Congress appoints 29 observers amid alliance debate in Bihar
Patna: A day after state Congress legislators and senior functionaries met party president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in Delhi amid talks of a split and strain in the alliance with RJD, the All India Congress Committee on Saturday appointed 29 observers “for the selection of district presidents” to revamp the organisation following the humiliating defeat of the opposition Mahagathbandhan in the Bihar elections. Meanwhile, the RJD national executive committee meeting is scheduled to be held in Patna on Sunday. As Valmikinagar MLA Surendra Prasad told reporters that legislators conveyed their opinion to the leadership to sever ties with RJD and strengthen the organisation for “better results” in the future, union minister and HAM(S) founder Jitan Ram Manjhi said it would be good for Congress if it decided to break away from RJD. “Bahut der kar di hujoor aate aate (took too long to arrive). Except a few, people in general hate RJD,” Manjhi said during his ‘Litti with Manjhi’ programme in Patna, which was attended, among others, by governor Arif Mohammed Khan and CM Nitish Kumar. Surendra Prasad said Congress would try to contest the next elections on its own. He told the media that Rahul Gandhi had also given his consent. On speculation about Congress MLAs deserting the party, he said they assured Rahul that they had emerged victorious even amid the NDA wave and would not go anywhere. However, Chanpatia MLA Abhishek Ranjan told this newspaper on Saturday that no such decision was taken by the central leadership regarding severing ties with RJD. “The Delhi meeting on Friday was held to discuss strengthening Congress at district and block levels. RJD is still our respected ally. Some leaders may have their personal opinions on the alliance,” he said. Abhishek also denied reports of a possible change in the state Congress president and said discussions focused on reorganising the party at district and block levels, followed by booth-level strengthening. Sources said Purnia MP Pappu Yadav, who was a special invitee to the meeting, along with a few legislators and leaders, requested the central leadership to go solo in Bihar if the party was to regain lost ground. Congress won only six assembly seats in the Nov elections, compared to 19 in the 2020 polls. Senior Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan has categorically stated that the party suffered in the assembly elections due to RJD’s image and the alliance. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Dhanbad: Dalit Community Outraged Over De-reservation of Municipal Corporation Seat, Holds Massive Protest at Randhir Verma Chowk
Dhanbad Municipal Corporation Elections: Dalit Community Outraged Over Loss of SC Seat. Massive protest at Randhir Verma Chowk, know what’s happening in the High Court. Dhanbad/Jharkhand: Amidst the buzz of the upcoming local body elections, the Dalit community’s anger has erupted against the government’s decision to de-reserve the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation seat. On Thursday, hundreds of people from the community held a one-day protest at Randhir Verma Chowk over this issue. The protesters strongly opposed the state government’s decision, calling it discriminatory and demanding its immediate withdrawal. Those participating in the protest said that based on the 2011 caste census, the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation seat was reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category. However, recently the government has declared it unreserved, causing widespread anger among the Dalit community. The protesters termed this move an attack on their constitutional rights and a conspiracy to eliminate their social representation in local governance. Slogans raised against the government Those present at the protest site raised slogans against the government and alleged that the administration is undermining social justice by disregarding established rules. They said that this de-reservation decision has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Dalit community and threatens to weaken their political participation in the municipal administration. Case in High Court, judgment reserved Addressing the crowd, social activist Shantanu Chandra, also known as Bablu Paswan, said that a legal battle has been initiated against this injustice. He informed that a petition challenging the government’s decision was filed in the Ranchi High Court. The hearing on this matter has been completed and the court has reserved its judgment. “We will not remain silent against injustice” Shantanu Chandra further said that the community has full faith in the judiciary and hopes that the outcome will be in their favor. However, they questioned the government’s intentions, stating that their struggle would continue until justice is served and the decision is reversed. They declared defiantly, “We have full respect for the judicial process, but at the same time, we will not remain silent against injustice.” The protesters warned that if the government did not reconsider its decision, the movement would be intensified in the coming days. The protest concluded peacefully, with everyone reiterating their resolve to continue fighting for their rights through both legal and democratic means. Rajan Chaudhary Courtesy: Hindi News
How the 16-year-long Namantar Andolan led by Dalit communities created a new aesthetic in literature
The campaign, which began in 1978, sought to rename Marathwada University in recognition of Dr BR Ambedkar’s contribution to social welfare. This statement was in response to the historic Namantar Andolan, a 16-year struggle waged by Dalits to rename Marathwada University in recognition of Dr BR Ambedkar, not as an act of charity to Dalits, but as a right, challenging the dominant cultural and moral order and asserting normative self-esteem. Started in 1978, it finally culminated in 1994 with Namvistaar, naming the university D Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), portraying the “moral incapacity” of the social order, reflected in the state, to accept the dignity of Dalits, exposing the fault lines that run deep due to the psychic prevalence of conscious/unconscious caste-feudalism. This movement is marked by several notable events – the Long March, inspired by the Chinese Long March; the famous Jail Bharo Andolan; a unique show of Dalit-Muslim solidarity; and the creation of the novel “Dalit Public.” The movement spread across Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. Dalit literature, which asserted the aesthetic equality of being Dalit, breaking free from the traditional, graded, hierarchical, phallocentric caste system, played a crucial role in this movement, not just contributing to the literary writings, but also acting as a conscience-building tool. From ‘reform’ to ‘radical’ This provided a further impetus to Dalit literature, in which Dalit writers crafted a new language of protest based on anger, using that which challenged the Brahmanical hegemony in the space of literature, i.e., through a defiant public spectacle, and the crafting of an antithetical, vernacular Ambedkarite counter-public that countered the Brahmanical public sphere by bypassing mainstream media, non-state actors, and academic gatekeeping. The ballads of Shahid Vilas Ghogare, songs sung by Vitthal Umap and Shambhaji Bhagat, the poetry of Aai by Jyoti Lanjewar, and an intellectual platform like Asmita Darsha, edited by Gangadhar Pantawane, along with numerous poems and writings in the regional languages, documented this historic struggle as a “public spectacle” of anguish. Thus, Dalit literature can be seen here employing the politics of montage – dialectical montage, symbolic montage, and parataxic syntax. Dialectical syntax may be seen in Shahir Vilas Ghogare’s lines, where he presents a contradiction: urban Dalits, who boast of staying in cities – Pune and Mumbai – saying “Jai Bhim”, yet live like the worthless. This can also be connected to the deployment of symbolic montage, where Dr Ambedkar aimed to break the shackles of caste-class-feudalism in villages and encourage Dalits to migrate to cities for their socio-economic and political emancipation. But the verses also point to the Dalits still facing atrocities based on caste, where they have to hide their caste even in the urban areas. Throughout the song, there is an episode of Pochiram Kamble, who was well-off materially but was killed for supporting the movement and saying the words “Jai Bheem.” Thus, Ghogare puts forth a deeper understanding of the machinations of caste in urban-rural areas, whose assault continues in both tangible and intangible realms, helping in understanding the opposition and hatred to Dr Ambedkar’s name for renaming the Marathwada University. The performance of this ballad was a chaotic juxtaposition of the deployment of heterogeneous elements – vernacular language, use of abuse in the composition, and the imagery that demonstrated the undignified living of Dalits in urban areas, the continuation of caste atrocities on Dalits in rural areas, and the denial of material rights to the Dalits, despite being legal citizens, in the independent republic of caste, demonstrating a “caste world” permeated by the banality of caste-evil. The Dalit feminist standpoint “I have seen you At the front of the Long March The end of your sari is tucked tightly at the waist Shouting, “Change the name” Taking the blow of the police stick on your upraised hands Going to jail with head held high…” The above lines have been excerpted from the poem Aai by poet Jyoti Lanjewar, who foregrounds the participation of women in the Namantar Andolan, especially by portraying the image of the “labouring mother” in the famous long march of 1979. Women were not mere passive agents but active participants fighting the brutality of the state and society from the forefront. Her other collections, such as Disha and Ajuna Vadal Uthale Nahi, are agencies that evoke images of Dalit women, where these visuals correct the anomalies in history, foreground her-story, and create a political resonance. The writings of Urmila Pawar, especially Aydaan, document the impact the movement had on her as she navigated the complexities of being a Dalit woman, making and unmaking her identity. Women like Jamnabai Appa Gaikwad, Sangeeta Deepak Pradhan, and Rukhmini Sakharam Satpute, who participated in this movement actively, represent the her-stories – portrayal of a distinct Dalit-feminist standpoint, where Dalit women, in the words of Uma Chakravarti, face “multiple patriarchies.” Later, due to the breathing space provided by the experiences of this movement, during as well as after the movement, there was a flood of writings by Dalit women, putting forth their saga, stories, and struggles in works like Jina Amucha by Babytai Kamble, Majhya Jalmachi Chittarkatha by Shantabai Kamble, Antahsphot by Kumudtai Pawade, and many more. Thus, the Namantar Aandolan brought about a metamorphosis in Dalit literature, which rejected liberalism as orthodox piety, employed strong yet raw language, and served as the agency of historical documentation – the martyrs, such as Pochiram Kamble, Gautam Waghmare, Vilas Dhone, Janardhan Mavde, and others, were documented. In the words of George Lukacs, literature captures the totality of this struggle – the power structure and the forces and their agencies that exercise power, looking beyond subjectivity and going beyond individualistic accounts to provide a collective narrative of the struggle as a whole. Nikhil Sanjay-Rekha Adsule Courtesy : Scroll Note: This news is originally published on https:/scroll.in/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Get favourable trade deal with US: Rahul to PM
NEW DELHI: Arguing that US tariffs are hurting the job-intensive textile sector and calling Indian economy as “dead”, Congress’ Rahul Gandhi Friday urged PM Modi to show “accountability” and secure a favourable trade deal with US. Posting on X a video of his visit to a textile factory in Haryana, Rahul said, “50% US tariffs are badly hurting India’s textile exporters. Job losses, factory shutdowns and reduced orders are a reality of our ‘Dead Economy’. PM Modi has offered no relief or even spoken about tariffs, even though more than 4.5 crore jobs and lakhs of businesses are at stake (sic).” He posted with the hashtag “TINA – there is no accountability”. Rahul said India has to secure a trade deal with US that puts Indian businesses and workers first, as he asserted that “PM Modi must not allow his ‘own weakness’ to impact the economy any further”. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Upset over Rahul ‘snub’, Tharoor skips poll meet with Cong brass, goes for lit fest instead
NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor did not attend the meeting of Kerala state leadership with AICC high command Friday amid reports that he is upset over a recent “snub”, even as the party stepped up planning for the upcoming state polls scheduled for mid-2026 and urged netas to put up a united fight. AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi met important netas of the Kerala unit for discussion on poll campaign strategy and seat-sharing with allies. Among those who took part in the session were AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, special poll observer Sachin Pilot, senior neta Ramesh Chennithala, state president Sunny Thomas, LoP V D Satheesan, MPs Kodikunnil Suresh, Adoor Prakash, among others. However, Tharoor did not attend despite an invitation. The Thiruvananthapuram MP was in Kozhikode for Kerala Literature Festival where, sources said, he had a lecture scheduled on an important social reformer. Sources said he had informed the party about his inability to attend the meeting. However, Tharoor is said to be upset that Rahul did not acknowledge him while he mentioned other netas on the dais during Kochi “mahapanchayat” organised after UDF’s victory in local body elections. Tharoor is said to have told the party about his unhappiness about the “snub”. To media queries, party’s state incharge Deepa Dasmunshi denied that Tharoor was unhappy with Congress. The events before Kochi had suggested a thaw between Tharoor and the party, after the MP’s repeated statements and political stance over myriad issues had embarrassed the Congress brass. The repeated clashes between him and Congress had even triggered speculations that Tharoor was searching for political space outside Congress. For Kerala polls, Congress is also discussing the return of estranged ally Kerala Congress (Mani). The party has to decide whether MPs will be fielded in state polls, even as it is almost final that most of the MLAs will be repeated. A comfortable victory for UDF alliance over the governing Left bloc in the local body elections last month rekindled hopes about its prospects in the assembly polls. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Congress dismisses defection buzz as state MLAs meet Kharge, Rahul
Patna/New Delhi: The Congress on Friday dismissed reports that its six newly elected MLAs in Bihar were on the verge of deserting the party, even as the legislators attended a closed-door meeting with the party’s top leadership in Delhi and were asked to step up public engagement across the state. The meeting, held at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, was attended by leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, along with the six MLAs and senior leaders from Bihar. The interaction came amid speculation triggered by the delay in the appointment of the Congress legislature party (CLP) leader in the Bihar assembly and rumours of possible defections to the JD(U). After the meeting, Venugopal rubbished the speculation. “There were rumours that all our MLAs are deserting our party. But they were present in the meeting. These are all bogus news. These types of rumours being spread against the Congress are completely baseless,” he said. The high command also directed the MLAs and senior state leaders to actively take up both major and local issues of public concern and carry the party’s ideology directly to the people. This instruction was issued even as the decision on the CLP leader was deferred. “The matter related to the selection of the CLP leader was discussed at the meeting with the high command. It would be announced shortly by the high command,” a senior Congress lawmaker from the state, who attended the meeting, said. He added that the discussions were held in a “very cordial atmosphere”. Another party source said all six MLAs were present and each of them, along with MPs and MLCs, shared their views and concerns about the state unit. “None of the six MLAs absented themselves from the meeting,” the source said. Former state Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha said, “The participants returned happy and satisfied.” According to party sources, the meeting reviewed the assembly election outcome, organisational issues and the delay in naming the CLP leader, even as the budget session of the Bihar assembly is scheduled to begin from Feb 2. Rahul urged leaders to consistently raise people’s issues before the govt and return to the public, while Kharge stressed sustained mobilisation on the streets to rebuild the party in Bihar. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Dalit Youth Brutally Beaten in Rampur: Four Villagers Accused, Dispute Arose While Returning from Market
Rampur. A serious case of assault on a Dalit youth has come to light in Purainia Kala village of Milak tehsil in the district. It is alleged that four people from the same village verbally abused and attacked the youth with sticks and rods, leaving him seriously injured. The injured youth reached the Milak police station and demanded strict legal action against the accused. The victim has been identified as Harpal. Harpal told the police that he is originally from Purainia Kala village but currently lives in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, where he works in a factory. He had come to his ancestral village about two days ago. According to the victim, on Thursday evening, around 4 pm, he was returning home after buying goods from the market. At that time, some people were playing cards under a banyan tree at the village square. These included Chandrapal, Vedpal, Ramashankar, and Deshraj. During this time, he had an argument with Chandrapal over some matter. Harpal alleges that after the argument, all the accused ganged up and started using abusive language against him. When he protested, the four attacked him. He was seriously injured in the assault with sticks, rods, and fists. Hearing the commotion, people from the surrounding area arrived at the spot, and only then did the attackers leave him in an injured state and flee. After the incident, with the help of his family and villagers, the injured Harpal was brought to the Milak police station. Considering the seriousness of the matter, the police have conducted a medical examination. Several injury marks were found on the victim’s body. The Milak police station says that an investigation has been started based on the victim’s complaint. Further legal action will be taken against all the accused based on the evidence. The police are also investigating whether there was any old enmity behind the dispute. A tense atmosphere prevails in the village after this incident. The villagers say that strict action should be taken against the accused so that such incidents do not recur in the future. Currently, the police are investigating the entire matter and have assured the victim that justice will be served. Rohitash Mani Courtesy: Hindi News
Dalit winner MIM BMC group leader
Mumbai: Vijay Ubale, a dalit who won from ward 140 in Govandi in the BMC polls, is AIMIM’s group leader in the civic body, said former MLA and party leader Waris Pathan. “The appointment is aligned with the party’s attempt to empower weaker sections,” he said. tnn Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Two Dalit Families’ Homes Burned Down in Prayagraj: Belongings Reduced to Ashes, Families Left Homeless; They Plead for Help
A massive fire broke out on Wednesday in the Dalit settlement of Kohdar Pahari, under the Meja police station area of Prayagraj. Two Dalit families’ homes were completely destroyed in the incident. The affected families include Ram Milan Harijan (son of Jagannath Harijan) and Jagarnath (son of Ram Khelawan). Social worker Sanjay Kesarwani said that the fire started suddenly, causing panic in the settlement. By the time the fire department arrived, both houses had been completely reduced to ashes. All the household belongings kept in the houses were destroyed in the fire. As a result, both Dalit families have become homeless. They now have no means of shelter or food. The affected families have appealed to the government and administration for immediate financial assistance and rehabilitation. Rajesh Kumar Vishwakarma Courtesy: Hindi News
We Must Not Choose Between “Caste” And “Civic sense”
Caste explains the moral history of filth in India; collective-action failure explains its daily reproduction Why are Indian streets so often strewn with litter? Why do so many of us treat public spaces with such complete disregard? I have wrestled with these questions for many years—both as an ordinary citizen and as a Dalit who has studied Indian society academically and also lived within its social hierarchies as a fact of everyday life. Suraj Yengde’s recent piece offers a straightforward answer to this larger question of cleanliness and civic sense—caste. His well-placed assertion is that caste has trained much of Indian society to outsource responsibility to others. Imagine cleaning as the “job” of a designated group of Dalits, and it becomes easier to treat mess as morally weightless and inconsequential. In this arrangement, filth becomes public, but shame becomes privatised—or made invisible altogether—and accountability is shifted to others. I agree with this completely. It explains why most Indians are meticulously clean inside their homes, but readily throw garbage where it doesn’t belong, showing little concern for what happens outside their gates. But my own life experiences push me toward a more complicated picture. Caste is indeed a necessary explanation for India’s sanitation order (or rather, disorder) and civic sense. Who cleans your streets first thing in the morning, whose labour is stigmatized, and who is considered “designated” to clean “our mess”? Caste explains this division of labour and the moral permission it creates. But it does not fully explain why public neglect persists and keeps reproducing itself, even in situations where caste hierarchy is not the immediate or visible operating mechanism. To understand the everyday stability of littering and disregard for public goods, we also need to see sanitation as part of a wider social logic of chalta hai—a low-trust environment in which individuals routinely assume that public rules will not be followed or fairly enforced and therefore feel it is “rational” to break them first. The result is not just a caste problem but a public-goods trap, one whose moral authority draws on caste but whose daily reproduction is driven by collective-action failure. Let me give a concrete example. A few years ago, I attended an Ambedkar Jayanti rally in Delhi. For most Dalits, this day carries the same importance as, if not greater than, a national holiday. It is a day to celebrate hard-earned dignity, equal rights, and an unfinished struggle. The atmosphere was highly charged, with blue flags everywhere, slogans of “educate, agitate, organise,” speeches, songs, and dancing, in an intense sense of community. But as the crowd dispersed toward the end of the day, the pride turned into embarrassment. The road along which the procession had moved was blanketed with trash of pamphlets, plastic water bottles, paper plates, cigarette butts, and everything a large crowd could throw on the street. After the programme concluded, volunteers started cleaning up. However, the irony was sharp enough to hurt. We had spent the day invoking a politics of dignity and ended it by turning a shared public space into a dumping ground. My first instinct was to reach for excuses. The crowd was huge. There were no dustbins. The municipality should have planned better. Where were people expected to dispose of the litter—in their pockets? But these explanations didn’t touch the deeper truth, which is that we had behaved like nearly every other large gathering in India. It was no different from a student political rally I attended at Delhi University, where roads were plastered with posters, or a public roadshow by any politician, big or small. We left the mess for “someone else” to handle. And that “someone else” was a sanitation worker from a Dalit community itself, which made the moment even more bitter. This episode doesn’t disprove Yengde’s point. It revealed something deeper and adjacent to it, and pushed me to extend this narrative further. Even those who don’t believe in any caste hierarchy or champion the cause of Dalits can still fall into the habit of treating public space as morally disposable. Oppression does not automatically produce better public conduct. It produces people living within the same social environment, responding to the same incentives, and absorbing the same norms. I saw the same logic at work in the South Haryana village where I grew up. Everyday life was full of small acts of rule-breaking, routinely justified as necessary or common sense. Until recently, illegal hookups to electric poles (in simple terms, electricity theft) were common to avoid bills, cutting across caste groups. Giving a small bribe, known as ghoos or bakshish, to a traffic constable to avoid receiving a challan was/is a common practice. Calling a “politically connected” person in the tehsil or any government office, for that matter, to get some paperwork done. Finding jugaad for everything, from land registry to marriage certificates to even securing a hospital bed in a big Delhi hospital. Then there were election-time “gifts,” usually liquor or cash, to secure votes. I don’t want to take this piece in the direction of petty corruption—that’s a topic for another day—but these are everyday ‘Indian things’ cutting across caste backgrounds. It is true that those in power are often upper caste, but given the chance, no Dalit is magically immune to this great Indian phenomenon. These examples, among thousands of others, point to something very uncomfortable, that is, public order in India is treated as negotiable across the board, and oftentimes rules are mere suggestions. People curse corruption and rule-breaking, and then participate in it when they benefit from it and the consequences are low. Over time, this arrangement becomes a learned equilibrium. You become part of a large machine whose wheels need constant greasing to keep it moving. Consider a telling parable from North India about a farmer (Annadata Kisaan). He might quietly pull a sugarcane from his neighbour’s field, yet loudly accuse others of stealing from his crop, forgetting that their fields lie just as close to his.