Members of India’s low-caste Dalit community in Gujarat state have pledged to boycott the dirty jobs traditionally thrust upon them in protest over their treatment by upper-caste Hindus, said activists for the marginalised group.
Unrest in the state erupted last month after four Dalit men in the city of Una were tied to a car, stripped and flogged by Hindu vigilantes, who accused them of skinning a cow, a revered animal for Hindus.
Landless Dalits are at the bottom of India’s age-old social hierarchy, making them vulnerable to discrimination and attacks by upper-caste Hindus, including by hardline “gau rakshak” vigilantes who regard cows as sacred.
The slaughter of cows is banned in most Indian states including Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dalits in the state have said they earn a livelihood from skinning cows and buffalos that die naturally.
The vigilantes chase trucks transporting cattle and raid slaughter houses. Several people accused of eating beef have also been attacked, including a Muslim man who was beaten to death last year by a mob in a town near New Delhi.
Opposition parties have criticised the government for its handling of the protests, and Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Monday said she would resign from her post.
Caste-based discrimination was banned in India in 1955, but centuries-old attitudes persist and low-caste Indians still face prejudice in every sector, particularly in rural areas.
Crimes against India’s lower-caste communities rose by almost a fifth to 47,064 in 2014 from the previous year, according to national data.
In Gujarat, crimes against lower-caste communities, including indigenous people, had a conviction rate about six times lower than the national average, according to IndiaSpend, which analysed data over a 10-year period.
India has passed several laws to end manual scavenging - a euphemism for disposing of faeces from dry toilets and open drains by hand - which has long been a task carried out mostly Dalit women.