NEW DELHI – A series of violent protests on Monday across North India – inwhich at least nine people were killed, vehicles and commercialestablishments were damaged, and life virtually came to a standstill –reiterates a caste and class struggle that’s as old as independent India,if not older, writes DNA.
It shows the failure of the State to address deep-seated angst and betrayalthat have roots in a millennia-old reality of upper-caste oppression of theDalits. The mayhem – deserving of condemnation in the strongest possibleterms – is a desperate attempt to call attention to the fears triggered bythe dilution of the of provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities)Act by the Supreme Court.
It’s evident that the Dalit groups, which took part in the Bharat bandh,didn’t consider nonviolent means as an empowering weapon to call forgovernmental action in response to the SC judgement.
By creating a law-and-order situation, they sent a strong message to theCentre that no compromise on their hard-earned rights will be tolerated.But, was this unprecedented show of destructiveness necessary when some ofthe biggest battles in history were won through peaceful demonstrations –the sheer scale of people’s participation prompting revolutionary change?
The impatience fuelling Monday’s protests should have been reined in bydemonstrators as the government had promised to file a judicial review.Even if one expresses solidarity with the concerns of the Dalits, onecannot deny that taking legal recourse to a perceived injustice is far moreeffective than vandalism.
Other than lives being snuffed out, the loss to the people and thegovernment runs into crores of rupees. How will citizens, who suffered onaccount of the agitation, be compensated? Where is justice in making theinnocent suffer? On the other hand, the way the Congress has politicisedthe issue and tried to gain mileage show cynical manipulation of people’ssentiments.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi – whose criticisms have served to inflamepassions further – has conveniently forgotten that his party’s long rule atthe Centre and in the states was marked by an endless list of casteatrocities.
The history of neglect against which Dalits have risen has unfoldedalongside the Congress’s criminal indifference to the plight of themarginal.
The Narendra Modi government seem to be losing the battle of perceptions ata crucial juncture with barely a year away from the 2019 general electionsand a few months from assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan –the two states, which have been rocked by the upheaval.
It shouldn’t have wasted precious time in appealing to a higher judicialauthority against the SC judgement. The delay not only gave rise tosuspicion of the government’s intent, but also offered opportunities to theleaders of the agitators to plan and coordinate to cover a region extendingfrom Bihar to Maharashtra. It’s a precursor to more widespread violence. -DNA