UNTOUCHABLES & CASTE WARFARE IN INDIA...
Rioting Between Castes StartsOver Desecrations, July 12, 1997
Continued Rioting and Deaths,July 13,1997
Low-Caste Mourners In India ProtestKillings, Clash With Police
Death Toll Rises As CasteRiots Grow After Desecration Of Icon
Sunday, July 13, 1997
AP BOMBAY, India Members of Hinduism's lowest caste burned buses, hurledstones at police and blocked trains in southern India in widespread riotingSaturday to protest police killings and the desecration of a monument.
Two people were killed, bringing the two-day death toll to 12. Policearrested 2,111 rioters in India's financial hub of Bombay and in the surroundingstate of Maharashtra.
There have been several caste clashes in northern and western India,but this was the worst caste violence in Bombay.
It began in a slum Friday when someone draped a garland of shoes - asupreme insult in India - around the bust of Babasaheb Ambedkar, a low-castehero who had fought for independence from British rule.
It was unclear who had desecrated the monument.
Riots immediately ensued. Police shot and killed 10 people, saying theyhad set buses on fire and thrown stones and that authorities were preventingwider unrest. Locals said the initial shootings were unprovoked.
"My nephew was leaving home for school and now he is dead. Who willreplace our loss?" a weeping Hemant Shivsharan said Saturday.
Low-caste advocates called for a general strike, and the unrest spreadthroughout the state Saturday.
Caste Violence Leaves 10Dead In India
Saturday, July 12, 1997
AP BOMBAY, India * Desecration of an icon sparked riots by Hindus. Twoof the dead are schoolchildren caught in the chaos.
A riot broke out in a Bombay slum Friday after residents discovered abust of their hero had been desecrated. Police killed 10 people, includingtwo children shot on their way to school.
An angry crowd gathered after passersby discovered a garland of shoes- considered a grave insult in India - draped over a bust of Babasaheb Ambedkar,an independence leader from Hinduism's lowest caste.
Word spread quickly, and within minutes several hundred people had gatheredaround the bust on a street corner in the Ghatkopar slum.
Police said they opened fire after the crowd set fire to three busesand threw stones at police. Residents disputed that, saying the gunfirewas unprovoked. Thirty-two people were hospitalized, eight of them in criticalcondition.
"We had no option but to resort to firing," said assistantpolice commissioner Ramrao Ghadge, adding that police feared the crowd wouldset fire to a nearby gas tanker, causing an explosion.
But Raju Gamgorde, a local politician, said the crowd was just shoutingslogans when police began shooting. People did not begin throwing stonesuntil later, he said. Two children, caught in the protest on their way toschool, were among the dead.
It was not clear who had desecrated the bust, but the Ghatkopar slumhas been the site of several clashes between low-caste Indians and membersof a right-wing Hindu group, Shiv Sena.
Low-Caste Mourners In IndiaProtest Killings, Clash With Police
Monday, July 14, 1997
AP BOMBAY, India Shouting and throwing stones, at least 8,000 low-casteIndians streamed toward a crematorium in Bombay Sunday to mourn 10 peoplekilled by police in a city slum.
The two children and eight adults cremated were shot to death by policetrying to quell class-based rioting that broke out Friday in a poor neighborhoodin Bombay.
Open trucks carried the bodies, which were draped in white sheets andcovered with red and yellow flower petals, in a slow, three-mile processionfrom the site of the rioting to the crematorium.
Mourners walked alongside.
"Burn the police! Whoever confronts us will be ground to dust,"mourners chanted. Some threw rocks at the 600 police standing by.
Others attacked local leader Ramdas Athvale, whose Republican Party championsIndia's downtrodden classes, for not visiting the area before Sunday.
Police whisked Athvale away to protect him.
Two other people who died in rioting Saturday were buried later Sunday.
Residents of the shantytown rioted after finding the statue of BabasahebAmbedkar - the messiah of low-caste people - draped in a garland of shoes,considered a vulgar insult in India.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the gesture, the slum hadbeen the site of clashes between low-caste Indians and members of the right-wingShiv Sena party.
India has thousands of Hindu castes that signify a person's traditionaloccupation, status and even hometown. Although caste discrimination is againstthe law, prejudice continues, and low-caste Indians are likely to be poor,uneducated and underemployed.
In some parts of India, the confrontation between high and low casteresembles all-out class war.
Upper caste, right-wing Hindus have objected to increasing demands fromthe lower classes for rights and opportunities, which they see as a challengeto their own position and to their understanding of religious doctrine.
Sporadic class-related violence also was reported in four other citiesSunday.
In Nagpur, 550 miles northwest of Bombay, police opened fire on a crowdof people shouting slogans against officials during mourning for victimskilled Friday.
The crowd refused to disperse as ordered and instead hurled rocks atpolice officers, prompting them to fire back, a police official said.
