Fadnavis in a Caste Bind
Will attempts to assuage the sentiments of the Dalits alienate the Marathas further?
Unnerved by the outburst of Dalit anger across Maharashtra in the wake of the January 1 attack on the community in KoregaonBhima, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had asked the state police to give the protesters a long rope. Caught in the raging Dalit versus Maratha tug of war, Fadnavis refrained from taking sides. So while he managed to restore a semblance of normalcy in just two days, analysts say his image has taken a big hit.
Dalit leaders accuse Fadnavis, who also heads the home department, of failing to deploy adequate security in Koregaon-Bhima, where over 350,000 Dalits had gathered to commemorate the 1818 battle when some 500 Dalit soldiers (of the British forces) had held a 4,000-strong Maratha army led by Peshwa Bajirao II. “It was sheer negligence,” says Dalit writer J.V. Pawar, accusing the police of failing to anticipate trouble. Fadnavis, though, has denied any intelligence or administrative failure and insisted that the police did their job.
MoS for social justice Dilip Kamble, who witnessed the attacks on the Dalits, says “outsiders with an agenda to create a rift” engineered them. “Till last year, local Marathas used to provide food and water to the visiting Dalits (in Koregaon-Bhima),” he adds.
Whatever the truth, Fadnavis now faces the daunting challenge of reassuring both the Marathas and the Dalits of his intentions.
This, while retaining the backing of the BJP’s traditional support base. Notably, the two main accused in the January 1 attacks, Manohar alias Sambhaji Bhide, and Milind Ekbote, are both staunch Hindutva supporters.
State home department insiders say the move to book Gujarat Dalit legislator Jignesh Mevani and Jawaharlal Nehru University student activist Umar Khalid for allegedly inciting violence against the upper castes at a December 31 rally in Pune is merely a pressure tactic. “No one will be arrested,” predicts an officer. In its report to the Centre, the Maharashtra government has blamed ultra-left wing activists for creating an atmosphere of suspicion between the Marathas and the Dalits.
Fadnavis, who is only too aware that the BJP lacks a Dalit face in Maharashtra, has roped in a prominent Dalit ally to help douse the fire—Union social justice minister Ramdas Athavale, whose Republican Party of India is part of the National Democratic Alliance. The minister will address a ‘social harmony’ conference in Pune on January 12. All eyes are also on whether the chief minister will include a Dalit in his impending cabinet reshuffle.