Pune: Elgar Parishad inaugurated with the tearing of Centre's farm bills

Anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Usmani (in black kurta), Dr Payal Tadvi’s mother Abida Tadvi (third from left) and Dalit activist Bant Singh (in wheelchair) at the conclave. Pics/Shadab Khan

Four years after the first Elgar Parishad conclave, organised on December 31, 2017, during the bicentennial year of the historic Bhima-Koregaon battle, scores of people assembled at a hall in Pune's Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on Saturday to pay their tributes once again.

On January 1 this year, which marked the 203rd anniversary of the historic Bhima-Koregaon battle, several senior political leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale had visited the Jay Stambh memorial near Pune, built in memory of the Mahar-Dalit regiment of the East India Company that defeated the Peshwa Army in 1818. At the time, organisers of the Elgar Parishad conclave had been denied permission for an event by the Pune Police, due to detection of a new strain of the novel Coronavirus in the UK, and "the need to maintain law and order".

Organisers received a green signal from the police last week, but were asked to hold it indoors. Roads leading to the event saw heavy police presence on Saturday. This was done to avert any violent incidents, like the one, which occurred on January 1, 2018-a day after the conclave-in the village of Bhima Koregaon, where lakhs of Dalits had convened, leaving one dead and at least 40 others injured. Numerous social activists have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) since then. Most of those arrested have been booked under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Saturday's conclave, meant to be a revival of the Parishad, was inaugurated with the symbolic tearing of the farm bills and of CAA-NRC, as well as UAPA laws, shortly after which, retired Bombay HC Judge BG Kolse-Patil, one of the main organisers, addressed the police, requesting them to allow people to come to the venue peacefully. Suvarna Salve, the lead activist and singer with the Samata Kala Manch, whom the Mumbai Police had classified as a "habitual offender" put on an electrifying performance along with her cultural troupe, shortly after which she addressed the crowd. "Many people have gone back seeing so many police cars," she said. "But it is important for us to not be scared… it is their [police's] habit to scare us. Hum koi danga fasaad karne nahi aye hain. We will peacefully complete our Elgar and then go."

The Kabir Kala Manch-three of whose members are among those arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case-took to the stage next, amidst Jai Bhim cheers, and displayed their cultural performances, followed by speeches from several speakers. Dr Payal Tadvi's mother, Abida Tadvi, broke down on stage as she delivered her speech at the Elgar, questioning why her now-deceased daughter, who had allegedly faced harassment in Mumbai from her peers due to her caste, as well as Rohit Vemula, hadn't received justice yet?

Journalist Prashant Kanojia spoke about the people who believe in the supremacy of "Hindu Rashtra" and questioned their so-called "nationalism." At 4.30 PM, anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Usmani delivered one of the most hard-hitting speeches of the evening, during which he said: "Elgar means a declaration of war, and this can be done only when there is sacrifice involved. It [sacrifice] used to be blood, but now it is much smaller things." As he tore into the modern-day idea of "nationalism," he said, "We cannot liberate you from your hatred. All we can do is tell you that it is wrong to hate." He also said that he didn't "trust the state anymore" and "Pakistan buri jageh nahi hai." He said, "I don't believe in nationalism. These people, who go about lynching others, I wonder what they do once they go home? Do they wash their hands differently, have a bath with some medicine, maybe even go watch a film."

Speaking with mid-day a day before Elgar Parishad, ex-IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who was invited as the keynote speaker for the conclave, said that it was important to revive Elgar for several reasons-the most important of which is to fight against the way a people's movement or struggle is portrayed by the state. "It has been the trend for some time now, where the state has been associating such movements with violence," he said, adding that this makes it easier to silence other movements, such as the ongoing farmers' protest. "What the current dispensation does is portray any kind of struggle into a people-versus-people scenario, whereas, in fact, these movements are originally with citizens and people on one side, and the state on the other."

Not everyone feels that the Elgar should have been revived this year. Three-time MP and current president of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Prakash Ambedkar said, "There is no need for Elgar today. The Parishad was first organised to restore society's fabric, and the differences between the communities have long been abolished. I don't know why Judge Patil is interested in the revival of Elgar Parishad, because once again, it is going to revive the wounds. Is he interested in seeing the Marathas get isolated again? Organisers from the earlier Parishad, including me, have withdrawn from its revival this year. We have no connections with it now."

The Pune-based Akhil Bharatiya Brahman Mahasangh, which had originally opposed Kolse-Patil's request to organise Elgar this year, said that they had initially raised an objection because there was a chance that if the event was held in the open, it would "divide" and "be interpreted wrongly," said President Govind Kulkarni. "Now that it is indoors and with police permission, we have
no objection."

Our farmers have been incited and provoked, says Arundhati Roy

Activist and Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy, who was the last speaker of the evening, read out her speech titled, Ek ladai mohabbat ki, in Hindi. Roy pledged solidarity with the ongoing farmers' movement and said that their demands "of taking back the three black laws, which have been thrust upon them" should be heard by "Modi Sarkar". "The farmers have been protesting peacefully for two months now. They have been incited and provoked, and we need to stand with them, now more than ever." Speaking about the arrests made in the Bhima Koregaon case, Roy said that they were "friends who I have laughed with, walked with, and eaten roti with," and also tore into the corporate media, as well as slammed TV anchors, who are paid to spew venom. "Any person who has a shred of intelligence, cannot miss seeing this pattern of incitement against the farmers. The corporate media, too, has repeatedly tried to discredit the Elgar Parishad."