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The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India – book review

The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India – book review

Counterfire / by Nandita Lal

The case of a group of writers and activists unjustly imprisoned in India starkly reveals the exploitative nature of Indian capitalism and its international connections, finds Nandita Lal
Alpa Shah’s The Incarcerations is an investigation into the imprisonment of the BK-16, a group of poets, lawyers, professors, and activists wrongfully incarcerated on the pretext of conspiring against the Indian state. Their stories unravel a vast web of transnational surveillance (including the Israeli spyware Pegasus), neoliberal repression through Financial Action Task Force mandates, the rise of Modi’s crony capitalism epitomised by the Adani empire, and ‘internal’ colonialism in Kashmir.
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▪ The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon And The Search For Democracy In India

Author: Alpa Shah
Publishing Date: March 2024
Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
Pages: 672
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▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Pages: 496
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▪ How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners

Authors: Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia
Publishing Date: Aug 2023
Publisher: Pluto Press
Pages: 247
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Alternative reading of Bhima Koregaon: A Maharashtra outfit is trying to advance Dalit cause from Hindutva orbit

Alternative reading of Bhima Koregaon: A Maharashtra outfit is trying to advance Dalit cause from Hindutva orbit

Booklet: “Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein” (Access PDF)

The Indian Express / by Vikas Pathak

While Dalit activism is generally understood as resistance to “Brahmanical Hinduism”, the Vivek Vichar Manch’s goal is to foster Hindu unity, something which is also a core ideological goal of the BJP and the Sangh
At a time when the Opposition, particularly the Congress, has made caste census, the representation of marginalised classes in structures of power, and their share in welfare benefits its key political planks, a recent initiative of Dalits subscribing to Hindutva and seeking to resolve caste faultlines is active in Maharashtra, with some support from the RSS and the BJP.
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Also read:
▪ Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence (The Polis Project / Feb 2025)
▪ On the trail of Sambhaji Bhide: Ahead of Bhima Koregaon riots’ 3rd anniversary, tracing the Hindutva leader’s rise (Firstpost / Dec 2020)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)
▪ Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati │ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
▪ Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 2018)
▪ The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)

Podcast: Alpa Shah on the Bima Koregaon case and India’s democratic decline

Podcast: Alpa Shah on the Bima Koregaon case and India’s democratic decline

Himal Southasian / by The Editors

The BK-16 case links India’s harmful neoliberal policies, state authorities abuse of laws, and the collapse of institutions, says the social anthropologist
… In this episode of State of Southasia, Shah speaks to Nayantara Narayanan about the work of the BK16 with indigenous communities and other minorities, their pushback against neoliberal policies and why they were seen as threats by the Indian state, and how and why they were implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case. The case shows a “very direct link between the kinds of interests of the state and corporate powers in accessing resources that lie under [Adivasi] lands and the fight for justice of those people who those lands belong to,” she says.


en | 47:09 min | 2025
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▪ The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon And The Search For Democracy In India
Author: Alpa Shah
Publishing Date: March 2024
Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
Pages: 672
Read more / order

Also read:
▪ The Feared – Conversations with Eleven Political Prisoners

Author: Neeta Kolhatkar
Publishing Date: Dec 2024
Publisher: S&S India
Pages: 272
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▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry: State opposes plea to have Sharad Pawar depose again

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry: State opposes plea to have Sharad Pawar depose again

Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Ambedkar’s plea an attempt at political sensationalisation: State
Special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray opposed an application filed by senior politician Prakash Ambedkar before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry to call NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar again, if required, to depose as a witness.
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Also read:
▪ Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence (The Polis Project / Feb 2025)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)
▪ Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
▪ India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)
▪ Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati │ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
▪ Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 2018)
▪ Saffron Conspiracy in Bhima Koregaon? – Fact finding report by Rashtra Seva Dal unearths insidious scheme to target Dalits (CJP / Jan 2018)

Bhima Koregaon and Dalits’ search for remedies rooted in dignity, not dominance

Bhima Koregaon and Dalits’ search for remedies rooted in dignity, not dominance

Frontline / by Tanvir Aeijaz

The book exposes the strategies of hate politics and violent populism and shows how democracy is being wrecked from within. 
Hannah Arendt’s canonical exhortation for the persecuted Jew that “…if one is attacked as a Jew, one must defend oneself as a Jew” finds resonance in the Dalit’s resistance against Brahminism and caste atrocities in India. Articulating the political contestation, imbued with the concept of social justice, Dalits look forward not to a continued endurance of historical, or even day-to-day, injustice but to pursue both normative and strategic vindication of their rights and dignity.
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Also read:
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Pages: 496
Challenging Caste reads the violence at Bhima Koregaon as a clash between two worldviews – one striving to flatten the social hierarchy, the other justifying and perpetuating it. This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative.
Read more/order
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry gets another extension till 31 May

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry gets another extension till 31 May

The Indian Express / by Chandan Shantaram Haygunde

It may be recalled that widespread violence took place in Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, during the 200th commemoration of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon
The Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry, which is probing into the causes of violence reported in Pune’s Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018.
An order in this regard was passed by Chetan Nikam, deputy secretary, home department, on Monday. As per this order, the commission has been granted an extension till May 31, 2025.
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Also read:
▪ Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence (The Polis Project / Feb 2025)
▪ Bhima Koregaon violence probe: Maharashtra govt grants inquiry panel 15th extension, till Nov 30 (The Indian Express / Aug 2024)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire / June 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence

Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence

Booklet: “Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein”

The Polis Project / by  Prashant Rahi and Mouli Sharma

That chopper hasn’t gotten used to me yet
Its wound hasn’t gone deep enough as yet

That’s the commoners’ clarion call we hear
Not a mindless mob of elite nincompoops

These two couplets from a singular Marathi ghazal might feel a bit prickly to some, but they can touch an indignant chord among the oppressed. The first of the two couplets is the refrain, while the “clarion call” in the second gives the composition its name: Elgar.
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Also read:
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire / June 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

Koregaon Bhima Commission: Lawyer calls Ambedkar’s letter ‘belated’ / Ex-Army Men Seek To Maintain Vijay Stambh

Koregaon Bhima Commission: Lawyer calls Ambedkar’s letter ‘belated’ / Ex-Army Men Seek To Maintain Vijay Stambh

Ex-Army Men Seek To Maintain Vijay Stambh

25/02/2025

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

The Mahars have a historical connection with this victory pillar.
An application filed on February 22, 2025 before the Bhima Koregaon Commission of Inquiry has put forward an interesting proposal. It asks the Commission to include in its recommendations that the supervision and upkeep of the victory pillar commemorating the battle of Bhima Koregaon be handed over to former soldiers of the Mahar Regiment. It was filed by senior advocate B G Bansode on behalf of the association of ex-servicemen of the Regiment.
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Koregaon Bhima violence: Lawyer calls Prakash Ambedkar’s letter on Sharad Pawar ‘belated’

23/02/2025

Hindustan Times / by Nadeem Inamdar

In the letter, Pawar had alleged that the violence was orchestrated by the then Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government under Devendra Fadnavis and that the state machinery, particularly the police, had been misused.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar has written to the Bhima Koregaon Commission, requesting that Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar be summoned on the violence that occurred here in 2018 and asked to furnish a letter he had written to then-chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on January 24, 2020.
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Koregaon Bhima Commission: Prakash Ambedkar seeks Pawar’s letter to Uddhav that blamed Fadnavis govt

21/02/2025

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

To support his claims, the VBA chief attached a news report with his application that stated Sharad Pawar’s letter to Uddhav Thackeray demanded the formation of an SIT to probe the Koregaon Bhima violence.
Senior politician Prakash Ambedkar on Friday filed an application before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry claiming that National Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar had around January 24, 2020, given a letter to then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, saying the violence (in Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 2018) was a conspiracy hatched by the previous government under leadership of Devendra Fadnavis.
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Also read:
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire / June 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ On the trail of Sambhaji Bhide: Ahead of Bhima Koregaon riots’ 3rd anniversary, tracing the Hindutva leader’s rise (Firstpost / Dec 2020)
▪ Casting a Veil – What we miss by ignoring Maratha caste politics in the Bhima Koregaon case (The Caravan / Dec 2020)
▪ One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part II | Why Elgar Parishad spooked Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, the alleged architects of January 1, 2018 anti-Dalit violence (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)
▪ Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati │ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
▪ Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 2018)

Sudhir Dhawale interview: ‘The law remains blind to injustice even with the blindfold gone’

Sudhir Dhawale interview: ‘The law remains blind to injustice even with the blindfold gone’

Credits: Tabassum Barnagarwala/Scroll.in

Scroll.in / by Tabassum Barnagarwala

The writer spent six years and seven months in jail before receiving bail in the Bhima Koregaon case.
On January 24, when Sudhir Dhawale walked back into the narrow lane in the Mumbai neighbourhood of Govandi where he lived until he was arrested in June, 2018, young men welcomed him with the beat of the dhol.
His neighbours then marched in a celebratory procession to a statue of BR Ambedkar 100 metres away. Dhawale garlanded the statue and gave a short speech about the importance of safeguarding Dalit rights. And just like that, he said, his life returned to normal.
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Also read:
▪ Interview | Sudhir Dhawale’s Work Will Go on (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ Rona Wilson interview: ‘My arrest was a warning to others who stand against the abuse of power’ (Scroll.in / Feb 2025)
▪ Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale released: Seven years of injustice by a state that punishes dissent [read order] (Sabrangindia / Jan 2025)
▪ Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati │ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)

Bhima Koregaon Case: From Caste Violence To Naxal Conspiracy

Bhima Koregaon Case: From Caste Violence To Naxal Conspiracy

Outlook / by Shweta Desai

The Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case began after caste violence broke out during a Dalit gathering in 2018 near Pune. It later turned into allegations of a Maoist conspiracy, leading to the arrest of several activists.
Last week, the Bombay High Court granted bail to prominent rights activists Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case. The two were arrested on the accusations of being ‘urban naxals’ and linked to the banned CPI(Maoist) organisation. Of the 16 accused–including Wilson, Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, and activists like Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj–Father Stan Swamy died in custody while many others are out on bail. 
As of 2025, no charges have been framed against the accused, and the trial is yet to begin with over 300 witnesses to testify in the case. 
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Also read:
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire / June 2024)
▪ Bhima Koregaon: The process continues to clot as punishment as another year passes by (The Leaflet / Jan 2024)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
▪ One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part I | History of a 200-year-old battle and why it still matters (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)
▪ One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part II | Why Elgar Parishad spooked Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, the alleged architects of January 1, 2018 anti-Dalit violence (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)