Bhima Koregaon clashes: Popular Front of India blames Hindutva forces

Popular Front of India has blamed Hindutva forces for the violence erupted on January 1 when lakhs of Dalits had gathered in the city to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. Slamming RSS and BJP for the incident, PFI Chairman E Abu-Bakr alleged that the attacks were organised.

They are the part of Hindutva forces strategy efforts to snatch away the rights of Dalits by provoking Marathas against Dalits, he said.

An innocent lost his life due to the failure of state government and police in stopping the goons preparing to attack the crowd gathered to celebrate the anniversary and the violence spread like a fire. Now the police, instead of arresting the offenders, is wrongly implicating leaders like Jignesh Mevani and Umar Khalid and other innocents who arrived to attend the programme, PFI Chairman lamented.

He further said ‘it is another incident of caste-based violence against Dalits, who have been fighting against the Brahmin oppression for thousands of years. Such kind of incidents have increased since Hindutva force came to power in 2014, claimed Mr. Abu-Bakr.

He cited, a Dalit labour was harshly beaten up in Gujarat for removing the skin of a dead cow, upper class people set Dalit children ablaze in Haryana, a Dalit old man was burned to death in UP for entering into temple. The list is long. Those who protest against such oppression are thrown into jails by imposing draconian laws. Similar draconian law NSA was imposed on Bhim Army leader Chandrasekhar Azad and he is still in jail.

Mr. Abu-Bakr demanded that the state government identify the culprits and prosecute them, while giving ex-gratia to victims. He also appealed the people of the country to show solidarity with Dalit brethren in their fight for human rights.