Protest call by Bhim army: Travelling by road and rail, thousands turn up at Dalit rally to protest Saharanpur violence

Khurrana, who was released on bail just two days ago, said the incident infuriated him so much that he decided to attend the protest. “I went to the railway station on Saturday night, but was told there is no train to Delhi… So I borrowed a friend’s car and reached the capital.” In front of the stage, a headmaster from Mathura, K L Mehra, and his wife seemed highly impressed with Chandrashekhar’s speech and enthusiastically shouted “Jai Bhim” every time he spoke about the “casteist society”.

Also read: Saharanpur violence: On the run, Bhim Army chief appears at Jantar Mantar, says will surrender 

They said they had not heard of the Bhim Army before the audio messages asking people to gather in the capital for the protest started doing the rounds. The couple travelled three hours by bus to reach the venue. “Before entering Delhi, I hid all my belongings. I had got prior information that some buses were being stopped at the border. Police checked our bus once, but did not find anything,” Mehra said.

The couple were not the only ones who travelled miles for the protest. Hundreds had travelled from far-flung villages and towns in buses, cars and trains. As the protest continued, Umesh Gautam, 30, sat on a carpet near the stage, resting his plastered right leg. Gautam was protesting for a fair probe into the May 5 incident, when police began lathi-charging the crowd to control them. To evade the beating, he tried to jump a wall and twisted his ankle in the process. He had, however, decided that he would turn up at the protest “at any cost”. “How long do we have to keep tolerating the atrocities against Dalits? We build your (upper castes) houses, work in your fields. Then you snatch our homes along with our rights?” he said.

Also read: From one paathshala to 350, Bhim Army’s journey so far

Although there were very few women supporters at the rally at Jantar Mantar, three stood out in the crowd — Usha, Kusum and Saroj said they left their husbands behind in Saharanpur to join the protest. Disappointed that not many women had come for the rally, Kusum said: “What is the use if we can’t even stand up for our cause? We told our husbands that we needed to be in the capital to show our solidarity and rushed here.”

Bhim army went door-to-door to mobilise people 

Despite the top leadership of the Bhim Army being on the run from police since May 9, members of the organisation managed to mobilise over 20,000 people to turn up for the rally protesting atrocities against Dalits in the capital on Sunday.

As people from across western UP poured in at Jantar Mantar, Kamal Waliya, a member of the Bhim Army from Nakud constituency, said, “We formed groups and went to each village in Saharanpur to make people aware of the event,” said. He added that social media too played a big role in the mobilisation. “We sent messages on WhatsApp groups and circulated Chandrashekhar’s audio message requesting people to turn up for the rally,” he said.

Of the several villages that The Indian Express had visited after the violence in the area, protesters said that at least 10 people from each of the villages turned up for the rally.