The event to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle in Pune district, in which the British Army comprising Dalits had defeated upper-caste Peshwas, was marred by incidents of stone pelting and vandalism on 1 January 2017.
Section 144 of the CrPC was already imposed in the area.
The incident occurred in Bhima Koregaon in afternoon when some people heading towards a war memorial in the village and “individuals with saffron flags” reportedly pelted stones at cars that were also headed towards the memorial, reports Scroll.in.
“Stone pelting started after the argument. During the violence, vehicles and a house in the vicinity was damaged,” a police officer deployed for managing the crowd at Bhima Koregaon said without elaborating.
He said the police blocked the vehicular traffic on Pune-Ahmednagar highway for sometime following the incident. The traffic was finally resumed in evening. The situation in the village is under control now.
“More police personnel, including companies of the SRPF, have been deployed to avoid any untoward incident,” the officer said.
He said mobile phone networks were blocked for some time to stop the circulation of inflammatory messages.
Social Justice Minister Demands Police Protection for Dalits
Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale demanded police protection for Dalits in the wake of the violence. He said:
Dalit groups visiting Bhima Koregaon village in vehicles were halted at Sanaswadi, a village near Koregaon. Stones were hurled at them. No police force was available for their protection.
He appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to deploy additional police force in Bhima Koregaon village and provide protection to members of Dalit community. He also demanded an inquiry into the incident.
The Battle of Bhima Koregaon
The Battle of Bhima Koregaon was fought on January 1 1818. The British army, which had a large contingent of Dalit Mahars, had defeated the Peshwas.
Some Dalit leaders and thinkers view it as a victory of oppressed classes over the upper-caste establishment of those times.
A Peshwa was the equivalent of a modern Prime Minister in the Maratha Empire. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king), but later, they became the de facto leaders of the Marathas.
Earlier in the day, dalit leader and Independent MLA from Gujarat, Jignesh Mevani visited the memorial in Bhima Koregaon.
Yesterday, he attended “Elgaar parishad” in Pune to commemorate the ‘victory battle’. Police have appealed to people to maintain calm and not to believe in rumours. (The Quint)
