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A silent morcha by ‘forward’ castes and the ‘wrath’ of Dalit Sena in Aurangabad

By Shiva Thorat, TwoCircles.net

Aurangabad: Dalit Sena, a group of a working class youth in Aurangabad, protested on the night of August 28, against the statement of Chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Sharad Pawar at Chikalthana Police station of Aurangabad.

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Aurangabad is the place where rock basalt can be found in abundance and is the reason for the many Buddhist caves around it. In the backdrop of the cultural and historical capital like Buddhist caves; the early 80s was a well-known period for anti-caste movement uprising in the region. During the time of Pawar as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Marathwada University was renamed as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU). Although it was also called the Namantar (name change) movement, the university did not change its name but only added to the existing name. Now it is Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University. (BAMU).

“Saying that the Atrocity Act should be banned is not a statement of solidarity, there must be a conspiracy,” said Santosh Navature, a person who witnessed the rally.

Sharad Pawar gave a statement the day before that was noted down in popular English print media, saying that, “the wrong use of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is terrible as it could result in social tension”.

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Dalit Sena organised a long march to the Chikalthana Police station of Aurangabad from Cidco bus stop. The demonstration showed their anger. On the night of August 28, Dalit Sena president Satish Patekar with his group members lodged a complaint against Sharad Pawar at the Chikalthana Police station of Aurangabad. He said to TCN, “He (Sharad Pawar) is one of the eminent politicians of Maharashtra, he should think before giving the statement. Just because Marathas are coming together that doesn’t mean that Atrocity Act should be banned”.

A statement was also given to show solidarity with the family of the Kopardi incident. Kopardi is in Karjat tehsil, Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra state where on July 17, a minor girl was brutally gang raped by three people.

Following the incident, Cabinet Minister Ramdas Athavale and Advocate Prakash Ambedkar were denied entry to the village saying tension will increase if they (Dalit leaders) enter the village. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena Chief were however, permitted to enter the place. Sharad Pawar was also allowed to enter the village without any issues.

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Deepak Kedar, Maharashtra Vice President of Dalit Sena said, “Aurangabad has faced a lot of diversion since the Namantar movement took place here. On August 9, there was Mook Morcha (silent March) organised by various groups of forward caste land-owning communities. It was provocatively showed, ‘Utha Marathyano, Jage vha, shamil vha, nahi jhale tar, aaya behind kopardichya bahinisarkhe bali jatil’ (Maratha wake up and unite, if you sleep, for now, our mother/sister will be the victim just like Kopardi sister) and all the print media was full of the advertisements of silent morcha. At the time of Khairlanji same media was silent; like they never heard the screaming.”

Sharad Pawar is known for not visiting places of incidents, but this time he did. Kiran Shinde, a 21-year-old resident of Aurangabad said, “This time, Aurangabad is the hub for the Maratha long March that’s why Sharad Pawar is interested in visiting here. If this kind of mob didn’t turn here, I am sure Pawar would have never bothered”.

Dalit Sena is trying to file an FIR against Sharad Pawar and they are waiting for the response from the police officers of Chikalthana Police station. “What this indicates is an effect of Sharad Pawar on the police”, Sangharsh Kamble, follower of the group said. Kamble continued, “We are concerned about people who are migrating after seeing this huge mob on the road. People like Raj Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are making rural settlements empty”.

“A group of 30 people were sitting down at on the ground and the authorities did not bother, it shows how they are biased in their mind. This is the same police who gave permission and admitted the mob of ‘mook morcha’ but are trying to ignore us”. Satish angrily expresses.

Manoj Salve, BAMU, Aurangabad said, “This is an interesting case for me to know how Pawar runs the political ethos of Maharashtra. He said Chief Minister Fadnavis is the carrier of Peshwai but at the same time, he is opposing the Atrocity Act”.

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Pawar, who served as Agriculture Minister in the previous Congress-led UPA government, had shown anger against the Kopardi incident. In a recent development he has revisited his statement. In an interview for Marathi Television news channel he said, “In any fight of savarnas (forward caste), there is a misuse of the laws by Dalit youths. Lots of time, Dalit youths used to filed Atrocity Act on others. Atrocity Act should not be misused against savarnas, this is what we want.”

The story is not limited to the morcha and who is organising people in what way; it extends to the larger question of migration when caste tensions arise.
Anurup Khillare, a documentary filmmaker said to TCN, “the silent morchas all over Marathwada are not to act against the Dalits or Adivasis or the SC-ST act but these silent morchas are being used by forward castes to create dead silence in the villages, in Dalit settlements.”

A veteran journalist from print media said that, “Namantar movement died in the name of Sharad Pawar, and the whole Dalit movement will also die in the name of Sharad Pawar. The powerful Cabinet Minister will only roam around from NCP to BJP and Congress to Shiv Sena”. He murmured the popular 90s song, “Tere naam se shuru, tere naam pe khatam,” from the film Waaris to point out the irony of the situation.