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How a Dalit Journalist Was Boycotted in an Ex-PM’s Village

Journalist alleges former PM’s party pressurised his newspaper after they covered an instance of caste discrimination

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Vijay Kumar, a journalist and a Dalit, was in Class 10 when a man from a neighbouring village became India’s Prime Minister of India. Like everyone else, he was happy. After all, Sigaranahalli was just two kilometres away from the village in which the first and only Prime Minister from Karnataka was born.

It was a matter of pride. We felt we were of Deve Gowda’s village. But I think today, everything has gone upside down. It’s because he became the Prime Minister that I’m facing so much injustice.
Vijay Kumar
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Vijay’s Journey

Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda, who hails from Haradanahalli village in Hassan district, was India’s Prime Minister for less than a year between June 1996 and April 1997. But that short stint was enough to give him a certain kind of clout, Vijay feels.

Vijay’s sense of dejection comes from the events of the last few months. As a reporter for Kannada daily Vijayavani, Vijay’s reportage including covering instances of caste discrimination. But covering an incident that occurred in his native village Sigaranahalli, turned his world upside down.

Journalist alleges former PM’s party pressurised his newspaper after they covered an instance of caste discrimination
Vijay Kumar in Kavishaila, a memorial to Kannada writer Kuvempu, in the latter’s village Kuppalli (Photo Courtesy: Vijay Kumar Facebook page)

Entry of the Dalits

In September 2015, he was the first to learn that Vokkaligas of his village had fined four Dalit women because they had entered the Basaveshwara temple, whose presiding deity is the Nandi. He and a journalist with a national daily reported on it.

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Of around 300 houses in the village, around 30 houses of the Holeya caste are located in the Holageri (the Holeya-keri. Keri refers to the lane on which Dalit houses are located). The rest of the houses belong to the Vokkaliga caste, which is a socially and politically dominant land-owning group. One house, is of the Vishwakarma caste.

After these reports appeared, other journalists in the district followed suit. Eventually, the district administration intervened and conducted a temple entry programme. However, angered by this, the Vokkaligas closed down the temple for months.

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Clash Between Dalits and Administration

Towards the end of March, the temple had been “purified” for the Durga Parameshwari Jatre, an annual temple fair. Deciding that the worst had already happened, the Dalits of the village submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner urging that the district administration enable them to offer pooja during the jatre.

Things took an ugly turn on 1 April. The district administration had arranged a meeting near the temple between representatives of the Vokkaligas and the Dalits, to enable the latter to offer puja during the jatre. However, a group of villagers, many of them women, assaulted two photo journalists, locked up the Assistant Commissioner, Assistant Superintendent of Police and another official in the room of a government school near the temple, and even pelted stones at the police. The ASP and AC have since said that they locked themselves up in the school for their own safety.

They chased us, hit us with their hands, with clubs, pelted stones at us. Krishnaiah (the other photojournalist) was wearing a helmet. They hit him on the head and it broke. The police came to our rescue, and they too were hit. We thought we would die that day. When we reached there to cover it, there were other journalists too, but they left some time before the violence. The attackers said that they had sent a message to some journalists.
Vasanthaiah, Stringer with Vijayavani
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Vijay Kumar happened to be in Sigaranahalli on the day of the violence. Although he moved to Hassan 10 years ago owing to his work, his family still lives in the village. “If I had gone to the temple to cover the meeting, I would not have returned,” he said.

Police have arrested 29 persons, mostly women, for the assault and violence. Protests and counter-protests followed.

Vasanthaiah is saddened by the attitude of his fellow journalists. “They protest when something happens to journalists in Delhi, but they didn’t say a word for us.”

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Neither Vijay nor his fellow Dalit villagers anticipated the backlash from the stories he did on Sigaranahalli. Besides the denial of entry into the temple, Vijay also reported on a Samudaya Bhavana built by MPLAD funds sanctioned by HD Deve Gowda, but allegedly renamed Vokkaliga Bhavana and taken over by the Vokkaligas.

Journalist alleges former PM’s party pressurised his newspaper after they covered an instance of caste discrimination
The Vokkaligas have allegedly re-named the community hall.
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The “Father-Sons Party” of JD(S)

Practically everybody in the keri blames Holenarsipura MLA HD Revanna, Deve Gowda’s son, for the hostility over the temple entry. In the immediate aftermath of the fine in September, they allege Revanna allegedly scuttled a peace meeting, and did not allow it to be officially documented. During a meeting of JD (S) workers in Hassan city in November 2015, Deve Gowda had blamed “a print reporter” for all the tension, misrepresented the demand for temple entry by the Dalits, and called the whole episode a pack of “lies”.

Watch the speech here:

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In past several years, the JD(S) has been accused of discarding its socialist legacy in favour of casteist and nepotistic politics. It’s often been called the “father-sons party”. Raju, of the Dalits of the keri, adds another nickname: “The JD(S) should be called Jaati Dala, not Janata Dal.”

All Dalit villagers allege that Revanna has consistently carried out a vilification campaign against Vijay. Revanna has publicly blamed Vijay and the journalist from a national daily for “creating trouble”.

Vijay also alleges that Revanna and Deve Gowda brought pressure on his newspaper Vijayavani, because of which, he was transferred out of the district. He was first posted at Gangavathi (Koppal district) and when he requested a posting closer to home, they moved him to Mysuru.

Journalist alleges former PM’s party pressurised his newspaper after they covered an instance of caste discrimination
Thayamma, one of the women who was fined last September
I tried it for two months in Mysuru, but I was away from my family and it was very difficult to meet the expenses of two houses.
Vijay
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Vijay’s Life Now

Vijay has two daughters – one is six and the other is one-and-a-half-years old.

Now, he works two jobs – as a stringer for a local television news channel and as a journalist with Jana Mitra, a local daily. As a permanent employee – Vijay was the only one from his village with a salaried job; the rest are daily wage workers – Vijay earned around Rs 18,000 per month. Now, his earnings from both jobs put together are around Rs 10,000 or less.

Nothing like that happened. There were other reasons for his transfer. Those are internal matters which I cannot discuss with you.
Hariprakash Konemane, Editor-in-chief, Vijayavani
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HD Revanna responded all questions posed to him about the situation in Sigaranahalli, including those on the district administration confirming social boycott in a village in his constituency, his role in conflict resolution as an MLA, allegations that he was targeting Vijay Kumar, and Deve Gowda’s remarks during the JD(S) meeting in November.

Whatever I’ve told you so far is off the record. If you write any of this, I will refute it.
Revanna

A Dalit resident of Sigaranahalli, pointing to Dewe Gowda’s native village, said,

You know where the Dalit keri of Haradanahalli is? It’s outside, two kilometres away from the village. That’s a former Prime Minister of this country for you.

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Topics:  KARNATAKA   Deve Gowda   Dalit 

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