A charade of eating food at Dalit’s home to cover up casteism
Two issues- village stay and stay at Dalit’s homes- were politically debated upon quite a bit when HD Kumaraswamy was the chief minister of the state. The subject of Chief Minister Kumaraswamy staying at a Dalit’s house was discussed both positively and negatively. It was termed as another way of encouraging untouchability and thus was an indirect insult to Dalits. At the same time, some experts opined that by staying at the homes of his people and listening to their problems, a chief minister could be closer to the people. In spite of such debates, village stay programme has brought some popularity to Kumaraswamy.
After the visit of Pejawar Mutt’s seer to dalit colonies grabbed the headlines. The seer provided an ‘opportunity’ to dalits to have his ‘paada pooja’ at dalit colonies. In Christianity, there is a practice that Pope himself would wash the feet of his devotees once in a year. Though touching the feet of another person or washing them is a symbol of slavery, there is a difference in a senior religious head washing the feet of his devotees and the devotees washing the feet of a seer. If the Pope washed the feet of his devotees, it would symbolize the equality. However, devotees washing the feet of the religious head would be the symbol of inequality. Had the Pejawar seer washed the feet of his dalits after visiting their colonies, it would have given a big message to the society. But the Pejawar seer has exhibited the washing of his feet by the Dalits as a favor to the community. This has further insulted the Dalit community instead improving their condition.
Now, it is the turn of central BJP leaders. They have been carrying out this charade of staying at dalits homes. Because of the RSS, the BJP has been facing the wrath of dalits across the country. After Koregaon Vijay Diwas, this anger exploded publicly. Close on the heels of mass atrocity on dalits in several parts of the country, the central government has tried to weaken the SC/ST law through the court. Opposing this vehemently, Dalits plunged into the streets and turned North India into a war field. It was reported that not only police but also BJP leaders fired against protesting dalits in which more than 10 dalits were killed. At this moment, some of the Sangha Pariwar leaders have talked about changing of reservation and Constitution. Not only this, Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde has termed the protesting leaders as “street dogs” against which dalits have protested in front of BJP national president Amith Shah in Karnataka. Across the country, dalits have started opposing the BJP and Sangha Pariwar. In order to pacify the dalits, the BJP and Sangha Pariwar have started another farce of “having food at the homes of dalits”. But there is a sign that even this would boomerang.
Any act of the BJP and Sangha Pariwar lacking honesty would once again salt the wounds of Dalits. The issue of an Uttar Pradesh BJP Minister having food at a house of dalit has become a point of contention. The leader who visited the house of dalit had food brought from a hotel. After knowing that the leader had even brought bottle water from the outside to drink, there is no further need to discuss his intentions. Statements of some BJP leaders are really shocking. One MP of Uttar Pradesh said that BJP leaders having food at the homes of dalits is like Sri Rama having food in their houses. According to them, the dalits would be purified if the BJP leaders had food in their houses.
Interestingly, Union Minister Uma Bharati herself condemned such statements,“I am not Sri Rama to purify dalits”she says. This statement is also an indirect insult to the dalits. What all these BJP leaders are saying in essence is that dalits are not pure or holy. Declining to have food at a mass programme organized at Naugaon, Uma Bharati said that “I am not Sri Rama to make dalits holy. We will become holy or pure only when dalits came to our homes and have food”, she added. This statement has maturity. Those who have been thinking that having food at dalits’ homes itself is a revolution or achievement are fixed in the filth of Manu theory. At the same time Uma Bharati also added another sentence that making Dalit leader Ramanath Kovind as the President itself is an instance that BJP has good relationship with dalits. Though such a statement seems to be right, one would suspect the very move of the party which has faith in Manu Smriti, in appointing a Dalit as the President. They might have conspired to change the Constitution through a Dalit President. On the lines how the Sangha Pariwar has been utilizing the dalits and backward classes, BJP might have been using dalits to implement anti-dalit law, remove reservation and change the Constitution. Dalit community would have to face more problems from a Dalit President who has been greatly influenced by Sangha Pariwar ideologies. Why are the attacks of Dalits increasing even after making a Dalit as the President of the country? Why did the court take a decision to make the SC/ST Act toothless? Why have they killed the protesting Dalits? Uma Bharati has to answer these questions.
Dalits will not become pure by having meals at the houses of Dalits. Efforts should be taken to ensure all rights entitled to dalits in the Constitution. Dalits would themselves improve their condition. Let the BJP leaders tell the dalits of this country about the programmes taken by the government in this regard. Apart from this, there is no much difference between what Gandhi termed Dalits as ‘harijan’ and BJP leaders having food at the homes of dalits to make them holy or pure. Ambedkar had asked when Dalits are the children of the God, what about the others. By having food at the homes of Dalits, the BJP leaders have been left scratching as to why their ‘graciousness’ has been rejected.
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Fact Check: Beware of fake Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan website’s claim to offer job opportunities
Claim: sarvashikshaabhiyan.com website is related to the Government of India and offers job opportunities.
Fact: The website is not an authentic one, it is duping the job aspirants of their money.
Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan is a school education scheme in India that aims to improve the quality of education and ensure universal access to school. The scheme not only provides support for the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 but has also been aligned with the recommendations of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
It encompasses a comprehensive approach to school education, including initiatives like universal access to schooling, foundational literacy and numeracy, gender equity, inclusive education, quality improvement, teacher training, vocational education, sports and physical education, digital initiatives, and support for children with special needs, effectively combining the previously separate schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), and Teacher Education (TE) under one umbrella; essentially covering the entire spectrum of schooling from pre-primary to class 12. The Central Government recruits teachers and other staff under this Scheme for various posts across the country.
A website named sarvashikshaabhiyan is in circulation with several job recruitment links posted here. The website claims to offer employment opportunities to aspiring candidates. Job opportunities for primary school teachers, lab technicians, chaprasis, etc. can be seen on the website.
Here is the screenshot of the website home page.
Here is the archive link to the website pages.
Fact Check:
The website makes a False claim. It is not a genuine website and is not related to the Government of India’s Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan scheme. The home page of the website does not show the Government of India’s logo and is very static in nature.
When we clicked on one of the recruitment ads posted on this website, we could see that it mentions that total job vacancies are 98,305, which is a very large number. The qualification needed for teachers is 10th, 12th or above.
When clicked on apply now, the website gathers all the details of the applicant including the phone number and email id, etc. At the end of the process, we can see a QR code for the payment of the application fee which is Rs 950.
Even though the UPI ID shown on this screenshot is sarvashiksha123@abcdicici, the user name on the bank states ‘Deepak Kumar’, not the name of any government department or scheme.
We also found that PIB fact check in its post, declared that this website is fake and is not associated with Government of India.
Beware!⚠️#Fake website 'https://t.co/A8nJO6T8Si' is posing as the official website of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan & offering fake job opportunities#PIBFactCheck
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) December 19, 2024
▶️This website is not associated with GOI
▶️Official website: https://t.co/pCjN1ZGIMW
Read: https://t.co/Pi56ELk7hn pic.twitter.com/ptvKhIsVS1
PIB also published a clarification on its website stating – It has come to the notice of the Ministry of Education that in order to dupe innocent applicants several websites have been created with the name similar to the schemes. (like www.sarvashiksha.online,
These websites offer employment opportunities to aspiring candidates and misguide the job aspirants through the layout of the website, content, and presentation in a manner similar to the original website and ask for money from the respondents for the applications. While these websites have come to the notice of the Department of School Education and Literacy, there may be more such other websites/social media accounts promising jobs and demanding money for the recruitment process.
The general public is, hereby, advised to avoid applying for job opportunities on such websites and to ensure that the websites are authorized by visiting the official website of the concerned Department/personal inquiry/telephone call/e-mail to safeguard their own interest. Any person applying on these websites will be doing so at his own risk & cost and shall be responsible for the consequences thereof.’ This clarification was published in March 2022. But the website has resurfaced again and is duping the aspiring candidates in the name of recruitment opportunities.
Hence, the website https://www.
(This story was originally published by telugupost, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
