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Uttarakhand killing of Dalit man is a caste
crime and should be dealt with seriously
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The murder of Jagadish
Chandra, a political activist
from Uttarakhand due to his
marriage to a Savarna caste
Rajput girl is simply outrageous
and crime against
humanity. The state of
Uttarakhand might not have
much crime record but the
caste discrimination and
untouchability is still prevalent
in the state and Dalits
live a life under deep pressure
as they are truly a
minority in the state of
Uttarakhand.
Dalit issues never become
mainstream in the state and
even the political parties
desist from raising the
issues. Social movements in
Uttarakhand often keep the
issue aside and would speak
in a sweeping generalization
way as if the mountains dont
have a caste system or
untouchability. You dont
need to go to far, just visit
about 30-40 kilometers from
the state capital Dehradun to
Jaunsar region which is
actually termed as
Scheduled area for tribes
and you will find how caste
discrimination is so powerful
that Dalits are not even
allowed to pray at the temples.
There is so much resistance
against Dalits entering
into the temple that it would
shame any one.
Almora district is one of
the most powerful districts
of Uttarakhand where various
social movements
emerged. The Dalit movement
too emerged here
under the stewardship of
Munshi Hari Prasad Tamta
who supported Baba Saheb
in the round table conference
but the brahmanical
mainstream of Uttarakhand
rarely speak about Tamta.
The Brahmin-Thakur
binary of Uttarakhand
ignores the rights of Dalits
as an independent and
autonomous community
who can take their own decision
and participation of
Dalits-adivasis in the political,
social and cultural life.
Even the issue of reservation
is highly sensitive in
Uttarakhand and we have
seen how the movement for
separate states got momentum
after the Mandal report
was accepted to be implemented
in Uttarakhand.
However, I would like to
say here that this is not an
incident confine to
Uttarakhand and neither is
the state different in terms of
caste discrimination from
rest of the country. The dirty
fact is that India is united
from Kerala to Jammu
Kashmir, from Uttar Pradesh
to Manipur, Megahalaya,
Jharkhand to Telangana,
Karnataka, Andhra,
Tamilnadu, Panjab,
Rajasthan or Uttarakhand or
Himachal Pradesh.. There is
one unanimity in India that
we all suffer from caste prejudices
and common cultural
hatred towards the Dalits
and Adivasis. We have
recently seen how a
Jharkhand Adivasi woman
was tortured by a brahmanical
elite of the state. Cases of
violence against Dalits are
happening everywhere but
in most of the state they are
open but in the state like
Uttarakhand they are shuttle
while the intellectual elite
would suggest as if they are
living in an alien world
where caste discrimination
does not happen and everybody
live in great harmony.
Uttarakhand government
must take strict action
against the thugs and goons
for killing Jagadish
Chandra. All those friends
who feel that a community
or state should not be targeted
should first learn to condemn
it and campaign
among the so-called powerful
communities to learn to
respect and honor the decision
of their youngsters.
Irony is that the girl who
fell in love with Jagdish was
living with her step father
and her step brothers who
never treated her with
respect and probably treated
her like a domestic servant.
How powerful is the jaati
concept that the girl who
you dont want to treat better
faces the resistance if she
takes an independent decision
about her life.
Almora Police must
respond as to why it did not
act when the girl complained
that her life and that of
Jagadish was in danger ?
Chief Minister Dhami would
do well to focus on such
crime and order the police to
act decisively. Will the people
come up in the street for
the honor and life for the girl
who lost her husband ? Will
the women of Uttarakhand
rise up against this shameless
and barbaric killing of a
man named Jagdish just
because he married the
woman he loved ? This is
caste hatred and we must
condemn it and call for its
total annihilations. All talk
of a state as #devbhumi are
bogus unless we clean our
heart and embrace everyone
without keeping in the prejudices
based on caste and
religion. Uttarakhand should
not allow such caste violence
to happen if it wish to
be called a civilised state.