Bhima-Koregaon: Pune cops arrest Dalit activists in supposed crackdown on “urban Maoist” supporters

The Pune police on Wednesday arrested at least three prominent Dalit activists from Maharashtra and Delhi in connection with alleged provocative speeches at a gathering in Pune in December 2017, official sources said.

Among those arrested in the multi-city operations in the early hours of June 6 are senior journalist Sudhir Dhawale from Mumbai, advocate Surendra Gadling from Nagpur and Dalit activist Rona Wilson from New Delhi. Besides, police teams raided the homes of other activists like Shoma Sen in Nagpur, and Mahesh Raut in Mumbai, in a supposed crackdown on so-called "urban Maoist sympathisers".

A senior journalist, Dhawale was the organiser of the Elgar Parishad gathering on December 31, in Shaniwarwada, Pune through the leftist Kabir Kala Manch, which triggered a series of major political developments earlier this year. The gathering was addressed, among others, by Gujarat Dalit leader and MLA Jignesh Mewani, JNU student leader Umar Khalid, Chhattisgarh activist Soni Sori and Bhim Army President Vinay Ratan Singh.

A day later on January 1, unprecedented violence was witnessed against Dalits who had congregated at at Bhima Koregaon near Pune to pay tribute to Dalit soldiers, who were part of the British army which had fought against the Peshwas in 1818.

The annual event of Dalits paying homage at Bhima Koregaon has become a symbol of Dalit assertion. Babasaheb Ambedkar too had visited this place in 1927 to pay homage to martyrs. In 2018, the event was organised at a bigger scale as it was the 200th anniversary of the battle. Stones were allegedly pelted by saffron-flag bearers on Dalits who had come to pay homage at Bhima-Koregaon. Right-wing Hindutva organisations Shivaji Pratishthan and Samasta Hindu Aghadi are alleged to have been at the forefront of the violence, which left one dead.

In April, the Pune Police had raided homes and offices of these Dalit activists in different parts of the country and questioned them for their involvement in various activities. Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh President Prakash Ambedkar at the time alleged that the police raids on the Dalit activists was intended to destroy evidences pertaining to the Bhima-Koregaon riots of January 1. Ambedkar alleged that the police had confiscated laptops and other materials from the activists which purportedly prove the link between Sambhaji Bhide alias Bhide Guruji, who heads the right-wing organisation Shiv Pratishthan, with the Bhima-Koregaon riots.

Inputs by Ram Puniyani and IANS

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