IN A STATE OF WAIT AND WATCH

Something unusual happened in the Gujarat assembly last Tuesday. More than a month after the flogging of four Dalits in Una town for skinning a dead cow, Congress MLAS created a noise over the issue. It was unusual because atrocities on Dalits have not been part of mainstream politics in Gujarat or elsewhere in the country.

The Una incident triggered a wave of unrest among the community across the state. On July 31 in Ahmedabad, community members – under the banner of Una Dalit Atyachar Ladai Samiti (UDALS) – held a big rally. In a 10-day march from Ahmedabad to Una, UDALS tried mobilising people.

wrong,” Mevani told HT.

Prima facie, it appears that Dalits may galvanise themselves against the BJP. As compared to 34 per cent Dalits who voted for the BJP in the 2007 assembly poll, the vote share declined to 23 per cent in 2012, as per the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies data. “BJP may lose further,” said Gujarat-based sociologist Ghanshyam Shah. “All BJP MLAS are discredited because they were not seen anywhere during the violence on Dalits,” he added.

The BJP is in denial mode. Saurabh Patel, ex cabinet minister in Gujarat said, “The issue has been blown out of proportion. Congress is trying to take political mileage out of it.”

Gagan Sethi, co- author of the book Lest We Forget, on the communal violence in the state in 2002, said that there was a possibility the divisions of sub-castes within Dalits, orchestrated during 2002, would dissolve. “With maybe the Patidars joining in and the Muslim groups actively offering solidarity with the Dalits, the equation will change substantially specially in the

candidate selection by parties,” said Sethi.

The Dalit unrest across the state is being hailed for its young leadership.

But sections of the community did not extend support to the protests because they are not comfortable with Mevani’s background, approach and lack of clarity.

Martin Macwan, founding member of Navsarjan NGO, is a pioneering Dalit activist in Gujarat. Mevani holds him in high regard. Macwan said he was glad that the agitation led to a social and political awakening among the youth but was disappointed because not much thinking went into it. “For a movement to have impact on the ground, it has to be well thought out. Otherwise, it can cause damage,” he said.

The Una ‘viral video’ has impregnated Gujarat with possibilities.