In November and December 2006, the
desecration
Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful, contemptuous, or destructive treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual.
Overview
Many consider acts of desecration t ...
of an
Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on t ...
statue in
Kanpur
Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...
triggered off violent protests by
Dalit
Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...
s in
Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
Background
There was resentment among the Dalit in Maharashtra, due to
murder of four Dalits, allegedly by a mob of
Kunbi
Kunbi (alternatively Kanbi) (Marathi language, Marathi: ISO 15919: ''Kuṇabī'', Gujarati language, Gujarati: ISO 15919: ''Kaṇabī'') is a generic term applied to several caste system, castes of traditional farmers in Western India. These ...
s in
Khairlanji village in September 2006. On 28 November 2006, the brewing resentment in the Dalit community in Maharashtra took form of violent protests, when a statue of Dalit icon B. R. Ambedkar was desecrated by a vandal in
Kanpur
Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...
.
Several people remarked that the protests were fueled by the
Khairlanji killings,
including the Maharashtra Chief Minister
Vilasrao Deshmukh
Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh (26 May 1945 – 14 August 2012) was an Indian politician who served as the 14th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, first term from 18 October 1999 to 16 January 2003 and second term, from 1 November 2004 to 5 De ...
,
and the
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
Police Commissioner A. N. Roy.
According to
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
, the political parties had not responded appropriately to the outrage over the Khairlanji killings, resulting in heightened tensions. Later, the
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (translation: Maharashtra Reformation Army; MNS) is a Regionalist Indian organisation based in the state of Maharashtra and operates on the ideology of Hindutva and Marathi Manus. It was founded on 9 March 2006 ...
(MNS) chief
Raj Thackeray
Raj Shrikant Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: �aːd͡ʒ ʈʰaːkɾeː born Swararaj Shrikant Thackeray; 14 June 1968) is an maharashtra politician and the founding chairperson of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a regional political party ...
claimed that the protests were stoked by certain political parties in their bid to oust
Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
Home Minister
R. R. Patil.
Protests
On 30 November 2006, violent protests took place in several places in Maharashtra. The Dalit protestors set three trains on fire, damaged over 100 buses and clashed with police.
North Maharashtra
In
Osmanabad
Osmanabad, officially known as Dharashiv, is a city and a municipal council in Osmanabad district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. The city is the administrative headquarter of Osmanabad district. It is the ...
, two persons were killed in police firing on a protesting mob. Two more deaths were reported, one each in
Nanded
Nanded is a city in Maharashtra state, India. It is the List of cities in Maharashtra, tenth largest city in the state and the List of cities in India by population, seventy-ninth most populated city in India. It is the second largest city in ...
and
Nashik
Nashik, formerly Nasik, is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra situated on the banks of the river Godavari, about northeast of the state capital Mumbai.
Nashik is one of the Hindu pilgrimage sites of the Kumbh ...
, during the violent protests.
Subsequently, a curfew was imposed in Osmanabad, Nanded and
Nandurbar
Nandurbar () is a city and a municipal council in Nandurbar district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Nandurbar municipal corporation is the first municipal corporation. The District Nandurbar was formed from the district Dhule on July 1, ...
towns of Maharashtra.
In
Aurangabad
Aurangabad (), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a ...
, a crowd of 1,000 Dalit gathered to protest against desecration. Some of the protestors started pelting stones at passing vehicles, injuring six persons, including sub-inspector and a constable. The police resorted to firing in air to disperse the crowd.
In
Akola
Akola () is a major city in the Vidarbha region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The third largest city in Eastern Maharashtra after Nagpur and Amravati, it is located about east of the state capital, Mumbai, and west of the second ca ...
, a truck was set on fire on the national highway, and there was heavy stone-pelting on State Transport buses.
Heavy deployment of police forces took place in affected areas. Around 1,500 people were put under preventive arrest and three persons were detained in connection with the lynching of a youth in Nashik.
In Akola, the police arrested 14 persons for burning an effigy of chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
Pune District
In
Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
and
Pimpri-Chinchwad
Pimpri-Chinchwad, also known as PCMC, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city is about northwest of the historic city of Pune, at an altitude of above sea level. It is the fifth largest city in Maharashtra and the List of most ...
areas, 60 vehicles were damaged and set ablaze by agitators and 13 policemen were injured.
A curfew was imposed in
Pimpri
Pimpri is a neighbourhood in Pimpri Chinchwad in the northwestern city limits of Pune, India.
History
Earlier Pimpri was in under the kingdom of Raja Bhoj & the land of Pimpri has been fulfilled by The great king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. ...
on 30 November. On 1 December, a municipal corporation bus was stoned at Bopodi chowk in Pimpri-Chinchwad.
Mumbai and its neighborhoods
On 30 November, a mob of over 6000 protestors stopped the
Deccan Queen
The 12123 / 12124 Deccan Queen is a daily Indian passenger train service operated by the Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways connecting the cities of Mumbai and Pune. Introduced on June 1, 1930, the Deccan Queen was India's "first supe ...
passenger train near
Ulhasnagar
Ulhasnagar is a city located 26 km from Thane City in Thane district, Maharashtra, India. This city is a part of Mumbai Metropolitan Region managed by the MMRDA. It had an estimated population of 506,098 at the 2011 Census. Ulhasnagar is a mu ...
, asked the passengers to alight and set afire its five bogies.
One compartment of a local train was set ablaze at
Matunga
Matunga (Marathi pronunciation: aːʈuŋɡaː is a Neighbourhood in City area of Mumbai, India. It is accessible from the Matunga Road station on the Western line, Matunga station on the Central Line and King's Circle station on the Harbou ...
in
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
. There were no injuries.
Some compartments of a commuter train were also torched at Ulhasnagar, and the police fired in the air to control the violent crowds. The mob in Ulhasnagar also vandalised the railway station. Suburban train services were affected in parts of Mumbai as protestors squatted on the tracks. Shops and establishments in the city were also closed in view of the protests.
Incidents of protestors setting up road blocks and pelting stones were reported in Mumbai suburbs like
Kanjurmarg
Kanjur Marg (Marathi pronunciation: aɲd͡zuɾmaːɾɡ is a suburb in east central Mumbai. Kanjurmarg railway station is the main access point for IIT Bombay, IIM Mumbai, KV Powai, Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai, L&T, Hirananda ...
,
Mulund
Mulund (Pronunciation: uluɳɖ is a suburb in the north-east of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It comes under the zone railway station on the Central Railway line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. It was first the railway station of the Mumbai ...
,
Bhandup
Bhandup (Pronunciation: ʱaːɳɖup () is a suburban locality in Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra, India. The name ''Bhandup'' is derived from ''Bhandupeshwar'', one of the names of the Hindu god Shiva. An old temple dedicated to Lord Shiv ...
,
Trombay
Trombay is an eastern suburb of Mumbai (Bombay), India. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is located there.
History
In 1548, Trombay and Chembur
Chembur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ͡ʃembuːɾ is an upmarket large subur ...
,
Kurla
Kurla (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uɾlaː is a suburb of East Mumbai, India. It is the headquarters of the Kurla taluka of Mumbai Suburban district. The neighbourhood is named after the eponymous Bombay East Indians, East Indian vill ...
,
Kalina
Kalina may refer to:
People
* Kalina people
The Kalina, also known as the Caribs or mainland Caribs and by several other names, are an Indigenous people native to the northern coastal areas of South America. Today, the Kalina live largely in ...
,
Chembur
Chembur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ͡ʃembuːɾ is an upmarket large suburb in central Mumbai, India. It belongs on the harbour line of suburban railways and offers the best connectivity with Mumbai Monorail, Santacruz- Chembur Link R ...
, Kurar in
Malad
Malad (Pronunciation: aːlaːɖ is a suburb located in North Mumbai. Malad has a railway station on the Western line (Mumbai Suburban Railway) of the Mumbai Suburban Railway, lying between Kandivali station to the north and Goregaon statio ...
,
Goregaon
Goregaon (Help:IPA/Marathi, �oːɾeɡaːʋ is a suburb of Mumbai city, in the Mumbai Suburban district of India. It has a Goregaon railway station, railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Western Line (Mumbai Suburban Railwa ...
, Pali Hill in
Bandra
Bandra ( æːɳɖɾa is a coastal suburb located in Mumbai, the largest city of the Konkan division in Maharashtra, India. The area is located to the immediate north of the River Mithi, which separates Bandra from the Mumbai City district. It ...
, and
Worli
Worli (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Varaḷī'', Help:IPA/Marathi, �əɾ(ə)ɭiː is a locality in central Mumbai in Maharashtra, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai with the others being Colaba, Bandra and Malabar Hill. The sea connect ...
. The police reported that gangster
Chhota Rajan
Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje (born 13 January 1957), popularly known by his moniker Chhota Rajan, is an Indian gangster and convicted criminal who was the crime lord of a major Mumbai-based syndicate.
Rajan was extradited from Bali to India on 6 ...
's brother Deepak Nikhalje was responsible for violence in Chembur.
Police used ''
lathi'' charge and fired in the air at Kherwadi junction on the Western Express highway in
Vakola
Santacruz or Santa Cruz (Pronunciation: aːn̪t̪akɾuːz is a suburb of Mumbai. The Santacruz railway station on the Mumbai Suburban Railway, the domestic terminal (T1) of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, and one campu ...
, after an
angry mob
Mobbing, as a sociological term, refers either to bullying in any context, or specifically to that within the workplace, especially when perpetrated by a group rather than an individual.
Psychological and health effects
Victims of workplace mo ...
blocked traffic and indulged in stone pelting. In Thane, corporation-run buses were off the road due to stone pelting. A Municipal Transport Corporation bus going from Kalyan to Dombivili was set on fire at Manpada by a violent mob. Protestors also forced owners of shops and establishments to down shutters.
Over 100 buses and 35 private vehicles were damaged in stone pelting. The Mumbai Police Commissioner A. N. Roy put the loss at around Rs 30 lakh.
BEST
Best or The Best may refer to:
People
* Best (surname), people with the surname Best
* Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer
Companies and organizations
* Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain
* Best Lock Corporatio ...
said 91 of its buses were damaged and four drivers and a woman passenger injured in stone pelting. At least 13 policemen, including Additional Commissioner of Police K. L. Bishnoi, were injured in the protests.
176 people were arrested in Mumbai.
The Thane police arrested 19 persons and detained another 29.
Outside Maharashtra
The protests also spread to some parts of Maharashtra's neighboring states,
Gujarat
Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...
and
Karnataka
Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
. In
Surat
Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...
, Gujarat; a mob pelted stones and damaged vehicles. Eight persons were arrested in connection with the violence. In
Hubli
Hubli (officially Hubballi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad district of ...
, Karnataka; activists belonging to various Dalit organizations stoned a dozen city buses.
Arrest of the vandal
Many Dalit leaders, including the
UP RPI vice-president S. R. Darapuri remarked that the desecration of
Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on t ...
statue displayed the deep-seated animosity towards Dalits in India.
Janata Party
The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu.
The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...
president
Subramanian Swamy
Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu ...
claimed that the desecration was the work of "anti-national" elements.
Later, the Kanpur Police arrested a Dalit youth Arun Kumar Balmiki for desecrating the Ambedkar statue. According to the police, the youth had "admitted to having damaged the statue in a drunken state along with two friends".
Earlier in a similar case, a Dalit youth was held for desecrating an Ambedkar statue in
Gulbarga
Kalaburagi, formerly known as Gulbarga, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is headquarters of eponymous Kalaburagi district and Kalaburagi division, Kalaburagi city is governed by a Municipal Corporation, It is called a Sufi c ...
, Karnataka.
[
] However, some Dalits in Kanpur alleged that the youth was falsely implicated to protect the real culprits.
Some Dalits protesting against Balmiki's arrest damaged vehicles and blocked traffic in Kanpur.
Meanwhile, the old desecrated statue in Kanpur was buried with full honors and quickly replaced with a new one.
Political fallout
The Maharashtra Chief Minister
Vilasrao Deshmukh
Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh (26 May 1945 – 14 August 2012) was an Indian politician who served as the 14th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, first term from 18 October 1999 to 16 January 2003 and second term, from 1 November 2004 to 5 De ...
requested Dalit leaders to maintain calm. The Police Commissioner of Mumbai, A. N. Roy, requested the state government to declare a holiday on December 6 (Dr. Ambedkar's death anniversary),
but the Government decided against doing so.
Deshmukh also called an all-party meeting. The Congress president
Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi (, ; ; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a big-tent liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. ...
also pitched in to settle the issue.
Raj Thackeray
Raj Shrikant Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: �aːd͡ʒ ʈʰaːkɾeː born Swararaj Shrikant Thackeray; 14 June 1968) is an maharashtra politician and the founding chairperson of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a regional political party ...
accused the "anti-
R. R. Patil forces" of fueling the riots. He also drew attention to another incident in Khairlanji, in which a Dalit man allegedly raped a girl and killed her. Thackeray demanded action on those responsible for the rape and the subsequent death of the girl, and also remarked that nobody helped the girl's family.
In Kanpur, a Congress delegation, led by former bureaucrat
P. L. Punia
Panna Lal Punia, usually known as P. L. Punia, (born 23 January 1945) is an Indian politician and List of current members of the Rajya Sabha, Member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh from 2014 till 2020. He was member of the Lok Sabha from ...
sat on a ''
dharna
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to ...
'' (strike), when the District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police prevented them from visiting the site of desecration.
RPI president
Ramdas Athawale
Dr Ramdas Bandu Athawale (; born 25 December 1959) is an Indian politician, social activist and trade unionist from Maharashtra. He is the president of the Republican Party of India (A), a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and ha ...
also reached Kanpur to visit the site of desecration.
Earlier, he had said that he will hold protests in
Kanpur
Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...
against the "heinous" act.
[ ] However, he alleged house arrest, after police put him under tight security in a local circuit house in
Kanpur
Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...
.
At the 22nd National Conference of Dalit Writers in New Delhi, the former Governor of
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...
, Mata Prasad declared that the agitation will continue through Dalit literature.
References
See also
*
Vandalism of Ambedkar statues
{{DEFAULTSORT:2006 Dalit Protests In Maharashtra
Dalit protests in Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
Protests in India
Dalit politics
Dalit history
History of Maharashtra (1947–present)
Caste-related violence in India
Violence in India
Hate crimes in India
Dalit protests in Maharashtra
November 2006 in India
December 2006 in India