Protests against Casteist Insult of Dalit MLA, Comrade Gopal Ravidas Writes to Assembly Speaker
Protests were held on 29 January in many towns of Bihar condemning BJP backed Manuwadi forces who didn’t allow a CPIML dalit MLA, Comrade Gopal Ravidas, the unveiling of the plaque of the Preamble of the Constitution and inauguration of a school built by latter’s recommendation on the Republic Day. The upper caste miscreants had hurled casteist abuses and insults in Kurthaul village of Phulwari Sharif block of Patna. The incident has also been reported to the Speaker of the Bihar Assembly by Ravidas.
A big protest march was started in the state capital from Kankarbagh which passed through many areas of Phulwari assembly constituency including Changar, Ashok Nagar Ramlakhan Path, Sorangpur, and East and West Ramkrishna Nagar. The angry protesters shouted slogans like ‘Dalit Garib hai Taiyar - Bhajapayi Dabango Hoshiyar’, ‘Shame on Nitish Kumar’, ‘Every insult will be avenged’, and ‘Down with the rule of feudals and criminals under Nitish Kumar’. They demanded arrests of all Manuwadis who were involved in the incident of 26 January.
A big protest was also held in nearby Fatuha town which was led by comrade Gopal Ravidas. The protesters and activists pledged to defend the egalitarian democratic values of the constitution and defeat feudal reactionary casteist forces.
Gopal Ravidas has given in writing the details of that incident to the Speaker of the Bihar Assembly demanding immediate punitive action from the state legislature. A higher secondary school was constructed in Kurthaul village with an expenditure of Rs. 2 crores at the recommendation of comrade Gopal Ravidas, who is also the president of this school’s management committee. He was invited to inaugurate the school on the Republic Day at 2 pm. But he was stopped by upper caste domineering goons led by Chunnu Singh, Mithilesh Singh and Hansraj Hans with hurling caste abuses and manhandled when he unsuccessfully tried to pacify them with a dialogue.
The whole incident was reported in writing to the Principle of the school and an FIR was lodged in the Parsa police station but so far none of the attackers has been arrested by the police. Comrade Ravidas has requested the Speaker of Bihar Assembly to take cognizance and ensure criminal action against the culprits.
Gopal Ravisad also questioned the casteist leanings embedded deep into the state and the district administrations in Bihar. He cited another incident where CM Nitish Kumar attended the Flag hoisting programme of the Republic Day at Rajghat of Phulwari but comrade Gopal Ravidas was not invited in that event in spite of the fact that he is an elected MLA from the same constituency this was a clear violation of the protocol. When an elected people’s representative was ignored by the Chief Minister himself undermining constitutional traditions and norms, one can understand the plight of common people in the state under the existing regime, he added.
CPIML Condemns the Attack of Congress MP in Sasaram
CPIML Bihar State Secretary Kunal has strongly condemned the incident of another attack on a dalit leader in Bihar, Congress party’s Member of Parliament from Sasaram reserved constituency Shri Manoj Ram.
He said that activists and elected leaders from dalit community are deliberately made targets of attacks by BJP back goons in the JDU-BJP government. The elected representatives of Mahagathbandhan parties are targeted on the one hand, on the other hand the JDU MP from Bhagalpur himself crossed all limits of decency by attacking two journalists in broad daylight. This incident of attack is in itself an open statement stating the high morale of feudal-criminal forces in Bihar. The so-called ‘pragati (progress) yatra’ of the Chief Minister has already been turned into a ‘atank (terror) yatra’, he added.
Comrade Gopal Ravidas visited the Congress MP Shri Manoj Ram in a hospital in Patna and expressed his solidarity. He said people of Bihar will give a befitting reply to the pro-Manuwadi anti-people forces in the state.
