Maharashtra Dalits disillusioned with Ambedkar grandson

MUMBAI: Maharashtra’s Dalit parties, notorious for their fragmentation, are at it again. As a fallout of the infamous Koregoan Bhima violence, Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the architect of the Indian Constitution Bhimrao Ambedkar, marshalled the Dalit outrage to the event to put up a significant challenge to major national parties in the general elections. However, several prominent Dalit politicians and activists are calling him out for ‘political opportunism’.

In January 2018, Dalits returning from an annual gathering at Bhima Koregaon near Pune were beaten up, allegedly by two Hindu rightist fringe groups led by Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide. Thousands of Dalits gather each year in Bhima Koregaon to commemorate the ‘victory’ of the Mahar soldiers who, while working for the British, managed to defeat numerically superior forces of Peshwa Bajirao II.

Ambedkar marshalled the Dalit outrage sparked by the incident to form Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, called for a statewide bandh and demanded that the Maharashtra government arrest Bhide, who runs an organisation called ‘Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan.’ Ambedkar also demanded that the Maharashtra government book Bhide for his involvement in the violence. The huge goodwill among Dalits that Ambedkar earned through this led to his Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, a front floated by him comprising OBCs and Muslims, and managed to make inroads in several constituencies in the state in the recently held parliamentary polls. While he did not win any Lok Sabha seats, his party was responsible for the Congress and NCP losing in at least eight parliamentary seats.