Restive Dalits throng Delhi, protest Saharanpur violence

Shahira Naim & Prateek Chauhan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Lucknow, May 21  

A fortnight after the violent Dalit-Thakur clashes in Saharanpur, thousands of Dalit rights activists descended on Jantar Mantar here today to protest “police bias.” It was a sea of blue at the site, despite the Delhi Police reportedly refusing permission to approximately 50,000 activists from UP, primarily from Saharanpur and Meerut, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat to gather there.

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The activists sat in neat rows, each donning a blue cap with “Bheem Army” written on it. Many carried placards of “Jai Bheem” as well as the Buddhist insignia. Significantly, at least 180 Dalit families from three villages in Saharanpur— Idhari, Roopadi and Kapoorpur — have embraced Buddhism in recent days. On Saturday, the converts immersed idols and calendars of Hindu deities into a canal, claiming they were following their mentor Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar who had likewise embraced Buddhism in 1956 along with his followers. 

The UP Police blame the Bheem Army Ekta Mission for the violent protests against the Thakurs in Shabbirpur village  on May 5 and then again on May 9.  Today, the Dalits passed a resolution with three demands — a judicial probe into the May 5 violence, compensation for the Dalits whose homes were torched and action against the Thakurs.

Surfacing in public after almost a fortnight, Bheem Army founder Chandra Shekhar vowed not to give up their fight. Claiming that atrocities against the Dalits had increased under the Yogi government, he gave a call for a march to Saharanpur on May 23 that would end with a memorandum, demanding a fair probe into the caste clashes, to the district magistrate.

JNU leader Kanhaiya Kumar also participated in the protest. “After so many years of Independence, Dalits continue to face atrocities at the hands of Thakurs. This will not be accepted. The UP Government must take the blame. We will mobilise more support for our cause through the social media,” he said over the phone.

Claiming the support of thousands of “well-meaning people”, Bheem Army national president Vinay Ratan Singh said they had submitted a copy of the resolution to the President and the PM.