Freedom Park in Bengaluru saw protestors gathering and participating in a candlelight vigil condemning caste-related assaults, attack on Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad, ‘honour’ killing of a young woman, and lack of action by state governments to curb increasing violence against Dalits.
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ON Tuesday, more than 200 people gathered in Freedom Park, Bengaluru to protest and participate in a candlelight vigil against caste-related assaults.
The protest was also against the attack on Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’, chief of the Bhim Army and a young woman’s ‘honour’ killing in Karnataka’s Kolar district.
The protestors held placards demanding an end to caste violence, condemning the caste system and criticising the state governments for inaction on increasing violence against Dalits.
The protest was organised by several Karnataka-based civil society organisations including Thamate, Bahutva Karnataka, Karnataka Jana Shakti and Krantikari Kuvempu’s Horata Samiti.
Senior advocates C.S. Dwarkanath and B.T. Venkatesh; writers L. Mukundraj and Du Saraswati; and trade union leaders Maitreyi of All India Centre Council of Trade Unions, Geeta Menon of Domestic Workers Rights Union, Khizer Alam of Swaraj Abhiyan, Tanveer of Bahutva Karnataka, Ha Ra Mahesh, Bhaskar Prasad, Mallige and Gowri of Karnataka Mahila Dourjanya Virodhi Okkuta were among the participants.
Letter to the chief minister of Karnataka
On June 3, Bahutva Karnataka, a civil society organisation, wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, raising the issue of caste-related violence in the state.
The letter also sought to bring attention to the three incidents in the last month that have portrayed the “inhuman nature of caste” and its widespread nature.
It highlights that on June 27, in Chintamani, Karnataka’s Kolar/Chikkaballapur district, a young woman’s father allegedly smothered her to death for being involved in a romantic relationship with a man belonging to a Scheduled Caste community. Subsequently, the man also committed suicide.
Another incident that the letter seeks to highlight is the suicide of Vivek Raj, an employee of the retail chain Lifestyle International Private Limited in Yemalur. The letter explains that in his suicide video note, Raj spoke about the caste-related discrimination that he was facing at his company and that despite filing complaints no action was taken to stop the discrimination or punish the perpetrators.
Reportedly, before committing suicide, Raj filed a police complaint of harassment at the hands of his colleagues, who used casteist slurs against him. Raj belonged to the Chamar community, a Scheduled Caste.
The letter laments that Raj’s experience is proof that “well-educated people in a large company” in a metropolis like Bengaluru are also not rid of the disease of caste discrimination and “caste violence is not limited to rural areas or only certain sections of the society”.
In the third incident mentioned by the letter, Arun Kumar, a Dalit, was beaten up by dominant caste members for celebrating the victory of the Congress candidate in Chikmagalur.
A fact-finding team was sent to look into the incident. It uncovered several lapses in the police investigation, including non-invocation of necessary provisions of the law, contaminated evidence and failure to record the statement of the survivors.
The fact-finding report also revealed that a false counter-case was filed against the survivor and his family faced harassment after the filing of the complaint, the letter adds.
The letter incorporates a quote from B.R. Ambedkar: “The castes are anti-national in the first place because they bring about separation in social life. They are anti-national also because they generate jealousy and antipathy between caste and caste.
“But we must overcome all these difficulties if we wish to become a nation in reality. For fraternity can be a fact only when there is a nation. Without fraternity, equality and liberty will be no deeper than coats of paint.”
On May 13, the Indian National Congress (INC) won the state assembly elections in Karnataka by defeating the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The letter penned by Bahutva Karnataka refers to the INC’s commitment of “sarva janangada shantiya thota” (literally translating to a “place where all communities live in harmony”) in its election manifesto for the Karnataka state elections. It points out that the people of Karnataka voted in favour of the INC “to see a united, harmonious Karnataka”.
The letter requests the state government to take decisive action against caste-related violence in Karnataka and in particular demands the government to:
- Allot a day in the budget session to address caste-related violence and establish the means to end all forms of caste atrocities.
- Announce a programme in the budget aimed at annihilating caste.
- Initiate a study into caste discrimination in workplaces and explore means to end it.
- Ensure that INC’s ministers from dominant castes and communities publicly denounce Untouchability and caste-based atrocities and declare their intent to work for the annihilation of caste.
- Announce suitable compensation to families affected by caste-based violence and ensure a proper and impartial investigation into caste-based violence and atrocities.
- Set up a helpline for inter-caste couples who face threats and are in need of protection.
- Conduct mandatory awareness programmes in public and private institutions covering the impact of caste discrimination on people.
