Near RSS function in Nagpur, a Dalit event stands in contrast

Bhagwat praised the government for enhancing India’s glory with surgical strikes across the LoC. Many of the Dalits this reporter spoke to, on the other hand, said they had not heard of the strikes. All they asked for, they said, was a place to live, a job, and some respect. They raised slogans and staged plays about the discrimination they faced.

It was clearly a political gathering, if an unorganised one. It had hoardings of Dalit parties, small outfits and leaders including BSP and Mayawati, RPI (A) and Ramdas Athawale, but was without a leader to steer the proceedings. Participants come a day or two in advance and spend nights on the ground or footpaths. They have been getting free food at stalls set up by Nagpur’s Dalits.

“I come here every year. I don’t know why, maybe I get peace here,” said Maske Kishor, a mason from Adilabad, Telangana, who has not heard of Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad.

At midnight, the stalls of books and Dalit mementos were still full of visitors. Kiran Gaikwad stood in a long, hungry queue at a stall distributing plain rice on a leaf. He came from Parbhani in Maharashtra with wife Sunita, 32, who sings Dalit songs at functions. “Songs of Ambedkar, Rama Bai (his wife), Jyotiba Phule,” said Sunita, who wore beads of Ambedkar around her neck. The Gaikwads had vaguely heard about the RSS.

Dalits who knew about the RSS dismissed its views. “Why do they want to include us among Hindus? Babasaheb left Hinduism. Our caste certificate mentions Buddhism as our religion,” said Prashant Ramteke, who runs school vans in Nagpur.

About the recent Maratha rallies, he said, “The entire Maratha community is protesting after the rape of their girl, which they should, for it was bad. But what about the rapes and assaults on Dalit women?”

Rajnikant Ramteke, 32, working at a bank in Nagpur, took part in a band that took out a rally to the Ambedkar memorial. “I always got a scholarship in school and college. Others taunted me that it was because I am an SC. There’s a constitutional provision for us. Why do you scorn us?” he said.

At 1.30 am, the crowd was still pouring into the ground.

Those from outside Nagpur said they hadn’t bought a rail ticket. Some claimed the railways had exempted those travelling to and from Nagpur for five days with Vijaya Dashami in the middle. But one youth said, “It’s just the power of Dalits. Who’d ask for a ticket from us?”

Prashant Ramteke claimed the Dalit event has been a counter-narrative to the RSS event for six decades. The RSS dismissed this notion.

RSS ideologue MG Vaidya, who joined the Sangh in the early 1930s, mentioned Article 25 of the Constitution that says the Hindus include Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists. “Ambedkar drafted the Constitution. He also drafted the Hindu Code Bill, in which Buddhists are among Hindus,” said Vaidya, now in his 93rd year. He said the RSS is working to bring Dalits into its fold.

Dalits have their own explanation for Ambedkar embracing Buddhism on Vijaya Dashami. “It’s actually Ashoka Vijaya Dashami. On this day King Ashoka gave up weapons and embraced Buddhism after he got disillusioned following the Kalinga victory,” said Prashant Ramteke.