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Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste
About the Book
Challenging Caste reads the violence at Bhima Koregaon as a clash between two worldviews — one striving to flatten the social hierarchy, the other justifying and perpetuating it. The book deep dives into the songs and the play performed at the Elgar Parishad, controversially critiquing Brahminism and Prime Minister Narendra Modi; furnishes archival records in support of the claim that Govind Gopal, a Mahar, and not Bapuji Buva and Padmavati, a Maratha couple, was linked to the cremation of Chhatrapati Sambhaji; provides a rare glimpse of the world of hate over which Sambhaji Bhide presides; depicts the impact James Laine’s book had on Maharashtra’s anti-Brahmin consciousness; and recreates the scenes as Bhima Koregaon erupted on 1 January 2018.
Following the script laid out by Milind Ekbote and a right-wing think tank, the Pune police and the National Investigating Agency blamed the violence at Bhima Koregaon on a conspiracy hatched between sixteen people— anti-caste, civil and human rights activists, intellectuals and lawyers — and the Maoists. This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative. It points out the ironies underlying the State’s charges against the sixteen, and the flimsiness of the evidence that is said to have been planted on their hacked computers. The conspiracy against the sixteen that inflicted untold miseries on their families is retold here in their voices. An unequal social order, the author argues, can only produce a democracy with broken wings — and a political culture enabling the elite to prey upon the weak.
About the Author
Ajaz Ashraf became an independent journalist a dozen years ago, after tiring of the angularities of media outlets. He writes Monday Blues, a column for mid-day newspaper. His first book was The Hour Before Dawn, a novel not read too widely.
Challenging Caste reads the violence at Bhima Koregaon as a clash between two worldviews — one striving to flatten the social hierarchy, the other justifying and perpetuating it. The book deep dives into the songs and the play performed at the Elgar Parishad, controversially critiquing Brahminism and Prime Minister Narendra Modi; furnishes archival records in support of the claim that Govind Gopal, a Mahar, and not Bapuji Buva and Padmavati, a Maratha couple, was linked to the cremation of Chhatrapati Sambhaji; provides a rare glimpse of the world of hate over which Sambhaji Bhide presides; depicts the impact James Laine’s book had on Maharashtra’s anti-Brahmin consciousness; and recreates the scenes as Bhima Koregaon erupted on 1 January 2018.
Following the script laid out by Milind Ekbote and a right-wing think tank, the Pune police and the National Investigating Agency blamed the violence at Bhima Koregaon on a conspiracy hatched between sixteen people— anti-caste, civil and human rights activists, intellectuals and lawyers — and the Maoists. This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative. It points out the ironies underlying the State’s charges against the sixteen, and the flimsiness of the evidence that is said to have been planted on their hacked computers. The conspiracy against the sixteen that inflicted untold miseries on their families is retold here in their voices. An unequal social order, the author argues, can only produce a democracy with broken wings — and a political culture enabling the elite to prey upon the weak.
About the Author
Ajaz Ashraf became an independent journalist a dozen years ago, after tiring of the angularities of media outlets. He writes Monday Blues, a column for mid-day newspaper. His first book was The Hour Before Dawn, a novel not read too widely.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
494 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 3, 2024
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 13, 2024
Anybody who follows the news media in India has heard of "Bhima Koregaon", which was projected as the greatest internal conspiracy against India. Many television debates were devoted to talking about the sixteen "urban naxals" who were arrested in connection with the conspiracy. It was when the term "urban naxal" came into everyday use to describe someone who protests against the establishment.
We know that sixteen academics, activists and lawyers were arrested in connection with the case, but who were these BK-16? This book goes into understanding their ideology, why they were taken into custody, and whether they were anti-establishment or pro-disenfranchised.
The book also examines caste and class hierarchy, and how they continue to permeate every aspect of life even today. This is an extremely disturbing book to read, because we were taught that post independence India was built on the foundation of social justice, and yet that still seems so far even today.
We know that sixteen academics, activists and lawyers were arrested in connection with the case, but who were these BK-16? This book goes into understanding their ideology, why they were taken into custody, and whether they were anti-establishment or pro-disenfranchised.
But we know that the sixteen, in fundamental ways, share the dream of altering the socio-political system oppressive of the communities low in the caste and class hierarchies and living on the margins — of making it more responsive and responsible, to ensure they are not turned into lambs sacrificed to enrich and appease the gods of development.
The book also examines caste and class hierarchy, and how they continue to permeate every aspect of life even today. This is an extremely disturbing book to read, because we were taught that post independence India was built on the foundation of social justice, and yet that still seems so far even today.
Displaying 1 of 1 review