“They asked us where did we hide the Maoists. They took out the excess rice and curry, cooked for the morning, from the kitchen, and threw it outside. I swear upon my one-and-half-year-old granddaughter that nobody visited the place. But they didn’t…
“In some ways, maybe it was a good thing there was a fire. This is the first time in years anyone has paid attention to our needs. No one came to us before, not even during lockdown” When we went to ask for money, they refused to give us our wages and asked us to make do”, Badal said. Throughout this entire period, he says, not a single government representative has attempted to provide any help or relief.
The public hearing was completely organized by Dalit women and when realized that we can do all this by ourselves, why shouldn’t there be an independent Dalit women’s’ organization where our women have their own space; where they can talk openly; where they can decide independently for themselves.
What sangh has done is that they have established the temple/math as an independent institution. They are well aware that the poor people have great faith in the math. They have manipulated this faith factor.
The fruits of political path for Dalit Bahujans, set by Manyawar Kanshiram, have certainly been achieved to an extent. Having said that, it is also true that persecution of Dalits and Muslims in UP are on the headlines every now and then. Caste system, driven by Brahmanical social order, is still pervasive in most parts of UP and not all Dalit Bahujans are able to break out of its oppressive structures.
Our work used to only be cleaning work. We are now trying to change that completely, and that is going to take time. It could take 5 years, 10 years, 20 years or even 50 years, but things will change. If not today, then tomorrow. Maybe it wouldn’t happen in our lifetime, until we grow old and die, but in our children’s time.
Firstly, if it is possible we want our lands back in one month, then we want those (street) lights which are there in that village … We want water facilities as well. But we don’t have any of these facilities.
Land is very important to us. Land will give us food; our children can get educated; we can use it during marriages and other financial emergencies.
Communalism and terrorism are not two different things. Terror is just an aggravated/magnified form of it. The kind of investment made in communalism by fascist, hindutva forces, they believe that if they do terror politics, it will be more useful.
