Assault on dalits with dalit president as cover?
Even as Sangh Parivar tries its best to cover casteism by selling the dream of ‘Hindutva’ as a lofty ideal, the wound is getting deeper with time. It has been proved time and again that wealth, power or office can never really compensate for the caste based discrimination a lower caste person feels in our country.People are getting killed for having ridden a horse on the wedding day, or riding a motorcycle, or for having deskinned a dead cattle, or for entering a temple so on and so forth. If the dalits consolidate against such tyranny, the government does not even hesitate to brand them naxals.
When the government tried amending and thus weakening act that protects dalits such as atrocity act, the dalits came together in solidarity. The government consistently silenced the voices. And amidst all this, the BJP government at the centre repeatedly says “We elevated a dalit to the post of Rashtrapati.” This fact, is really a matter of great pride to India. But then, how difficult it is to assault dalits by having a dalit man as cover?
President Ramnath Kovind has been elevated to the highest chair not just because he is a dalit, but because he has accepted the RSS ideals. He does not accede to Ambedkar’s ideology. A dalit leader can never be able to balance Ambedkar and RSS ideals together. Those ideals can never coexist.
Beyond this, it is an open secret as to what RSS’s stance is about dalits. And yet, if BJP and RSS desperately need a Kovind’s pretext to cover their lacunae, it is to stop dalits from consolidating against BJP and the RSS ideology.
Since they very well understand an upper caste man implementing RSS ideology can be quite dangerous, they need a dalit leader for the job. And hence, Kovind was put in the highest office in the country. If the country celebrates elevation of a dalit to the high office, the underlying agenda is quite disappointing. After him being made the President, cases of assaults against dalits countrywide have increased manifold.
On earlier occasions, assaults against Dalits were pretty individualistic and sporadic too. Assault on dalit consolidations were rare. System would hesitate to launch an assault on them. But in the recent times, upper caste people are consistently attacking dalits as a whole with the help of the legal system.
Sangh parivar members launched organized attacks on dalits during a march to oppose the court ruling, and Bhima-Koregaon march incidents. Whenever such incidents are cited, BJP shows Kovind as its safety net and escapes from serious charges. Which means, BJP will use a dalit against dalits and continue assaulting them.
But then, the real spirit of Manu ideology has come out in the open with the incident that took place in relation to the President in Puri Jagannath temple in Orissa. About two months ago, President Ramnath Kovind had visited the temple with his wife and he was stopped from entering the sanctum sanctorum. His wife was even pushed around. This is a shocking incident. That this incident was kept under wraps for two months is even more surprising for the nation. Now the government has ordered for an inquiry into the incident. This humiliation meted out against the President is an insult to the country.
Government should have immediately initiated some disciplinary action and saved the reputation of both the President and the country at large.
But the government probably deemed it important to save the reputation of the preists over the President. Hence everything was covered up so far. This incident has sent a very disturbing message that no matter how high a Dalit grows, he/she would always be perceived in the perspective of his/her caste and that they wouldn’t be allowed inside the temple.
This also emphasizes on the fact that other dalits also need to learn to swallow their self respect like President Kovind. Many years ago, the case of an MP receiving Prasad outside the premises of the temple had given rise to serious debate. He had even said: “I stood out so that their sentiments are not hurt.”
With that, he had insulted lakhs and crores of dalits. Unfortunately, even within BJP no one protested against this treatment to President Kovind. Even the opposition parties didn’t deem it fit to speak against it. Dalit organisations have also maintained strategic silence over this. Puri incident is a strong example of using dalit as a shield to launch assaults on dalit community. This has also shown the wound of caste is inflicted deep into the minds of this country and this won't be cured anytime soon.
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May review decision of withdrawing support to Manipur’s BJP govt if CM is replaced: NPP
Imphal, Nov 21: The National People's Party (NPP), which recently withdrew support from Manipur’s BJP-led government alleging that the administration failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy, on Thursday said the party may reconsider the decision if the saffron party replaces Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
NPP national vice-president Yumnam Joykumar Singh also said that three of the party’s seven MLAs attended a meeting convened by the CM, but they should not have done so since support was withdrawn from the government.
The withdrawal of support on Sunday, however, did not have any impact on the BJP-led government, as the saffron party enjoys absolute majority with its 32 MLAs in the 60-member House. The Naga People’s Front and the JD(U) are also in the ruling coalition.
"CM Biren Singh has totally failed to bring normalcy to Manipur. That is the main reason for our national president (Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma) to withdraw support for it. In case Biren is replaced, there is a possibility that a new government might take the steps required to restore normalcy. The NPP may reconsider its position at that time," Joykumar Singh told PTI.
He claimed that three NPP MLAs might have joined the November 18 meeting chaired by the CM because of “confusion”.
“The meeting was for NDA legislators. We have withdrawn support to the Biren Singh-led government but we are still NDA partners. However, we have cautioned our MLAs that attending such meetings without prior approval from the state or national president may lead to disciplinary actions," the NPP vice-president said.
Asked about media reports on notices sent to the NDA MLAs who were absent at the November 18 meeting, he said he did not think anything like that was sent to NPP legislators.
“Three NPP MLAs were present at the meeting while four were not. We are not aware of any notifications sent by Biren Singh. He might have sent notices to the BJP MLAs but that is their internal matter. He has no mandate to send notices to NPP MLAs," Joykumar Singh said.
On the Centre's decision to deploy an additional 50 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in the state because of escalated violence, he said, "My assessment is no further deployment of security forces is required. The state is already over-saturated with security forces and it is a question of how to utilise them effectively."
Joykumar Singh, a former director general of police in Manipur, said that it appears from the current state of affairs that the additional companies of CAPF have been sent to protect the residences of MLAs and ministers.
Protestors recently attacked the residences of several ministers and legislators in Manipur.
Manipur has seen a fresh wave of protests after six people – three Meitei women and three children - went missing from a camp for displaced persons in Jiribam last week, following a gunfight between armed men and security forces that resulted in the deaths of 10 Kuki youths.
More than 220 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May last year.
