#BeingADalit | As Dalits Reclaim Their Dignity, Caste Hindus Betray Impatience in March to Modernity

#BeingADalit is a series on what it takes to be a persecuted minority in India. In an attempt to go beyond the numbers, News18 also mapped incidents of Dalit atrocities over the last one year across India.

Once a subject of empathy, Dalits are fast emerging as a subject of envy. Govind Gopal Gaikwad epitomises that best. Even in death, Govind scares the local caste Hindu society so much that his tomb attracts stones.

Who was Govind Gopal Gaikwad and why was his tomb stoned on December 29, three days before the same treatment was meted out to unarmed Dalit pilgrims headed to Bhima Koregaon War Memorial?

A Dalit, Govind Gopal Gaikad lived in Vadhu Budrak village, 4 km north of Bhima Koregaon. In 1689, Aurangzeb, during his Deccan expedition, incarcerated Chatrapati Shivaji’s eldest son Shambhaji Maharaj.

Shambhaji was tortured for months and killed. His dead body was cut into pieces and thrown around Vadhu village with a warning — those conducting Shambhaji’s last rites would meet a similar fate.

Fearful of Aurangzeb, villagers fled. Govind Gopal answered the call of humanity. Women of the Dalit hamlet worked the entire night to piece together Shambhaji’s body.

Defying Aurangzeb, Govind Gopal, along with fellow Dalits, performed Shambhaji’s last rites.

As per one folklore, 20 Dalits, including Govind Gopal, were massacred by the forces of Aurangzeb.

To mark the valour and sacrifice of Govind Gopal, villagers constructed a tomb for him, close to that of Shambhaji Maharaj. In popular public imagery, Govind Gopal Gaikwad is a victor even in death.

In 2003, villagers put up a memorial-tablet explaining why a Dalit lay along a Maratha king.

Visitors to Bhima Koregaon also visit the tomb of Govind Gopal, along with that of Shambhaji Maharaj. Prior to the stoning of Dalit pilgrims on January 1, same caste Hindus attacked Govind’s tomb and destroyed the plaque that explained his sacrifice.

The Bhima Koregaon war also shows Dalits as victors, hence they are targeted by the Hindu warriors of today.

Under Peshwai, Dalits were not permitted to carry swords or ride horses, let alone serve in the army.

In fact, they had to carry earthen pots around their necks in case they needed to spit, and a broom hung around their waist.

When the British came, they needed to develop and deploy indigenous regiments in pursuit of their expansionist military policy in India.

Mahars seized the opportunity. The British treated Mahars as humans. The Mahars were hired as cooks and enrolled into the British army. Mahar soldiers also proved their prowess with swords and rifles, challenging the Peshwa prowess.

On January 1, 1818, around 500 Mahar soldiers fought an unequal war — a war that saw 500 men staring at a Peshwa army of 28,000 fighters. This works out to 1 Mahar against 56 soldiers of the Peshwa army.

In the eponymous battle at Koregaon, Dalits pulversied the Peshwa army. While Peshwa soldiers fought for salaries, Dalits fought for their dignity as Peshwai rule practised the crudest form of untouchability.

Dalits visiting Bhima Koregaon War Memorial relive the valour of Mahar soldiers. The present day caste Hindu warriors can’t really stomach Dalits as victors. That in many ways explains the stoning of Govind’s tomb and the unarmed pilgrims to the Bhima Koregaon.

Is Maharashtra’s caste Hindu society the only one that has ‘Dalit phobia’?

Travel some 700 km to central India, Ratlam countryside in Madhya Pradesh to be precise and recall the August 2015 news flash — a Dalit groom sporting a helmet while approaching the bride’s house. The village already wore a war-zone look. All this because a Dalit family in the village had dared to receive the groom on a horseback.

As the practice goes, in certain parts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat, Dalits asserting themselves — or reclaiming their dignity — have started riding horses for the wedding ceremony. As a symbol of defiance, Dalit grooms also sport swords. To do this, Dalits seek protection from the district administration.

In society’s collective imagery, men riding horses, with swords in their hands are victors. It’s an imagery intrinsically associated with the upper caste Hindus who claim martial ancestry.

Despite heavy police presence, the Dalit groom in Ratlam, upon entering the village, faced a volley of stones, including from women. A police constable came to his rescue, offering his helmet to the besieged broom. Several members in the marriage party were injured.

Wait for summer, the marriage season in north and central India, and vernacular newspapers will be full of such reports of how in their own country, Dalits can’t walk as victors.

Now let’s take a trip to central Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh village, which is close to the Sangam — the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati.

It was mid-June in 2015 when two Dalit brothers, Brijesh and Raju, cracked IIT in Open category. Born Dalits, the two brothers were brought up in abject poverty. Their mother a farm labourer and father a construction worker, the family could hardly make ends meet.

A local reporter did the story. The boys turned celebrities overnight. The then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav felicitated the boys on June 23 at the Lucknow Secretariat. Full of pride, the boys reached their village at dusk.

The caste Hindus of the village had waited for hours for the two brothers to arrive. Stones rained on the little house that the brothers lived in.

The boys told the media of how their school principle had kept advising them to try for ITI (Industrial Training Institute for skill development), which have been set up in all districts of the country to train people for skilled labour that industries require.

Instead, the boys aimed for IIT, a global engineering brand. Cracking IITs in Open category showed the brothers as victors, and their home paid the price for that.

A year ago, UP’s Saharanpur witnessed the rise of a Dalit youth leader named Chandra Shekhar Ravan.

Ravan, an advocate by profession, also worked in the community’s open schools in Dalit hamlets. These schools lay a lot of emphasis on teaching English.

Soon, he got into conflicts with the caste Hindu society.

While Ravan was charged with various cases of ‘rioting’, he was granted bail from the higher judiciary of the state. However, he is still in prison as the government clamped the National Security Act against the beleaguered youth.

He was accused of “provoking trouble”. Any evidence? ‘Ravan rides Royal Enfield bike and maintains twirled moustaches’. By caste codes, Dalits are prohibited from sporting twirled moustaches. Ravan’s moustache, therefore, is seen as an act of rebellion.

Ravan of Saharanpur is not an exception. Over a 1,000 km away, Gujarat’s Mehsana town witnessed a related incident. Just a month ago, caste Hindu warriors thrashed a Dalit youth for sporting a pointed moustache. ‘Grow Twirled Moustache’ has now become a form of protest.

India is transforming and so are its social institutions. The Constitution that came up post Independence, and the capitalism that entered India after reforms has put a lot of pressure on India’s caste order.

Class has begun replacing cast. Dalits, for the first time in India’s known history, have tasted freedom. Nostalgic caste Hindu society seems to be sinking into impatience.

While an India free of caste will be good for all, Dalits’ freedom will be a victory for the nation. Somehow, the wearisome caste society is finding it hard to stomach the march of modernity.

Maybe, Dalits will have to pay for their freedom. Howsoever ludicrous it may be, this savagery against Dalits might endure for a few more decades.

Didn’t American Blacks pay for their freedom? Lynching of Blacks began after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1861, and lasted for several decades.

(Chandra Bhan Prasad is a researcher and an author. Views are personal.)