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Dalits March for Dignity, Again
by Staff Reporter, Dalit Freedom Network
Originally published July 5, 2007.
The heat in June is almost unbearable in many parts of India. But Dalits in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh are finding the discrimination unbearable throughout the year. So the summer heat didn’t even faze a group of protesters as they began their long march. Besides their physical determination, the declaration issued at the end of a recent march is a potent example of Dalits’ desire for change.
About 20 women and girls marched across India’s most populous state, covering 230 miles (370 km). They passed through 140 villages, 7 slums and four districts during their 22 day journey. They marched to highlight hunger, land, water and sustainable development issues for Dalits.
Across India today, Dalits often hold similar marches or processions, also called yatras, to bring attention to crucial issues. In the face of indifferent government officials or corrupt justice systems, it is one of the few ways to gain attention and be heard.
Called the “Land, Dignity and Freedom Footmarch”, the women were led by Vidya Bhushan Rawat, an experienced activist who has tackled many issues over the years, including the abolishment of manual scavenging (removing human waste from toilets by hand). The women started from Tilakwania village on June 1, 2007 and ended on June 22, 2007.
At each stop, the group discussed the failure of the previous government to improve the livelihoods of marginalized communities and the continuing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. They voiced concern over growing communalization – where different religious communities are being pitted against each other. In many places the Dalits spoke to small gatherings, visited affected areas, and conducted surveys.
At the end of the march, tired but energized, they issued a list of demands that was named after their final stop, the village of Chauri-Chaura. For those in the West that fight for the dignity and freedom of Dalits, their declaration clearly explains the reality of caste. And through it we glimpse the practical needs and daily discrimination faced by Dalits.
Similar declarations are made throughout the year by dusty, sweaty, tired protestors who end marches in small villages or towns across India. They hope their plight will be noticed by decision makers and authorities. They ask for someone to listen. They plead for justice.
When doors are shut and ears turned away, the success of their appeal largely rests on the solidarity of compassionate citizens around the world. Issued by 20 women in a rural village on the dusty plains of North India during a hot day in late June, the declaration eloquently states, “This war of independence is not possible without the support and alliance of anti-caste, anti-communal, anti-superstition and progressive forces.”
You may never see Dalits’ pleas, demands, and declarations in a newspaper. The cries of the marginalized may rarely reach the ears of compassionate Westerners. But, for at least once, you have the opportunity to read their words. Feel their pain. See their determination. And take action.
Their courage inspires us to persevere in the epic struggle to abolish caste – now and forever.
The Chauri-Chaura Declaration (abridged version)
At the culmination of 22 days padyatra at Chauri Charua, we demand the following:
1. The government must take special measures to improve the condition of Mushahars, Rajbhars, Bansfors, Nonias, Machchuaras, Dom, Swachchakars, Pasis and Chamars. These [caste] communities are living in abysmally degrading conditions and need special measures.
2. In the Eastern Uttar Pradesh the “Sand Mafias” are controlling the rivers like the Chhoti Gandak, Gurra, Rapti and Ghaghara. The mechanised sand mining has resulted in soil erosion by these rivers during the monsoon. Thousands of hectares of land have turned infertile. …We demand the immediate halt of mechanised sand mining…
3. In many villages of Eastern Uttar-Pradesh powerful local people have illegally grabbed the land given to Dalits and “most backward” communities. In many villages, the Dalits are not even allowed passage to move out. Government must ensure that every person lives with dignity at his/her land that every one has a right to access roads from his/her house.
4. The sugar factories and distilleries in Ramkola, Kaptanganj, Deoria, Rudrapur, Sardarnagar are throwing chemical waste in the rivers… The fishworkers are facing hunger as the fish catch is almost nill. Apart from this, the waste has spilled over to a vast agricultural land turning them completely barren and dangerous. The ground water in most of the eastern UP town is contaminated which is a severe threat to public health. We demand immediate action against these factory/mill owners and ask the government to compensate the farmers who have lost their land to these mills. The Pollution Control Board should be asked to explain why they continue to allow such hazardous industries to run.
5. In Kushingar and Gorakhpur …the National Employment Guarantee Scheme …has not been implemented. We found work being done through tractors, and people without work despite having the valid card. The scheme seems to have failed because of the connivance between the village Pradhans [leaders] and block officials. We demand severe action against erring officials …and ask the government to form a monitoring and evaluating committee which should include civil society representatives.
6. In Poorvanchal, we found …discrepency in the distribution of ration cards. Those who should have been eligible for the cards have not got it while others have got it. We demand strong action the Sarpanches [village leaders] and officials who are involved in nepotism and corruption. We also demand from the government that the reach of the Public Distribution System should be expanded and it must include important edible items, books, cloths, Masalas, etc so that the poor can benefit from this.
7. Hunger and starvation is prevalent in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. …It is shameful that children from Mushahars, Chauhan, Rajbhar, etc. are eating rats and fishermen are forced to survive on snails. We demand the government to focus on these communities with special programmes particularly developing schools in the villages with mid day meals and other incentives for school children and their parents.
8. The government must form special Land Courts to settle land disputes and implement the land reform measures strongly and effectively. The government must concentrate on giving communal entitlement. We also demand that women should be given priority in allotment of agricultural land and all new entitlement whether residential or agricultural should have joint entitlement.
Today on the day of culmination of Padyatra we commit ourselves to continue our struggle for Land, Dignity and Freedom. We will continue to make government aware of the ground situation while fighting for our rights democratically. We also want to make it clear that this war of independence is not possible with out the support and alliance of anti caste, anti communal, anti superstition and progressive forces in which the role of women, Dalits, most backward communities and tribals have an important role to play. We …have to take inspiration from Baa Saheb Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule, Savitri Bai Phule, and EV Ramaswamy Naicar. They remain our icons and role models in our struggle for the creation of a civil society.
Signed by:
Uttar-Pradesh Land Alliance
Social Development Foundation, Delhi
Food for Hungry Foundation, Delhi
Dr B.R.Ambedkar Gramodyog Sansthan, Deoria
Swachchakar Kalyan Samiti, Ghazipur
Smt Sonia Gramin Mahila avam Bal Kalyan Samiti, Deoria
Lord Buddha Trust, Kushinagar
Hitkari Sewa Samiti, Deoria
Jan Kalyan Sansthan, Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur
Palanjivi Samiti, Rudrapur, Deoria
Mushahar Shakti Sanghthan, Deoria
Tharu Development Society, Lakhimpur Khiri
Tal Ratoy Machchua Jan Kalyan Sansthan, Mau
Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram, Jaunpur
Chitrakoot Sewa Ashram, Chitrakoot
Dalit Mahila Mukti Morcha,
UP Machchua Adhikar Manch, Rudrapur
and many others
Posted on: July 15, 2007
What I want is quick justice
Staff Reporter, Dalit Freedom Network
As a new year begins, much remains the same in rural India. A horrific crime – and the ineffective response of authorities – demonstrates that the oppression of Dalits remains unchanged over thousands of years.
Four members of a Dalit peasant family were murdered and allegedly raped on 29 September 2006 in central India. The response was even more tragic than the crime. From police to medical examiners, a caste bias prevented swift justice and prolonged the agony of the only survivor, father and husband Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange. Finally, on 30 November 2006, the frustrated Dalit community lashed out in protests that shook the state of Maharashtra.
In its Nov 18-Dec 1, 2006 issue, Frontline magazine carried an in-depth piece on the attack in Khairlanji, Maharashtra, and said, “Before sunset on September 29, a mob of about 40 Kunbis from Khairlanji entered Bhotmange’s hut and dragged out his wife, daughter and two sons. Forty-year-old Surekha, 17-year-old Priyanka, 19-year-old Roshan and 21-year-old Sudhir were stripped naked and paraded to the village square where the women were probably raped. All of them were beaten with bicycle chains and other implements and their leg bones were broken, presumably to prevent their escape. Finally, they were killed by axe blows… The bodies were loaded on to a bullock cart and dumped in a canal about two kilometres away.”
Reportedly the attackers were upset over a land dispute. The 48-year-old Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange arrived home just as the mob dragged his family outside. Afraid for his life and realizing that he couldn’t take on the mob alone, he ran for help.
According to an interview in one newspaper, the Bhotmange children were educated, something many villagers resented. Ironically, Priyanka, the 17-year-old daughter, was on the merit list in the tenth grade examinations two years ago and had dreams of joining the police.
Yet the biggest tragedy was the negligence of local police and medical authorities, according to media reports. Evidence was likely destroyed, the post-mortem report improperly done, the stalling by local police gave the accused time to build alibis, and witnesses were threatened.
The local police station was informed of trouble in the village soon after the murders. The responding policeman said it was too dark to investigate. The District Superintendent of Police later admitted the police were careless. A search would have preserved crucial evidence, especially of rape. It took over twenty-four hours for the first police report to be filed.
The post-mortem was handled incorrectly. The doctor neglected to test for rape despite the battered and naked bodies. He claims the police didn’t request the testing, but other doctors say that is no excuse.
Of course, the police also faced the challenge of a caste-riddled community. No eyewitnesses came forward and, amazingly, upper caste villagers including the village chief claimed not to have seen or heard anything. In a close-knit and tightly built community, most find this incredibly hard to believe.
Of the five Dalit families living in the village, one Dalit woman told a fact-finding team that she knew of plans to assault and kill the Bhotmange family but did not report them because of the likely complications she would face from the police and her upper-caste neighbors. The sequence of events had to be reconstructed from forensic evidence and information given by a family friend who received a distressed cell phone call from the daughter and arrived in time to witness part of the attack.
Eventually, the Maharashtra police handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the negligence of local police came to light. Local and national politicians including Sonia Gandhi, who heads the Congress Party which is currently in power on the federal level, met with the lone survivor. Each politician promised justice and gave their condolences to Mr. Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange. The State Home Ministry suspended a few officials who were lax in registering the atrocity and, two months after the crime, arrested the village head, suspected of having led the mob. And a fast track court was promised in early December.
In contrast, the administration that was careless in handling the case in September showed proactive tactics in dealing with November’s public protests. Dalit activists were subject to “pre-emptive” arrests. Homes of those who sat silently in various protests were entered forcibly and pre-dawn arrests made throughout the region.
The village of Khairlanji has a history of caste-based discrimination. Located about 100 km (62 miles) from Nagpur, the village has about 125 houses. Most residents belong to the “other backward castes” which are considered slightly higher than Dalits. Only three Dalit families lived in the village, and the Bhotmanges moved to the village about sixteen years ago. They didn’t have a legitimate housing plot and lived in a single room hut. There was no electricity either. Mr. Bhotmange owns five acres of land.
In the midst of continuing injustices, the main victim has almost been forgotten. According to an interview and editorial in The Hindu on Nov. 17, 2006, Mr. Bhotmange said, “I am not taking any money from the government and I don’t want the job it is offering me. What I want is quick justice. I want the accused to be hanged. Will the lakhs of rupees I am being offered bring back the dead?”
Posted on: December 28, 2006
