16-09-2022 The Asian Independent

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
NEWS
16-09-2022 to 30-09-2022
Uttarakhand killing of Dalit
man is a caste crime and
should be dealt with seriously
23
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
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
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.