What Happened at the Battle of Bhima-Koregaon

How come a two hundred year old battle can still put rage and unity among the oppressed and make the oppressor panic ? There lies the significance of Bhima Koregaon.

Dalit harassment is not new in India. It continues for many centuries. It is undeniable that many changes have taken place as a result of the agitations of several militants, from Ayyankali to Ambedkar. But our caste system is strong enough to resist all advances. So there is no end to that for sure. The only way forward for the dalits is to continue the struggle. That is what they are doing. After Rohit Vemula and Una, this battle has been strengthened. Their ripples are ringing all over India. The success of Jignesh Mewani in Gujarat is a strong announcement. In UP, under the leadership of Chandrasekhara, the dalit force is awakening.

Now news from Maharashtra also gives hope. Reports have emerged that the attack on the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Korigav war is a planned move by the Sangh Parivar. One person was killed in the attack. But even to the surprise of them, the fire of protest is burning. According to police, the attack was sparked by Jignesh Mewani and JNU student leader Umar Khalid. The protests of the dalits, however, are still behind the protests. Following the incident, the Battle of Bhima Korigon is also controversial. This is a historical advance that has been largely ignored by the upper class historians. On January 1, 1818, 500 dalit soldiers in Koregaon, Pune, defeated 28,000 elite Peshwa forces in a straight-forward battle and put an end to the golden rule of the Maratha regime. 500 British soldiers were from the British Regiment of Bombay Native Light Infantry. On the other side, the Peshwa army had about 20,000 cavalry and 8,000 infantry. The battle took place on the banks of the Bhima River in the Koregaon area, about 30 km southeast of Pune. The dalit warriors fought for 12 hours continuously and defeated the upper-caste Peshwa army by marching 27 miles from Shiroor to Bhima Koregaon. Peshwa About 500 people, including army chiefs, died while others were unable to stand up to the dalit war. For the dalits who have suffered atrocities and oppression under the Peshwa regime, the Battle of Bhima Koregaon was an independent struggle. This paved the way for democratic governance to bring about independence, human rights and dignity and uprooted the upper caste and imperialism. Babasaheb Ambedkar had visited Koregaon to commemorate the Dalit military victory. Thousands of dalits flock to this place every year on January 1, following Baba's path and bowing to the image of Koregaon. Since this year is the 200th anniversary, the number of dalits reached was very high. That is what provoked the Sangh Parivar. Ambedkar recognized that the dalits participating in the Bhimakorigon War had the power to dismantle the casteist ideology of the upper-caste Hindu who thought that politics, war and hegemony were inherently their own monopoly. Ambedkar correctly recognized the historical fact that the victory at Bhima was merely a triumph of centuries of oppression by the upper classes, so he visited Corrigan every New Year's . Dalits and Muslims of North India visit Bhimakorigon today irrespective of caste and creed. That is why the entire Bharatiya Brahmin Sabha, the Rashtriya Sakhat Mata Rashtriya Abhiyan and the Hindu Akademi, have taken to the streets against the dalits of the Peshwa. Another criticism of this war that the Dalits are proudly commemorating is that the war was won with the help of the British and therefore it was against the interests of India and the freedom struggle. All Dalit activists had already realized that the freedom to maintain social oppression and a brutal caste system is not real freedom. It is no small matter that the social renaissance heroes fought against the brutal social exploitation in India more than the freedom struggle. Ambedkar himself has mentioned this many times. This issue has come up with all his discussions with Gandhi. The dalits who destroyed the Peshwa's rule with British help were giving a poetic reply to history. But it is the people who are backing the history of the dalit who are still on the hunt for 200 years. But it will only prove that their upper-caste Hindutva politics is only going to burn in dalit anger.

-Mohammed Naseef.p