 "Earlier this month, on a single absurdist day, Teltumbde (centre) was arrested at Mumbai airport and released the same day")
In the little-known village of Bhima Koregaon on the outskirts of Pune, 2018 dawned with a violent turn to what had been a quiet annual gathering for two centuries. On January 1 every year, Dalits visit a vijay stambh (an obelisk signifying victory) to celebrate the 1818 Battle of Koregaon. In the battle, the East India Company, which had predominantly scheduled caste Mahar soldiers in its ranks, defeated a numerically stronger, upper-caste Peshwa force.
On January 2, 2018, as clashes broke out between Dalits and upper castes, Dalit intellectual and academic Anand Teltumbde wrote in The Wire: “While the resolve to
