Bhima Koregaon: Dalit Assertion Is Only Getting Stronger A Year After The Violence // Bhim Army Chief Detained Ahead Of Bhima Koregaon Anniversary

By Dilip -
On January 1, 2018, Anjana Gaikwad, a 26-year-old Dalit activist from Pimpri Chinchvad town in Pune, was heading towards the Bhima Koregaon Vijay Stambh (victory column) on the outskirts of the city with her younger brother, Santosh Shinde. Gaikwad and Shinde had planned to join the thousands of Dalits from across Maharashtra who had gathered in Bhima Koregaon to pay tribute to the Dalit soldiers who, as a part of a British army, defeated a Peshwa army in 1818 despite being outnumbered. 2018’s commemoration was to mark the 200th anniversary of the victory.

Violence in Maharashtra as Dalits protest death of 28-year-old in Bhima Koregaon clashes
Why lakhs of Indians celebrate the British victory over the Maratha Peshwas every New Year
Anand Teltumbde: The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend

But when the siblings’ bike reached Sanaswadi, a village near Bhima Koregaon, Gaikwad saw a violent mob furiously pelting stones at anyone wearing white clothes or carrying the blue flags associated with the Dalit movement. “They had hidden their faces with scarves, were carrying bottles and stones and came aggressively at us as we reached Sanaswadi. We left our bike and took shelter in a nearby house. Not a single shop was opened. The atmosphere was tense and that of a complete shutdown,” recalled Gaikwad, who runs a social group to help poor students in Pimpri Chinchwad. “After some time, the local resident who had given us shelter asked us to leave. When we came out, furious stone pelting was going on and vehicles were being torched by a mob carrying saffron flags. At that moment I thought we would not return home alive,” she said.
Gaikwad and her brother were lucky to have escaped the mob which attacked Dalits in the Perne, Sanaswadi and Bhima Koregaon villages, which are controlled by the Marathas, a dominant caste. 28-year-old Rahul Fatangade of Sanaswadi wasn’t as lucky - he was killed by a mob, allegedly made of Dalits angered over the stone pelting, when he stepped out to buy a tap, wearing a T-shirt with Shivaji’s image. Dalit activist Rahul Dandale, who was present when the violence unfolded, said that over 100 people, mostly Dalits, suffered serious injuries in the stone pelting and had to be hospitalized. “Over 800 people were injured and over 200 vehicles were torched by the mob carrying saffron flags. This riot did not stop on January 1. On January 2, many houses of Dalits in Bhima Koregaon were burnt. They targeted especially those who had helped provide shelter and food to the Dalits gathered on the 200th anniversary of Bhima Koregaon battle” … read more:
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/bhima-koregaon-dalit-assertion-is-only-getting-stronger-a-year-after-the-violence_in_5c290f2be4b0407e9083c287?utm_hp_ref=in-homepage

Bhim Army Chief Detained Ahead Of Bhima Koregaon Anniversary
Ahead of the one year anniversary of the violence witnessed at the Bhima Koregaon war memorial in Pune district on 1 January 2018,  Pune police said it has taken preventive action against over 1,200 people to avoid repeat of the  incident. In Mumbai, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad and some of his followers were detained on Friday.  Azad, who is expected to be in Pune on 31 December and visit the memorial, was kept at Hotel Manali in Malad, with several police officers stationed outside his room,Indian Express reported. DCP Vinay Rathod was outside the main gate of the hotel, the daily said. On Saturday on Twitter, Azad posted photos from inside the hotel, showing police officials standing outside his room.

While police told the daily that a few of Azad’s supporters had been detained for obstructing traffic, an official told PTI that no activist, including Azad, had been detained. Every year on 1 January, thousands of Dalits gather in Bhima Koregaon, on the outskirts of Pune city, to mark the anniversary of a battle won by a British army, largely comprising Dalit soldiers, against an army of Peshwas in 1818. In 2018, the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the battle was marred by violence, carried out allegedly by Hindutva groups carrying saffron flags. 

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) accused the Maharashtra government of repression and said that its members had gone to meet Azad at Manali Hotel when the detention took place. Azad was held at the hotel under heavy police presence after being denied permission to hold a ‘Save the Constitution’ rally at Worli’s Jamboree Maidan, the CPI (M) statement said. It further alleged that hundreds of false cases had earlier been lodged against several Dalit and human rights activists. Meanwhile, NCP leader Jitendra Awhad Saturday tweeted that he met Azad at the hotel where he was allegedly detained. Awhad dubbed Azad’s “detention” as “murder” of the latter’s fundamental rights.
.. read more: 
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/bhim-army-chief-detained-ahead-of-bhima-koregaon-anniversary-pune-police-take-preventative-action-against-1200_in_5c2843cfe4b0407e90834763?utm_hp_ref=in-homepage

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