Several progressive Dalit organisations have joined hands for a jatha from Bengaluru to Udupi to assert freedom of food habits and demand land for the community on the lines of the recent Una movement in Gujarat.
As part of the jatha, in which Gujarat Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani will participate, a rally will be held at Jayapura in Koppa taluk, where Dalits were attacked by cow vigilantes in July. Young Dalit writers and intellectuals, including Bhaskar Prasad, Hulikunte Murthy, Vikas Mourya, and Nandakumar will lead the Swabhimani Sangharsha Jatha, that will be inaugurated by writer Devanuru Mahadeva at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on October 4.
Bhaskar Prasad, one of the organisers, said the jatha has been organised in the wake of assaults on Dalits, minorities, women, and all oppressed classes in the State in the name of cultural politics of the sacred cow. “The main objective of the jatha is to assert that food is an individual choice and land is the right of every Dalit. We are demanding at least five acres for every Dalit family. Along with the jatha, we will hold public meetings to spread the message of the rally,” he said.
Public meetings will be held at Nelamangala on the first day (October 4), at Kunigal, Channarayapatna on the second day, Holenarsipur and Hassan on the third day, Belur and Chikkamagaluru on the fourth day, at Jayapura in Koppa on the fifth day, and a mega rally at Udupi on the last day.
Mr. Mevani and other prominent leaders will attend the valedictory event, the organisers said. “Two major rallies will be held at Jayapura and Udupi, the two places which witnessed atrocities in the name of cow protection. A Dalit family was attacked at Shantipura near Jayapura in July and a youth was murdered near Udupi. Besides, family members of all victims of attacks by cow vigilantes reported since 2005 will participate in the rallies,” said Dinesh Kumar, one of the organisers.
In the second leg of the movement, district-level meetings have been planned in the next few months. Later, a massive rally has been planned in Bengaluru, the organisers said.
