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Video: Songs of Defiance – A Short Documentary on Kabir Kala Manch

18/04/2022 Asha

Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance)

Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

This short documentary tries to trace the personal and collective journeys of artists of Kabir Kala Manch, a People’s cultural troupe consisting of youth from marginalized backgrounds, who sing songs of resistance in the Vidrohi Shahiri tradition. This film profiles these artists and their lived experiences in the context of an unjust and hostile system they are struggling against.

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Video Statement by Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor (Sep 5, 2020)

hindi/ english subtitles | 2:20min | 2020
Kabir Kala Manch activists Sagar Gorkhe & Ramesh Gaichor have alleged that they’re being forced by the NIA to give confessional statements, claiming they are a part of Maoist organization. The two refused, and were arrested in The Bhima Koregaon case today. Their statement was recorded on Sep 5, 2020.
Watch their video statement

Who are the three Kabir Kala Manch artistes arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case?

12/09/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The National Investigation Agency arrested Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap from Pune on Monday and Tuesday.
In 2002, as a 19-year-old student in Pune’s Wadia College, Ramesh Gaichor was disturbed by the deadly communal violence in Gujarat that had claimed over 1,000 lives. Passionate about poetry and theatre, he soon found an outlet for expressing his anxieties: the Kabir Kala Manch, a cultural organisation founded by artiste Amarnath Chautaliya in response to the Gujarat riots.
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Also read:
● Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)

Contemporary challenges before the anti-caste movement / Crises in ‘Ambedkarism’ That Merit Deeper Reflection

14/04/2022 Asha

From the vault: Contemporary challenges before the anti-caste movement

14/042022

The Leaflet / by Anand Teltumbde

This is a republication of Dr Teltumbde’s address at an event by The Leaflet on Ambedkar Jayanti in 2019, which we had originally published on April 23, 2019, in which, taking stock of Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s anti-caste legacy, he called the anti-caste movement in India dead and reflected on the larger issues being faced by Dalits that are being ignored by the State.
AT the outset, I would like to thank Indira Jaising and the entire team of the Lawyers Collective and The Leaflet for having me here to speak on the eve of the 128th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar.
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Finding Ambedkar: Crises in ‘Ambedkarism’ That Merit Deeper Reflection

14/04/2022

The Wire / by Deepanshu Mohan

Since Ambedkar’s passing, Ambedkarites have been leaving a mark in various arenas, from politics to academia to employees’ organisations and more. Yet, as Anand Teltumbde puts it, “Every Ambedkarite, whether they are conscious of it or not, experiences some crisis.”
… It is beyond the scope of this reflective essay to go into each crisis that Teltumbde discussed in his speech. Rather, I shall take the illustrative case of four of these crises points.
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Also read:
● Dalit leaders condemn Anand Teltumbde’s arrest on 14 April—Ambedkar Jayanti (The Caravan │ April 2020)
● Crisis Of Ambedkarites And Future Challenges (Countercurrents │ by Anand Teltumbde │ April 2011)

Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression

04/04/2022 Asha

ritimo / by Gurlhosur Geetanjali

Kabir Kala Manch founded in early 2000s has been at the receiving end of the state. As it grew in popularity its members faced incarceration for long years and continued oppression under successive governments.
“I remember it was a rainy day. I was about 23 then. When I heard the group performing in our basti (informal urban cluster), I had goosebumps! I had never heard songs that spoke of the struggles of women, Dalits and the poor. I was enthralled.”
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The Bhima Koregaon Arrests and the Resistance in India

01/04/2022 Asha

Monthly Review / by Saroj Giri

It often happens: A murder takes place, an utterly foul one. But there is little outcry, no lasting sense of wrong in public memory. Deep down, everyone is aware of the gross violation that has taken place in their midst. Everyone is affected and silently appalled that there is no redress, no justice. Yet normal life and routine democracy continues—at the expense of a deep scar in the inner recess of society, unseen and perhaps illegible, best described as a void. Like an abyss that stares back, will this void come to haunt everyone later, in some possibly unrecognizable form?
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Podcast: Disha Wadekar talks about Ambedkarite history in Pune City, Bhima Koregaon in 2018 …

09/02/2022 Asha

By Anurag Minus Verma Podcast

en | 1h39min | 2022
Listen to the podcast

Anurag Minus Verma Podcast in Conversation with Disha Wadekar (#44 Disha Wadekar)
Disha is an advocate practicing in the Supreme Court. She has also headed a legal resource centre and is co-founder of CEDE.

Topics Discussed in the podcast:
– Rarely discussed Ambedkarite history about Pune City.
– What happened at the Bhim Koregaon in 2018.
– Vimukta identity and criminal act.
– Delta Meghwal rape case and struggle of the family for justice
– Community for the Eradication of Discrimination in Education and Employment (CEDE), a network of lawyers, law firms, judges, and other organizations and individuals, who are committed to reforming the Indian legal profession.

Patriotism of Social Activists is Increasingly being Punished: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj

25/01/2022 Asha

Newsclick / by Ajaz Ashraf

India is far from realising the promises of justice and equality made in the Constitution, says the well-known activist, citing her experiences in prison as an under-trial and as a lawyer representing workers.
After spending nearly three years in jail, Bharadwaj was released on bail last month. Her bail conditions proscribe her from speaking on the Bhima Koregaon case and leaving Mumbai, although she has now been allowed to live in Thane. NewsClick did not ask her any question on the case, and she politely refused to answer any question she thought was even remotely connected to it. In the first part of this interview, Bharadwaj speaks on the meaning that Republic Day, the Constitution, and the law have for jail inmates, based on her conversations with them.
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Also read
● Part 2: My Spirit has not Been Broken: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj (NewsClick / Jan 2022)

India: Dangerous Backsliding on Rights – Activists, Critics Targeted

13/01/2022 Asha

By Human Rights Watch

Activists, Critics Targeted: Growing Attacks on Muslims, Groups at Risk
Indian authorities intensified their crackdown on activists, journalists, and other critics of the government using politically motivated prosecutions in 2021, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2022. Tens of thousands of people died during a surge in Covid-19 cases, with the government failing to provide adequate health care to those in need.
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Read full India chapter

Thousands visit ‘Jaystambh’ monument to mark 204th anniversary of Koregaon-Bhima battle

02/01/2022 Asha

Pictures by Jignesh Mistry

Battle anniversary event at Jaystambh remains peaceful, Covid norms go for a toss

02/01/2022

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The event took place exactly four years after violence had broken out in the area, leading to the death of a youth.
An event to mark the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon at the Jaystambh in Perne village in Pune district remained peaceful on Saturday. But as a large number of visitors turned up at the ‘military monument’, social distancing was not maintained and the Covid-prevention norms laid down by the government went for a toss.
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Dalits offer tributes at Bhima Koregaon to mark the 204th anniversary of the battle

03/01/2022

Justice News / by Nadeem Inamdar, National Herald

Thousands, by some estimates over half a million, of people from across the country converged on New Year’s Day to observe and celebrate the victory of Dalit Mahar troops under the British over the Bahmin Peshwa’s army at Bhma Koregaon over two centuries ago.
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by Collective Delhi (Jan 1):
Keep alive the flame against Neo-Peshwa Raj of RSS BJP, free the #BhimaKoregaon political prisoners. Let the history of Bhima Koregaon inspire us to demand #RepealUAPA and #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners so that more such heroic victories can be won by our people’s struggles.

by The Dalit Voice (Jan 1):
The battle of Pride.
The battle of self-respect.
The battle against untouchability.
The battle against injustice.
The battle against inequality.

Let’s pay homage to our brave, fearless, lion-hearted, courageous warriors.
#भीमा कोरेगांव शौर्य दिवस

Maharashtra govt.’s ‘recognition’ of Bhima Koregaon Jaystambh reflects shift in narrative

01/01/2021

The Hindu / by Shoumojit Banerjee

The violent clashes that erupted in the village of Bhima Koregaon and surrounding areas on New Year’s Day in 2018 seared Maharashtra’s social fabric, while heightening social tensions across the State.
The clashes resulted in massive destruction of property belonging to Ambedkarite members and its reverberations were felt throughout the country.
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Bhima Koregaon Commission: Govt apathy, Covid situation delay panel probe, yet again

01/01/2021

Hindustan Times / by Nadeem Inamdar

The two-member commission was constituted on February 19, 2018, by the Devendra Fadnavis government. However, due to Covid-19, lack of manpower, and on an occasion, government apathy has led to delay for the commission to submit the report.
Read more

Also read:
● Bhima Koregaon: The Mystery of Fadnavis’ Terms of Reference (Rediff.com / Dec 2021)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│by Sudhir Dhawale│March 2018)
● The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)

Bhima Koregaon: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight / Video: Four years after violence

01/01/2022 Asha

Video: 4 Years of Bhima Koregaon Violence – Stories of Loss, Fear, and Grief

01/01/2022

The Quint / by Himanshi Dahiya

hindi (english subtitles) | 10 min | 2022

Ground report: four years on, revisiting families who lost their homes in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence.
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4 Years After Bhima Koregaon, Caste Fault Lines Deepen In Neighbouring Village

01/01/2022

The Quint / by Himanshi Dhiya

An uneasy silence and a sea of policemen characterise Vadhu Budruk, the village at the heart of Bhima Koregaon case.
A police personnel accompanies 60-year-old Panduram Gaikwad everywhere he goes. “He is here for my protection, in case they come to kill me,” says Gaikwad. A Dalit Mahar farmer, he is the owner of the land which was at the heart of the controversy which allegedly led to the the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence in Pune.
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Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight

01/01/2022

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

From the Reliance Infrastructure workers’ arrest to the Naxalite angle, the Bhima Koregaon violence case is mired in multiple theories.
In 2018, months before the Pune police had launched a country-wide raid at the houses and offices of activists, academics and lawyers, the Maharashtra state Anti- Terrorism Squad (ATS) had had rounded up five men – all contractual workers at the Reliance Infrastructure Ltd – for their alleged involvement in the disruption caused at the anti-caste commemoration at Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1 that year.
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Bhima Koregaon: Four years after violence, cases registered by rural police await trial

31/12/2021

Hindustan Times / by Shalaka Shinde

In the aftermath of violence in Bhima Koregaon in January 2018, three major chains of investigation have emerged
Four years after the Bhima Koregaon violence that claimed one life and left multiple others injured with large scale damage to property, a chargesheet of at least 1,500 pages has been filed in the case against 41 people including Samasta Hindu Aghadi convener Milind Ekbote but excluding Sambhaji Bhide of Shiv Pratishthan in the case of attempted murder and rioting that was registered against them in January 2018.
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Pune Police books Kalicharan, Ekbote and four others for alleged hate speeches

29/12/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Pune Police have filed a first information report against seer Kalicharan Maharaj, Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote and four other persons for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at an event in the city, the officials said on Wednesday according to PTI…
One of the accused persons, Hindutva leader Ekbote, had allegedly made provocative speeches before the caste violence took place in Bhima Koregaon village in 2018. No action has been taken against him so far in this matter.
Read more

Also read:
● “Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote instigated the Bhima Koregaon Violence,” an accused deposes as witness before Inquiry Commission (LawBeat / Oct 2021)
● Casting a Veil – What we miss by ignoring Maratha caste politics in the Bhima Koregaon case (The Caravan / Dec 2020)
● Police Watered Down Case Against Milind Ekbote, Says Complainant (The Wire / Oct 2018)
● The Curious Case of Milind Ekbote – Prime accused in the attack on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon has a history of inciting violence (CJP / Aug 2018)

Ahead of Koregaon Bhima battle anniversary, administration issues prohibitory order

30/12/2021 Asha

Ahead of Koregaon Bhima battle anniversary, Pune district administration issues prohibitory order

30/12/2021

Devdiscourse / by pti

On January 1 every year, Dalits, mainly from the Mahar community, visit the Jaystambh, a victory pillar at Perne village raised by the British in memory of the soldiers who fought bravely against the Peshwas in the Battle of Koregaon Bhima. As per the prohibitory orders issued by the collector, posting of content that can spread rumors, create hatred in communities, posting misleading information on social media platforms, has been prohibited.
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An Indian village braces for a New Year’s tribute to the downtrodden

26/12/2021

Los Angeles Times / by Parth M.N. & David Pierson

Each New Year’s Day, tens of thousands of people travel to a village in western India called Koregaon Bhima to visit a war memorial that has become a sacred monument to the country’s downtrodden castes.
Read more

Also read:
● 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)