Maharashtra — OBC Vanjaris In Beed Resolve To Boycott Marathas, Brahmin Family Attacked Over Voting Preference

Caste tensions in Maharashtra’s Beed- one of the most polarised Lok Sabha Constituency in the state, are accentuating even after the Lok Sabha polls having concluded there on May 13, 2024. According to reports, caste associations of the Vanjari community in the Beed District have resolved to boycott shops and other establishments owned by those from the Maratha caste.

“If you need medicines, go to a medical owned by a person from other caste; If you want to see a doctor, go to a doctor of some other caste; if you want to eat tobacco or drink tea, go to a hotel owned someone from other caste; if you want to drink alcohol, go to a bar owned by someone from other caste- but you must not engage in any financial transaction with someone who hails from the Maratha caste,” said a speaker at the gathering of Vanjari community held in a temple in Mundhewadi village in Beed District on May 16.

A video footage of the same has gone viral since May 27.

“Even if anyone amongst those gathered here wishes to organise a spiritual gathering, you must not invite any bard who is Maratha by caste. Those who will break these strictures, will be fined Rs 2,000 and will be boycotted for a certain period,” the speaker at the community gathering added. In a viral video of the same, those attending the meeting can be seen shouting slogans in agreement with the speaker.

While Vanjaris are part of the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, Marathas are the socio-politically as well as numerically dominant caste group in Maharashtra. In the Beed Lok Sabha constituency, both- OBCs as well as Marathas are said to be in equal numbers.

The present cause of tensions between the two caste groups is said to have been an extension of the caste rhetoric said to have been used in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls in the district. While the ruling Mahayuti candidate here was Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Pankaja Munde, who hails from the Vanjari community, the opposition coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had fielded Bajrang Sonawane, a Maratha from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP).

Notably, such calls for boycott come in the aftermath of the clashes said to have happened on May 15 between two rival youth groups belonging to Vanjari and Maratha caste groups at Nandurghat village in Beed District. The incident which saw stone pelting between rival groups were triggered by a social media post which is said to have used caste slurs and objectionable words against Mahayuti candidate Munde.

In reaction to such instances, the District Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nandakumar Thakur has been visiting villages where caste tensions have heightened significantly. While it is all calm now, animosity on caste lines hasn’t fizzled out.

“The NCP (SP) cadre here had given slogans like ‘Hataav Vanjari, Vaajva Tutari’ (meaning, get rid of Vanjari- a reference to BJP candidate Pankaja Munde, victory to trumpet- NCP SP’s election symbol). In fact, they went to the extent of alleging that the District Collector should be kept out of the polling process because of her Vanjari caste background. Facebook and Instagram are full of hateful posts and comments against the community,” said a local journalist on condition of anonymity.

Considering a significant increase in caste hate-inciting content circulating in Marathi on the social media, social activists and legal practitioners across the state have expressed concerns on increasing caste polarisation across the state.

“Rivalry on caste lines has always been there in Maharashtra but such instances of communities giving calls to boycott each other is something this state had rarely seen in the past. In fact, such speeches and content suggesting people to boycott a caste is in direct contravention of the Maharashtra Protection of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2016,” said Advocate Bharathi Lokhande, a legal practitioner at the Bombay High Court.

Attacked For Voting BJP Candidate

For the Rautmare family who now lives in the Beed city, travelling to their native village- Kurla, located 20 kilometres away, on the voting day has been an usual affair. However, memories of May 13- the polling day for the Lok Sabha elections in Beed, have left the family permanently scarred.

“They came in a group of 5-6 individuals in a big car around 11 pm in the night. After sensing that my old parents were alone, they started pelting stones on our house and vandalised the car and the bike parked outside. When confronted by my father, they used explicit words and threatened to burn the house. Thankfully our neighbours intervened when the group attempted to hurt my father with a sword and barge inside our house,” said Akash Rautmare (27).

Notably, the attacking group’s leader Anil Patil, a former Sarpanch of the Kurla village and his accomplices said to be with the NCP-SP, have been a known face for the Rautmares.

“Apparently they had brought a sack full of stones in their car’s boot space and were drunk. Even though 15 days have passed after that incident, my parents shudder when someone talks about it. And all this for what? Just because we voted for the BJP,” Rautmare added.

While Rautmares are Brahmins, the attacker Patil and his accomplices are said to be from the Maratha community.

According to the victim's family members, influential Maratha political leaders in their native village, including Patil, had issued a diktat to all residents not to vote for the BJP candidate Munde and instead vote for the NCP-SP candidate Sonawane. The reason behind this being that the BJP-led Mahayuti government has not included the Maratha caste into the OBC category.

“To ensure that voters did not vote for the BJP candidate Munde, Patil and others were trying to keep a watchful eye on every voter going inside the polling booth. When I came out after casting my vote, he (i.e. attacker Patil) somehow came to know that I had voted in favour of the BJP. He came towards me and asked in a stern voice as to why my family didn’t vote for the NCP-SP candidate Sonawane.

"We ignored all this then but they kept it in mind and attacked our house in the night,” Rautmare said.

Reports of the attack have led to several Brahmin caste organisations across Maharashtra handing out memorandums to police officials.

Those associated with such outfits in the Marathwada region in particular claim that instances of attacks on individuals and families from Brahmin caste have increased especially after the erstwhile undivided NCP started making inroads into the region.

"I don't think the attack on Rautmares was just because they voted for BJP. There is a pattern here. Such instances have increased in this region after Sambhaji Brigade- a pre-dominantly Maratha caste outfit patronised now by NCP (SP), started opening units across the Districts. Both- the NCP (SP) and the Brigade hate BJP and mainly Devendra Fadnavis because he is a Brahmin.

"Similarly, such elements also cannot tolerate the rise of OBC leaders. Now because they can't defeat them in polls, they take out their frustration over innocent people," said Mahesh Akolkar, a farmer from Akola village in the Beed District who also volunteers for the local Brahmin community outfit.

Akolkar further said that situation is especially worse in the villages where there is no one to protect families from numerically smaller castes.

"Every other month we get to hear instances of a Brahmin farmer hit or abused for objecting to some village head or government official's high-handedness.

"Just last year members of one Kulkarni family in Bardapur village were attacked by a few dominant caste men after the former objected to the latter trying to usurp their farm land. In other incident, a Brahmin priest was attacked and caste slurs were used against him because he didn't agree to officiate a child marriage," Akolkar said.

"When complaints are made to the police, they just note them down. Rarely any action is taken if the accused is from the dominant caste," Akolkar added.