[Reader-list] Dalit Uprising and After-

[Asit Das]

 Dalit Uprising and After- Why Hindutva Would Not Be The Same Again
- Subhash Gatade
*When I was born I was not a child*
*I was a dream, a dream of revolt*
*that my mother, oppressed for thousands of years,*
*dreamt.*
*Still it is untouched in my eyes*
*Covered with wrinkles of thousand years, her face*
*her eyes, two lakes overflowing with tears*
*have watered my body…..*
*– Sahil Parmar**
 *Well known Gujarati poet Sahil Parmar’s poem ‘When I Was Born’ perhaps
reverberates these days in Gujarat when we are witnessing a Dalit Upsurge-
a first of its kind at least in that regions history. It will be a talk of
folklore for times to come how flogging of dalits in a village in
Saurashtra by Hindutva fanatics suddenly erupted into a mass movement of
dalits which could catch imagination of the people cutting across different
sections of society. An attempt is being made here to understand the
dynamics of the movement and its likely impact on the future trajectory of
Hindutva.*
<https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aDydx55i5zs/V77lPF1NzLI/AAAAAAAACXg/ac71OcJ_FCgWhcI6U372WuNQZVeXHJGtwCLcB/s1600/Una04.jpg>
Courtesy: newsclick.in
* I*
*Love Cows, Hate Human Beings ?*
There are moments in the trajectory of any authoritarian/fascist/rightwing
project where one of its closely guarded secrets suddenly tumbles out in
the open and then it becomes difficult for it to fix it. The Hindutva
brigade today finds itself in a similar situation – thanks to the dalit
upsurge in Gujarat which is still unfolding before our eyes.
The historic march to Una town of Saurashtra region- under the banner of *Una
Atyachar Ladat Samiti* might be over ; thousands and thousands of dalits
who had gathered there from different parts of the state and outside might
have returned home but their resolve not to undertake the despicable caste
practice of manual scavenging and disposing of cattle carcasses still
reverberates all over the state. And their demand before the state
government that within next one month – by 15 th of September – it starts
distributing five acres of land to each rural dalit family for
rehabilitation is reaching far and wide and gathering fresh support.
None from the Hindutva fraternity had ever imagined that in their so called
‘model state’  itself , they would be faced with such a challenge which
would put their carefully crafted pan Hindu social coalition to test. It
was  beyond their comprehension that dalits – the most downtrodden section
in the *Varna* hierarchy – who had been slowly roped in down the years in
the Hindutva politics and a section amongst them had also become a party to
the anti-minority violence in 2002, would one fine morning turn their backs
on them and would readily join hands with the ‘other’ demanding a life of
human dignity and putting in jeopardy the very *raison detre* of the
project.
And as can be expected in such a situation, they literally floundered when
they were asked to react to this  uprising.  The multiple voices which
emerged from the broader ‘Parivar’ were an indication of their confusion.
No doubt talking in multiple tongues has always been part of their overall
strategy but this time it also demonstrated  disorientation in their own
ranks.  The moot question became whether to uphold the perpetrators – who
were following the script – or support the victims. And thus one found the
Prime Minister exposing majority of the cow vigilantes as being anti social
elements and asking the home department to prepare a dossier about them and
another significant leader of the same ‘family’ denouncing such
characterisation as being ‘anti-Hindu’. The confusion was understandable.
In fact, it was for the first time in recent times that Hindutva
Supremacists are discovering that the more they push one of their key
agenda centering around cow politics – which has served them well till date
– the more there is possibility that their dream of Hindu Unity would see
further fissures.  ( Vidya Subrahmaniam describes it as ‘A reverse Ram
Mandir Moment’ in her article on present situation in
UP.http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/its-mayawati-versus-modi-in-up/article9022511.ece?
ref=topnavwidget&utm_source=topnavdd&utm_medium=topnavdropdownwidget&utm_campaign=topnavdropdown
<http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/its-mayawati-versus-modi-in-up/article9022511.ece?ref=topnavwidget&utm_source=topnavdd&utm_medium=topnavdropdownwidget&utm_campaign=topnavdropdown>)
Apart from Dalits, who have come under increasing attack at the hands of
overzealous ‘cow protectors’ and are slowly turning against the ‘Parivar’
itself , large section of peasant population is peeved over the fact that
politics around cow has  made their life miserable as they are not able to
do away with cattles who have become old or have stopped producing milk.
One of the couplets by Saint Tulsidas captures Hindutva’s plight
beautifully ‘*Bhayal Gati Saap Chachunder Jaisi..*‘.
*II*
*“Rashtravadi toh hamare saath hain, humein Dalit aur pichchde ko saath
lana hai.”*
Everybody knows that there was nothing ‘unusual’ – as far as depradations
unleashed by Hindutva fanatics under the name of cow protection were
concerned – about what happened to dalits from Mota Samadhiyala village
when they were skinning a dead cow.
One can recollect that such attacks were common even in those days when BJP
did not have majority of its own at the centre. A classic example has been
killing of five dalits in Dulina (Jhajjar ) – hardly fifty kilometres away
from the national capital – who were similarly skinning dead cows, by a cow
vigilante mob (2003) before Dulina police station itself with leading
officers of the police and administration remaining mute witnesses. A
leading Hindutva leader ( dead sometime back) even ‘justified’ the killings
by citing reference to ancient Hindu sciptures claiming that in ‘Puranas
cows were more valued than human beings’. The killings definitely led to an
outrage, there were few symbolic arrests as well but the commotion died
down soon and in fact the perpetrators of this massacre were decorated as
‘cow protectors’.
In fact, most such earlier attacks in recent times had been rather more
brutal. To name a few, lynching of two young men near Latehar after their
brutal torture near Latehar, Jharkhand by cow vigilantes ; killing an
adolescent near Udhampur who was sleeping in truck by throwing petrol bomb
under the suspicion that the truck was carrying beef ; near riot like
situation which emerged in Palwal, Haryana because of cow vigilantes attack
on a truck carrying meat or the way two transporters were fed cow dung
laced with urine when they were found transporting cattles for sale near
Gurgaon. Scan the internet to watch the ‘valour’ of these fanatics and you
will find scores of such criminal attacks on innocents. Videos after videos
are available which show how these self proclaimed cow protectors
brutalised people for carrying cows from one place to other or because of
suspicion that they were carrying beef and how their has been no action
against them from the law and order people.
But thrashing of Dalits from Mota Samadhiyala village by cow vigilantes,
uploading the video of their ‘valour’ on social media has proved to be a
turning point.
Anybody can see that the Dalit Uprising which the Una incident has
triggered has inadvertently or so unearthed the ‘well guarded secret’
behind this exclucivist project – where it is clear even to a layperson now
that for Hindutva, dalits or other marginalised are lesser human beings or
the ‘other’, whatever might be its claims about the great *samrasta* it
upholds. There is a growing realisation that the formal posturing of
Hindutva politics, where it is presented /understood in the form of
religious imaginaries where ‘minorities- may be Muslim or Christian – are
portrayed as the ‘other’ is one thing but essentially the whole idea of
Hindu Rashtra is an attempt to further legitimise the Brahminical project
of hegemonising and homogenising of Indian society where secondary position
of Dalits has received religious sanction also. An inkling of how they view
Dalits and the backwards – when they are talking among themselves – can be
had from the recent comments by PM Modi when he spoke at length at a
meeting which was attended by 400 top leaders of the BJP, at the end of
the15 day patriotism drive. Newspaper reports tell us that he called on his
party to continue playing Nationalism card which is ‘central to the BJP’s
ideology.’ Perhaps the most telling comment made by him was the following :
“*Rashtravadi toh hamare saath hain, humein Dalit aur pichchde ko saath
lana hai.*” The nationalists are with us, we need to bring Dalits and
backward groups.” (
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/nationalists-are-with-us-lets-reach-out-to-dalits-backwards-pm-modi-to-party-2993281/
)
Was it just slip of tongue or an admission of the truth that for Hindutva
non-backwards, non-dalits i.e. upper castes have sole claim over nation and
dalits as well as backwards to be outside its purview who need to be
brought closer. (
http://scroll.in/article/814769/the-daily-fix-what-did-modi-mean-when-he-said-there-is-a-chasm-between-dalits-and-nationalists
)
Perhaps a marker of their continuing indifference or disdain towards the
plight of the dalits ( forget those bollywood type dialogues where it was
declared that ‘Shoot Me but Do Not Shoot My Dalit Brothers’) could also be
gauged from the fact that when the Dalit Upsurge was at its peak in the
state, the provocative statement by one of their own MLAs from Telangana
who ‘justified’ the beatings and uploaded a video on facebook did not
prompt them to take any action. His words were “*Jo Dalit gaye ke maas ko
le ja raha tha, jo uski pitai hui hai, woh bohut hi achhi hui hai* [Those
Dalits who were taking the cow, the cow meat, those who were beaten, it was
a very good thing to happen],”(
http://scroll.in/latest/812903/anyone-who-kills-cows-deserves-to-be-beaten-says-bjp-mla-raja-singh
).

*III.*
*Unpacking the Gujarat Model !*
Recently Jignesh Mewani, convener of the ‘Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti’
which is spearheading this upsurge was in the capital to communicate the
message of the movement to a broader audience and also garner support for
the *Rail Roko*programme organised by the front from 15 th Septemember.  He
underlined the resolve of the dalits that they are firm in their decision
not to clean up other people’s dirt, nor to lift carcasses of dead cattles.
He told the audience how twenty thousand dalits had gathered in their rally
in Ahmedabad and have taken a oath not to undertake any such profession
which they have been condemned to do because of *Varna* hierarchy and are
further stigmatised because of that. In a tongue in cheek comment he added
“We (Dalits) are not going to clean up people’s dirt any more. Modiji, now
you are welcome to experience the spirituality that is supposed to be there
in scavenging.”
(
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160821/jsp/frontpage/story_103638.jsp#.V74anPl97IU
)
Jignesh – who is an advocate and an activist – was referring to Karmayog, a
collection of Modi’s speeches to trainee IAS officers, brought out by a
Gujarat PSU, in which he had said that scavenging was an “experience in
spirituality” for the Valmikis (a sub-caste of Dalits). (See :
https://kafila.org/2014/02/12/modi-and-the-art-of-disappearing-of-untouchability/
)
Explaining the genesis of the movement and why the flogging incident of
Dalits by self proclaimed cow vigilantes affiliated to a Hindutva
organisation triggered the uprising he shared details of the lives of
deprivation and discrimination and atrocities faced by Dalits under the
much talked about Gujarat Model. According to him

   - there are yearly thousands of cases of atrocities against Dalits every
   year
   - atrocities continued to rise during Mr Modi’s chief ministership which
   lasted for 13 years
   - there are more than 55,000 dalits who are still engaged in the work of
   scavenging
   - 1 lakh sanitation workers who are still not getting minimum wages
   - dalits in 119 villages in Gujarat are living under police protection
   - rate of conviction in cases of Dalit atrocities is merely three per
   cent.

According to him glaring example of denial of justice to Dalits has been
the killing of three Dalits by the police with ‘AK 47 rifles as if they
were terrorists’ in Thangarh in Gujarat in the year 2012 and despite the
fact that more than a lakh Dalits demonstrated against these killings there
was no action by the government against the accused police personnel.( As
we go to the press one hears that Gujarat government has announced an SIT
to look into the killings and has also raised compensation for affected
families).
When someone in the audience posed a question about availability of land in
the state, Jignesh shared figures about availability of land under various
schemes and how dominant castes/classes have been in actual possession of
such land meant for the exploited and the marginalised. According to him
thousands of acres of land with the state which the it got during *Bhudan
aandolan* has also not been distributed. He also shared lesser known
provision about SC-ST sub plan which talks about ‘purchase of land for its
distribution to the landless’ in case of its unavailability. His simple
poser which struck a deep chord with the audience was that ‘if under the
name of Development the state can allocate thousands of acres of land at
throwaway prices to the Ambanis, Adanis and the Tatas why dalits should be
denied their rightful due.’ He also explained how the recent changes
undertaken by the state government under the land acquisition act have many
‘draconian’ provisions inherent in it where the ‘consent’ clause has been
deleted – means if the government wishes to hand over land to the
corporates for ‘development’ work, then it can simply take over the
peasant’s land supposedly for ‘public goods’, offer some symbolic
compensation and need not seek her/his consent.
To the poser that if Dalits leave their ‘traditional profession’ which
grants them some sort of ‘economic security’ he quoted Ambedkar who had
asked his followers during the historic Mahad Satyagrah (1927) that they
should get ready to ‘die of hunger’ to live a life of dignity but should
never undertake such stigmatised professions.

*Gujarat Model: Dalit, tribal, OBC landless denied surplus land, Patels
“received” 12 lakh acres*
Fresh facts have come to light suggesting that, in Gujarat, there has been
extremely questionable progress in the allocation of surplus land to the
landless, acquired from big landlords under the Gujarat Agricultural Land
Ceiling Act, 1960. Based on RTI applications, the district registrar of
land records, Junagadh, has admitted that out of 11 of 16 villages for
which information was sought, “no survey of surplus land has taken place”
for the last 24 years, hence there was no allocation.
In another instance, in Navsari district, Gujarat government declared that
between 2006 and 2008, while Modi ruled the state, it had “allocated” land
to 7,542 landless beneficiaries, but a year later, it admitted the land
titles were yet to be given to 3,616 beneficiaries. “However, now, on the
basis of an RTI reply, we know that things have not changed even in 2015.
In an article published in “Dalit Adhikar”, a Gujarati periodical, Jignesh
Mewani says, “Information with us suggests that the Gujarat government, in
all, acquired 163,808 acres land under the Gujarat Agricultural Land
Ceiling Act, 1960, and we feel most of it has been allocated to the
landless only on paper. The landless, mainly Dalits, tribals and belonging
to the other backward classes (OBCs), haven’t yet got actual possession of
land.”
Mewani says, “Chief beneficiaries of the land-to-the-tiller policy have
been upper caste Patels. About 55,000 Patels were allocated 12 lakh acres
of land declared, mainly in Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat. But as
for Dalit landless agriculturists, they have received not even 12 inches of
land. Only a very small section, which is very close to the powers-that-be,
has gained.”
According to Mewani, “Let us give  a sample of the Gujarat government’s
good governance: We made in all 65 RTI applications between 2011 and 2015
to find out facts about allocation of just 6,500 acres of land in different
villages. Yet, officials are refusing to give copies of land titles which
may show that land has been actually handed to the beneficiaries.”
Associated with Jan Sangharsh Manch, a Gujarat-based human rights
organisation, Mewani says, “Of the 163,808 acres of surplus land, 70,000
acres of land is under dispute with the revenue tribunal, Gujarat High
Court and the Supreme Court. While this land may not be allocated, there is
a need to answer as to why the rest of the land, too, remains unallocated.”
In fact, says Mewani, there are 15,519 acres of surplus land, on which
there is “no dispute” at all, yet the Gujarat government is “refusing to
act,” ..
(
http://www.milligazette.com/news/13251-gujarat-model-dalit-tribal-obc-landless-denied-surplus-land-patels-received-12-lakh-acres
)
Jignesh’s claims about continuous denial of justice to Dalits or the great
hiatus which exists between claims by the government and the actual
situation on the ground is a fact which even earlier reports by NHRC have
admitted.A cursory glance at its 2009 report had declared that Gujarat
accounted for 3,813 complaints of human rights violation of the total of
94,559 cases from across the country, which was less than only Uttar
Pradesh and Delhi. (Indian Express, 20 th March 2009).
A 23 page confidential report submitted by the state Social Justice
Department to the State Chief Secretary and legal departments provides
glaring examples of ‘mishandling of cases registered under Prevention of
Atrocities Act against SC/ST. (Express, Sep 15, 2006). The rate of of
conviction of cases under the Prevention of Atrocity Act against SC/ST in
Gujarat  is mere 2.5 per cent while rate of acquittal is 97.5 per cent.
The report provides details of how cases are not investigated properly by
the police and the hostile role played by public prosecutors during time of
trials.
– Act clearly stipulates that offence which are registered under this act
cannot be investigated by an officer below the rank of DySP but more than
4,000 such cases have been investigated by Police Inspector or Police Sub
Inspector.
– Acquittal of the perpetrator because victim not identified as member of
SC or ST community. Reason, not attaching caste certificate of the victim
with the case papers
– Public prosecutors false claims before the courts that act has been
modified by the state government altough it is known that it is a central
act
– Granting of anticipatory bails although there is no such provision in the
act. Interestingly the Parliamentary Committee on SC and ST affairs had
also expressed concern over such anticipatory bails granted ‘in atrocity
cases in the state of Gujarat’.
In fact a detailed and systematic study of 400 judgements done by Vajibhai
Patel, Secretary of Council for Social Justice (March  2005, Year 11,
No.106,http://www.sabrang.com) had compelled the government to work on this
23 page report. It tells us that utterly negligent police investigation at
both the higher and lower levels coupled with a distinctly hostile role
played by the public prosecutors is the main reason for the collapse of
cases filed under the atrocities act. It is worth noting that he has
meticulously documented these judgements delivered under this act since
April 1, 1995 in the Special Atrocity Courts set up in 16 districts of the
state. The study also blasts the common perception is that the inefficacy
of this law is due to false complaints being lodged or compromises between
the parties, in actuality it is a complicit State that has rendered the Act
toothless.
*IV.*
*‘Keep Cow’s Tail With You, And Give Us Our Land’*
..on March 20, 1927, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar led the Mahad satyagraha – for
drinking water from the Chavdar tank at Mahad.  This was the “foundational
struggle” of the dalit movement, a movement for water – and for caste
annihilation.
In his statement at the time, Dr. Ambedkar put the movement in the broadest
possible context.  Why do we fight, he asked.  It is not simply for
drinking water; drinking the water will not give us very much.  It is not
even a matter of only of our human rights, though we fight to establish the
right to drink water.  But our goal is no less than that of the French
Revolution.  ..
And so dalits went to drink the water at Mahad.  They were met with
ferocious repression: at attack by caste Hindus followed.  The dalits
retreated, came back several months later on December 25 for a renewed
struggle, and since the collector had given an injunction against any
further  attempt, Ambedkar decided to honor this and instead burned the
Manusmriti.  A fitting climax to the first battle of dalit liberation!
(https://seekingbegumpura.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/the-mahad-satyagraha/)
Dalit Uprising in Gujarat and the manner in which it has rattled the state
government and has severly impacted the BJP’s well laid out plans to
consolidate its support base among Dalits has been a whiff of fresh air for
every peace and justice loving person in this part of Asia.
What has caught imagination of the people is the key slogan of the movement
which says ‘Keep Cow’s Tail With You, And Give Us Our Land’. It is a single
slogan which encapsulates question of caste discrimination as well as
communalism and puts forward a positive demand to fight material
deprivation – which has been an integral part of the sanctified hierarchy
of caste.
The emphasis of the movement that Dalits leave the ‘stigmatised
professions’ – which has condemned them to be the lowest position on
*Varna*/Caste
hierarchy – and wholehearted participation of thousands and thousands of
Dalits in it , the militancy it has added to the Dalit movement has broken
a new ground in the dalit movement.
No doubt that there was lot of spontaniety in the movement but the way it
moved ahead and has added new edge to dalit assertion could not have been
imagined without the young leadership which took charge. Their inclusive
approach also helped them rope in activists of other organisations or
attract many such people who are opposed to or uncomfortable with Hindutva
politics on a common agenda of . Inclusiveness of the movement was also
evident in the fact that Muslims – who have been put in very miserable
condition post 2002 carnage – also joined the*Azaadi Kooch* to Una. Many
welcomed it on the way in large numbers and also travelled to Una in their
hundreds for the 15 th August independence day rally held there.
A less discussed aspect of this upsurge is the fact that dalits are merely
seven per cent of the state’s population and have not had a long history of
militant movement but despite these limitations the impact of the movement
has been phenomenal. Not only it compelled the BJP to change its Chief
Minister for mishandling the movement but it also disturbed its dalits
outreach plans elsewhere.
Remember barring the historic struggle led by Dadasaheb Gaikwad – a close
Comrade of Dr Ambedkar – in late 50s in Maharashtra where issue of land was
highlighted, rare have been the occasions in post independence times that
issue of material deprivation of dalits was creately integrated with
socio-cultural discrimination and political marginaliation.Una has changed
the picture. It has also raised many unheard of slogans in the dalit
movement. ‘Dalits of the World Unite’, ‘Workers of the World Unite’ or ‘Jai
Bhim’, ‘Lal Salam’ and Jai Savitribai’. (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jqgA75o5PE)
Analysts have rightly put it that dalit movement in recent times has
largely remained limited/focussed on what can be called issue of
‘Identity/Asmita’ but Una marks a new beginning where issue of
‘existence/astitva’ has also come to the fore. Possibly gone are the days
when ‘victimhood’ was highlighted or rhetoric of ‘Brahminism down-down’ was
repeated ad nauseum and a careful silence was maintained about economic
issues. As a revolutionary activist shared in his email ‘[a]n important
thing to note is that the Una Struggle can also be seen as part of a
continuum where social movements connects itself with anti-systemic
struggles.’
Definitely the Una struggle which has sent shivers down the spine of the
Hindutva Supremacists cannot be seen in isolation. It is rather a
continuation of growing dalit assertion against Hindutva depradations
especially after the ascendance of Modi led regime at the centre. The
realisation has slowly sunk in that not only it wants to attack affirmative
action programmes but its economic policies – coupled with its regressive
sociocultural agenda – are bringing ruin to the dalits and other
marginalised sections of society. It is becoming more and more clear to
them that the people in power want a docile/pliable dalit polity which can
dance to their tunes. They want Ambedkar but not the real one but his
sanitised version. How much they are scared about real Ambedkar and his
ideas can be learnt from a decision of the Anandi Patel led government. It
literally dumped four lakh copies of Ambedkar’s biography which it had
printed for massive distribution as the author of the book had also
included 22 vows which Ambedkar recited with his followers at the time of
conversion to Buddhism.
And this realisation has given rise to a tremendous reaction. Ranging from
the successful campaign against derecognition of Ambekdar Periyar Study
Circle active in Chennai IIT by the management (
https://kafila.org/2015/06/05/no-to-ambedkar-periyar-in-modern-day-agraharam/),
or countrywide movement – where students and youth were in the forefront –
after the ‘institutional murder of Rohith Vemula’ (
https://kafila.org/2016/01/22/long-live-the-legacy-of-comrade-vemula-rohith-chakravarthy-statement-by-new-socialist-initiative-nsi/),
or the massive mass mobilisation against demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan in
Mumbai by the BJP led government or the ‘Zameen Prapti Movement’ in Punjab
led by revolutionary left where Dalits have come together to form
collectives etc, one can easily see that such assertion is increasing in
its intensity and militancy.
..In Punjab, the share of the Dalits in the 1,58,000 acres of Panchayat
land is 52,667 acres. There are also legal entitlements for them in the
Nazool Lands. However, the actual possession of these lands has remained
with the landlords and rich peasants. As per the agricultural census
2010-11, the SCs in Punjab, who are a third of its population, owned just
6.02% of the land holdings and 3.2%of the land area of the state. Of these
operational holdings also a large proportion (nearly 85%) are said to be
unviable due to the small size of less than 5 hectares.
Since 2014, the Dalit peasantry organized under the banner of ZPSC (Zameen
Prapti Sangharsh Samiti) and holding its red flag with the blazing sun
firmly aloft, has begun to assert their claim over what is rightfully
theirs. These lands used to be auctioned to dummy candidates of landlords;
a gaushala in Sangrur district has been given land for 30years at the rate
of Rs 7000 an acre by the Akali-BJP Govt. of the state where as the price
for Dalits is over Rs 20,000an acre. This spreading struggle in districts
of South Punjab has been met with  police and landlord repression , false
FIRs against ‘unknowns’ but the struggle rages on like a spreading  blaze.
(
https://nbsdelhi.wordpress.com/2016/08/24/hail-the-assertion-by-landless-dalits-of-punjab-and-gujarat-of-their-right-to-land-land-to-the-tiller-key-to-annihilating-caste/
)
If the unexpected shift of a section of Dalit masses  – for various reasons
– towards BJP was an important factor in its ascent to power in the year
2014, this growing assertion of dalits is a proof that they cannot be
hoodwinked anymore. With the real agenda of these Hindutva Supremacists out
in the open – which is witnessed not only in its attacks on right to life
and right to livelihood of every exploited and marginalised section but
also in its hurry to co-opt Ambedkar but bulldoze every element of dalit
assertion – the battlelines have been finally drawn.
And the unfolding Dalit Uprising has added new lustre to it.