Even as the issue of atrocities against Dalits is debated nationally, Maharashtra has seen an uprising by upper caste Marathas over a gang rape of a Maratha girl by 3 Dalit youths in Kopardi village in Ahmednagar. Last Tuesday, Marathwada’s prosperous headquarters, Aurangabad, saw 50,000 Marathas — men, women and children — marching silently towards the Divisional Commissioner’s office. Professionals, traders and industrialists showed solidarity with protestors by voluntarily shutting their shops that day. The unity shown by Maratha community, which continues to have highest number of all-party legislators in the state, was unprecedented and alarming.

Apart from Marathas’ united efforts, the protest was socially and politically significant because it put a traditional friction between Marathas and Dalits on public display. What was covert till then is now overt. The tussle between the two communities has resulted frequently in criminal acts such as honour killings, murders and rapes. Accusations and counter accusations fly thick and fast whenever an incident involving Dalits and Marathas are reported. Till now, it was Dalits who protested vehemently, cried foul and held the government responsible for denying them justice whenever they were attacked and abused allegedly by upper castes. The Marathas too have joined the bandwagon.