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Dalit Protest in Gujarat
Repression of Dalits has been rampant in Gujarat and the state also ranks high in terms of atrocities against them. The recent brutal attack on Dalit youths unjustly accused of cow slaughter is an open expression of simmering casteist prejudices under the cover of supporting the Hindutva agenda.
The state of Gujarat was supposed to be a model worthy of emulation. This was the tall claim of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has governed the state since 2001. The BJP however considers laudable what is actually shameful. Four Dalit youths were publicly flogged by a Hindutvavadi vigilante group on 11 July. Members of the Gau Raksha Samiti came across a Dalit family skinning the carcass of a dead cow in village Mota Samadhiyala in Una taluka of Gir Somnath district. Accusing them of cow slaughter, these men beat up the entire family and then picked up the four youths, stripped them up to the waist, chained them to the back of a car and drove it to Una town, where they were again beaten up close to a police station. The gau rakshaks, confident that they would not be punished, filmed the entire act and uploaded the video on the internet. However, this last act of theirs backfired, as enraged Dalits came out on the streets in protest and there was condemnation from many quarters. This atrocity exposed how emboldened anti-Dalit elements in Gujarat have become to unleash their prejudices under the guise of supporting the government’s Hindutva agenda.
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