Opinion Firing on Chandrashekhar Azad: An attack on Dalit resistance
It should be unequivocally condemned by all political parties. It’s time we encourage next-generation leaders to achieve the dream of an equal and inclusive India
Azad’s resistance against caste discrimination and his demand for equality and dignity have upset many fringe conservative groups, as is evident from the recent heinous attack on him near Deoband in UP. (File Photo)
The Hindi film Article 15, based on the 2014 incident of sexual assault and death of two teenage Dalit girls in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, portrayed an activist and a revolutionary, Nishad. He seemed to resemble Chandrashekhar Azad, the real-life hero of the anti-caste movement in today’s India. Like Azad, the character in the film wraps a blue scarf around his neck, sports a long moustache, faces the NSA, and fights for a just society against the grim realities of caste. When he is arrested, Nishad recalls Rohit Vemula’s words, “My birth is my fatal accident,” echoing the agony that anti-caste activists like Chandrashekhar Azad experience, and fight against, every day.
Azad’s resistance against caste discrimination and his demand for equality and dignity have upset many fringe conservative groups, as is evident from the recent heinous attack on him near Deoband in UP. He was shot at multiple times and one of the bullets hit his waist, causing serious injury. There was no widespread condemnation of the incident other than by the Samajwadi Party and DMK.
Azad emerged as a prominent leader at the national level when caste violence broke out in Saharanpur in UP, about six years ago. The BSP did not effectively take up the cause of the state’s Dalits when caste atrocities against them were on the rise. Azad’s Bhim Army started paathshalas — most of them in western UP — to provide free education to children from marginalised communities, who faced discrimination in classrooms and schools run by upper castes. Azad and his organisation emerged as a beacon of hope for Dalits, especially the youth, when the state administration could not guarantee them protection from caste violence.
Azad led the agitation against the Supreme Court order of 2018 that diluted the SC and ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. He was also at the forefront of the agitation against the demolition of the Ravidas Temple in Delhi’s Tughlaqabad in 2019. The Bhim Army leader holding the Constitution of India at the Jama Masjid in Delhi was one of the powerful images from the protests against the CAA and NRC. One of the striking features of these protests was that thousands were seen upholding the portrait of B R Ambedkar. Posters depicting Azad appeared in Delhi’s Jamia Milia Islamia where students protested against the highhandedness of government and police administration.
Azad also reached out to the farmers agitating against the farm laws in 2020-21. His massive rally at Reshimbagh near the RSS headquarters in Nagpur in 2020 attracted attention because Azad demanded a ban on RSS. Azad was also a major presence in the protests against the brutal sexual assault that claimed the life of a Dalit girl at Hathras in 2020. Despite the state administration’s best efforts at preventing him from visiting the deceased’s family, Azad reached the site on a bicycle. Global recognition for his movement came with Time magazine describing him as one of the 100 emerging leaders in the world in 2021.
Azad’s movement for equal social rights became even more political after he founded the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) in March 2020. The party believes in the independent political assertion of Dalit Bahujan communities and increasing their representation in state legislatures and Parliament. Though the ASP’s electoral performance has not been very impressive so far, it could become a significant factor in the state’s politics especially because it has shown an inclination to associate with the principal opposition force in UP, the Samajwadi Party. The poor electoral performance of the BSP in recent times has provided Azad with an opportunity to become the face of the Dalit movement. Azad’s popularity amongst the youth can help fill a vacuum that the decline of the BSP has created. He has become synonymous with the resistance of not just Dalits but he is also a champion of the rights of Dalits, students, farmers and all those at the receiving end of social injustice and government high-handedness. An attack on him is like striking at the core of Dalit resistance and dignity. It should be unequivocally condemned by all political parties. It’s time we encourage next-generation leaders in Azad to achieve the dream of an equal and inclusive India.
The writer teaches Political Science at the University of Allahabad
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