Some interesting development in the country , which I would like to share with you friends :
1 Yesterday Supreme Court reaffirmed that people have a fundamental right to protest against any law enacted by govt, but blocking of public roads is a matter of great concern.
Two judge bench, of Justices SK Kaul & KM Joseph were hearing pleas over the road blocs due to the ongoing protests at Shaheen Bagh against the CAA. They commented it is a matter of great concern if people start protesting on the roads for indefinite period.Democracy work on expressing views but there are lines and boundaries for it. SC court has asked senior advocate Sanjay Hegde and advocate Sadhana Ramchandran to talk to protestors at Shaheen Bagh and persuade them to move to an alternative site where no public place is blocked.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that the protestors at Shaheen bagh should not be given a message that every institutions is on its knees to persuade them on this issue. The SC said that if nothing works, we will leave it to the authorities to deal with the situation. The protestors have made their point by holding protest for such an long period.
In a separate petition a former BJP MLA has asked SC to give directions to the authorities to remove the protestors from Shaheen Bagh. In his plea, it has been stated that law enforcement machinery was being ‘held hostage to the whims and fancies of the protestors’, who have blocked vehicular and pedestrian movement from the road connecting Delhi to Noida. State has also the duty to protect the fundamental rights of citizen who are continuously being harassed by the road blockage.
The problem is that the similar demonstrations (like in Shaheen Bagh) has started affecting the day to day life in other cities also.
The next hearing of this case will be on 24th Feb, in SC.
In my opinion, the protestors have been caught in catch 22 situation where they have no alternative but to shift to other sites. Initially they thought they can pressurise the govt to relook on CAA but nothing of that sort happened. Afterwards they might be thinking the govt will be using force to evict them, so that they will gain sympathy, but here also they failed as govt did not do any thing, and in the end it was but natural that somebody will approach SC. Now the situation is such that if they do not agree to shift to some other venue and govt uses force, then they will be not in position to get any sympathy from any where.
2 This item is connected with state of Maharashtra. Some of you might be aware of Bhima Koregaon case To understand the case one has to go back to history. About 200 years ago, precisely on 1st Jan 1818, few hundred Mahar soldiers of East India company led by British, defeated the massive Peshwa army led by Peshwa Bajirao II in Koregaon. The battle has since attained legendary stature in Dalit history. Ambedkarite Dalits do not see this from the narrow lens of nationalism versus imperialism. Over the years, as battle came to be seen as victory of Mahars against the injustices perpetuated by the Brahminical Peshwas, thousands of Ambedkarites have been gathering in Bhima Koregaon on 1st Jan to pay their respect at the Vijay Stambh (victory pillar). The pillar was erected by the East India company in memory of those who fought the battle and includes the names of the Mahar soldiers, who unknowingly brought an end to Peshwa rule.
Now what happened on 200th anniversary of this battle which led to death of one? Prakash Ambedkar ( grandson of BR Ambedkar), a prominent Dalit leader from Maharashtra, has said that few Hindutva organisations planned and perpetuated violence against Dalits in Bhima Koregaon. He named Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, prominent Maharashtrian leaders who have been actively promoting the cause of Hindutva. These organisations have been polarising the political landscape on religious and caste lines, particularly against dalits who are seen as blocking stones to their political project. Vadhu Budruk, a village not far from Bhima Koregaon, it is here Sambhaji, the eldest son of Shvaiji Maharaj was cremated after being killed by Mughals in 1689. As the legend goes, Sambhaji’s body was mutilated and thrown into a river by Aurangzeb. It was Govind Mahar, a dalit resident of Vadhu Budruk, who then gathered the body parts and made arrangements for the last rites. Sambhaji’s memorial was said to have been erected by Mahars of that village and consequently Govind Mahar’s tomb was also erected in village after his death.
Now few days before the incident on 1st Jan 2018, upper caste Marathas who refuse to acknowledge the role played by Govind and other Mahars in last rites of Sambhaji, objected to a sign at site that recounted the story. In Maharashtra there has been consistent effort to situate Maratha history within the anti Muslim Hindutva framework. The violent clashes in Bhima Koregaon on 1st jan 2018 were an extension of the conflict at Vadhu Budruk. It came out in open afterwards that this was pre planned attack . That year bing the 200th anniversary, the gathering in Bhima Koregaon was much larger than usual.many dalit and Bahujan groups collectively organised a big public conference at Shaniwar wada (the seat of Peshawas till 1818) in the name of Elgar parishad. The object of the conference was evidently against the Hindutva politics which was powerfully built by projectinh Hindutva police as pro Peshwas.. This was believed to be conspicuous politicisation of Dalits against Hindutva.
The case of what happened during violence of 1st jan 2018, was being investigated by Pune police and was going on at a slow pace for obvious reasons due to state’s Maratha politics. Sharad Pawar who consider himself to great Maratha leader wanted that this investigation to be held by State Investigating Team (SIT), now that his party is part of ruling coalition and Maharashtra’s Home Minister is from his party, so that he will know day to day happenings of the SIT. But Uddhav Thackarey, the CM of Maharashtra, transfered the case to National Investigating Agency. This move was not liked by Sharad Pawar, who has openly criticised this move. It looks like there is bit tension among the partners of the coalition govt. Let us wait for the further development in this matter.
Waiting for your views/comments/feed backs.
Anil Malik,
Mumbai, India
18th Feb 2020.