By Waquar Hasan,
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power,” once Abraham Lincoln had said. The history of Indian upper caste seems to have proved Lincoln right in practical terms. The upper castes of India always enjoyed more social, economic and political power than the downtrodden and they utilized this power to suppress the weaker sections, creating gruesome images of horror in the media even today, which does not seem to wane very soon.
Dalits everywhere in the country have the same fate, proved by two shocking recent reports of assaults on the community, one in the Seshasamudram village in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district, while the other exposes the backing of an ex-prime minister, an ex-finance minister and BJP leaders to upper caste militia Ranvir Sena who were involved in a cruel massacre of Dalits in Bhojpur district, Bihar. Cobrapost’s investigative documentary “Operation Black Rain” has put the entire nation in a shameful position.
On the day of 69th Independence Day, when we were celebrating freedom, Dalits of Saeshasamudram were attacked and tortured by a mob of politically powerful Vanniyar community shouting “Burn them! No Dalits should be let off.” They also torched the vehicles belonging to Dalit families. The Vanniyars did not even spare cattle of the Dalits. Police found a number of slaughtered goats as well.
“It all started with the building of Mariamman temple in the village by Dalits after they were denied access to at least five temples in the village that are run by the Vanniyars,” The Indian Express, noted as the reasons behind this assault.
At the same time, exposing the dark face of upper caste, the Cobrapost documentary Operation Black Rain reveals names of big politicians from higher castes who aided Ranvir Sena. “The fact that Ranvir Sena had ample political support is borne out not only by the on-camera confessions of these functionaries of the dreaded outfit but also by the interview that Cobrapost had with Justice (Retd.) Amir Das, as the judge names those who lent support to the Sena,” Cobrapost, an investigative web portal reported.
The six operatives of Ranvir Sena, a landlord militia mainly based in Bihar, also explained on-camera the plans that they hatched to kill Dalits in six major massacres of Dalits in Bihar between 1994 and 2000. The Ranveer Sena cadres said they alleged Dalits had supported Naxalites. The shocking matter is that the perpetrators, who admitted their crimes on-camera, had initially been released by the court on grounds of lack of evidence.
Such horrible revelations and incidents show the country in a bad light. Nothing can be more dangerous and more shameful than some powerful people torture and kill the oppressed in a country, one of the largest democracies in the world, and go scot-free.
