In a blow to both the Gujarat and Modi governments, Sunil Jadav, Dalit author and journalist, on Friday, May 26 returned his ‘Mahatma Phule Shreshta Dalit Patrakar Award’ to the Gujarat government, protesting incidents of atrocities on Dalits in the state.

Jadav joined a rally — organised by the Rajkot unit of Dalit organisations — to the office of District Collector Vikrant Pandey. He later returned the award, presented to him in 2011, and also the citation and a cheque worth Rs 25,000, which he had received as part of the award, to the district collector.

In a letter addressed to the CM, Jadav (43) said: “The central and the state governments have failed to protect Dalits. I am extremely pained by the Una atrocities… and the recent killings of and atrocities on Dalits in Saharanpur and Shabbirpur. The Gujarat government has failed protect Dalits after the Una incident and as a result incidents of atrocities on Dalits are going up.”

In 2015 and 2016, writers and filmmakers across the countries had returned National Awards as a stinging protest against the rising intolerance on the streets, the impunity to mo violence as symbolised in the lynching to death of Mohammad Akhlaq in September 2015. Over 40 authors starting with Nayantara Sahgal and 24 film makers had not just returned awards but also made stinging statements against the proto-fascist government.

 The Union government had to accept that that nearly 40 writers returned their awards during the Award Wapsi campaign in 2015. However, this number pertains to only those who had been awarded by the Sahitya Akademi. The overall count is likely to be much higher. Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma has told the Lok Sabha that these writers returned their awards claiming "that there was an attack on their freedom of expression and the Akademi kept silent on the issue".

Filmmakers Kundan Shah and Saeed Mirza as well as author Arundhati Roy were among two dozen artists who returned their national awards on Thursday, joining a snowballing anti-intolerance campaign with members of the intelligentsia accusing the BJP-led government of stoking religious tensions and muzzling criticism.

The development came against the backdrop of a swirling debate over rising intolerance in the country after the mob lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh over cow-killing rumours and violent attacks on rationalists.

Roy, who won the Booker for “The God of Small Things”, announced in a column for the Indian Express that she was returning her 1989 National Award for Best Screenplay for the film “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones”, saying she was proud to be part of what artists and intellectuals had started.

“I am very pleased to have found a National Award that I can return, because it allows me to be a part of a political movement by writers, filmmakers and academics who have risen up against ideological viciousness and an assault on our collective IQ that will tear us apart and bury us deep if we do not stand up to it,” she wrote.
 

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Surprisingly, the refusal to grant a CBI probe is on grounds that it is not a `rarest of the rare' incident and that the investigation by CID (crime) was satisfactory. The Times of India has reported that despite a writ petition filed by Kanti Chavda, that prayed for an inquiry by the central agency, to investigate if there was a common conspiracy among the fanatical organisations and the Una-based NGO Shri Sanathan Charitable Trust or other organizations working across India, the High Court has turned the plea down. The decision of the High Court comes on the eve of Ambedkar Jayanti, April 13, 2017.
 
The HC has, in effect turned down the demand to investigate charges of conspiracy. In this petition, the petitioner wanted the CBI to probe why such organisations are terrorising particular castes and communities, and what the main agenda behind their illegal activities is. The probe should also demand, the petitioner has asked, whether other police officials, apart from those arrested in one month's time, were involved in the conspiracy.
 
The bench of Chief Justice R S Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi dismissed the PIL because the Una dalit flogging incident of July 11, 2016 was not one of the “rarest of the rare“ incidents that warrant a CBI probe. Such an in investigation can be ordered only in rare and exceptional cases, where high officials are involved or those that police does not investigate in a proper manner. The HC found the investigation to be satisfactory since forty-three persons including police personnel were arrested and charged in this case.
 
On July 11, 2016, four young Dalits were publicly flogged and paraded around in Una in broad daylight, for skinning a dead cow. The most inhuman kind of torture has been meted out to people on the pretext of cow protection, and the perpetrators in their bravado have uploaded the brutal acts on social media with impunity. The assaulters spread news of their act on a facebook video. Their actions sparked widespread protests in the state which transformed into a movement for Dalit rights. On July 31, at a Dalit Maha Sammelan in Ahmedabad, thousands of Dalits pledged to stop picking up carcasses and give up occupations like manual scavenging.
 
It also led to the formation of the Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti to seek justice for the victims of the brutal attack in Una. Shortly after, on August 5, 2016 the Dalit Asmita Yatra was flagged off from Ahmedabad and travelled over 400 kilometres through different villages of Gujarat. Pledges were taken in village after village to shun the traditional caste-based occupations of manual scavenging, cleaning sewer lines and skinning or disposing of dead cattle. The ten-day yatra culminated in the Azadi Kooch at Una on Independence Day. The Una protest and Dalit Asmita Rally are a historic response to attacks on Dalit lives, dignity and livelihood. They have seen an unprecedented unity of purpose with different individuals and progressive groups coming out in solidarity with this unique protest. The upsurge among Gujarat's Dalits even resulted in the resignation of then chief minister, Anandiben Patel. In a strange move, the then chief minister 'offered to resign' on August 1, through a facebook post on August 1, 2016.

Following the Una incident a Dalit man and his pregnant wife were allegedly beaten up by members of another community at Ugala village in Gir Somnath district for preventing them from grazing their cattle in a farm where the couple had been working as labourers. The incident happened on Christmas Day. Babubhai Sankhat (35) and his six-month pregnant wife Rekhaben (30) were allegedly attacked on December 25.“Babubhai and Rekhaben were hired by the farm owner to work in the cotton field at Ugala village. On December 25, they had an altercation with some members of a community who wanted to take their cattle in the field for grazing,” investigating officer and deputy superintendent of police, SC/ST Cell, PS Valvi said. An FIR was been registered at Gir-Gadhada police station in this regard. Police are yet to make any arrest.

 
Related Articles:
1. In Gujarat, 95 Of 100 Suspects In Crimes Against Dalits Acquitted
2. Dalits in the Hindu Rashtra, A Close Look at the Gujarat Model
3.The Dalit Revolt in Hindutva’s Successful Laboratory: Gujarat
4. If the Cow is Your Mother, You Bury Her: Gujarat Dalits Cry Liberation
 

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