dalits – Page 3 – free them all

Elgaar Parishad held to defuse social tension between OBCs and Marathas: Ambedkar

17/09/2023 Asha

Elgaar Parishad held to defuse social tension between OBCs and Marathas: Ambedkar

17/09/2023

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Ambedkar rejected the allegation, saying the first meeting called by retired Justice Sawant and Justice B G Kolse Patil was on the issue of the widening divide between the OBCs and Marathas.
Dalit leader and president of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi Prakash Ambedkar on Saturday told the the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry that the main aim of holding the Elgaar Parishad in Pune was to defuse the social tension created between the Other Backward classes (OBC) and the Marathas on the issue of reservations.
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Top cop Kadam deposes before Koregaon Bhima probe panel

16/09/2023

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The two-member commission headed by retired High Court Justice J N Patel is probing into the causes that led to the violence in Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, leaving one dead and several injured.
Senior police officer Ravindra Kadam (now retired) deposed as a witness before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Friday.
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Activist ‘confronted’ with article by Anand Teltumbde on Koregaon Bhima battle ‘myth’

15/09/2023

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The two-member commission, headed by retired high court justice J N Patel, is probing into the causes that led to the violence in Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 2018, that led to the death of one person and left several injured.
Activist Harshali Potdar, who is among the organisers of the ‘Elgaar Parishad’, was questioned about an article written by scholar Anand Teltumbde on the ‘myth’ related to the battle of Koregaon Bhima during her cross-examination before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Thursday.
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Also Read:
● Anand Teltumbde Explains the Genesis of His Articles on Bhima-Koregaon (The Wire / March 2023)
● The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
● “Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote instigated the Bhima Koregaon Violence,” an accused deposes as witness before Inquiry Commission (LawBeat / Oct 2021)

It’s Not Impossible To Smash The Caste System: Prof. Anand Teltumbde

17/08/2023 Asha

Poster, Nov 2022

Outlook / by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Anand Teltumbde is a scholar and civil rights activist known for his extensive work on B.R. Ambedkar’s life and work as well as the caste issue. He was arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case in 2020 and released on bail in November 2022 after spending 31 months in jail. The 72-year-old spoke to Snigdhendu Bhattacharya.
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Also read:
● From the vault: Contemporary challenges before the anti-caste movement (The Leaflet | by Anand Teltumbde | April 2022)
● Anand Teltumbde Explains the Genesis of His Articles on Bhima-Koregaon (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | March 2023)
● The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)

Anand Teltumbde: I never imagined I would have a jail life (Part 1)

25/07/2023 Asha

Rediff.com / by Neeta Kolhatkar

‘I was under the illusion that this could never happen to me because my background was such — corporate CEO, IIT professor, IIT alumnus, IIM…’
Anand Teltumbde was born into a family of Dalit labourers and excelled in his studies. He went on to get an MBA from one of the top IIMs in this country…
Anand Teltumbde, in an interview with Rediff.com Senior Contributor Neeta Kolhatkar, reveals, “I was made to stand naked and they took photos. This is the sort of humiliating experience you undergo at Taloja jail.”
The first of a multi-part interview.
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Also Read:
● Rama Teltumbde: We struggled to see each day through (Part 3) (Rediff.com / by Neeta Kolhakar (Jul 31, 2023)
● Anand Teltumbde: If my mother knew of my arrest, she would have died of shock (Part 2) (Rediff.com /Jul 28, 2023)
● Why the Bombay High Court granted regular bail to Dr. Anand Teltumbde: An explainer (The Leaflet / Dec 2022)

On Day Shah and Fadnavis Were in Nanded, Police Detained Activist Seeking Justice for Caste Killing

14/06/2023 Asha

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

As part of a massive outreach programme planned in Maharashtra, both Union home minister Amit Shah and state home minister Devendra Fadnavis were in Nanded on June 10.
Only 10 days before their visit, the district had witnessed a dastardly incident in which a 24-year-old Dalit youth, Akash Bhalerao, was killed by a caste Hindu Maratha mob. The community and anti-caste activists had expected the two to visit the family. Instead, the police put an anti-caste leader under detention till Shah, Fadnavis and other BJP leaders had left the city.
… Following the Bhima Koregaon violence in Pune rural region on January 1, 2018, protests were carried out on a massive scale. In the Marathwada region, Pradhan was one of the leaders at the forefront, organising and mobilising the Bahujan youth to demand justice.
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Also read/listen:
● PODCAST: DISHA WADEKAR TALKS ABOUT AMBEDKARITE HISTORY IN PUNE CITY, BHIMA KOREGAON IN 2018 … (By Anurag Minus Verma Podcast / 2022)
● Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 30, 2018)

Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves

Prakash Ambedkar asks Koregaon Bhima probe panel to summon Dy CM Fadnavis

05/06/2023 Asha

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Dalit activist Prakash Ambedkar recently told the Commission of Inquiry probing the 2018 Koregaon Bhima violence to first summon Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was chief minister at the time of the incident. Ambedkar said before asking him to depose, the probe panel should also ask its member Sumit Mallick, who was the state chief secretary in 2018, and former Pune Rural SP Suvez Haque to depose.
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Also Read:
● Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry sends another ‘letter of request’ to Prakash Ambedkar to appear on June 5 (The Indian Express / May 2023)
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 27, 2022)
● 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 30, 2018)

Podcast #2 | Ideas Behind Bars: Shoma Sen

16/04/2023 Asha

en | 18:01min | 2023

By InSAF India

This is a podcast in which we discuss the ideas, thoughts, and works of thinkers, activists, artist and scholars from India who have ended up behind bars for their work, or whose work has been censored or silenced. This podcast is produced by InSAF India in collaboration with nether quarterly.

Works by Shoma Sen discussed*:
“The Village and the City: Dalit Feminism in the Autobiographies of Baby Kamble and Urmila Pawar.” The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, vol. 54, no. 1, 2019, pp. 38–51., doi:10.1177/0021989417720251. “Class Struggle and Patriarchy: Women in the Maoist Movement.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 52, no. 21, 2017, pp. 56–56.
* Direct quotations have been shortened for clarity.

Sound Editor: Ashish Kumar
Voice: Divya Nadkarni
Listen to the podcast

Also Read:
● Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson seek bail from Bombay HC on parity with Sudha Bharadwaj (India Today / March 2023)

India more casteist than ever before, says Anand Teltumbde

14/04/2023 Asha

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Mr. Teltumbde says B.R. Ambedkar is being used by political parties to get Dalit votes
Today’s India is more casteist than ever before, scholar and civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde said on the eve of Ambedkar Jayanti. Grandson-in-law of the architect of the Constitution, the 73-year-old said B.R. Ambedkar is being used by political parties to get Dalit votes.
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Also read:
● From the vault: Contemporary challenges before the anti-caste movement (The Leaflet | by Anand Teltumbde | April 2022)
● Dalit leaders condemn Anand Teltumbde’s arrest on 14 April—Ambedkar Jayanti (The Caravan | April 2020)
● Protest and Solidarity Statements on the arrests of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha (free-them-all.net / April 2020)

Anand Teltumbde Explains the Genesis of His Articles on Bhima-Koregaon

31/03/2023 Asha

The Wire / by Anand Teltumbde

Instead of addressing the pathetic condition of Dalits, many Ambedkarites are busy promoting a devotional cult of Babasaheb, hollowing out his radical content and helping the ruling classes exploit his legacy.
In view of the controversy my article in The Wire of January 2, 2018 created – which I did not have an occasion to respond to with an explanation due to my entrapment in the case that paradoxically pivoted on the allegation that I was the main organiser of the Elgar Parishad – this note is intended to explain the factual background and motive for my writing the article.
Read more

Also Read:
● The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)
● Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (dailyo | by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves | Jan 2018)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)

Koregaon Bhima commission to call Prakash Ambedkar to appear / The Strange Answers Of Shivaji Pawar

07/03/2023 Asha

The Strange Answers Of Shivaji Pawar

07/03/2023

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

For four days, the officer avoided giving any straight answers, becoming the first witness in the 48 witnesses that have appeared so far, to have achieved this feat.
For four days last week, Deputy Commissioner of Police Shivaji Pawar, the investigating officer in charge of the Elgar Parishad case till it was taken over by the National Investigation Agency, was cross-examined before the Bhima Koregaon Commission.
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Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission to call Prakash Ambedkar to appear before it on March 27

04/03/2023

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The two-member commission was formed by the Maharashtra government to investigate the cause of violence in the Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018. One person died and several others were injured in the violence.
The Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry has passed an order to issue a ‘letter of request’ to prominent Maharashtra Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar, asking him to appear before it during a hearing in Pune on March 27.
The order was passed on Thursday following an application filed by advocate Aashish Satpute, the lawyer representing the commission.
Read more

Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 27, 2022)
● Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 30, 2018)
● Saffron Conspiracy in Bhima Koregaon? – Fact finding report by Rashtra Seva Dal unearths insidious scheme to target Dalits (CJP / Jan 2018)

Press Conference & Public Meeting: “Conspiracy of Conspiracy Cases”

12/01/2023 Asha

Poster by Campaign Against State Repression

Wives of Khalid Saifi, Hany Babu, GN Saibaba demand release of ‘political prisoners’

12/01/2023

Maktoob / by Maktoob Staff

Life partners of jailed human rights defenders Khalid Saifi, Hany Babu and GN Saibaba who gathered in national capital Delhi on Thursday under the banner of Campaign Against State Repression, demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners incarcerated under the Bhima Koregaon and CAA-NRC cases.
This event titled “conspiracy of conspiracy cases” was held to discuss the recent developments in Bhima Koregaon and CAA-NRC case where top intelligence officers have disclosed that there was no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event and Bhima Koregano violence, as well as multiple international forensic reports revealing that the evidence was planted on the BK accused.
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Civil rights leaders allege corporate loot of resources, suppression of democratic rights

14/01/2023

Countercurrents / by Our Representative

Civil rights activists have alleged, quoting top intelligence officers as also multiple international forensic reports, that recent developments with regard to the Bhima Koregaon and the Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens (CAA-NRC) cases suggest, there was “no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event and the Bhima Koregaon violence.”
Activists of the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) told a media event at the HKS Surjeet Bhawan, New Delhi, that, despite this, several political prisoners continue to be behind bars on being accused under the anti-terror the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Read more

Also read
● Press Release by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), Dec 5, 2022

Click to enlarge

● CASR meeting: GN Saibaba, others called new generation freedom fighters, victims of state terror (Countercurrents / Oct 2022)