Motoring smoothly towards 2019 and the aim of securing a second term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Hindutva juggernaut has hit a road bump shortly after tasting success in Tripura in early March. Top of the list of concerns for Modi and BJP president Amit Shah ahead of next year’s elections is the challenge posed by Dalits—an overwhelmingly poor, but electorally formidable, social group.
The Supreme Court’s March 20 judgment, banning immediate arrest of a person accused of insulting or injuring a Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe member, has been perceived by most Dalits as a “dilution” of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Any dilution in the 1989 Act, they feel, leaves them more vulnerable to atrocities, threats and intimidation by upper caste men.
