Dalits to fast against social boycott
Around 1,200 Dalits at Garagaparru village in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh will launch an indefinite fast from Tuesday to protest against social boycott by the upper caste people in their village.
Nearly 360 families belonging to Mala community, a predominant Scheduled Caste group in Andhra, have been facing the social boycott since April 26, following a dispute with the upper caste Rajus (belonging to Kshatriya community) over installation of a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar in the village on April 23.
“For the past three months, we have been deprived of our livelihood. We have been barred from doing any agricultural work. We are also not allowed to work in the ponds belonging to the people from the upper caste,” G Rajesh, a Dalit youth, who has been spearheading the movement against the social boycott, said.
“Some of the Dalit farmers, who had taken lands of upper caste people on lease for cultivation, were also driven away and their leases were cancelled. Our womenfolk, who used to work as helps in their houses, have also been sacked,” Rajesh added.
While some of the Dalits went to neighbouring villages and some others to far off places in search of work, others have been surviving on the donations and food material being supplied by Dalit Sanghams and some social organisations that have joined the protesting groups to express their solidarity.
“After the social boycott came to light in the local media, all that the district administration did was distribute some rice and other provisions to the Dalit colony,” Rajesh said.
Now, the Dalits have taken their social boycott as a matter of prestige. “We want two acres for each Dalit family so that we can live with dignity, rather than depending on the mercy of the upper caste people. We also want that each family be given a monetary compensation of ₹1 lakh each and that our colony be declared a separate gram panchayat,” he said. “We have decided to take up indefinite fast from Tuesday to highlight our issue.”