Social Justice

Please review my answer.

Thankyou!

KEY POINTS

Issue

·         A battle in Koregaon, a tiny village in pune took place between British troops and Marathas (Peshwa Bajirao II) on January 1, 1818 and the English won.

·         The English troops constituted a sizeable number of Mahars, a dalit community in the region.

·         The East India Company erected the Vijay Sthamb (victory pillar) in memory of the battle and it includes the names of the Mahar soldiers.

·         The 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle was commemorated recently and there erupted clash and violence.

How it feeds ideas of Nationalism?

·         The new political articulation of the Dalits by equating Hindutva with the Peshwai has made the right-wing forces concerned.

·         The word peshwai, in common understanding, does refer to Brahmin rule but also has a connotation implying oppressive and illegitimate domination.

·         The agitation underscores the latent sub-nationalistic impulses currently active in Indian society.

·         In a way, this is a struggle between two nationalisms - religion-based versus caste-based.

·         The concept of nationalism got a new twist when resistance came against the celebration of the 200^th anniversary of Koregaon victory from groups who claimed that celebrating the defeat of native Peshwas at the hands of the British was a violation of nationalism and national pride.

·         In one stroke, then, those seeking to celebrate the fall of the Peshwas became non-nationalist (if not anti-national) and the Peshwas became a symbol of the national fight against colonialism.

·         Thus, history as memory of struggle against an unjust social order and history as reading of contemporary nationalism into past battles for the throne confronted each other.

Please review and give suggestion