Even a native-born can feel a slight twinge of an unnamable fear as he or she enters Jansath, east of the highway running to Haridwar from Delhi. Even by western UP standards, it바카라s tough country: people here may still prefer to get astride a horse to travel, as if they know travelling is also about staying in one place. In the middle of this tehsil in Muzaffarnagar district, surrounded by those ubiquitous sugarcane fields, is a crossroads from which radiate routes to seven villages바카라Nanhera, Nanheri, Kasauli, Gadla, Rasulpur, Shahdara and Baruki. They are part of an intimate cluster; residents say they are yoked together by ties geographical and neighbourly. In recent days, this supposed attachment is fraying from the inside out as anxieties both primordial and modern have bubbled to the surface.
The latest rash of animosities erupted바카라leaving this micro body politic red and raw to the touch바카라when local Dalits joined the Bharat Bandh to repudiate a Supreme Court ruling that dilutes the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. It was part of a larger map of anger: Dalit protests had swept across 22 states like a little tectonic rumble. Everywhere, for a social bloc that had mostly forfeited its electoral strengths of late, the protests were a demonstration of how powerful their movement still is.
This applies in particular to the Jatavs of Uttar Pradesh, traditional supporters of Mayawati and her BSP, who make up 65 per cent of the state바카라s Dalit population. 바카라At least 20 per cent of Chamar (Jatav) votes went to Modi in the last two elections. It won바카라t get a single vote now,바카라 says Sobha Ram, a BSP supporter from Nanhera, a Jat-dominated village, who travelled to Muzaffarnagar city, roughly 40 km away, to participate in the bandh. 바카라Ambedkar바카라s statues are being broken, the Atrocities Act is finished and reservations all but over. Everything we had is gone,바카라 he says. Perhaps a bit overstated, but the besieged feeling is not difficult to understand at a time when an Ambedkar statue was rebuilt decked out in a saffron attire.
More than an isolated question, the resilience of Dalit politics on the ground feeds into a shifting kaleidoscope this time. That the agitation left a mark despite not being spearheaded by any single party or leader has naturally led every political formation to draw inferences about the intensity of local Dalit sentiments. The immediate questions are: a) how isolated do Jatavs feel from the BJP? and b) what positions will other castes, Dalit or not, take in coming months? This would determine how the BSP and the Samajwadi Party (SP), which recently teamed up successfully for the Phulpur and Gorakhpur bypolls, would orient themselves towards the upcoming Kairana bypoll바카라and of course the 2019 national elections.
The alliance seems to be off for the Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll that바카라s coming up soon. The BSP has reportedly told the Samajwadis that it will be busy with an organisational revamp in the run-up to 2019. It doesn바카라t contest bypolls anyway, and can바카라t promise any vote transfer either. Yet, Kairana has 2.5 lakh Jatav votes, besides around 5 lakh Muslim votes, and it won바카라t be easy for the BJP. Beyond the result, it바카라s the signalling between the BSP and SP that바카라s worth watching out for.
But party loyalties are one thing. The intensity of Dalit anger is potentially such that it may solidify the pan-identity, imparting a higher level of adhesion between Jatavs and other Dalit castes than is usual. 바카라People are only talking about Jatavs in the bandh, but all SC communities were together this time,바카라 says Sobha Ram. This view is backed by the details of police cases on Dalits filed after the protests in different places. Locals in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut say the cases name agitators from across Dalit communities, Valmiki, Kori and Jatav alike. The ruling BJP would be justified in worrying; this may presage an era in which Dalit communities find common cause against it.
바카라In one hour, they killed three Dalits and now that protection of the Atrocities Act is gone, wait and see how we are hounded,바카라 says Jugal Kishore, a schoolteacher in Basera, a village near Nanhera. The other prong of empowerment is quotas: here, he feels 바카라top people바카라 among Dalits have captured most of the advantages. In this, he echoes the feelings of many OBCs and dominant caste members. 바카라There should be a system so that the poor get to access reservations, not just Dalits who are from successful educated families,바카라 he says.
Those who supported the bandh vividly recall every recent 바카라law and order바카라 problem, from the Jat agitation for reservations in Haryana to Rajput protests over the screening of Padmavaat and the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 that rocked four blocks, including Jansath. Each of these events is cited as proof of a systemic 바카라bias바카라 against Dalits. 바카라Those agitators바카라 either faced no police action or, even if they did, cases against them were withdrawn sooner or later. From this point of view, the UP police has come down hard on the Bharat Bandh because Dalits, especially Jatavs, are low priority in the hierarchy of BJP voters (who are mostly Brahmin, Rajput, Vaishya and OBCs).
바카라It바카라s almost a tradition to use some appellations when addressing Dalits바카라they get angry and use the Atrocities Act over such small matters. It바카라s good the court has curbed it,바카라 says Ranbir Malik, a Jat farmer from Nanhera. His son Manish, an ABVP activist, says, 바카라The bandh was not completely unjustified but it did become violent. The job crisis affects everybody so reservations, if at all, should be on economic criteria,바카라 he says, citing his own unfruitful struggle to find work with the state government despite trying for years (and despite OBC status for Jats in UP).
The future offers a jumble of political options for all castes, none too palatable or unpalatable. For those from weaker, non-Dalit sections, like Praveen Kumar, a Prajapati, the watering down of the Atrocities Act is satisfying바카라바카라SCs were using it for every small thing바카라. But he바카라s a fence-sitter on the Yogi Adityanath-led government. Reasons for being happy: a toilet was built in his home and he got a 바카라zero-balance바카라 bank account. 바카라Seven months ago, the bank deducted Rs 500 from that for some insurance that I know nothing about. So I stopped depositing money in that account,바카라 he says.
Equally non-committal are Satpal, a Tyagi farmer from Gadhla, and Yashpal, a Jat from Nanheri. 바카라Electricity bills have doubled in a year. An LPG cylinder worth Rs 350 two years ago is now worth Rs 800. Diesel is getting costlier too,바카라 says Satpal. Yashpal, meanwhile, describes his shift from the Rashtriya Lok Dal and towards the BJP in 2014 as a 바카라compulsion바카라. That is, Hindu-Muslim polarisation바카라there was an infamous incident in Kawwal, in the same tehsil, during the riots of 2013.
Most people list the BJP government바카라s suppression of crime as a big plus, but struggle to come up with more reasons in its favour. 바카라There was no benefit. We suffered losses, struggled to get cash for months after demonetisation. We stood in lines but in vain,바카라 says Yashpal.
Praveen Kumar, a non-Dalit, finds the dilution of the Atrocities Act satisfying바카라for a personal reason too
Another grouse is Aadhaar. Satpal does not own a mobile phone, so he struggled to buy manure for his crop. 바카라Nobody in my family has a mobile number so it바카라s a big problem for us. I told the shopkeeper I바카라d get a mobile before I come again for more manure but I can바카라t afford to,바카라 he says. Motiram, also a farmer, says he had to get an Aadhaar card to get an anti-rabies injection after a recent dog bite. 바카라When I returned for the next shot, they said the medicine wasn바카라t available,바카라 he says. 바카라Soon they will want an Aadhaar card for letting us go to the toilet, but we don바카라t get money for months for our sugarcane.바카라
Even non-Dalits temper their support for the Yogi regime and Prime Minister Modi with a 20/20 vision바카라they feel neither has benefited farmers or the poor. Yet, when it comes to the Atrocities Act and reservations, the wedge between the various social groups is only deepening since the agitation. If the divisions grow, it will be increasingly difficult for the regional parties to keep their flock together and form a wider alliance. It would be in a sense, the antidote to the BJP getting discredited on the development front.
Naresh Tyagi, a middle-aged farmer, his son and two workers, including a woman, come on a bullock cart loaded with sugarcane to this spot, a hundred metres from Gadla, a village dominated by Tyagi (half-Brahmin) farmers. 바카라The court ruling was correct. Dalits used to file cases under it due to personal enmity. It should only be used when someone actually says something, not otherwise,바카라 says Naresh.
Rishipal Tyagi, another farmer, says, 바카라We were staunch Congress supporters until its leadership faded away. Now we are with BJP no matter what.바카라 Both he and a Banjara called Motiram say reservations should be shown the door. 바카라There should be fresh reservations along economic lines, if at all. Right now, even with 100 per cent marks our children cannot get admissions while Dalits get admission even if they do badly,바카라 says Motiram.
They point to Preetika, the woman sitting atop the sugarcane. 바카라She바카라s a Dalit but will agree with us,바카라 they say. Preetika speaks, but only after the Tyagis leave. 바카라They cleverly told you my caste though I was silent while they complained about Dalits. Where바카라s the fear they claim to feel?바카라 she asks. Some Tyagis in her village are big landlords, she says. Her family is poor and virtually landless. 바카라Poor people바카라s children work as labourers and so fare badly in school. They have land but want Dalits as their slaves. That바카라s why they are happy with the ruling. But our rights are in the Constitution바카라they can바카라t make new laws just to revoke them,바카라 she says.
Preetika is an MA in Sanskrit, but has been trying in vain to find work for three years. She was close to Amaresh Kumar, a young man killed by a police bullet in Muzaffarnagar on April 2. 바카라We weren바카라t related. But isn바카라t other people바카라s grief our grief? Amaresh바카라s mother has not eaten for days,바카라 she says, breaking down. The reason for her discomposure바카라and that of other Dalits in these parts바카라is the police crackdown on 바카라all SCs바카라. 바카라They arrested 14 men who had gone to a Muzaffarnagar hospital to meet Amaresh,바카라 says his mother, Ruby. The Dalits had to agitate overnight until the men were released.
바카라Police picked us up from the hospital and beat all of us very badly,바카라 says Hemraj from Gadla, a daily-wage driver. 바카라Even if the Act was sparingly used, it still created a sense of fear among other castes. They dared not touch us,바카라 he says. Gadla바카라s Dalits are trying to raise funds to help the family.
The death has driven people apart, fragmenting the social mosaic of these seven villages. Will that imperil the SP-BSP alliance? The Gadla village pradhan, Ashok Kumar, who is trying to resolve the multitude of cases filed against the 14 residents, foretells 2019. 바카라The bandh was for a justified cause. Nobody from the BJP offered to compensate the bereaved, nor did they visit them even once. If this is not bias, what is?바카라 he asks. 바카라Just wait바카라there바카라s SP, there바카라s BSP, the Opposition is uniting. The BJP will have nowhere to go next year.바카라
