BHUBANESWAR : The scheduled caste (SC) community members of Puri district, victims of caste-based bondage, are not too enthusiastic about the polls on May 25.
Ostracised for not complying with the diktats of upper caste members, while many fear going back to their villages to vote, others are unwilling to exercise their franchise.
Hailing from Nuagaon, Manapur and Berhampur-Mahisa villages under Brahamagiri and Krushnaprasad blocks of the district, close to 200 voters are uncertain about voting this time. Many of them had boycotted the previous general elections in 2019 and panchayat elections in 2022.
Those unwilling to vote this time are the SCs of Berhampura-Mahisa village, an island within Chilika. At least 42 SC families were forced to escape the village in 2021 after facing harassment, assault and ostracism from upper caste members for refusing to carry the palanquins in wedding processions of upper-caste families and clean the leftovers from their feasts without any remuneration.
With no administrative help coming forward, they left the village and took shelter on a barren patch of land at Nathapur village, 20 km away, in March that year. While they caught fish from Chilika to eke out a living in the village, they also worked as daily wage labourers after moving out of Berhampura-Mahisa.
However, unable to fend for themselves, 14 families returned to the village a few months back. The rest continue to stay in Nathapur and toil as labourers. “It has been four years since we had to move out of our own houses for our safety. Neither the government nor the local administration have done anything for us till now despite being aware of the fact that we are victims of caste-based violence. We were denied our right to livelihood. Why would we vote,” said Sangram Puhan, member of one of the ostracised families that continue to reside in Nathapur. The 42 families have 168 voters and their polling booth is in Berhampura-Mahisa village.
The families could not vote in the 2022 panchayat election and this time are planning to boycott the general elections. On Monday, local sarpanch Santosh Jena approached the remaining 28 families in Nathapur to persuade them to return to the village and participate in the voting process.
“However, none of us are willing to go back. Who will give us the assurance that us or the families that have gone back to the village will not be asked to perform menial jobs at houses of upper caste members,” said Puhan.
Similarly, four families of Nuagaon were ostracised from their village in 2018. The families are of Ashok Sethi, Charan Sethi, Bhabagrahi Sethi and Sindhu Sethi, all ‘dhoba’ by caste. Their belongings were looted and houses demolished using JCBs by upper caste members. At least 20 members of the families are in the voting age group but could not vote in 2019 and 2022 due to the fear of being attacked on their entry into the village, which is 25 km away from Brahmagiri where they are currently residing. At Manapur, families of the barber community were subjected to atrocities and driven out of the village a decade back.
“In all these cases, the SCs had refused to carry on with the customary bondage after they were awarded release certificates by the government under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, in 2010,” said Baghambar Pattanaik, who is leading a campaign against caste-based bondage in the state under the banner of Odisha Goti Mukti Andolan.
Pattanaik on Monday approached Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) seeking police protection for the families to enable them to return to their villages to vote. Puri collector Siddharth Shankar Swain could not be contacted for his comments on the matter.