Dalits are Hindus? If so, can these be possible?

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/05/20/stories/2002052003251100.htm

Dalit youth rebuked for entering temple

By Kanwar Yogendra

SHIMLA MAY 19. A Dalit youth from Jubbal near Shimla has complained to the Governor and district officials against discrimination on the basis of caste and opposition to the entry of Dalits into temple complexes in the interior areas.

Surender Kumar, who belongs to the Koli community — a notified Scheduled Caste — said that he entered the temple of a local deity called `Devta Kyanlu' in Rohtan in Jubbal area of Upper Shimla district, to offer prayers.

He was rebuked by some upper caste youths who surrounded him when he came out of the temple. They asked him to pay some fine so as not to incur the wrath of the deity and the upper castes in the area. Mr. Kumar, who is a postgraduate in English and has studied in Delhi throughout and is the son of a deputy secretary in the Government, said that this was not only a violation of human rights but also of his fundamental rights. He has demanded punishment for the upper caste custodians of the deity.

He said there has been tension between the upper castes and the Kolis in the area after the news of his defying the village order spread. The priest has warned Mr. Kumar of dire consequences, if he tried to enter the temple again. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Mr. Kumar has come here to avoid any confrontation and pursue the matter legally.

 

http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/22/stories/2006032203240300.htm

Dalit youth beaten up
Special Correspondent
SALEM: A group of people allegedly beat up a Dalit youth who protested the discriminatory practice of serving `prasatham' (sweet rice) in his palms instead of on plantain leaf at an annual temple function here.

Mathesh (30) went to the temple at Ponnammapet here on Monday where the annual festival was being held. The people at the temple served sweet rice to the devotees on plantain leaves.

When Mathesh and a few of his neighbours from Arunthathiyar colony asked the prasatham, the distributors attempted to serve the rice in their palms. When Mathesh requested them to serve the hot rice on leaves, they allegedly refused.

This led to an altercation between Mathesh and a group of people at the temple. Suddenly, some unidentified persons allegedly started attacking him with sickles and rods. He was rushed to the Salem Government Hospital where he received eight stitches on his head, chest and face.

At the hospital, Mathesh told The Hindu that he had just asked the temple authorities to serve the rice on leaves as they did to others. "They know that we are Dalits. Hence they refused to serve the `prasatham' to us on leaves. In fact, we could have accepted the rice in our palms had it not been hot," he said.

Councillor P. Rajagopal, who had taken up Mathesh's cause, said that caste discrimination was prevailing right in the heart of the city itself. He alleged that despite a complaint, the Ammapet police did not inquire into the matter. He and the relatives of the victim submitted a petition to the Police Commissioner in this regard.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/25/stories/2005082512640500.htm

Dalit family faces persecution, threatens suicide

Special Correspondent

Family members are being harassed for constructing a temple; higher caste people impose fine

JAIPUR: A Dalit family in Nimora village, near here, has threatened to commit suicide unless its persecution for the past two years for constructing a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman and worshipping the deity is stopped forthwith and those threatening the family and not allowing it to use the public hand-pump, allegedly in collusion with the local police officials, are brought to book.

The influential people belonging to higher castes in Nimora, situated in Bassi tehsil, imposed a fine of Rs. 21,000 on the family of Krishna Gopal Dhanka for its "audacity" to build the temple on its own land and assaulted the family members for conducting regular worship of Lord Hanuman. The police did not take any action initially, though it registered an FIR later on being approached through a lawyer.

The Dhanka family has accused the dominant villagers of trying to demolish the temple, abusing and assaulting the family, pelting stones on its house during night and making false complaints to the police against them.

The threat, intimidation and boycott have been continuing since October 2003, when the fine was imposed, and the family is living in the village with a deep sense of insecurity and frustration.

The villagers hounded out the family in January 2004 and it spent about ten days outside the village in a state of destitution. The Dhankas could return to Nimora only on the intervention of the then Home Secretary, D.S. Sagar, but their systematic persecution continues unabated. The family members are not allowed to use the public hand-pump in the village.

"When we went to police with the plea to take action, the police officials scornfully told us to abide by the decree of higher castes. They told us that lower castes had no right to build a temple and asked us to either demolish it on our own to buy peace or leave the village," Bhanwar Lal, son of Krishna Gopal, told The Hindu here on Tuesday.

The police not only filed a final report in the case registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but also lodged a counter-case against the Dhankas, accusing them of disturbing peace in the village.

"With police clearly working in collusion with the higher caste people, there is no hope for justice for us. There is an evident threat to our lives," said a memorandum submitted by Krishna Gopal.

The memorandum, sent to the Governor, Pratibha Patil, and the Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, has demanded a high-level inquiry into the whole affair and action against the higher castes villagers - who it said were still issuing threats - besides stringent punishment to the guilty police officials.

The Dalit family has threatened that if effective steps for its protection and rehabilitation were not taken within the next two weeks, it would migrate from Nimora, leaving its home, hearth and temple, and commit suicide by self-immolation.

The responsibility for the suicide would lie solely with the Rajasthan Government, said the memorandum.

 

http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_1573805,000900030010.htm

Dalit women pay for temple entry
Soumyajit Pattnaik
Bhubaneswar, December 15, 2005

Another controversy over temple entry has hit Orissa. In Keraragard village in Kendrapara district, four Dalit women who entered a temple were beaten and later fined Rs 1,001 by the village panchayat.

Sebati Muduli, Annapurna Mahali, Jharana Jena and Sakuntala Muduli had entered the Jagannath temple in Keraragard as a matter of right, as only non-Hindus are barred from entering some temples.

But this invited the wrath of the priests and upper-caste villagers. After the women were beaten, the village panchayat issued a decree to recover Rs 1,001 from them — to spend on temple-purification rituals.

BJD MP Mohan Jena said, "If the women who entered the temple are Hindus, then why should they be barred from entering the temple? The mindset of such upper-caste people who oppose the entry of Dalits into temples should change, otherwise the Hindu religion will crumble."

The priests, however, remained unmoved. Niranjan Panda, head priest of the temple in Kerargard, defended the practice. "The entry of scheduled caste people has been prohibited for many years," he said.

Kendrapara SP Pratik Mohanty said: "The district collector has ordered a probe. Depending upon the findings, the district police will take action.”
 

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030423/main10.htm

Where all are not equal Dalits not allowed into temple
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Mandor (Patiala), April 22
All are not equal as far as the shrine of Baba Bhola Nath in this village, 17 km from here, on the Nabha road is concerned. Dalits are not allowed entry into the temple. If some Dalit wants to pay obeisance he has to put his offerings on a few loose bricks kept outside the temple. These offerings were earlier given to an old man of the village but were now fed to the dogs.

If some Dalit does manage to enter the temple premises to offer obeisance the entire temple is washed with water to “clean” it. This is not all. Dalits are not allowed to bathe in the sarovar in the temple complex even during Ekadashi festival when thousands of people visit it. They have to make use of a tubewell in a separate enclosure for bathing purposes.

This tradition has been going on for decades without any check. During a visit to the temple the Tribune team could not meet the head priest, Gobindanand. However, other volunteers working in the temple were candid about the traditions of the temple. “Yes we stop Dalits from offering their obeisance at the temple”, says Surjit Kumar, who was doing seva in the temple complex. He said members of the Scheduled Castes of the village knew of the tradition and pay obeisance from outside the main gate. He said Dalits visiting the temple during other festivals from other village were, however, made aware of the tradition.

The temple is quite strict as far its stance against Scheduled Castes is concerned. During the visit to the temple it was revealed that the temple priest had returned a tempo full of goods offered to it by commission agents of the village upon learning that the owner of the tempo was a Dalit. The tempo owner, Mahinder Singh, who is of the same village, said the incident had shaken him. “I wanted to protest against the injustice but kept quiet after being advised as such by the elders of the village,” he added.

Mahinder Singh said the temple was mainly frequented by 12 Brahman families of the village who did not welcome any member of the weaker section. He said as the temple did not have any managing committee and was managed entirely by its priest none could interfere in its functioning.

This view was expressed by other villagers also. Gurmeet Singh, a mechanic who runs a motor rewinding shop in the village, said the writ of “Babaji” (the priest of the temple) prevailed and none could challenge it.

However, a number of Dalits still frequent the temple as it is thought to be auspicious to take newly weds to the temple to take the blessings of Bhola Nath. 
 

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1020921/asp/nation/story_1219987.asp

Dalits pay for temple refuge

Patna, Sept. 20: Atrocities against Dalits continue to haunt Bihar with three members of the community being assaulted in Kaimur district for entering a Shiva temple, reports our special correspondent.

Ravindra Ram, Badhu Ram and Waki Ram were dredging a pond in Taritha village in Kaimur when a sudden downpour prompted them to take shelter in the nearby temple, said a senior official of the district.

Members of the upper castes were furious at the trio for “soiling the purity of the temple”. The Dalits were dragged out of the temple by musclemen and thrashed so severely that they had to be taken to hospital.

The villagers first approached the panchayat for justice but in vain. The Dalits then sought help from officers at the local police station, which referred the case to the SC/ST cell of Ramnagar police station. Although a case was registered last month, no action has been taken as yet.

The Dalits allege that the case has been hushed up with the help of an investigating officer who belongs to the uppercastes.

The three who were thrashed have been offered bribes by the upper-caste lobby and threatened to force them to withdraw the case, claimed Faggu Ram, a resident of the village.

The Kaimur district magistrate has ordered that the property of the accused — who are absconding — be seized.

The Kaimur incident is just the latest in a string of atrocities on Dalits.

In Phulwari district’s Sandesh village, six Dalits were assaulted and refused entry to a Hindu temple in 1997. Three persons were booked in connection with the case.

In 1998, a Dalit priest was kicked out of a Hindu temple in Nagri village of Bhojpur district by supporters of the Ranbir Sena. An FIR was lodged, but no action was taken.


http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/oct19/n8.asp
They are ‘RAMs’, but not allowed to enter temple
From J P Yadav
DH News Service DHOBDIHA-HARSENI (Bihar), Oct 18

They are “Rams”, but not allowed to step inside their own village temple. For Dukhan Ram, Samudree Devi and other “chamar” caste members of the Dalit community in Dhobdiha and Harseni village in Nalanda district, construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya holds no meaning.

“What will a Ram temple at Ayodhya do for us, when we are kept out of our own village temple. We have been named as “Ram”, but kept away from the Lord”, remarked Mithu Ram, when informed about the Ayodhya agitation by the VHP rocking the country.

Dhobdiha and Harseni are not the only examples in a state where the “messiah of social justice”, Laloo Prasad Yadav, rules. Entry for Dalits, particularly the “chamars” is banned in hundreds of village temples across Bihar. The tradition continues and the outside world knows only when these “untouchables” dare to defy the age old system in some villages.

Interestingly, not only forward castes, even Laloo’s “Yadavs” as well as some other intermediary castes join hands here to keep the Dalits away from the temples.

During the Durga puja recently, Ramlal Ram of Baheri village in Kaimur district was shot dead by Brahmins of the village when he dared to offer puja to the village deity. Investigations have revealed that a villager working with the Bihar police was responsible for killing the Dalit. He, however, is yet to be arrested.

In Dhobdiha and Harseni the oppressors are the intermediary Yadav caste. In Novemebr 1996, some educated Dalit youths wanted their parents to be allowed to offer puja inside the temple on Durga puja day. When the Yadavs got wind of this desire, the threat from them was loud and clear – “we will break their legs with lathis”. The youths petitioned the District Magistrate. Policemen were sent and the “chamars” were asked to enter the temple. Waving their “lathis”, the Yadavs replied - “the policemen will save you today, but who will come tomorrow”.

The “chamars” were naturally scared and asked the administration to reach an agreement with the Yadavs that they will allow them to enter the temple. Yadavs said it was simply not possible. The “chamars” succumbed and a pact was signed which said that the old system where they worshipped the deity from outside the temple will continue.

“The Yadavs say that we engage in the dirty business of working as mid-wives and our men folk skin dead animals, so we are impure and thereby our touch will enrage the deity. But when I told them that their children too are impure if I become so after delivering them, then they threatened to kill me”, stated Samudree Devi, who has annoyed the Yadavs with her logical arguments. Now the “chamars” have been forced to establish their deities in their own locality.

All castes among the Dalits here have remained with the Yadavs in the political arena. They have voted according to their will for Laloo Yadav in election after election and now are obeying their orders to remain away from the temple. “We are poor and depend on them for our living. How can we fight them ?”, asks out Birju Das.

Upendra Yadav of Dhobdiha says that they share a very good relationship with the Dalits of the village. Others can enter temples, but the “chamars” cannot at any cost. “Our forefathers had banned them since their touch will enrage the deity and tragedy will strike our village. Can we invite calamity ?”, questioned an elderly Jadu Yadav.

Kameshwar Chaupal, a Dalit leader of the BJP from the state was the one who had laid the first brick during the “shilanyaas” at Ayodhya. But he too looked helpless over the fate of Dalits in his state. Leader of the Opposition of the BJP recently declared to identify all those temples where Dalits were not allowed and ensure their entry in his presence. When he approached one such village, forward caste members asked him to keep away since they were his party’s voters. On this count Laloo Yadav too chooses to keep away and keep his vote bank intact.
 


http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/06/stories/2005090604211000.htm

 There's a much larger house on fire
P. Sainath

About the time 50 Dalit houses were set ablaze in Gohana, the country marked 50 years of a law giving effect to the Constitution's abolition of untouchability. As if to rub it in, 25 more Dalit homes were torched the same week in Akola, Maharashtra.

Burri nazar walle, theri ghar mein ladki paida ho (You evil-eyed people, may girls be born in your homes).

SCRAWLED ON the back of a lorry in Gohana, those words capture the soul of casteism in Haryana. Even while taking a crack at Dalits whose houses they had reduced to rubble, their oppressors couldn't fail to proclaim women to be a curse. (A view many of them clearly act upon. You can see that from Haryana's appalling sex ratio of 861. That was the worst among major States in the 2001 census.)

About the time 50 Dalit houses were set ablaze in Gohana, the country marked 50 years of a law giving effect to the Constitution's abolition of untouchability. As if to rub in the irony, 25 more Dalit homes have been torched in the same week. This time in Akola, Maharashtra.

Of course the Constitution banned untouchability. It was to give effect to Article 17 that Parliament passed the Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955. This was later made more stringent and renamed the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955. Still the crimes went on. So, along the way, we brought in quite a few other vital laws. Like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989. Crimes under this Act invite harsher penalties than similar offences would under the Indian Penal Code. Half a century into the process, we grapple with the very crimes the first of these laws sought to end.

Was Gohana 2005 a one-off aberration? We could then say: awful, but these things happen. And get on with life. The catch of course is that they happen every so often. And to the same people. Even a show of mandatory anguish — "what an atrocity" — doesn't begin to meet the problem. Not when the crime is systemic, societal, and structured. Not when a state disables its own citizens.

The countless reports on the subject over the years do not show discrimination against Dalits to be dying away. The many volumes of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make grisly reading. Crimes against Dalits and Adivasis have risen by the decade. By as much as 25 to 28 per cent in some periods. Yet the number of such cases ending in conviction of the criminals is dismal. Less than one per cent in some courts.

The events in Gohana and Akola are just a part of an ongoing crime against humanity. For that's what caste-based discrimination is. (But I'm still sure you'll see editorials that tell us these things are wrong because `they send bad signals to investors.')

In Gohana, the dominant castes, the police, the state, all did their bit in bringing terror and ruin to the Dalit basti. (The police say that after a Jat died in a clash with some Dalits, the Jats `retaliated.') Fearing an attack, over 1,000 Dalits fled the basti. The police steered clear of the village while a mob of some 1,500 people burned around 50 Dalit houses to the ground. A thousand people had fled knowing an attack was coming. Yet the police claim they were clueless about it.

The Dalits here are Balmikis. That group is possibly the worst off within the Scheduled Caste fold. More so in terms of the humiliation it bears. In caste society's eyes, the Balmikis embody the worst forms of "impurity." They are `manual scavengers.' They handle and dispose of "night soil." (That's polite society's term for human excreta.)

Gohana's Balmikis had tried to climb out of that caste-imposed rut. They had educated their children. Got jobs outside their traditional role. Some even landed low-level government posts. And over years the Balmikis fought off the efforts of the Jats to extract begar — or forced labour — from them. Their relative improvement was itself a major provocation. This is consistent with attacks on Dalits in other parts of the country too. Doing better is a crime.

The mob in Gohana did not kill any Dalits. Partly because they had already fled. The focus, though, was on looting and on destruction of property. Dalits owning decent houses? With fridges and television sets? They had to be shown their place. Houses having gas connections were destroyed using the absent owner's LPG cylinders. The relatively good houses of the Dalits were an eyesore to their enemies.

Gohana's Balmikis had, against daunting odds, emerged from the depths of deprivation. They had created these houses and assets over decades. With a kind of effort that much of society might never understand. In these, they invested not just their money but their emotions, passion, dreams, and the future of their children. The death of those dreams, the destruction of those assets, was achieved in hours. Petrol cans and police connivance were all it took.

The State now offers each home Rs. 1 lakh as compensation. A fraction of its losses. Forget tending to the trauma. Note the manner in which the Dalits were `punished.' In true feudal tradition, an individual offence became a collective crime. A Dalit is alleged to have killed someone. All Dalits in his basti must pay the price. The due course of law gets dumped. The caste panchayat reigns higher than the courts.

It was in the same State a few years ago that police battered little Usha, also a Balmiki, in Jind. The girl, not yet in her teens, was helping her mother clean a local school. The school headmistress accused her of stealing a gold chain. Not content with thrashing the frail child herself, she called in the Haryana police. Meanwhile, the chain was found. The headmistress had merely mislaid it. The family got the girl back, unconscious, badly bruised and with teeth broken.

We could, of course, say "that's Haryana." And there would even be an element of truth in it. Except that the same prejudices work in many ways across most of the country. Chunni Lal Jatav, a survivor of the Kumher massacre in Rajasthan, once put it famously. "All the judges of the Supreme Court do not have the power of a single police constable. That constable makes or breaks us. The judges can't re-write the laws and have to listen to learned lawyers of both sides. A constable here simply makes his own laws. He can do almost anything." With state and society winking at him, he pretty much can.

And those committing crimes against Dalits know they have a great chance of getting away with it. State Governments have dropped countless cases filed against upper caste offenders under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989. Kalyan Singh's BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh dropped such cases in thousands. A move quickly emulated by the Shiv Sena regime in Maharashtra. Later governments did not reinstate these cases.

In Tamil Nadu, Dalits have been forced out of elected office even in reserved panchayats. In Melavalavu, the Dalit panchayat president's head was severed and thrown into a well. Dalits in Dravidian Land, an excellent book by Frontline's S. Viswanathan, paints a powerful picture of Dalit life in that State.

Oddly, whether it's Gohana, or Jhajar before it, discussion on these issues seldom links up to those other, ongoing debates. For instance, that on reservation. No link is seen between any of this and the debates on social justice. On present SC / ST quotas. Or on the call for quotas in the private sector. Gohana actually has people who gained, if modestly, from reservation.

Against huge odds, Gohana's Balmikis snapped their chains. They educated their children. This is not easy. In schools, their boys and girls face the taunts of `upper' caste peers. (Across the country, large numbers of Dalit pupils drop out of school to escape such humiliation.) First, society places them under inhuman handicaps. Then we demand a "level playing field" against them in jobs and education.

The children of manual scavengers and other poor people return each evening to homes without electricity. And so cannot study in the way other kids can. They go back to homes without good books. They cannot afford "tuitions." They have no "connections" to land them jobs or seats. In the face of these odds, their achievements are admirable. A true level playing field could actually tilt the balance in their favour. For it would start by ending their handicaps. But look at the fury stoked by the mere idea of private colleges setting aside seats for such people. (Never mind that the Supreme Court judgment allows such colleges to create quotas for rich NRIs.)

Yet, Gohana's Dalits have achieved something more. Dalits in Haryana are now stepping into the public space in a way not seen too often. And Dalit women appear to be in the forefront of the protests. There is a lot of pressure on the government to act. The Congress' own Dalit MLAs are in the hot seat. All this is good. Yet there is a much larger house on fire. If only we could see it.