Gujarat chief minister declines to accept Dalits' largest-ever National Flag

The tractor carrying the National Flag

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani has declined to accept the largest-ever National Flag, prepared by Dalit students and teachers of the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), the Dalit empowerment centre, founded by top rights activist Martin Macwan in 1999 to train girls and boys from marginalized communities in technical skills.
A Rupani emissary, who met Dalit rights activists from 26 Gujarat districts on behalf of the chief minister in Gandhinagar, gave in writing that the state government “does not have the requisite facility” to keep a 125 feet long, 83.3 feet wide National Flag brought all the way from DSK, about 50 km away.
“Once such a facility is created, we would approach you and take the National Flag”, the hand-written letter, a copy of which has been forwarded to Counterview, said. The length of the National Flag represents the 125th anniversary of top Dalit icon and father of the country’s constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar.

The large-sized supda with one-line memorandum to CM

Sources in the state government said, since Rupani “did not have the time to receive the National Flag, he directed the district collector, Gandhinagar, to meet the Dalit activists.” The activists had come in a vehicles rally from DSK, situated off Sanand town in Ahmedabad district. The National Flag was brought in a tractor.
When contacted, Macwan told Counterview, “First we were conveyed that only five persons would be allowed to meet the district collector, deputed by the chief minister. When we insisted that the official should come down to us, as it was a question of giving respect the National Flag, they agreed with our suggestion to allow us to carry the National Flag in tractor to the district collector’s office and meet one representative each from 26 districts.”
He added, “When the 26 Dalit representatives met the collector, they were told that they did not have the facility to keep such a big National Flag. When they insisted to give this in writing, a district collectorate official, mamlatdar, Gandhinagar, gave us in writing that, once they had the necessary facility, they approach us.”

The big National Flag, created at DSK

Angry Dalit representatives, who had come from Gujarat’s rural areas, reacted sharply, wondering how it could be that the state government does not have the facility to keep India’s largest national flag, when they could spend Rs 3,000 crore to build the world’s tallest 182 metre high statue of Sardar Patel at Narmada dam. “The argument is specious”, said one.
The National Flag, which has been brought back to DSK, was prepared by Dalits students and teachers after spending 25 days. It is made of khadi, which is generally woven by the Vankar sub-caste of Dalits. Its designing, colouring and sewing was done by students, mainly girls, with the help of teachers.

Govt reply on left side

The Ashok Chakra is interpreted by Macwan as symbolizing social equality. Equality is one of the 12 basic principles of Lord Buddha, and the spokes in the Ashok Chakra represent exactly that. “By offering the National Flag to the chief minister, we wanted to remind him about his constitutional duty to annihilate caste”, he said.
Even as declining to accept he National Flag, the chief minister’s emissary accepted from the Dalit activists a large-sized supda (winnowing basket), which carried a one-line memorandum, asking Rupani to name one Gujarat village untouchability free on the Independence day, August 15. “We will hand it over to the chief minister”, the Dalits were told.

Comments

Disappearing schools: India's education landscape undergoing massive changes

The other day, I received a message from education rights activist Mitra Ranjan, who claims that a whopping one lakh schools across India have been closed down or merged. This seemed unbelievable at first sight. The message from the activist, who is from the advocacy group Right to Education (RTE) Forum, states that this is happening as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, which floated the idea of school integration/consolidation.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. I don't know who owns this site, for there is nothing on it in the About Us link. It merely says, the Nashik Corporation site "is an educational and news website of the municipal corporation. Today, education and payment of tax are completely online." It goes on to add, "So we provide some of the latest information about Property Tax, Water Tax, Marriage Certificate, Caste Certificate, etc. So all taxpayer can get all information of their municipal in a single place.some facts about legal and financial issues that different city corporations face, but I was least interested in them." Surely, this didn't interest...

Did Bank of India send a fake SMS, or is its website under attack?

On the evening of February 14, after banking hours, I received a strange SMS from Bank of India (BOI)—where I maintain a very small, largely inactive account. I had opened it years ago simply because a branch was located near my home. However, finding their services quite poor, I rarely use it anymore.

A story Gujarat forgot: Dalits and the Dakor temple movement

The other day, I was talking with Martin Macwan, a well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader. He revealed to me an interesting chapter of the Gandhian movement in Gujarat — how Ravishankar Maharaj (1884–1984), a prominent Gandhian social reformer of the state, played a pivotal role in the struggle for temple entry for Dalits (then referred to as Harijans) in the late 1940s.

Varnashram Dharma: How Gandhi's views evolved, moved closer to Ambedkar's

My interaction with critics and supporters of Mahatma Gandhi, ranging from those who consider themselves diehard Gandhians to Left-wing and Dalit intellectuals, has revealed that in the long arc of his public life, few issues expose his philosophical tensions more than his shifting stance on Varnashram Dharma—the ancient Hindu concept that society should be divided into four varnas, or classes, based on duties and aptitudes.

Caste, class, and Patidar agitation: Veteran academic 'unearths' Gujarat’s social history

Recently, I was talking with a veteran Gujarat-based academic who is the author of several books, including "Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature", "Untouchability in Rural India", "Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of Surat Plague", and "Dalit Identity and Politics", apart from many erudite articles and papers in research and popular journals.

Remembering R.K. Misra: A 'news plumber' who refused to compromise

It is always sad when a journalist colleague passes away — more so when that person has remained firm in his journalistic moorings. Compared to many others, I did not know R.K. Misra, who passed away on February 23 after a long illness, very intimately, but we interacted occasionally over the years.

Top Hindu builder ties up with Muslim investor for a huge minority housing society in Ahmedabad

There is a flutter in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur area, derogatorily referred to as the "border" because, on its eastern side, there is a sprawling minority area called Juhapura, where around five lakh Muslims live. The segregation is so stark that virtually no Muslim lives in Vejalpur, populated by around four lakh Hindus, and no Hindu lives in Juhapura.

Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

The other day, someone close to me attempted to order some goodies on Flipkart and its subsidiary Shopsy. After preparing a long list of items, this person, as usual, opted for the Cash on Delivery (popularly known as COD) option, as this senior citizen isn't very familiar with online prepaid payment methods like UPI, credit or debit cards, or online bank transfers through websites. In fact, she is hesitant to make online payments, fearing, "I may make a mistake," she explained, adding, "I read a lot about online frauds, so I always choose COD as it's safe. I have no knowledge of how to prepay online."

Search This Blog