At first, have a map. Location of Patan district (also in the Gujarat state):
On 15th of February 2018 (Thursday), a 61 yo Dalit activist - Bhanubhai Vankar - put himself on fire next to the Collector's office in Patan. He was protesting against the delay in allotment of land to Dalits by the Gujarat government in Patan district. In case you didn't know:
Dalit, term used to refer to any member of a wide range of social groups that were historically marginalized in Hindu caste society.
Quote on what exactly did Vankar and his activist bros want:
Vankar was an active member of the Jignesh Mewani-led Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RADM). Incidentally, Vankar and his fellow activists, Hema Vankar and Rama Chamar, had submitted a letter to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on 17 January claiming that they would resort to self-immolation if their demands were not met.
They had demanded that the land be allotted to Dalits of Dudhka village in Sami Taluka, Patan. The trio had also sent a letter to the Collector of Patan, Anand Patel, on 7 February claiming that they will light themselves on fire on 15 February at 1 pm – the copy of the letter in Gujarati was released on WhatsApp by the RADM.
He was taken to the local hospital, and in the evening moved to the Apollo Hospital in Gandhinagar (around 100 km or 62 mil southeast of Patan). However, he died the next day (Friday), late in the evening. Some sources say he suffered 96% body burns, other sources say 80%. The son of the deceased, Bhargav Vankar, claimed that his father didn't inform anyone about his self-immolation plans and went missing a week earlier.
Photos (including him when alive and well):
At the time of Vankar's protest, there were already nine persons detained before they could take any drastic measures at the same spot. Neither his death nor bandh caused the desired effect.
A district-wide bandh has been declared across Patan. Many shops and markets willingly remained closed, while those that were open were forcibly shut down by members of the Dalit community. Yet, the bandh has not had the desired affect that the Dalit community hoped for.
Other protests followed, but that's rather off-topic. Here is the article if anyone would care about the details.
⠀SOURCES
https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/news/dalit-activist-who-set-himself-on-fire-in-gujarat-dies
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Crazy. Am I missing something? I don't see how doing this could get them what they want?
Crazy! Great post.
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I bet that the reasons behind choosing such a way of protest would be a great topic for a scientific study. Dude got the attention he wanted, that's all. Left family without even letting them know what he's planning to do. Did he hope to become a symbol? No way that he didn't learn already that it's not gonna work as a protest.
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Lol funny you mention that. Just reading a bit about it...
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9504707
Only abstract but shows other ppl have noticed and thought to study too!
Yes it's shit about the family.
Reading briefly, there was a tradition of it in India but it was usually women doing it. I wonder if it's linked with religion. 'm sure it will be in one of their holy texts somewhere...
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LOL I said pretty much the same things. It's ultimate in cutting off your nose to spite your face. In this case metling it off of course.
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Ikr. And reading the article, he was doing it in support of someone else? Maybe theres a cultural/ religious/ historical angle that I'm missing
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