On this day, 20 March 1927, during a conference of the Kolaba District Depressed Classes in Mahad, India, the Mahad Satyagraha took place. A procession of 2,500 Dalits (sometimes known as “untouchables”), led by Dalit social reformer BR Ambedkar, marched through the main streets of Mahad towards a public water tank to assert their right to access it like other members of the community.
While legally people of all castes had the right to use public amenities, in reality this was not the case. So Ambedkar, and then others, drank from the water tank before leaving.
In response to this peaceful protest, a mob of caste Hindus attacked the Dalits at the end of their conference. Dalits were beaten up, their homes ransacked and their grain supplies destroyed. Many sought refuge in the homes of Muslims. Brahmins (the highest caste Hindus) subsequently felt the need to “purify” the now-“contaminated” lake, which they did by pouring in dozens of containers of a mixture cow dung and urine, milk, curds and ghee.
The direct action was a culmination of four years of organising. This had included strikes, as well as the establishment of schools for their children by Dalit military veterans. In December that year 10,000 Dalits took part in a second Mahad Satyagraha.
“Untouchability” was later outlawed by the 1955 Indian constitution, however, ingrained discrimination against Dalits continues.
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Pictured: A painting of the protest, artist unknown https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1945855628932911/?type=3
