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HomeOpinionThe shocking death of Bhanubhai: Why are Dalits in Gujarat angry?

The shocking death of Bhanubhai: Why are Dalits in Gujarat angry?

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Bhanubhai’s dead body has not been accorded dignified burial even after 48 hours, and no state minister has visited.

The image of an unfearful burning body of a Dalit activist named Bhanubhai in the compound of Patan Collector’s office walking with head held high has shaken many people across caste groups. And his dead body has not been accorded dignified burial even after 48 hours. Although the body is resting in the Gandhinagar civil hospital, neither the chief minister nor any minister has visited to offer condolence.

But in Bhanubhai’s death, the issue of land has become the talking point once again in Gujarat. The tension between Dalits and non-Dalits and between Dalits and the state around the question of land has come to the discussion table following the shocking death of Bhanubhai. So, what is the land question which has angered Dalits?

Pre-Independence, Dalits were given ‘community land’ in lieu of the hereditary services they offered to the village; or to the “pure castes”, since Dalits were not part of the ‘village’. The kings too gave such land to Dalits for the services they offered to the court such as feeding the state horses, providing firewood to the state officials in transit holding revenue courts. These lands were known as ‘Pasayta’, ‘Vethiya’, ‘Inami’. In Maharashtra, they were known as the ‘Vatan’. Babasaeb Ambedkar had fought this system which enslaved Dalits in perpetual slavery of the caste system.

Bhanubhai was helping Dalits in village Dudkha of Sami Block in Patan District who had maintained actual possession over such community land, though the state had legally dispossessed them. Even under the long-standing state policy, Dalits would become the legal owners of such land as they had ‘adverse possession’ of the land.

Marginal agricultural land ownership of Dalits has been a systemic key reason for the social and economic inequity in India even after Independence. Lack of land ownership can be traced back to pre-Independence era where there were legal prohibitions on Dalits to own land. After Independence, the other lower castes like Patidars in Gujarat benefited from the land reforms and improved their social, economic and political status.

Dalits and tribals benefited the least from the land reforms in Gujarat although the law favoured their prioritisation as beneficiaries owing to numerous social impediments, including the state apathy. Those who tried to benefit from the land reforms paid a price even with their lives in some cases. Post-Independence, even attempts to protect the land for the Dalits became a trigger for caste violence. The Golana massacre in Gujarat in 1986 where four Dalits were gunned down by the Kshatriyas and two more died later due to the injuries was rooted in these attempts. Even after 32 years, the state government is yet to table the inquiry report of Golana in the assembly.

After Independence, the Congress was instrumental in introducing revolutionary land reform legislations; the Tenancy Act and the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act. In the state of Saurashtra, the Patidars, the landless peasants then, were able to avail ownership of 3.75 million acres of land due to Dhebar, the chief minister dedicated to implement land reforms.

In other parts of Gujarat, the beneficiaries of land reforms were to be Dalits and the tribals. It was estimated that they too would benefit about 3.75 million acres of land. Till now, barely one-third of this land has come to Dalits and tribals. We have recorded that in 251 villages of Surendranagar district, Dalits were given ‘legal possession’ of about 6,000 acres of land but not the actual possession. Some Dalits had filed law suits to protect their land but they had not secured legal justice even after four decades.

The land was an instrument of social and economic status. Women preferred to marry into homes that owned agricultural land. The BJP government for the first time removed the legal ban on farmers to purchase land within the radius of 8 kms, a legal shield in place to protect the land of small farmers. This empowered the rich farmers and their associates to dispossess small and medium farmers their land by offering a little more money over the market offered. The BJP made it easier for non-farmers to purchase agricultural land by relaxing norms to convert the agricultural land to non-agricultural. In Patan district, Dalits complain even their burial land has been encroached. The complaints to the government meets the fate as it happened in the case of Bhanubhai.

Conveniently, the state has chosen to look at violence on Dalits as mere ‘atrocity’ and ignored the question of root causes of social conflict, particularly, the land. Unfortunately, the state response in such cases is confined to paying ‘compensation’. Then follows a long channel thereafter including pseudo-Dalit activists who will convince the victims to ‘compromise’. Unfortunately, the judicial system fails to inspire confidence among the victims to avail legal justice.

The writing on the wall is clear. The social tensions are going to rise, as the inequality index is surging.

Martin Macwan is a human rights activist and founder of The Navsarjan Trust.

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