Fear and longing: Conversations with Dalits in Maharashtra ahead of polls
In Maharashtra's upcoming elections, Dalit communities face a pivotal moment, grappling with issues of caste quotas
In the winter of 1974, it was a volcano. Young men and women spouted forth from their grubby government chawls onto the snaking alleys of central Mumbai – the hope of a future free from the stench of caste bias and economic injustice steeled their hearts.

Today, a row of shops selling shirts and mobile phones line the street where their dreams were smashed. Sumedh Jadhav struggles to point out the spot where his elder brother Bhagwat was hit by a grinding stone during a march down the Worli suburb on January 9, 1974. In 50 years, large chunks of the suburb have gentrified. Two flyovers flank either side of the road where Bhagwat slumped to his death, and the damp, discoloured chawls only occupy some inner bylanes now. Jadhav’s unsure steps now struggle to even cross familiar roads.“But we can never forget Bhagwat dada. He was the first martyr of the Dalit Panthers,” he said.
Built on the ideals of the Black Panthers, the Dalit Panthers were forged in 1972, as a response to the discontent brewing among the marginalised community at the cusp of the 25th anniversary of Independence. But even as they were gaining ground, the violence of 1974, known as the Worli Riots, sapped them of energy and caused a splintering in ranks. “The violence riots continued for months. A generation of young Dalit men was thrown in jail. Families alleged police brutality. It broke our momentum. People were also frightened. How long could we fight?” asked JV Pawar, one of the founders of the Dalit Panthers.
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Triggered by a Lok Sabha byelection, the Worli riots altered the course of Dalit politics in a state where Dr BR Ambedkar was born and which is often considered the cradle of the movement. It weakened the Panthers, snuffed out the possibility of a political outfit led by Dalits, and strengthened mainstream parties. Over the last 50 years, the script has largely remained the same.
But the 2024 assembly polls can be a bend in that road. In these extraordinarily chaotic elections, contested by six big and at least 20 smaller outfits, the Dalit communities are undergoing a churn of their own, exemplified by the clash between two contrasting issues animating voters – fears around the Constitution versus the promises of subclassification of quotas.
Crucial swing vote
Dalit communities form around 12% of the population of Maharashtra and have 28 of the 288 assembly seats reserved for them. In an unpredictable election that every party believes will be closely contested, they can act as an important swing vote.
In the Lok Sabha elections – the first electoral exercise since the two biggest regional outfits, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party, suffered vertical splits – Dalit communities largely backed the Maha Vikas Aghadi over fears that the Constitution could be changed and reservation harmed if the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance won a supermajority in Parliament.
Rohit Jadhav was one of those who voted for the MVA. A resident of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, the 36-year-old hails from a family of Ambedkarites. “My father is a follower of Prakash Ambedkar (the grandson of BR Ambedkar and chief of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi). But during the Lok Sabha polls, I moved to the Congress because local leaders were boasting about plans to change the Constitution,” he said.
The MVA won 30 of the 48 seats, including all five Lok Sabha constituencies reserved for scheduled castes. The Mahayuti (led by the BJP) won only 17. This time though, he is not so sure. “After all, this is not a national election, there is no threat to the Constitution from a state government,” he said.
Also playing on his mind is a late gambit by the BJP government – of forming a one-man judicial panel just before the elections to look into the question of subclassification of the SC quota. In August, the Supreme Court permitted states to internally subdivide the SC quota, arguing that the access of some communities to reservation benefits was unequal. The landmark decision immediately kicked off a furious debate, with some groups welcoming the verdict and others alleging that it will politicise the quota and cause division within the marginalised castes.
The BJP reaped the benefits of stoking the anxiety among smaller SC groups in the assembly elections in Haryana with an identical strategy – form a panel, promise benefits under subclassification and successfully hive off a chunk of the vote that backed the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. In Haryana, its target was the second-largest SC group -- the Balmikis. In Maharashtra, it is Jadhav’s community – the Mangs.
Divisions within the group
They are the second-largest SC community in Maharashtra, forming a little less than a third of the Dalit population. But the Mangs often complain that they’re far behind the largest group, the Mahars, in socioeconomic indices and political power.
“The Mang presence in education was historically low. This created a tremendous grievance,” said BS Waghmare, a former professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University. “And while Mahars were Buddhists, a large number of Mangs remained within the Hindu fold.”
The first political expression of this anxiety came in 1986-87, when Mangs demanded a separate development corporation. It culminated in 2003, when the state government set up a judicial commission that eventually recommended subclassification.
“We found that in the revenue department for example, there were 70 Mahar deputy collectors and two from Mang, 53 tehsildars from Mahars and four from Mang. 12,619 Mahars secured technical diplomas while 2004 Mangs had the same degree,” said Waghmare, who compiled the report.
In the current campaign, the high-decibel pitch for the Dalit vote has been a demand for a caste census from the MVA, and a word of caution from the BJP, which has banked on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Ek Hain Toh Safe Hain (if we stay united, we’ll be safe)” slogan to underline the so-called dangers of the Opposition’s demands.
But under the radar, in a manner similar to its clandestine campaign in Haryana, BJP leaders have been fanning their promise of subclassification, hoping to cleave a chunk of the Mang votes away from the MVA.
Work on the ground
A key driver of this campaign is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which has worked for decades among the Mang community in the hinterlands of Maharashtra.
“For a long time, there was opposition to the RSS from the Mangs because of Babasaheb (Ambedkar). But the followers of Babasaheb were not eager to carry us along with them after him. At the same time, the RSS worked on the ground. Over time, the opposition to the RSS softened,” said Sanjay Gaekwad, vice principal of SB College, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.
Across the arc of Marathwada, a bellwether region that holds 46 seats, deep feelings of resentment and neglect simmer among Mangs – from villages deep inside Beed to low-income urban slums in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. Some are upset about their children not succeeding in government examinations, others about the community netting few government jobs, and still others about the perceived lack of respect. And it is a feeling that is acknowledged even by those opposed to the RSS.
“If more Mangs are becoming a part of the Hindu fold, it is because of bad treatment from the other side. The confidence is low among young people in our community. They don’t believe it’s a level playing field. And the more people resist subclassification, the more inroads the RSS will make,” said Ishwar Danke, an activist.
A new poll dimension
The debate around subclassification has added a new dimension to an already fractious campaign where even ideology minded voters are confused about which faction to vote for. But materially, it may mean little in the immediate future for Mangs, who have secured only a handful of tickets from either major alliance.
KG Kamble is familiar with this feeling of despondency. The resident of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar was a member of the Dalit Panthers in its heyday, carrying coded messages from its leaders to grassroots activists for protests and road blockades. In front of his eyes unfolded one of independent India’s longest-running movements – the 16-year-long Namantar struggle by Dalit activists to change the name of Marathwada University to Dr BR Ambedkar University. Today, a red-and-yellow cement arch frames the gate of the university; all that remains of the struggle is a diminutive memorial to Pochiram Kamble, who was hacked to death by upper castes in 1978 for demanding the name change.
“I remember we would have to hide under bridges to escape detection from upper-caste men and the police, or spend nights in fields. But not once did we let the unity of our movement break,” he said.
Now pushing 70, Kamble pointed to the tough choices in front of the community – Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA has vocally opposed subclassification, the MVA has remained quiet, and while the Mahayuti has supported it, they have given only a few tickets to the community. “The Dalit Panthers had people from every community, as Babasaheb intended. But now, our next generation has lost faith, and our movement has lost unity,” he said. “Our erasure will only hurt the movement.”
