Gujarat Dalit activist Bhanu Vankar set himself on fire outside the collector’s office in Patan Gujarat Dalit activist Bhanu Vankar set himself on fire outside the collector’s office in Patan

Family members of Dalit activist Bhanu Vankar, who died on Friday after setting himself ablaze a day earlier, refused to accept his body from the civil hospital in Gandhinagar, where it had been brought for post mortem. Vankar, who had been agitating to get land alloted to two Dalit labourers in the district’s Dudhka village, had on Thursday set himself ablaze at the collector’s office in Patan on Thursday. On Saturday, the Gujarat government, under pressure from Dalit activists and political leaders who turned up at the civil hospital, announced that as a “special case”, the ownership title of the land would be given to the two Dalits for whom Vankar had been fighting. This was announced by Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel in a late evening press conference on Saturday.

Since early morning on Saturday, Dalit women gathered at the civil hospital, shouting slogans of “Bhanubhai tum amar raho”. The crowd got bigger as Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, Patidar leader Hardik Patel and Congress Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani came together in a show of solidarity and support to the Vankar family.

Around 4 pm, when Karshan Solanki, BJP MLA from Kadi, arrived at the hospital, the protesters forced him to leave. “I had gone to ask them to make a representation to the government about their demands, but they were in no mood to listen. They started shouting ‘Bhajapawala ne nikalo (Get these BJP walas out)’ and before they could tear my clothes, I decided to leave,” Solanki told The Sunday Express.

The state government had sent a team of officials, including Gandhinagar collector, Gandhinagar range IGP Mayank Chavda and principal secretary (social justice) Kamal Dayani, to meet the family at the hospital.

Vankar, 61, retired as a talati (revenue clerk) and was associated with the Mevani-led Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch after the Una Dalit flogging case of July 2016, says Vankar’s elder son Bhargav. Vankar’s younger son Chintu, who studies engineering in Australia, flew down to Gandhinagar Saturday after his father’s death.

Vankar had been fighting to get the government to allot land to Hema Vankar and Rama Chamar of Dudhka village. On February 15, Hema and Rama had tried to immolate themselves along with Vankar at the Patan collector’s office, but were stopped by the police.

On Saturday, WhatsApp videos of Vankar threatening to immolate himself at 1 pm on February 15 did the rounds.

Vankar’s wife Indu, who is a teacher in a government school in Sankeshwar taluka, sat with her two sons and daughter-in-law (Bhargav’s wife), refusing to claim her husband’s body till their demands were met. They issued a press release with seven such demands, including immediate suspension of the district collector, the police chief and the secretary revenue, and to ensure that they are booked under various sections of the atrocity act. They also demanded that “all surplus land” be distributed to members of SC communities and Rs 1 crore be given to family members of Bhanubhai’s family.

Speaking to the protesters, Patidar leader Hardik Patel said, “This is not just about Dalits but people of all communities. Today it is a Dalit, tomorrow it could be a Thakor and then a Patel because those in power do not care about people losing their lives. They just want to run their government. We will work to ensure Bhanubhai’s family gets justice.”

The police had registered an FIR on Friday against unknown persons under abettment to suicide, besides other sections of the IPC and sections of the Atrocities Act.

Radhanpur MLA Alpesh Thakor said, “It is a shame that such an incident happens in independent India. On one hand big industrialists are given land easily and on the other those who are fighting for land have to take such an extreme step. Why is the PM of the country silent? He has to give us an answer as to why something like this has happened in his own state.”

Thakor, along with other Congress MLAs, had on Friday met the Patan collector and the SP to get the FIR registered.

Mevani addressed the protesters and said, “For someone like Bhanu bhai to take such an extreme step speaks a lot about the Gujarat model. The Vijay Rupani government is anti-Dalit. The PM tweets even if a dog dies, then why is he silent at the dead of an Ambedkarite?”

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