As Police Lathi-Charge, Dalit Protests Turn Violent in UP

Following the announcement of nationwide Bharat Bandh, Dalits groups and organisations protested across the state of Uttar Pradesh, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling against the SC/ST Atrocities Act, on Monday. The aim of the protest was to display strong distrust in the Yogi Adityanath government for its failure in protecting the Dalits from atrocities and attacks, since the formation of the BJP government in the state, last April.

The beginning of the day witnessed mostly peaceful protests in Meerut, Aligarh, Agra, Hapur and Saharanpur. However, even with the heavy police deployment across the western parts of the state, the protests turned violent in some areas, reportedly, as the police ordered a lathi-charge on the peaceful protesters. In Meerut, several vehicles were torched, a police outpost was burnt down, and stones were pelted at the shops, as alterations continued to occur between the protesters and the police. Similar incidents of violence were reported from Ghaziabad, Meerut, Saharanpur, Hapur and Agra.

One person was allegedly injured during the police lathi-charge, in Meerut. He has been admitted to the Kailashi hospital.

Later, a mob torched many buses on Delhi-Dehradun highway. Students of the Meerut-based Chaudhary Charan Singh University locked the university gates and damaged its furniture. Protesters torched police vehicles in Gangoh area of Saharanpur, and stopped the traffic on the busy Delhi-Yamunotri road.

The Director General of Police O.P. Singh had issued instructions to the DG and DIG for maintaining the law and order in the Meerut range. Five companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and four companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) were deployed in different parts the state. Additional RAF teams were also pushed into service in Hapur, Agra, Meerut and Ghaziabad.

Despite the preparations and the fact that the bandh was planned in advance, the Yogi Adityanath government failed to placate the agitated Dalit groups, while the state police failed in ensuring peace.

As the protests continued through the day, train services were disrupted. Agitated protesters squatted on tracks in several places bringing the train operations to cease. A number of trains including the Dehradun Express were forcefully halted on their way.

According to the Northern Railways officials, services were disrupted and many trains such as Saptakranti Express, Utkal Express, Bhubaneswar and Ranchi Rajdhani as well as the Kanpur Shatabdi, were stopped ahead of Ghaziabad, in Meerut and in Modinagar.

A mob of about 2,000 people disrupted the operations at the Hapur station as well, obstructing the movement of many goods trains, the officials added.

While the Karnataka Express was stopped near Agra, many protesters targeted hotels as well as police vehicles in the city. Window panes of the police vehicles were smashed. A bus carrying foreign nationals also became a target of attack in Azamgarh. Many government employees in Lucknow went to their offices wearing black armbands that carried the badge of Arakshan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti.

Some of the Dalit groups NewsClick spoke to, said that their protests were meant to be peaceful, but many people – allegedly belonging to the Hindutva groups, engaged in violent activities to defame the Dalit groups. Satish Prakash, a Dalit activist said, “Dalits across the western UP have been peacefully protesting. People told us that many RSS cadres and other Hindutva group members have engaged in acts of violence so that the blame goes to the Dalit protesters. We know it for sure that the Yogi Adityanath government would like the protest to be defamed and discredited. That is why we are appealing Dalits to not get lured into the RSS conspiracy to discredit a genuine wave of anger against the BJP government.”

When asked why the Dalits are not convinced by the assurance of the Yogi and Modi governments about review petition in the Supreme Court against its ruling, Dr Prakash, a faculty of Physics at the Meerut College said that the Dalits’ anger against BJP was already at its peak and the recent SC ruling became the trigger for it to spill over on the street.

“No Dalit trusts the BJP or its leaders because since the time they formed the government in UP, the attacks against Dalits have increased substantially. It started with the brutal attacks on innocent Dalits in Saharanpur, where their entire livelihood and savings were burnt by the dominant Thakur community under the police watch. Then the attacks started taking place in every city. To show the true colours of the upper caste rule, statues of B.R. Ambedkar were repeatedly being attacked,” he said.

“It would be unfair to suggest that the recent wave of Dalit anger was only due to the SC ruling. The anger was not only against the apex court, but against a system which refuses to acknowledge the atrocities on the Dalits. Actually, Dalits have been feeling aggrieved and discriminated against by the BJP since the time the government started denying justice to the Dalits,” added Dr Prakash who also took part in a dharna, in Meerut.

“Look, for instance, a Dalit leader like Chandrashekhar was illegally being detained under the National Security Act, only because he is a Dalit and he has the potential to fight for Dalits. How many leaders of Karni Sena and upper caste groups went to jail after threatening to kill people?” he questioned.