Dalits in UP: How is the condition of Dalits in Saharanpur, which is fueled by caste violence? How is the political air, ground report

Dalits in UP: The vote bank that holds the key to power in Uttar Pradesh, where does it stand in the socio-economic structure? Who is the big leader for Dalits in today’s date? And what are the electoral issues on the ground for Dalits? To understand this, let’s look at the situation in Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh.

By Ashutosh Mishra

Saharanpur, ‘Unemployment is not being paid attention’, women said – the cylinder is lying empty due to the cost of gas, the vote bank that holds the key to power in Uttar Pradesh, where does it stand in the socio-economic structure? Who is the big leader for Dalits in today’s date? And what are the electoral issues on the ground for Dalits? To understand this, let’s look at the situation in Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh, where a large population belongs to the Dalit community. 22% of Dalit voters in Uttar Pradesh have the ability to turn anyone’s chair.

Anyone can form the government. All parties are eyeing the Dalit vote bank. How important is this vote bank, guess it from the fact that Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya himself has said on many occasions that 60 out of 100 are ours and 40 is also divided. Actually Yadav and Jatav are important in this 40% vote bank. If Yadav is considered to be the vote bank of the Samajwadi Party, then the BJP is eyeing the outright Jatav vote bank, which was once the vote bank of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

When it comes to the Dalit vote bank in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati is always seen as their leader from a political point of view. Mayawati, carrying forward the political legacy of Kashi Ram, saw her leader and face to the Dalits. It was the outright support of Dalits, on the basis of which Mayawati rode on an elephant and traveled to power in Lucknow in 1995. After that, in 2002 and 2007 too, Mayawati was won by her Dalit vote bank.

Most Dalits are in 49 districts of UP

There are 49 districts in Uttar Pradesh, where the maximum number of Dalit voters is there. Barring a few districts, Dalits are the second largest vote bank in other places. The number of Dalit voters in the country’s largest state Uttar Pradesh is 22 percent. Of these, 12 percent are Jatavs, while only 10% are non-Jatav Dalits, which include Pasi Valmiki and other 50 sub-castes. There are also many sub-castes in the Dalit community, in which 54% of their total vote bank are Jatav and 16% are Pasi. 6 percent are washermen and 6 percent are blanks too. At the same time, there is only 3% Valmiki community.

About four crore Dalit voters in the state

Electoral data expert Ashish Ranjan says that Uttar Pradesh is fourth in the country in terms of the population of Dalits, where according to the 2011 census, there are about 40 million Dalit voters. He plays a decisive role in 211 of the 403 assemblies.

Who got how many seats in 2017

In 2017, the BJP had won 69 of the 85 Dalit reserved seats. 39 percent of the votes were received, while the SP got seven of these seats. The BSP could get only two seats. Since 2014, the vote of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party has been continuously falling in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Experts estimate from the increasing seats of BJP that in fact Mayawati’s 4 vote bank has now gone to the BJP’s hands against the BSP. According to election experts, in the last three decades, the Bahujan Samaj Party has been the first choice of Dalits.

According to Ashish Ranjan, things changed after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when a large section of non-Jatav Dalits went in favor of the BJP and about 48% non-Jatav Dalits voted for the BJP in 2019, while the SP

The BSP Mahagathbandhan got only 42% non-Jat and Dalit votes. According to Ashish Ranjan, the support base of BSP has been continuously declining in its 4 vote bank.

There have been many incidents of violence in Saharanpur In the recent years, Saharanpur has seen many incidents of caste violence. A picture of social movement for Dalits is visible in Ghadkauli village of Saharanpur, from where not only a movement but also a leader was born. After a long struggle, Dalits have proudly raised their caste as a symbol of their identity. Ghadkauli became known as The Great Chamar Village. After the caste violence of this village, for the first time the face of Bhim Army and its leader Chandrashekhar Ravana, who called themselves the messiah of Dalits, came to the fore.

Madan, a resident of Ghadkauli, says that when Chamar can be written on the caste certificate, then why can’t we put our caste board in the village. After all, we are proud of our caste. Madan says that when we will make the caste certificate with the Tehsildar, he will also write Chamar, when he has chosen this for us, we consider it honored and we have a great Chamar.

People said: Where there will be benefit, they will vote, most of the people of the village are of the opinion that political parties and their leaders often consider Dalits to be vote banks, but now Dalits and their next generation have become aware which understands their rights. That’s why now he doesn’t like to be called vote bank. What was being seen as a vote bank for years, says Master Praveen Kumar, is not always the same and now we know what our rights are. That’s why we will vote for those who work for us, we will vote where they benefit.

Unemployment is an important issue for the youth Poverty and unemployment is the biggest issue for the Dalits of Ghadkauli village. Especially the youth are very upset with unemployment and also angry with this government. The youth of the village, Tinku Buddhist, says that there has been a lot of awareness among the youth than before, because why they know what the government is doing for whom. Praveen says that the vote bank is still there and we will respect everyone, but only time will tell who we will openly vote for.

There has been no change in the life of Dalits for five years.

No employment is available. Even the youth advocated in the village is working as a wage earner. The people of the village say that before 2012, when Mayawati’s government was in power, then Kanshi Ram Medical College was built in Saharanpur. When Akhilesh’s government came, he changed his name, but there was no improvement and now the Yogi government is distributing wheat, rice, but nothing else is available. ‘Cylinder became expensive so now we burn wood’

Master Praveen Kumar says that the cylinder has become worth Rs. In such a situation, how will the Dalit light the stove and how will he feed his stomach. When there is no employment. The villagers say that now people are returning to the stove again. Tinku says that employment is the biggest issue for Dalit youth in this election, because why people do not have a means of earning. Whoever had business, that too has started coming to a standstill.

Sooraj says that the Dalits have gone backward instead of moving forward, because now they do not have any opportunity. Other people of the village also believe that the election issue is employment in today’s date, which will bring four paise to the house and improve the economic condition of the Dalits. Madan Kumar says that in the last 5 years no one got a job from this village.

Violence took place in this village in 2017 After the formation of Yogi government in 2017, a caste violence took place in Saharanpur district in the month of May. The epicenter of the incident was Shabbirpur village of Saharanpur. On the occasion of Maharana Pratap Jayanti, the people of Rajput community wanted to take out a rally and during the same rally there was stone pelting between Rajput and Dalits and the violence turned into arson.

In protest against this incident, Chandrashekhar alias Ravana, the founder of Bhim Army, called a Mahapanchayat in Saharanpur. During this Mahapanchayat, there was violence and arson and in the investigation, the police made the Bhim Army an accused. Chandrashekhar Azad was arrested and sent to jail under the National Security Act. Chandrashekhar had become a leader for the Dalit youth by the time he was released from jail and is now preparing to contest the elections with the Azad Samaj Party in the assembly elections. What changed in Shabbirpur, which has suffered the brunt of violence? Dirty drains, broken roads and posters appealing not to fight in the name of caste religion are seen all around in Shabbirpur. Even today, the pictures of ethnic violence of two thousand seventeen are alive in the minds of the people living here.

Srikanth is one of the Dalit families whose shop was set on fire and also accused during the police investigation. When Shrikant showed us his shop, even today signs of arson were found. Srikanth says that even though posters of brotherhood have been put up all around, but even today the bitterness is alive in the mind between the upper castes and the Dalits and the other Dalit families are also facing the trap of trial. Srikkanth and his companions say that even today they want equal rights and social justice and this is the biggest issue for them, as well as better education and employment arrangements for children, which is the biggest need of Dalits.

Some women of the village told that out of fear they stopped sending their children out for higher education. Very few girls are getting the opportunity of further education. Most of them are unable to read or grow. Vedpal of the Dalit community living in Kapurpur village says that now the atmosphere is fine and the work of the government is good.

Courtesy: Aaj Tak

Note: This news piece was originally published in aajtak.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights objectives.