BAWS.in

“Dalits were never denied water. How did they survive? Were they cactus?” - that’s their argument. Nobody says Dalits survived without water. The question has always been: Were Dalits allowed to access the same public wells, pots, and water sources as everyone else without facing violence or humiliation? History says otherwise. • Indra Meghwal, a 9-year-old Dalit boy, was allegedly beaten after drinking from a school water pot. • Bapurao Tajne dug a well after his wife was allegedly denied access to a village well. • Dr. B. R. Ambedkar wrote in Waiting for a Visa about being denied water and facing untouchability even after returning from abroad as a highly educated officer. The issue was never the existence of water. The issue was equal access to it with dignity. Dismissing documented experiences of caste discrimination as “atrocity porn” doesn’t erase history, it only reveals a refusal to engage with it.