NAGPUR, Maharashtra — When police violence prompted a Dalit couple to attempt suicide as their distraught children looked on in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, the heartbreaking visuals went viral.
Since then, the district has witnessed two more similar instances — twelve people were injured when an unidentified mob of over 250 assaulted a Muslim family over a land dispute, and in another incident, an OBC man was thrashed by a group of dominant caste men who claimed the victim was stealing pesticides.
This sudden spate of violence has attracted national attention, but activists in Madhya Pradesh say violence against Dalits, Adivasis and Other Backward Classes are common in a region still hobbled by its feudal past.
Guna district has long been a stronghold of the Scindia family: Congressman and erstwhile royal Madhavrao Scindia represented the Guna constituency from 1971 to 1980, and again from 1999 until his death in 2001. Thereafter, his son Jyotiraditya Scindia won three consecutive terms as Congressman from Guna all the way up to May 2019. He is now in the Rajya Sabha with the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
This feudal legacy, activists say, has made it almost impossible for a progressive politics to emerge.
“Guna, Morena, and Gwalior are completely feudal areas which is why even the politicians there are like kings,” said Amulya Nidhi, a Bhopal-based health activist with the Swasthya Adhikar Manch. “Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narendra Tomar rule these areas. If you look at the modus operandi of the local leaders, you can understand that. There is hardly any local Dalit leader here.”
“The civil society groups here are more focused on issues like forest, land, and water here,” Nidhi said.
As a consequence, Nidhi said, that there had been no social reform movements in the region, unlike in neighbouring states like Maharashtra and even Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
“The incidents of untouchability, manual scavenging, Dalits being beaten up or the tribals being dispossessed of their land are quite common here,” said Advocate Abhay Jain, who runs a socio-legal group in Shivpuri, Guna’s neighboring district. “Right now it is coming out because anyone can record it on his phone and circulate it.”
The local police largely ignored complaints by Dalits and Adivasis, Jain said, contributing to the sense of impunity amongst dominant caste and social groups.
“They have the impunity to do whatever they want and it leads to incidents like Bhavkhedi where two children were murdered last year or the incident in Guna,” Jain said.
The authorities turn a blind eye to widespread encroachments by big landowners, Jain added.
“They evict only the tribals. The tribals may be holding one or two hectares of land but there are people who are holding thousands of acres of land illegally and brazenly,” Jain said.
Toxic Politics
Local reporters say the upcoming assembly by-elections have given a fresh impetus to such incidents. The by-elections have been prompted by Scindia’s decision to defect from the Congress to the BJP in March this year. Twenty-two MLAs loyal to him also followed him resulting in the collapse of the Congress government led by Kaml Nath.
A spotlight on the troubles in Guna is likely to embarrass Scindia to the benefit of both, the opposition and the current Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who is wary of Scindia’s ambitions.
“It’s not only the Congress but some top BJP leaders are also making sure these incidents, especially in Guna, get proper media coverage,” said a local report in the district. “ A bad name for Scindia is likely to benefit Shivraj Singh Chouhan to keep his hold on MP.”