly seats with the highest proportion of SC population in relation to the total population of that assembly constituency. Similarly, for Parliamentary Constituencies, the one with the highest proportional SC population in relation to the total population of that parliamentary constituency was reserved for SCs. In 2001, the Scheduled Caste (SC) population stood at 1,825,949 out of the total population of 26,655,528. This proportion of SCs in the population was calculated to be 0.0685. The state had a total of 126 Assembly Constituencies (ACs), out of which 9 were to be reserved for SCs. Additionally, there were 14 Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs), with 1 PC earmarked for reservation for SCs. The ECI has argued that these changes in reservation for SC and ST communities were made according to Articles 330 and 332 of the Constitution.

According to Barak Bulletin, Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy had warned that there would be ‘Kashmirisation’ of Silchar if it becomes an unreserved constituency. Similarly, according to report, the main request of Barak Valley’s residents was to restore the Assembly representation to 15 seats. However, the Election Commission of India’s final draft stipulated 13 seats for the region. Notably, Algapur and Katlicherra, previously separate constituencies, were combined into Algapur-Katlicherra. Similarly, Badarpur merged with North Karimganj, now known as North Karimganj. Acknowledging Minister Parimal Suklabaidya’s objection, the ECI retained the name of Dholai Constituency, despite the initial proposal to rename it.

A significant development is the reduction in the size of the Silchar Legislative Assembly, both in geographic and electoral terms. Wards 1 to 7 of the current Silchar Municipal Board have been excluded from Silchar LAC. Furthermore, the ECI’s final draft confirmed that the Silchar Parliamentary Constituency, one of Barak Valley’s two constituencies along with Hailakandi-Karimganj, will continue to be reserved for SC candidates. It is notable that the Hailakandi-Karimganj constituency, formerly reserved for SC candidates, is now open to general candidates.

Opposition protests against the order

In the Supreme Court of India, writ petitions were submitted by Rajya Sabha member Ajit Kumar Bhuyan and Dr. Hiren Gohain, as well as one by the opposition parties. These petitions highlighted that the earlier postponement of the delimitation exercise was due to its reliance on outdated 2001 Census data. Given that India’s most recent Census was in 2011, it would naturally contains more current and updated data compared to the information from 2001, but there are no reports of the 2011 data included. 

On July 24, the Supreme Court declined to put a stay on the delimitation process in Assam. The Court directed the Union government and the poll panel to provide their responses to a set of pleas on this matter. A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, alongside Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra however decided that they will look into the constitutionality of Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. This is the section which grants the Election Commission the power to carry out constituency delimitation. 

During the hearing for the petition, representing the petitioners, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the opposition party leaders, argued against the commission stating that traditionally, this task was handled by a Delimitation Commission consisting of a retired Supreme Court judge and people’s representatives. He contended that entrusting the process to the ECI lacked a rational basis.

The proposed changes have triggered responses on the ground as well. Organisations and political parties had earlier called for a 12-hour strike in certain districts of Barak Valley in June, at the release of the ECI’s delimitation draft.

According to an earlier report by Sabrang India, a contentious aspect of the proposal centres on the potential elimination of assembly seats with Muslim-majority populations. This move has invited criticism from opposition parties, who assert that these constituencies often represent the Bengali-origin Muslim community, leading to concerns of minority representation and potential bias.

According to the report, the draft’s provisions suggest merging or incorporating such seats into newly-formed constituencies, some of which house significant Hindu populations.

India’s next nationwide delimitation is slated for 2026, while Assam’s last comprehensive delimitation was performed in 2008, with a subsequent deferral. This raises the question as to what was the hurry to perform a delimitation exercise specifically for Assam just a few years away from the all India exercise? The fact that the Lok Sabha elections are just a year further raises significant questions.

Related 

Assam: Delimitation of Assembly, Parliamentary Seats, Merging of Districts Raise Apprehensions

Election Commission of India receives 467 suggestions and objections over the proposed delimitation exercise in Assam

Protests erupt over ECI’s new delimitation draft in Assam which is embroiled in controversy

Election Commission of India says voters’ names not to be removed without prior notice

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In a shocking incident that is reminiscent of not one but two previous instances of Dalit girls being victimized, the bodies of two sisters hailing from a Scheduled Caste were found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur district. Though sexual assault has not been confirmed so far, as the autopsy reports are still awaited, Jagran reports that the family has alleged that the girls were abducted and raped before being killed.

The case is thus being compared to the Hathras case.

2. यह घटना यूपी में कानून-व्यवस्था व महिला सुरक्षा आदि के मामले में सरकार के दावों की जबर्दस्त पोल खोलती है। हाथरस सहित ऐसे जघन्य अपराधों के मामलों में ज्यादातर लीपापोती होने से ही अपराधी बेखौफ हैं। यूपी सरकार अपनी नीति, कार्यप्रणाली व प्राथमिकताओं में आवश्यक सुधार करे। 2/2

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) September 15, 2022

निघासन पुलिस थाना क्षेत्र में 2 दलित बहनों को अगवा करने के बाद उनकी हत्या और उसके बाद पुलिस पर पिता का ये आरोप बेहद गंभीर है कि बिना पंचनामा और सहमति के उनका पोस्टमार्टम किया गया।

लखीमपुर में किसानों के बाद अब दलितों की हत्या ‘हाथरस की बेटी’ हत्याकांड की जघन्य पुनरावृत्ति है। pic.twitter.com/gFmea4bAUc

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) September 14, 2022

It is also similar to the Badaun case where the bodies of two Dalit girls were found hanging from a tree in May 2014. In that case too, the girls were minors.

What happened in Lakhimpur Kheri?

The incident took place in the Nighasan area of Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday. According to Jagran, the girls were aged 14 and 17, and were thus minors. Indian Express reports that a local villager discovered the bodies hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field in Tamoleen Purva village, located about half a kilometer from their home. Following this the family of the girls and angry villagers blocked roads demanding justice for the girls. The family of the girls has alleged that the girls were abducted three hours before their bodies were discovered.

The mother told media persons that she was sitting outside the house with the two girls at around 2 P.M. The publication quoted the girls’ mother as saying, “I went inside the house for some work. On return, I saw three youths forcibly taking away my daughters on a motorcycle. I ran after the motorcycle but failed to catch them.”

Four people have been arrested in connection with the case so far. Additional SP Arun Kumar Singh told the publication, “Four accused in the matter have been taken into custody. Interrogation is underway.”

However, India Today reports that the number of arrests has gone up to six. According to the publication, the girls were being pressured to marry two of the accused, who then raped them with four other accomplices.

Uttar Pradesh’s track record w.r.t crimes against people from Scheduled Castes

The incident has sent shockwaves across the state where crimes against Dalits have been on the rise. According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Uttar Pradesh has one of the highest rates of crimes against people hailing from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes. In 2019, UP reported 11,829 cases out of the total national figure of 45,961, thus accounting for over 25 percent of all crimes against people hailing from Scheduled Castes in India.

Shockingly, even a deadly global pandemic like Covid could not bring the numbers down, because as per NCRB’s data for 2020, out of the 50,291 cases of crimes against people from Scheduled Castes, 12,714 were recorded from Uttar Pradesh. This once again accounts for over a quarter of all crimes against SCs across India.

According to the latest report titled Crime In India 2021, while the national figure for cases of crimes against people hailing from Scheduled Castes stands at 50,900, the number of cases reported from Uttar Pradesh stands at 13,146. Again, Uttar Pradesh accounts for over 25 percent of all crimes against people from Scheduled Castes in the country.

Related:

Uttar Pradesh: Headmaster allegedly throws hot meal on Dalit girl, burns her arm
Uttar Pradesh: Teacher allegedly breaks Dalit girl’s hand
9-year-old Dalit boy dies after teacher allegedly thrashes him; cops deny “caste angle”
Madhya Pradesh: 13-year-old Dalit rape survivor allegedly beaten by police
Mutilated body of girl found hanging from tree in Sultanpur, Badaun 2.0?

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Jagmati Sangwan, a fiery activist and academic from Haryana who has initiated and led the campaign and struggles against honour crimes and the role of khap panchayats has declined to be honoured by the Modi government
 
In a polite but strong letter to the union minister for Women and Child Welfare, Maneka Gandhi, Jagmati Sangwan has turned down a potential honour from the Modi government. Around December 10, 2014, International Human Rights Day, the central government had, through a letter informed her that she had been shortlisted  as part of 100 Women Achievers to be honoured in the category of 'Women in Public Life'.

Four days later, on December 14, 2015 she has, in a letter to Maneka Gandhi politely but firmly declined the honour. Her letter available with Communalism Combatonline states,

“I would like to very humbly request you to take my nomination out of this award process. I am writing it to you with a heavy heart in the background of Haryana governments decision to put conditions on contesting panchayat elections which in effect have meant that 83% of Scheduled Caste women, 72% of the General category women, 71% of Scheduled Caste Men and 56% of general category men  and overall 67% of general citizens in the state cannot contest the local elections.

As you may be aware, it was after long fought struggle and assertion by women that their participation in the local bodies was ensured. However, such a decision taken by the state government would only be detrimental to what we have achieved so far.  
You are also aware about the massive fund cuts that the central government has undertaken in women friendly acts in the 2015 budget.

The day to day survival of women has only become more difficult in recent years as we feel that the central government has pulled itself (away) from its responsibility to safeguard the interests of women and other vulnerable sections including children.   
In this present scenario, I do feel that my work along with millions of other workers of my organisation is in complete contradiction to what your government is aiming to achieve.  Therefore, I would like to keep myself away from any award conferred by the government at the present juncture.”
This missive from a woman from the grassroots representing India’s largest woman’s organisation, is a blow to the Modi regime, keenly seeking respectability and considered, otherwise to be a master of symbolism.
 

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Bangaru Laxman’s statement, after he formally took over as the president of the BJP, that  “Nagpur is a place of both Ambedkar and Hegdewar” must have come as a surprise to the upper caste leaders of the RSS, particularly its chief, KS Sudharshan, who must all be Ambedkar haters. Nagpur, ironically, is the headquarters of both Ambedkar’s Buddhism and Hegdewar’s Brahminism. 

Laxman made it somewhat clear that he would like to be loyal to both Ambedkarism and Brahminism but this may prove to be an impossible task. Laxman’s colour (the Dravidian black) is itself an anathema to the Aryan racism that Hegdewar and Golwalkar stood for. Laxman’s position at the top of the party pyramid and having to live with his ‘un–Hindu’ statements are certain to be seen as the result of the unfortunate presence of Ambedkarism in the Indian politico–social space. 

The Hindu spiritual world has been hoping against hope all these years that it would not have to see a day when the Chandalas  emerge as a powerful force and undermine the divine dictum of the Adi–Brahmin-Purush, Brahma, that the Chandalas forever remain untouchables. Ambedkar has become a modern Buddha and Laxman knows that only too well. But for the Ambedkarite presence in the Indian political scene, Laxman would still be elsewhere, possibly stitching a shoe and certainly not the president of a party that was meant to be a Brahmin–Baniya saddle. 

Arun Shourie, who called Ambedkar a “False God”, must have licked his own boots as Laxman made his presidential pronouncements. Laxman’s statement proved that however weak a Dalit might otherwise be, when in a position of power he can make a difference. 

The appointment (not election) by Vajpayee of Bangaru Laxman, a Dalit leader from Hyderabad, as the president of the BJP has been done with a design to woo the votes of Dalits and appeal to South Indians as the BJP has been accused of being an enemy of both Dravidism and Dalitism. As a party that aspires to be a ruling party on its own, the BJP has to overcome both these images. 

In the sufficiently well established line of Dalit leaders like Jagjivan Ram, Damodaram Sanjeevaiah who were given similar positions  in the Congress party, some Dalit leader was badly needed to salvage the anti-Dalit image of the BJP. Laxman, given his name, colour and caste, appeared to be the most suitable person. What Laxman can do to Dalits depends on how the educated Dalits assert themselves and how an ageing Kanshi Ram builds his party. In politics, the strength of the Bahujan Samaj Party helps in the Dalit bargain with other parties. It is in this political backdrop that Laxman climbed the BJP ladder. 

The problem for the BJP would however be, that like Jagjivan Ram and Sanjeevaiah, Laxman seems to be behaving unpredictably. He has publicly stated that he got this post because of Vajpayee and like Rama Bhakta Hanuman even touched the latter’s feet of Vajpayee. In the process he has placed the self–respect of Dalits at the feet of a classical Brahmin. I do not think Jagjivan Ram and Sanjeevaiah ever did this to Nehru. But to overcome this surrender to a political ‘Swamiji’, he said his attempt would be to combine Ambedkar with Hegdewar. 

This very statement, however, creates a tension in caste ideology. Laxman has to salvage Hinduism, which does not want to give Dalits the right to priesthood, but the party that emerged to safeguard upper caste interests has to mobilise Dalit votes. Hinduism as a religion destroyed the moral foundation of Dalits and without reforming that religion a Hindu political party cannot salvage the situation. 

This is the reason why more and more Dalits are looking towards either Christianity or Buddhism. The Hindutva forces know pretty well that apart from Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram what threatens Brahminism is the “Acclesia in Asia” document that Pope John Paul II released at Delhi during his visit to India last year. 
The Pope said that the Cross was planted in Europe in the first millennium, in America and Africa in the second millennium, and that Christ will return to his birth place – Asia — with all the strength at his command in the third millennium. The Christian resolve seems to be that the last segment of  global spiritual slavery — India’s untouchables — have to be liberated by all means in this century. This resolution of global Christianity coupled with its cultural liberalism poses very serious challenges to Brahminism today. 

Whenever Hinduism found itself in deep crisis because of the Shudra-Chandala revolt, it took the help of  a Shudra or Chandala to overcome that crisis and they made these Trojan horses speak their language. Valmiki, a Dalit, was made to write the Ramayana, as they wanted it to be written; again a Krishna was made to write the Gita, as they wanted it to be written. Only Ambedkar refused to do that and that has pushed Hinduism in to a deep crisis. 

Given the threat of globalisation and Christianity in the era of Ambedkarism in India, Laxman has been chosen to overcome the present crisis of Hinduism. But Laxman is too inadequate a person to salvage the situation. Despite the promise that Krishna would incarnate, yuga after yuga, to protect Brahminism would not turn up in this yuga because of the God who originated  in Israel and has produced globally commanding capitalism and the English language. The gods who understand only Sanskrit are suffering a heavy loss of social base in their own land. The Dalits are the main social base of the expanding Christianity. The sangh parivar has to do something about it. Laxman seemed be the only alternative. 

Neither Hinduism nor the Hindutva organisations can offer spiritual and social liberation to Dalits, tribals and OBCs. The OBCs are fixed to Hinduism like nuts and bolts; hence the sangh parivar does not see any threat from OBCs in spiritual terms.  The sangh parivar does not mind marginalising any number of OBCs in the political sphere, too. Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharati are cases in point of this marginalisation. But that is not the case with SCs. But because of the overall impact of the organised church and Ambedkarite Buddhism, the SCs and STs have become a social force who can lobby for their Dalit cause in international fora. 

The OBCs could not evolve as a force to interact with the West. They could not modernise and acquire proficiency in English, which could loosen their nut and bolt location in Hinduism and allow them to look for global recognition of their position. So they are becoming a butt of ridicule in the hands of Brahminical  forces within the sangh parivar. Kanshi Ram once rightly said that the ruling classes of India are afraid of only SCs because they are a force to reckon with in the bureaucracy and in politics and section of them have got westernised. 

So Laxman becomes a useful tool to address some of the socio-spiritual and economic problems that Hinduism as a religion and Hindutva as a political force are facing today. If Laxman realises the historical context in which he has been given this position, he can work his way to South Block and become the first SC Prime Minister of India. After Vajpayee, there is no leader from the BJP top brass who is acceptable to all the NDA constituents. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi have already burnt their fingers with their right–wing extremism. 

Laxman, who kept a low profile in the aggressive phase of the BJP, leads a non–controversial life style and has no base of his own in the party or at the mass level. These are good qualifications for a Dalit to be seen as a candidate for the Prime Minister’s post. 

Laxman has all the qualities that PV Narsimha Rao had when he emerged as a Prime Ministerial candidate in the Congress party after the death of Rajiv Gandhi. Laxman’s Dalit background is an added bonus. Judging by how Laxman has been speaking and conducting himself after being appointed the party president he is moving in the right direction. His statements on the minorities and Ambedkar seem to have been well–received in political circles. 

Laxman is right when he says that minorities are “blood of his blood and flesh of his flesh” in so far as he speaks as a Dalit. When talking of Ambedkar or of minorities, Laxman is speaking like a Dalit. Laxman is also expected to ease the BJP’s relations with Christians as the latter also feel quite comfortable negotiating with Laxman as head of the party rather than some upper caste leaders. Thus, there is good mettle in him to aspire to becoming the first Dalit to occupy the Prime Minister’s chair. 

But all this will be possible only if Laxman plays the part of Hanuman very carefully in a party of Aryan Brahminism. He must not think of crossing the laxman rekhas drawn by his Lord, Vajpayee. Of course, he can acquire his own small temples here and there. But his limited spiritual space will be safe only as long as the real Hindu heroes operating from Hindu temples feel secure with him as their watchdog. Advani, a Sindhi, a non–practising Hindu but a hard-line Hindutvavaadi, does have much support of the Hindu Brahmin priests. The NDA leaders do not trust him either. 

The Indian media, too, takes its cues from the temple of Brahminism before it projects somebody as an acceptable man or woman for the highest position. The Indian media used to hate Ambedkar. It hates Kanshi Ram. Its love–hate relationship with KR Narayanan turned into a pure hate relationship after he delivered his two historic lectures on the occasion of Republic Day this year. Laxman is still a bird in the egg so far as the media is concerned. If he chooses to play the role of Hanuman well, the future for him is very bright. 

But the Dalits as a historical community have every thing to loose. Just as the first Dalit president of the BJP, even the first Dalit Prime Minister of India would come and go without changing the socio-spiritual and economic status of Dalits even an inch. But many Kanshi Rams can be vanquished with this Dalit weapon called Bangaru (gold) Laxman. 

Archived from Communalism Combat, September 2000 Year 8  No. 62, Cover Story 4

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