जंगलातल्या प्रकाशवाटा..!

संपूर्ण महाराष्ट्राला वेठीस धरणाऱ्या कोरेगाव भीमा हिंसाचाराच्या मागे नक्षलवादी शक्तींचा हात असल्याचं पोलीस तपासात निष्पन्न झालं आहे. त्याच अनुषंगाने पुणे पोलिसांनी कबीर कला मंच व रिपब्लिकन पंथार्सच्या कार्यकर्त्यांच्या घरी धाडी टाकल्या, व त्यात हाती लागलेल्या पुराव्यांच्या आधारे पोलिसांनी ५ संशयित आरोपींना अटक केली. साहजिकच या अटकसत्रानंतर डाव्या माओवादी गटांत खळबळ उडाली. अपेक्षेप्रमाणे अटकेनंतर काही तासातच विविध भागात निदर्शने, घोषणाबाजी सुरू झाली. आणि पुरोगामी विचारवंतांच्या लोकशाहीची हत्या, अभिव्यक्ती स्वातंत्र्य, संविधान धोक्यात आहे अशा सारखं ऐकून बोर झालेल्या आरोळ्या कानावर पडल्या.

आम्ही म्हणतो त्याला अटक करा म्हणणारे डावे, त्यांच्यावर चौकशीअंती झालेल्या कारवाईवर आता अरण्यरुदन करत आहेत. ते साहजिक आहे. परंतु माओवाद्यांच्या या अटकेने मिलिंद तेलतुंबडेला झालं नसेल त्यापेक्षा जास्त दुःख प्रकाश आंबेडकरांना झालं आहे. प्रकाशरावांच्या मागच्या काही वर्षातल्या भूमिका पहिल्या तर एक गोष्ट लक्षात येईन टी म्हणजे त्यांना नक्षलवाद्यांविषयी असलेली सहानुभूती ही नवी नाही. त्यांनी अनेक वेळा जाहीरपणे मावोवाद्याना पूरक भूमिका घेतल्या आहेत. प्रकाश आंबेडकरांनी कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी सोबतही राजकीय युती करण्यास काही हरकत नाही ती त्यांची राजकीय भूमिका आपण समजू शकतो. परंतु देशाच्या अंतर्गत सुरक्षेला सर्वात मोठं आव्हान देणाऱ्या मावोवादी शक्तींशी त्याचं नाव जोडलं जात आहे ह्ये गंभीर आहे. आजवर त्यांच्यावर अनेकवेळा असे आरोप झाले परंतु त्यांनी एकदाही अशा आरोपांचे खंडन केले नाही तर, “हो आहे मी नक्षलवादी काय करायचंय ते करा...!” अशी आडमुठी भूमिका घेतली. एकवेळ मी असंही म्हणेन कि प्रकाशरावांनी तशी भूमिका घ्यायला देखील हरकत नाही, परंतु ते डॉ बाबासाहेब आंबेडकरांचे नातू आहेत त्यामुळे महाराष्ट्रातील आंबेडकरी जनतेला त्यांच्या बद्दल आस्था आहे आणि त्यांच्या अशा नक्षलसमर्थक भूमिकेमुळे आंबेडकरी समाजाची दिशाभूल होण्याची शक्यता नाकारता येत नाही,

प्रकाश आंबेडकरांचे मेव्हणे डॉ. आनंद तेलतुंबडे यांच्यावर नक्षलवाद्यांच्या फ्रंट ओर्गनायजेशन मध्ये सक्रीय असल्याचे गंभीर आरोप आहेत व तसेच त्यांचे बंधू मिलिंद तेलतुंबडे हे कुख्यात नक्षलवादी आहेत. प्रकाश आंबेडकरांच्या नात्यातील काही लोक नक्षलवादी चळवळीशी संबधित असल्यामुळे त्यांच्यावर संशय घेणं नक्कीच चुकीचं आहे परंतु त्यांच्या एकंदर भूमिका नेहमीच संदिग्ध राहिल्या आहेत.  

२०११ साली महाराष्ट्र पोलिसांनी जेव्हा अन्जेला सोनटक्के, ज्या कुख्यात नक्षलवादी मिलिंद तेलतुंबडेच्या पत्नी व मावोवाद्यांच्या महाराष्ट्र स्टेट कमिटीच्या सदस्य आहेत यांना अटक केली होती त्यावेळी प्रकाश आंबेडकरांनी, “सरकार पोलीस यंत्रणेचा गैरवापर करून उच्च शिक्षित व्यक्तीला नक्षलवादी ठरवून बदनाम करत आहे.” अशी भूमिका घेतली. त्यावेळ राज्यात कॉंग्रेस राष्ट्रवादी प्रणीत तथाकथित सेक्युलर सरकार होते. अन्जेला ज्या नक्षलवादी चळवळीत कविता, इस्कारा, संगीता, रमा अशा अनेक नावानी परिचित आहेत आणि त्याच्या विरुध्द सबळ पुरावे असताना देखील प्रकाश आंबेडकरांसारख्या जबाबदार व्यक्तीने त्यांची बाजू घेणं नक्कीच आश्चर्यकारक आणि संशयास्पद आहे.

२०१३ साली नक्षलवादाशी संबधित असलेल्या कबीर कला मंच  च्या कार्यकर्त्यांच्या सुटकेसाठी प्रकाश आंबेडकरांनी सरकारला पत्र लिहिलं होतं. ज्यांच्या सुटके साठी सरकारला धारेवर धरलं होतं त्या शीतल साठे आणि सचिन माळी यांच्या जंगलातल्या वावरावर आत्मसमर्पण केलेला नक्षलवादी गोपी याने शिक्कामोर्तब केलं होतं. ज्या कबीर कला मंचच्या नक्षलवादी संबंधावर ATS ने देखील मोहोर लावली आहे त्या KKM बद्दल प्रकाश आंबेडकर म्हणतात, “कबीर कला मंच ला बदनाम करण्याचा हा पोलिसांचा डाव आहे, पोलिसांचे सर्व रिपोर्ट खोटे आहेत, कबीर कला  मंच हा फक्त कलाकारांचा ग्रुप आहे, त्यांचा नक्षलवादाशी संबंध नाही.”

याच्याही एक पाउल पुढ जात २०१३ च्या जून महिन्यात जळगाव मध्ये आयोजित त्यांच्या पक्ष मेळाव्यात, “नक्षलवादी हे देशाचे खरे मित्र आहेत. परंतु सरकार शत्रू समजून त्यांचे म्हणणे ऐकून घेत नाही. नक्षलवाद्यांमध्ये काही बुद्धिवादी लोक आहेत..!” अशा शब्दात नक्षलवाद्यांचे जाहीर समर्थन केले. एवढ्यावर न थांबता ते पुढे म्हणाले कि, “कॉँग्रेसने ‘सलवा जुडूम’सारखी संघटना तयार करून 60 हजार नक्षलवादी व आदिवासींना ठार मारले. छत्तीसगड हल्ल्यातील आरोपी मिलिंद तेलतुंबडे हा माझा नातेवाईक आहे, परंतु तो त्याचे काम करीत आहे, मी माझे काम करत आहे.” प्रकाश आंबेडकराच्या अश्या भूमिकांमुळे दलित चळवळ नक्षलवाद्यांकडून हायजक होण्याची शक्यता नाकारता येत नाही. किंबहुना त्यांचा तसा प्रयत्नच सुरु आहे अस म्हणणं वावगं ठरणार नाही.

२०१० साली नागपूर येथे चंद्रपूर पोलिसांनी बंडू मेश्राम आणि रामकुमार अक्कीपल्ली या दोघांना नक्षल संबंध असण्याच्या संशयावरून अटक केली होती त्यावेळी देखील त्यांच्या सुटकेसाठी प्रकाशरावांनी हात पाय मारल्याची चर्चा त्यावेळी माध्यमात रंगली होती.

सध्या अटकेत नक्षलवादाच्या आरोपाखाली अटकेत असलेल्या सुधीर ढवळे याने राउंड टेबल नावाच्या वेबसाईट ला एक मुलाखत दिली होती त्यात दलित चळवळीवर विचारलेल्या एका प्रश्नाला उत्तर देताना तो म्हणतो कि, “प्रकाश आंबेडकरांच्या मते दलित चळवळ मृत झालेली आहे, आणि मलाही तसच वाटतं. म्हणून आपण आता नवीन मार्गाचा अवलंब केला पाहिजे.” नवीन मार्ग कोणता हे ढवळे स्पष्ट सांगत नाही परंतु मावोवादी विचार जोपासणाऱ्या ढवळेचा रोख नक्कीच सशस्त्र आणि हिंसकच आहे हे वेगळ सांगायची गरज नाही.

कालच्या तपासात मावोद्यांचा जो पत्रव्यावहार पोलिसांच्या हाती लागला आहे त्यात देखील रोना विल्सन, जिग्नेश मेवानी, उमर खालिद, आनंद तेलतुंबडे यांच्या सोबत प्रकाश आंबेडकर यांचे देखील नाव आहे. ही बाब अत्यंत गंभीर आहे. 

प्रकाश आंबेडकरांच्या या सर्व भूमिका आपण पाहिल्या तर नक्कीच संशयाला जागा आहे. प्रकाश आंबेडकरानी जंगलात जाऊन प्रशिक्षण घेतलं तरी आम्हाला हरकत नाही, परंतु त्यांनी दलित चळवळीला नक्षलवादाच्या दावणीला बंधू नये एवढीच माफक अपेक्षा.

जय भीम
(सदर लेख साप्ताहिक चपराक मध्ये पूर्वप्रकाशित आहे)

Is Bhima Koregaon Event hijacked by Vermins to Spread Hatred in the Society?

As we are approaching the ending of the year 2017, the politics of ‘Bhima Koregaon Battle‘ is heating up. As 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the battle, ultra-leftist forces are leading the campaign for the programme organized to commemorate the victory.

Though 2017 is marking the 200th anniversary of the battle people are not much aware of the causes and the details of it. Hence we Jansatyagrah.in have brought with the details of the event.

History 

The Battle of Koregaon took place on January 1, 1818, at the bank of the river Bhima in Koregaon, near Pune. A small force of 500 men of the 2nd Battalion 1st Regiment of the Bombay Native Light Infantry, 250 men of Poona Horse and 25 men of Madras Ordnance under the command of Capt. F. F. Staunton fought for twelve hours against a large force of 20,000 horse and 8,000 infantry of Maratha Leader.

(*Bombay native infantry battalion was started by British commander Robert Clive to safeguard their warehouses. Which consisted men of all castes but mostly Mahars. Because Mahars were banned from joining Maratha forces by Peshwa.)

Casualties are as follow,

50 men (22 Mahars, 16 Marathas, 8 Rajputs, 2 Muslims, 2 Christians) from the Bombay Native Light Infantry.

47 men from Poona Horse

12 Men from Madras Ordnance

Around 500 to 600 Maratha force

*Figures as recorded by British Officers and Historians

Both sides suffered severe losses, No one achieved a decisive victory.

To commemorate the bravery of the troops’ British officers set up a monument (obelisk) in the village. The pillar inscriptions feature the names of the martyrs from the Koregoan battle.

Important Points of Note- 

1. This battle was British Forces led by Capt. F. F. Staunton vs. Maratha Forces of Peshwa led by Bapu Gokhale.

2. Both sides suffered severe losses, No one achieved a decisive victory.

3. Men of all castes and sects fought in the battle, so this wasn’t a battle of caste eradication as it is portrayed.

4. The men fighting from either side fought for remunerations it wasn’t self-driven.

5. The event is portrayed as the precursor to the eradication of medieval slavery which is untrue. Britishers fought to win over Pune and not to untie untouchables from the hierarchy.

6. Britishers included untouchables only because they needed Indian Army to establish power. After the establishment of the Power, they banned entry of the Mahars in the English army.

7. Today the event is used to spread Brahmin hatred amongst Ambedkarites

8. British officers appointed a caretaker to stele, who belonged to Maratha community. His name was Malwadkar, his successors are taking care of the stele.

The revival of the history

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Babasaheb Ambedkar With his followers at Bhima Koregaon

The significance of the obelisk at the battlefield faded over the time, as it was not of much importance for Britishers.
Later when most of the Indian Kingdoms surrendered to British forces and had an adequate number of upper caste forces, they banned Mahars in British forces.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar wrote a 7-page letter to British officials condemning their ill decision. Babasaheb did mention the Koregaon Battle wherein Mahars and British fought hand in hand. He also visited the obelisk in the Koregaon on 1st Jan 1927.

Ambedkar was not the only one who were asking Britishers to lift the ban on the entry of untouchables in the army. MG Ranade and Gopalbaba Walangkar also wrote to Britishers condemning the decision.

Though Ambedkar only visited the stele once it is presented as if he frequented.

Recent Past 

After Ambedkar visited the stele in 1927, it was not until some leftist organizations claiming to be Ambedkarites popularised its history as Dalit vs Brahmin conflict. They distributed hate messages, pamphlets, flyers, booklets among people. Emotional Ambedkarite people got deceived by the glorious made-up history. And they started to attract a crowd by the name of Ambedkar to push there hidden agendas.

Poster of the event organized to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the event

Editorial Board of the Book has the name of Sudhir Dhavale,*

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Sudhir Dhavale and his mates Paying homage to Maoist Sridhar Srinivasan

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Banned CPI(Maoist) letter for Sridhar Srinivasan

*Sudhir Dhavale served 40 months of imprisonment for having alleged connections with Naxals, later he was acquitted of all charges due to lack of evidence against him by the court.

*Vira Sathidar Claims to be the activist fighting for Dalit Rights. He took the press conference regarding the apprehension of a Maoist activist but failed to even condemn the killings of A Dalit Ramesh Ramteke.

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Naxals have killed many tribals and Dalits

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Umar Khalid, one of the speakers at the event, his Facebook post celebrating Burhan Wani

Who invited Umar Khalid, who is facing charges of sedition? Is it not disgrace to Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Name? The report also alleges him having Naxal connection  Reference

Vira Sathidart and Umar Khalid with Hem Mishra, who is in jail for having a Naxal connection

As we can see how this event is hijacked by ultra-leftist forces and misusing Ambedkarites to spread hatred in society.

We agree that we had inglorious episodes of Dalit atrocities and untouchability. Now we came decades ahead of the untouchability and Cases of Dalit atrocities have diminished. This was possible due to equality and freedom provided by our constitution. But these vermins are working hard to keep our old wounds bleeding.

The article was originally published on Jansatyagrah.in

Open Letter to Indian Communists

 

To all those who consider themselves as communists,

  I've always been fascinated by the revolutionary ideas of the Karl Marx. His ideas uplifted labors and peasants in Russia. The way his thoughts eradicated the oppressive rule of 'Tsar' is really commendable. The society free from any religion, caste, sect is preferred by most of the atheists and humanitarians. I was enchanted to be communist and bring the revolution in my beloved country. But instead of following blindly to these Indian Marx, I decided to study the Communist movement started long back. As I studied about Indian Communists I got upset. Indian communists movement was taking the thought of Marx  to dilapidation.
As I went further on studying I was getting bigger blows. Just to repeal my scruple I approached few people working with the communist organisations but instead of answering my queries they called me Sanghi and escaped. As I have no any way to approach any communist who can give scholastic answers to my mediocre queries, I'm putting this for all the communists out there.
As the Marx had proposed communism to eradicate the established political, social, and economic structures like majestic rules, capitalism, democracy, hereditary politics, fascism. The Indian communists pretends as if they care much about the the democracy. My question is "If you are communist then why do you talk for democracy? should you not stay loyal to your own philosophy of commune?  We Indians have thousands of democratic parties and we don't need a pseudo communist party.

         Communists standpoint on Naxalism always seems to be dubious. As Communists did never condemn the Naxalite attacks. Some sources even say that some communist organizations have celebrated the killings of police officials by naxalites. There are many proofs out there which bespeaks liaison of communists and naxals. Yet no any communist leader condemn naxalite activities in India. You keep commenting about every small issue but you keep quite on such gruesome threat to the national integration. Is your silence  a sufferance to brutality and genocides. Reference [1]
The most fascinating thing in the communism is that there is no place for religion cast or sect. Marx said "Religion is the opium of masses" and commune system has got nothing to do with the idea of religion. But as I'm watching, the whole politics of the Indo-Communists is reviving around the religions. Communists are doing the same appeasement politics which is the tradition of Indian politics. Communists seems to be more attached to India  Muslims and Dalits. And the unavoidable embitterment for Hindus especially for Brahmins is part of indo-communist DNA. Communists have mastered the idealism of caste politics.
Poster of CPI(Maoist) provoking against the Brahmins  and Hindus.[/caption]
Another good thing about the communist doctrine is there is no place for the nepotism or the hereditary politics. But as I went to the practical ground of the communism, I saw fascism, hereditary politics, chaos. Everywhere communism was introduced it led to the chaos, anarchy and finally ended on the fascist rule. I checked communist ruled Cuba,after Fidel Castro the crown went to Raul Castro. In North Korea after Kim Jong-iL, Kim Jong-un wore the diadem. I skipped to comment on his heavy handed rule here.  You will always defend his barbarous and savage acts to your death.
We all Indians have immense respect for our national idols. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar is one of the leading names of our heroes. Now you pretend that you are an Ambedkarite but as I dug into the past, shocked by the statements of  your leader, "Burn your ballets but don't vote for Ambedkar."Now just to misguide the genuine Ambedkarites for your destitute politics you are using his name it is really exasperating. Babasahab always stood against you and now on which moral grounds are you branding him as a comrade. Is it not a disgrace to the efforts he took to keep you away from my beloved country. Here is what Dr Ambedkar said about you  Reference[2]
You came out in the opposition of the capital punishment. Its great to stop the capital punishment but your condemnation for the capital punishment seemed a lot selective to me. If I'am not wrong you condemned the hanging of Afzal Guru and Yakub Menon. Is it a coincident that both are terrorists? and both were punished for carrying out mass killings in India. You never came out when non terrorists were being hanged. Why this love for terrorists? You condemn the lawful hanging of Yakub but dare not to talk about Tianmen square massacre. Never condemned the millions of killings by naxalites instead of that you celebrated the killings of the CRPF jawans. We people of India believe in the integral humanism so we don't need any quackery humanitarian rights to hide our sins. Every time the court prosecutes under 124(a) you rush for them as if someone innocent is being prosecuted. But you always fail to show your aptness for the real threats to this land.
I always have had thought that communism was primarily to eradicate the crony capitalism. But when I looked back in the history of communists in West Bengal and caught up with the incident in Singur and Nandigram, where communist government was totally in aligned with the capitalists and that too against public will. You besmeared the your own constitution. Either you are not loyal to your own constitution or you have not read it yet. You fooled the people of WB for 34 years. WB is still fighting for its rights. Where is the revolution you promised? What is difference between you and other political parties?
I've listed very few and mediocre questions which popup in my mind whenever I hear think about Indian communism. Is there is anyone out there who can help me out with finding the answers to my questions? Now I've strong feeling that Indian communists are not real communists they are just fooling people on the name of Marx and revolution.

"Indian communists are Pseudo Communists." 

This article was originally published on Myvoice.opindia.com