Are Dalits in India really free after 57 years of independence?
Dalit woman not allowed to hoist national flag
BHOPAL: In the 58th year of our Independence, a sarpanch’s claim that she was not allowed to hoist the tricolour for coming from a backward caste makes one wonder if we are truly free.
In a letter to the Bundelkhand police superintendent, Anita Bai Ahirwar has alleged that government officials did not permit her to hoist the national flag on August 15 because she belongs to the Dalit community.
“I was told by the officials that chamar-chamariya (Dalits) cannot hoist the national flag at the centre of a market place,” Anita Bai wrote, giving an account of how she was prevented from raising the flag in a chowk that fell under the jurisdiction of her panchayat.
Anita Bai, the sarpanch of Patehra village in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district, said every Independence Day, the person occupying her post is given the honour of hoisting the flag in the main market—Gandhi Chowk.
wasn't the prez before Kalam, a dalit? not sure but I think so.
anyway, there are still many backward areas in India where these things happen - hopefully TV Internet and education will get these people into the modern world
