'Close to four decades since the '1981 Meenakshipuram conversion', around 3000 members of the Scheduled Caste in the state are planning to convert to Islam over government apathy in the recent caste wall collapse. Close to 3000 individuals, who belong or are linked to the Tamil Puligal Katchi, a Dalit political outfit, will be converting to Islam in multiple phases from January 5. The decision was announced by the party at a state level meeting in Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district and comes after the collapse of a 'caste wall' in the region that led to the death of 17 Dalits.
'Addressing a press conference in the national capital, dalit rights activists from UP, Haryana and Delhi said that the application of the Act, clubbed with NRC, will have disastrous consequences given the rampant illiteracy and lack of awareness about maintaining documents in dalit and tribal communities... Sushil Gautam, a dalit rights activist based in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, alleged that they are being persecuted for voicing their opinions. Gautam was arrested for taking out a march against CAA on December 15 by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
'Hundreds of Indian students and diaspora stood outside the High Commission of India in London on Wednesday evening, in the cold and rain, to protest against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). They believe these policies suppress the rights of the minorities in India including the Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis.
'A 43- year old Dalit man was attacked by a group of 'upper caste' men in Greater Noida for selling biryani in ‘their area’. Lokesh Jatav, who was badly beaten up by the assailants also saw casteist slurs being hurled against him. A video of the incident that took place in Rabapura, 66 km from Delhi was widely shared on social media showed the man standing back to the wall, being slapped by a man shouting abuses and calling him names, demanding he apologize for being there...
'A 20-year-old dalit youth of Mota Kothasana village of Mehsana district in Gujarat was forced to shave off his moustache and later thrashed by men belonging to the Darbar community on December 7. Sanjaybhai Ranchodbhai Parmar, the victim, had to be hospitalised after he was thrashed by six men of the same village who were arrested on December 8. Reportedly, after watching a video on Tik-tok (a popular video sharing platform) shot by Parmar where he is seen twirling his moustache, the accused confronted him and threatened him to shave off his moustache.
'The BJP’s Ashwini Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, has claimed that he is unaware of the onion crisis in the country because he is “a vegetarian and has never tasted an onion”. This comes a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a statement in Parliament that she “comes from a family that does not consume much onion and garlic”. Sitharaman’s comment invited heavy trolling online and prompted the viral hashtag #SayItLikeNirmalaTai. “I am a vegetarian. How will a person like me know about the shortage and price of onions?” Choubey told news agency ANI.
'A case of arson has been filed against 25 people from the Dalit community in Alur in Karnataka’s Hassan district, for allegedly setting on fire the home of the accused in the murder case of a 45-year-old Dalit man Ramu. Ramu was murdered on November 15 allegedly for trying to break up a fight between two people from Alur. At the time, the Alur Police had registered a case of murder against Mahesh and three others from his family. On the night of the murder, Mahesh’s house was set on fire and the police have now booked 25 people from the Dalit community for arson.
'The huge stone wall, reportedly built to isolate the arunthathiyar community, collapsed early Monday after incessant rains in Mettupalayam in Tamil Nadu... Seventeen people, including three children and 11 women of A T Colony in Mettupalayam of Coimbatore district, were crushed to death after a huge wall constructed by a local textile shop owner belonging to a dominant caste fell down on the houses on the early hours of Monday. Four houses were totally damaged in the incident.
'The assault on Dalit gender equality activist Bindu Ammini, by a fervent Ayyappa devotee, reveals the fragility of the Hindu nationalist male ego and a deals a chink to the Hindutva armour... Like other nativist and anti-pluralist projects, Hindutva is premised upon the restoration of a primeval order that involves the dominance of man over woman, father over son, savarna over avarna, avarna over Dalit, fair skin over dark, state over subjects, religion over law, priest over devotee, teacher over student.
'Amitbhai Jerambhai Parmar, a dalit RTI activist and social worker was attacked reportedly by men belonging to upper caste while he was returning to his home at Khopala village in Gadhada taluka, Botad. At around 2.30 pm on November 25, Parmar was attacked by at least three men, who left him grievously injured. Parmar who has undergone surgery on his right hand at Bhavnagar civil hospital is awaiting surgery for his legs—fractured due to the attack. An FIR was filed at the Gadhada police station after Parmar was admitted to the hospital.
