By Daisy Katta, TwoCircles.net
Mumbai, which has been the epicentre of the Ambedkarite Movement in Maharashtra, saw a huge participation by students in the protests after the Bhima Koregaon unrest. The Bhima Koregaon unrest started on January 1, 2018, after the discretion of the tomb of Gopal Govind Gaikwad at the village of Vadhu Budruk, near Bhima Koregaon on December 31. This year marked the 200 years of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon and saw lakhs of people lined up to pay homage at the war memorial. So far, there have been thousands of arrests across Maharashtra.
Amidst media reports which indicated a huge number of violent protests in other parts of Maharashtra, many Ambedkarite students groups worked towards ensuring peaceful protests in Mumbai. In Ramabai Colony in Ghatkopar area of Mumbai, around 3,000 people joined in the protest. People gathered from 11 AM to 5 PM at the Eastern Express Highway.
Harish*, a young student and his group of twenty friends who had witnessed the unrest at Bhima Koregaon a day earlier said, “ Rambai is a cradle of Ambedkarite assertion in Mumbai. After the unrest we witnessed at Bhima Koregaon, we decided to do a peaceful protest. We were inspired by the students’ movement after the death of Rohith Vemula…we travelled all the way from Hyderabad to Delhi during that time and we did not witness any untoward incident. I know that there are reports of some violence in the city but they might have been some outside elements who are trying to provoke people”.
He further added, “There was misreporting from the media that during the protest, even ambulances were not allowed to pass from the Eastern Express Highway. I think this is false reporting by the media…we were right at Eastern Express Highway and ensured that ambulances and people who were headed to places like hospitals are given a way out of the crowd”.
For many youngsters who took part in this protest, this was the very first time that they witnessed and were part of the Ambedkarite assertion in Mumbai.
Deepankar*, a young student who is part of International Human Rights Justice Federation were part of the protest at JVLR in Powai along with other students members from the Republican Party of India (RPI), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Bharatiya Republican Paksha-Bahujan Mahasangh (BHARIP). He said, “After 100 of years of injustice, we cannot keep quiet. The right to protest is our constitutional right. It was a protest for our own community”. He further added, “We are planning to visit police station wherever innocent youngsters have been detained and we will try to seek legal help for them.”
On the day of the bandh, around 1,000 youth were picked up after imposing Section 144 in areas like Mankhurd, Deonar and Chembur of Mumbai. Student groups all over the city have started mobilising for providing legal help to the families of the victims, mainly through WhatsApp and Facebook.
The protests also saw huge participation from women.
Ragini* another student from Ghatkopar added, “It is the first time that I have been a part of a protest…all our families joined it, there was equal participation of women and young girls like me”. Another student from the group added, “These protests in Mumbai had no leader, we were not supported by anyone…the protests purely took place out of public conscience and concern for justice regarding the incident at Bhima Koregaon”.
A young researcher from who joined in the protest at Mankhurd and Deonar added, “Some violence can definitely take place in a situation like this, but we need to reflect on why people have been put in such a situation. We participated in the rasta roko (road blockade) but our intention was not to disturb the transport. We wanted to make a point that our lives also matter”.
Other students like Rajiv* from Govandi who joined the protest said, “We came to know about the protests in various parts of Mumbai from Facebook. There were a large number of women and girls in the protest at Ghatkopar. Contradictory to media reports it was a peaceful protest, other young Ambedkarite groups from our area joined too joined in. It was a learning experience for them just to witness the scale and magnitude of Ambedkarite assertion in Mumbai.”
*Names have been changed on request.