LONDON: India is fast becoming an intolerant society with the rise of hinduextremism in India under the BJP and RSS rule led by PM Narendra Modi. Lifeof Muslims and Sikhs minorities have been made miserable in India by theextremists Hindus.
Now the low caste Dalits have also started to speak and rise against therising hindu extremism in India as their lives have also been mademiserable.
Dalit groups from across the United Kingdom have called for theinternational community to take notice of extreme violence against millionsof Dalits and other minorities by Narendra Modi’s Hindutva government.
UK’s key Dalit organisations came together for a large march bracing heavyrain on Saturday to protest against the incarceration of over 7,000 Dalitsin Bhima-Koregaon, Maharashtra, who were picked up by the security forcesafter clashes and riots earlier this month.
The Dalits had gathered to celebrate the historic January 1, 1818 eventwhen a few hundred Dalit soldiers had defeated the massive Peshwa Army. Asthe Dalits gathered to celebrate, the upper caste Marathas, supported bythe security forces, attacked the participants violently, killing one andinjuring and maiming hundreds.
At the London demonstration to show solidarity with the victims, the Dalitorganisations were supported by progressive groups, including South AsiaSolidarity Movement, demanding the release of prisoners and an end toattacks on women and activists. The protestors said that the continuingincarceration of Dalit Leader Chandrashekhar Azad was illegal andunjustified.
They said that the slur on Dr B R Ambedkar by the Indian Union MinisterAnant Kumar Hegde and a threat to do away with the Constitution altogetherhad alarmed Indians all over the world who were worried that Modi hadheaded towards imposing Hindutvaism on the entire Indian polity.
The protestors travelled from Birmingham, Bradford and London for the marchand carried banners and placard which read: ‘Our fight is for humanrights’, ‘equal rights for Dalits’, ‘stop atrocities on Dalits’, ‘dynamitethe Hindu scriptures’, ‘we stand together against hate’, ‘Dalit rights arehuman rights’, ‘value human life, not just cows’, ‘Hindutva is a threat toIndia’s unity’, and ‘end caste violence against Dalits, now’.
The rally at the Parliament Square, Westminster, marched towards the IndianHigh Commission and throughout the way protesters chanted slogans againstthe atrocities being committed against Dalits, Muslims and Sikhs.
At the Indian High Commission, no official received memorandum from theprotesters which was pasted at the door of the High Commission.
The memorandum called for the Indian government to bring the Hindutvaleaders and activists who planned the violence at Bhima-Koregaon, SambhajiBhide and Milind Ebute to justice.
“Release the thousands of Dalits arrested in Maharashtra in the firstfortnight of January, immediately drop the charges against them and launcha transparent public inquiry into the events of January 1 and 2.Immediately release Chandrashekhar Azad, the leader of the Bhim Army,”signed by nearly a dozen Dalit and human rights groups.