The Elgaar Parishad was an event held on 31 December 2017 to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima. It was organised by a coalition of 260 non-profit organisations at Pune's

Shaniwar Wada Shaniwar Wada is a historical fortification in the city of Pune, India. Built in 1732, it was the great seat of the Peshwas of the Maratha Empire until 1818. Following the rise of the Maratha Empire, the palace became the center of Indian poli ...

Fort, and had approximately 35,000 people in attendance. The program consisted of a number of cultural performances, speeches and slogans. "Elgaar" means loud invitation or loud declaration.

Background

The event was organised at the Shaniwarwada Fort in Pune on the eve of the bicentennial anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. The Shaniwarwada Fort was the seat of power of the

Peshwa The Peshwa (Pronunciation: e(ː)ʃʋaː was the appointed (later becoming hereditary) prime minister of the Maratha Empire of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king); later, ...

s, the de facto rulers of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

. The Peshwas belonged to the 'Chitpavan Brahmin' community. In the Battle of Bhima Koregaon, a regiment of Mahar Dalits, serving in the British Army had defeated the Peshwa's army. This victory is held as very important by the Mahar Dalits, who see it as a victory over the Brahmin Peshwas. Organising the Parishad at the Shaniwarwada Fort was thus seen as a symbol of

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

assertion. However

Anand Teltumbde Anand Teltumbde (born 15 July 1950) is an Indian scholar, writer, and civil rights activist who is a management professor at the Goa Institute of Management. He has written extensively about the caste system in India and has advocated for the ...

has argued that painting the Battle of Bhima Koregaon as the battle of Mahars against their caste oppression in Peshwa rule, is a "pure myth". He states that the majority of those died in the battle (27 out of 49) were not Mahars, and the Peshwa army retreated, fearing the arrival of a larger British force. Thus he regards portrayal of the battle as Mahars’ against the Peshwas’ Brahmanic rule as misleading. Before the event, two marches were organised through several districts of Maharashtra and culminating in Pune with artists, activists, theatre performers and musicians among others. These marches held public meetings to rally support for Dalit victims of atrocities and collect donations for the Elgar Parishad.

Event

The event began at 2 PM under six tents pitched in front of the Shaniwarwada Fort. After the tents filled up at 2.30, police refused to let more people in, fearing stampede. The stage seated the organisers and speakers of the event, including Gujarat MLA

Jignesh Mevani Jignesh Mevani (alternatively Mewani; born 11 December 1980) is an Indian politician, lawyer, activist and former journalist serving as the representative of the Vadgam constituency in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly since 2017. He is a membe ...

, Dalit activist Radhika Vemula, Adivasi activist Soni Sori, Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi leader

Prakash Ambedkar Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar (IAST: Prakāśa Yaśavanta Āmbēḍakar) (born 10 May 1954), popularly known as Balasaheb Ambedkar, is an Indian politician, social activist, writer and lawyer. He is the president of political party called the Van ...

Bhim Army The Bhim Army, alternatively Bheem Army ( lit."Ambedkar Army") or the Bheem Army Bharat Ekta Mission (translation: "Ambedkar Army Indian Unity Mission") is an Ambedkarite and Dalit rights organisation in India. It was founded by Satish Kumar, ...

President Vinay Ratan Singh, retired

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ol ...

Justice BG Kholse-Patil, and student leader

Umar Khalid Umar Khalid (born Syed Umar Khalid) is an Indian student activist, former research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, former leader of Democratic Students' Union (DSU) in JNU. He was allegedly involved in the Jawaharlal Nehru University ...

. A number of cultural performances with anti-caste themes were staged. Shahirs performed songs in tribute of

Sant Tukaram Sant Tukaram Maharaj (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ukaːɾam was a 17th-century Marathi poet, Hindu ''sant'' (saint), popularly known as Tuka, Tukobaraya, Tukoba in Maharashtra. He was a Sant of Varkari sampradaya (Marathi-Vaishnav tradition) ...

Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, also known as Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890) was an Indian social activist, thinker, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields, including era ...

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adilsh ...

and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. A dance troupe performed acrobatics and hip-hop groups also performed. Before Radhika Vemula made her speech, she was invited to smash a stack of pots signifying the varna system in a symbolic gesture of annihilating caste.

Aftermath

On 1 January 2018, violence broke out at Bhima Koregaon, where

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...

s of Hindu Dalits minorities like Buddhist had converged to commemorate the battle. One person was killed, and three others injured. In the months following the event, a number of people present at the event were arrested under laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). This included Surendra Gadling,

Rona Wilson Rona Wilson is an activist, researcher and the public relations secretary of the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP). He has worked with people accused in terrorism cases, including those booked under the Unlawful Activities (Pr ...

Mahesh Raut Mahesh Raut is an activist working with Adivasi in Gadchiroli. He is the youngest accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case. Personal life Raut was born in Lakhapur village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region. He di ...

, Sudhir Dhawale,

Shoma Sen Shoma Sen is a women's rights activist and assistant professor and was head of the English literature department of the Nagpur University. On 8 June 2018, she was arrested by the Pune Police for her alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon riot ...

and

Stan Swamy Stanislaus Lourduswamy, SJ (26 April 1937 – 5 July 2021), popularly known as Stan Swamy, was an Indian Catholic priest, a member of the Jesuit order, and a tribal rights activist for several decades. Swamy was the oldest person to be accuse ...

Pune Police Pune City Police Department (PCPD) is the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over 790 km2 in the city of Pune, India. The city police is division of Maharashtra Police, i.e state police department of Maharashtra. The current Pune C ...

alleged that the event was sponsored by

Maoists Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...

.{{Cite news, url=https://scroll.in/latest/881576/bhima-koregaon-violence-activist-rona-wilson-and-lawyer-surendra-gadling-among-five-arrested, title=Bhima Koregaon violence: Activist Rona Wilson and lawyer Surendra Gadling among five arrested, author=Scroll Staff, work=Scroll.in, access-date=2018-08-29, language=en-US An FIR was filed against

for promoting enmity on grounds of religion. It was alleged by the Pune Police that the event was organised by members of the banned

Communist Party of India (Maoist) The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, Marxist–Leninist–Maoist banned Communism, communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the "semi-colonial and semi-feudal In ...

. They said that it instigated violence at Bhima Koregaon. However, Justices BG Kolse-Patil and PB Sawant refuted their claims. The Justices said that it was the two of them who were the main organisers and sole funders of the event, and that they had held a similar event against communalism and Hindutva in October 2015 at the same venue.

References

Commemoration Dalit history Pune district