‘Attack’ on Dalits at Buddha Katha event exposes caste fault lines in Kanpur village

The arrested persons were identified as Chandrabhan Mishra (35), Shivam Mishra (25), Jeetu Mishra (25), Arun Kumar (45), Ashu (38), and Vishambhar (48). All the arrested persons belong to Paheva village.

Pankaj Sonkar (21), who was also asleep at the time and managed to escape, told The Indian Express, “It was around 2 am. Three of us were asleep in a tent that night. They [suspects] were in a group of at least 15 people. First, they disconnected the electricity. They beat us up severely with rods. To save myself, I ran.” While the katha was restarted on Wednesday and the vandalised statue replaced, the faultlines between the Dalits and Brahmins in the village still run deep. The Dalit community, which constitutes a majority in the village, claim that the “Brahmins want to keep us under their foot” and “do not want the katha to be held as it exposes them”.

Ram Sagar said, “The Brahmins of the village don’t want us to be visible. They want to keep us under their foot… But why should we be scared of them? As long as we are invisible, it is fine. But we will not be intimidated by them and will continue to hold such kathas every year.” “Through the katha, we are making our people aware of the Constitution and about people from the community such as Dr Ambedkar and Sant Ravidas. What is their problem with this?” asked Ram Sagar. Sagar filed a police complaint over the “attack” at the venue.

At the venue on Friday, 50-100 people from the Dalit and OBC communities were seen sitting under a tent and listening to speeches on Dr B R Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, Jyotirao Phule and other Dalit icons.

The Brahmin community say that the katha attempts to “humiliate” the Hindu religion and Brahmins. Sunil Kumar Mishra (58), whose son Chandrabhan is among the six arrested persons, says  the Brahmin community raised objections to the Buddha Katha because it “humiliates Hindu Gods and Goddesses.” Mishra also claimed that his son was not present in the village at the time of the alleged attack.

Police said efforts are being made to ensure that the relations between the two communities return to normal. Kanpur Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ghatampur) Dinesh Shukla said, “Our action has been swift. After we received a complaint from the Dalit community, a case was registered and six people were arrested…”