Mumbai: Soundala village in Maharashtra‘s Ahilyanagar district convened together and declared itself “caste-free,” claiming to live as per the Preamble of the Constitution.
At a special Gram Sabha on February 5, sarpanch Sharadrao Argade, before the forum began, announced a voluntary blood donation camp. After the event concluded, and as the villagers gathered, the sarpanch addressed the crowd saying, “Our blood is not green or blue. It is simply red. And once it mixes, no one can ever separate it again.”
He then proposed to recognise the village as a “caste-free” village. Despite knowing that a complicated society like India had its own concerns regarding caste, he said, “But in my three tenures as sarpanch of the village, I have had deep and consistent engagement with the villagers. I felt confident.”
According to The Wire, the resolution was written in Marathi and invoked the Constitution of India and the Preamble, which emphasises liberty, equality and fraternity.
“From now onwards, in Soundala village, no one will follow caste or indulge in any form of caste practices. Instead, humanity is the only religion that the villagers will follow,” the resolutions said.
Ahilyanagar, which was originally Ahmednagar in Western Maharashtra, is known to have a history of caste-based atrocities and communal tensions. It was witness to several honour killings of Dalit youths, including the 2014 murder of a 17-year-old Dalit. It has even remained in the “atrocity-prone district” list.
Agrade acknowledged the violent history of the village, saying, “We have had cases of caste violence in the village. Have even had cases registered under the Atrocities Act.” But the cases decreased as the village’s social awareness increased.
“Today, you will see people visiting each other’s houses, attending functions and standing by each other at the time of difficulty,” he said during his address.
A resolution like this can encourage different communities to move in the direction of inter-caste and inter-faith marriages, Argade added.
The provision also includes penalties for any resident who engages in behaviour that goes against the constitutional laws. “The villagers are fully aware that if they want to continue to live here, they will have to abide by the rules,” the sarpanch said.
The decision was reportedly influenced by the protests held against the new University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations that revised how caste atrocities are addressed in universities across India.
“The ruling parties want to keep the nation divided along binaries – as Hindus and Muslims, as upper and lower castes. We are trying to address simply that at a very small, village level,” Argade said.
