Watch | Dalit Protests Matter When Cities Disrupted: Umar Khalid

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Umar Khalid, a PhD student at JNU and an activist waiting to be arrested by the Delhi Police.

(Photo: The Quint)

Umar Khalid talks to The Quint about the violence that broke out in Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra and the charges of violence instigation against him.

Two people were killed and several injured after violence broke out across Maharashtra following clashes on 1 January at an event to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon near Pune. FIRs have been registered now against Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and JNU scholar Umar Khalid for allegedly inciting communal hatred.

On the FIR against him, Khalid said:

I am not running from anyone. No police official has ever approached me for questioning or anything regarding an FIR. These are just baseless allegations by the media that I’m in hiding.

Right-wing leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide were slapped with FIRs too under the SC/ST Atrocities Act, but they are yet to be arrested. In light of the violence, 16 FIRs were registered in Maharashtra, and 300 people were detained.

Khalid said that people like Ekbote and Bhide are admired by those holding highest offices in the country which gives them “political immunity” and that people like him are being profiled only to “divert attention from the real culprits.”

I am being made a scapegoat to shield people responsible for this violence.

Khalid also said that the protest only became a problem when it spilled on to the streets of cities, otherwise atrocities against Dalits see no media coverage if they happen in small towns and villages.

Right-wing leader Sambhaji Bhide, who is accused of instigating violence against the Dalit community in Pune district, on 5 January, appealed for a thorough inquiry into the matter.

The 85-year-old, who heads the Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, met the Sangli district collector accompanied by thousands of his supporters to demand withdrawal of the charges against him.

In a letter to the media, Bhide alleged that his name was being deliberately linked with the violence in Pune district.

It is a ‘banav’ (false) that I was present at the riot site in Pune district and was also responsible for it. Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar has levelled allegations of my involvement in inciting the violence. There should be a thorough investigation into this matter. 

The Bhima Koregaon violence which spilled over to several other parts of Maharashtra, The Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association said that the bandh caused a loss of approximately Rs 700 crore for around 35 lakh businessmen, salaried and daily wage earners.