Dalits being forced to leave villages
Dalits in 15 districts have been forced to migrate from villages to shanty towns, say rights activists
Five days after six Dalit youngsters from Samadhaliya in Gujarat’s Una tehsil were flogged by members of a cow vigilante group, the victims’ relatives expressed fears that they will be evicted from the village by upper class “musclemen” once the spotlight moves away from them.
“Dalits have been forced to vacate their homes in villages nearby. We don’t know what will happen once the police security is lifted and the TV crews go away,” said 20-yearold Jitubhai Sarowya, a finalyear engineering student from the Bhavnagar-based Shantilal Shah Engineering College.
Sarowya’s concerns are echoed by NGOs working for Dalit rights too. “Over the last few years, many Dalit families have been forced to shift from villages to nearby shanty towns. Internal migration (of Dalits) is the highest in Gujarat when compared to other states,” said Manjula Pradeep of the Ahmedabadbased Nav Sarjan Trust.
A 2014 report published by the organisation says such migrations have occurred in 15 of the state’s 33 districts, including Ahmedabad and Banaskantha.
Dalits have traditionally used government-owned wastelands, forestland and gowchar (cow grazing land) to skin dead animals. “Upper caste leaders and villagers have been intensifying pressure on Dalits to vacate such land,” said Chandra Sinh Mahida of the Una-based Dalit Haq Raksha Ekta Mahasangha. “The Hindu vigilante groups here aren’t concerned about cows. Their ambition is to grab land from Dalits.”
However, activists say it would be wrong to assume that only Dalits in rural areas suffer at the hands of the upper caste community. Even Dalit academicians and government officials working in urban areas across the state, including Ahmedabad and Rajkot, have horror stories to relate.
In 2008, professor Pankaj Shrimali – a senate member of Gujarat University – was told by then vice-chancellor Parimal Trivedi that he cannot continue as exam coordinator because of his caste. A shocked Shrimali filed a police complaint, and the case is still pending in court.
The professor said though the law requires police action to be taken within a month, it got delayed by 1,370 days. “When something like this could happen to me, a gold-medallist in post-graduation with a PhD degree, imagine what somebody who does not know his rights has to face,” Shrimali asked.
In another incident, the family of Amratbhai Makwana – a Dalit – was rendered homeless after one of his sons was fatally thrown off the second floor of their multi-storey residence in Vatva Jasodanagar.
According to sources, Amratbhai’s sons – Piyush and Mitesh Makwana – were at home when an upper caste man, Hitesh Solanki, came by and engaged them in an argument. Later, Solanki returned with three others and began assaulting the duo. In the course of the fight, one of the accused allegedly threw Mitesh off the building – killing him. “I have a younger brother and a sister, but Mitesh – an IIT student – was the brightest among us. A lot has been lost already, and we don’t want to risk returning anymore,” said Piyush.
ACCORDING TO NGOs, DALIT MIGRATION HAS OCCURRED IN 15 OF THE STATE’S 33 DISTRICTS, INCLUDING AHMEDABAD AND BANASKANTHA