Photos: Victims of Una Flogging, the Sarvaiyas Are Dalits No More

Two years after the Sarvaiyas were brutally assaulted by the upper caste Darbars, they pledged faith to Buddhism.

At least 1,000 people had gathered for the event from across Una which included a significant number of women.

(Photo: Rahul Nair/The Quint)

The Buddhist monks who led the Sarvaiyas into Buddhism(Photo: Rahul Nair/The Quint)

Under the guidance of three Buddhist Monks, the Sarvaiyas of Mota Samadhiyala  village near Una town, in Gir Somnath District of Gujarat embraced Buddhism, in the presence of a strong Dalit community and local media.

Two years ago, the Sarvaiyas were brutally assaulted by the upper caste Darbars from the neighbouring village, on charges of skinning live cattle and selling its meat.

Stalls with Buddhist and Dalit movement paraphernalia were set up at the venue.(Photo: Rahul Nair/The Quint)

Balubhai Sarvaiya’s sons were stripped and flogged in public by Gau Rakshaks on 11 July 2016, and the incident vent viral across India. This brought about a revival in the Dalit movement in Gujarat, who are predominantly a minority with only 7 percent population spread across the state.

Dalit and Buddhust literature was also sold on the sides at the conversion event.(Photo: Rahul Nair/The Quint)

The religious conversion concluded with a mass oath-taking ceremony by the Sarvaiyas and a crowd of over 500 people (all Dalits), who chanted, 'We do not accept Brahma, Vishnu or Mahesh as gods. We do not accept Ram or Krishna or any other gods or goddesses. Neither do we believe in Avatars (reincarnations) of gods nor do we believe that Buddha was an incarnation of Vishnu.’

The Sarvaiya family on the stage, with Balubhai Sarvaiya sitting at the front.(Photo: Rahul Nair/The Quint)

The decision to convert into Buddhism was taken early in January this year after the Sarvaiyas alleged that the Gujarat Government backed out of its promise to give the victims a piece of land and government jobs.

One of Balubhai’s sons Ashok Sarvaiya and his sister-in-law praying to Lord Buddha at the ceremony.(Photo: Rahul Nair/The Quint)

The after-effects of the Una incident has been equally hard on the Sarvaiyas as they stopped skinning dead cattle – their family business for years. However, the injuries from the assault have still not healed as men in the Sarvaiya household are left unemployed while the women work as manual labourers in nearby farms to sustain the family.

At least 1,000 people had gathered for the event from across Una which included a significant number of women.(Photo: Rahul Nair/The Quint)

The Una incident marked a significant change in the caste politics of Gujarat especially during the elections last year. Although their population in Gujarat is very low, the incident resulted in a mass mobilisation of Dalits across the state which culminated in the Chalo Una Movement. The Chalo Una Movement in 2016 was called by Jignesh Mewani, who went on to win the Vadgam seat during the 2017 Gujarat elections as an independent candidate, backed by Congress.

Mewani was personally invited by the Sarvaiyas to join the mass conversion programme, but he told them he didn't have the time.

(left) MLA Pradip Parmar from Asarwa constituency in Ahmedabad joined the event later.(Photo: Rahul Nair/The Quint)

Although Mewani didn’t turn up for the mass conversion, BJP MLA from Asarwa Ahmedabad joined the event after the Sarvaiyas took their oath. No representation was made by Congress either during the event.