NEW DELHI: Angry Dalits preparing for a second show-down after April 2, against the Narendra Modi government during the monsoon session of Parliament, have called out to all political parties including the ruling BJP to take up their demands in the House during the session and have set July 30 as the deadline to the government to reach out to them.

If the Centre fails deadline on demands, most of which were put forward in April too, the Dalits along with farmers, industrial workers and even ex-servicemen and minority groups have planned to hit the streets across the country, chief coordinator of the movement and Dalit activist Ashok Bharti told TOI.

The tentative date for the Bharat Bandh has been decided for August 9. Protests will be held through joint rallies, sit-in dharnas, striking work, by Dalits, farmers groups, exservicemen and also minorities are being planned in loocalised manner across cities and towns in the country. “We will hold peaceful protests. By presenting flowers to shop owners we will request them to keep their establishments shut on that day to show solidarity to our cause,” Bharti said.

The formal call to the government to heed to their demands will be made at a joint press conference of the various groups here slated for July 24.

“We will be seeking the support of all political parties (including BJP) to finally settle our issues or else we will hit the streets,” Bharti said. “Our slogans of ‘BJP hatao, Dalit bachao’ and ‘dusri baar, raho tayar’ are ready doing the rounds on social media which is our main medium of communication to the masses,” he said.

“We will tell the parties that they should take up our cause… we form one fourth of the population and perform the worst back-breaking jobs in the country including agriculture. So if the government ignores us we will not accept them anymore,” said Bharti who has writing to all political parties, meeting their leaders and approaching activists across the country to build support for the movement as a coordinator.

Over the last four weeks, a series of meetings were held between leaders of three social organisations - kisan, dalit and ex-servicemen – and the outcome was creation of a coordinated movement (Andolan) to raise the bar for these agitations and achieve critical mass. Some of those who attended these meetings include AIKS functionaries Ashok Dhawale, Hannan Mollah and their team, Dalit Sangh members led by Bharti, Major Gen. Satbir Singh & his team from IESM and coordinators Anand Mangnale and Priyadarshi Chowdhury.

Apart from growing atrocities against the Dalit community, especially in BJP-ruled states, the main grievances that have led to the anger are various policy decisions of the Narendra Modi government. “Social oppression has always been there but the impunity with which it has increased tremendously in the last four years has led the administration under this regime to look the other way instead of sympathising with the downtrodden people,” said Bharti adding that the Supreme Court verdict diluting the SC \ST Act has given them a free hand to beat us."

Dalits have been politically excluded for a while now as most parties feel that Mayawati ’s BSP is there to take care of the community, hence others need not bother, Bharti explains, as a reason for this round of rising, after the Kanshi Ram era.

Economically, demonetisation and attacks on people who live on de-skinning animals and also eating them are hurting the community hard, at the bottom of the pyramid and now the lateral entry of professionals into bureaucracy will eliminate Dalits from policy making in this country.

