Why Dalits in Gujarat are protesting by twirling their moustache
Dalit men in India have chosen a uniquely humorous way to demonstrate disapproval. They are twirling their moustache and posting the photos on social media. No, it is not some absurd show of machismo.
The men are attempting to register their protest against the beating up of two Dalit men of a village near Gandhinagar in Mahatma Gandhi's Gujarat for doing just that - wearing a moustache. Young Dalit men have swarmed the social media with such photos.
#RightToMoustache pic.twitter.com/WegHFGOF6l
— BGK (@BanGayaKutta) October 3, 2017Users are posting selfies and using tags such as #RightToMoustache to make a point.
Users are posting selfies and using tags such as #RightToMoustache to make a point.
Several on the social media have voiced support for Piyush Parmar, one of the men beaten up by upper caste men.
Dalit atrocities, BR Ambedkar, Manusmriti, GujaratI support Piyush Parmar.#NewProfilePic #RightToMoustache pic.twitter.com/3ocH16o2QB
— Prashant Leuva (@prashant_leuva) October 2, 2017
But Dalits protesting against the caste system, which pushes them into lives that have no shred of dignity, is nothing new.
In 1927, BR Ambedkar burnt a copy of the Manusmriti as a mark of protest against the caste system. The Constitution's architect's ire against the venerated dharmashastras stemmed from the fact that the text propagated India's stifling and suffocating caste system.
Years later, that caste system continues to be so deeply institutionalised in our lives that we don't need a Manusmriti to tell us how to subjugate fellow humans on no other ground but caste. Dalits continue to live and breathe that oppression in not just our villages, but also our otherwise "cosmopolitan" cities.
हमारी मूंछों से अगर तकलीफ हैं तो यह आप की तकलीफ है. #RightToMoustache pic.twitter.com/HC13GikFs6
— विशाल सोनारा (@VMSonara) October 1, 2017
The fact that young men from the community have chosen a silent protest over rampaging on the streets is commendable. The subtlety of silence is often difficult to miss as opposed to the conundrum of hooliganism that becomes the hallmark of troubled times.
The act is a bold statement in the face of the fear perpetrated by upper caste men, who have given themselves up to believing that they own the minds and bodies of those born into lower castes. That this most abysmal form of hatred against humans has been met with a social media campaign as stark as the RightToMoustache is a ray of hope in these dark times.