¹ Narayan, Badri, The Making of the Dalit Public in North India. Uttar Pradesh, 1950–Present (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011), p. .Google Scholar Kshirsagar, R. K., Dalit Movement in India and its Leaders, 1857–1956 (New Delhi: M. D. Publications, 1994), pp. 198–199Google Scholar.

² In Hindi, the Chaudhari Mulkiram Smriti Granth Prakashan Paramarshdatri Smiti.

³ Mulkiram, Chaudhari, Hridyodgaar, (ed.) Pal Bekal, Tarachand, 2nd edn (Meerut and Saharanpur: Chaudhari Mulkiram Vichar Manch and Shanti Prakashan, 1983, 1968), pp. 1–24.Google Scholar Bekal, Tarachand Pal (ed.), Chaudhari Mulkiram Smriti Granth, 1st edn (Saharanpur: Shanti Prakashan, 1969), pp. 7–8.Google Scholar

⁴ Bekal, Chaudhari.

⁵ Prashad, Vijay, Untouchable Freedom: A Social History of a Dalit Community (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000)Google Scholar. Dube, Saurabh, Untouchable Pasts: Religion, Identity and Power among a Central Indian Community 1780–1950 (New Delhi: Vistaar Publications and State University of New York, 1998)Google Scholar. Narayan, Badri, Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India: Culture, Identity and Politics (Delhi: Sage Publication, 2006)Google Scholar. Narayan, The Making of the Dalit Public. Charu Gupta, The Gender of Caste: Representing Dalits in Print (Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2016)Google Scholar. Gupta, Charu, ‘Speaking Self, Writing Caste: Recovering the Life of Santram BA’, Biography 40, no. 1 (2017), pp. 16–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For Smarika (a commemoration volume or a detailed book with pictures to preserve the memories of a great personality) on the Manik Chand Century Celebration, see Rawat, Ramnarayan S., Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2012), p. Google Scholar.

⁶ For Jats, Arya Samajis, and anti-Muslim activities, see Datta, Nonica, Forming an Identity: A Social History of the Jats (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999Google Scholar), pp. 50–86, 146, 149–150, 166–173, 184–188.

⁷ For Jatavs and Arya Samajis, see Lynch, Owen M., The Politics of Untouchability: Social Mobility and Social Changes in a City of India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1969), pp. , 74, 77–83Google Scholar. For the Dalits’ origin theories (produced by the Arya Samajis in UP), see Lee, Joel, Deceptive Majority: Dalits, Hinduism, and Underground Religion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), pp. 101–103CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Lee notes that the Arya Samajis produced and spread the Patitoddhar from the late 1910s. Shri Ram Sharma’s book Patitoddhar (‘Upliftment of the Fallen’/Untouchables, 1918) represents Dalits as ‘the forgotten descendants of the Kshatriyas’. His book blames Muslim rule for the invention of Untouchability in India. His book ‘itself asserts that “Vedic dharma, Arya dharma, Brahmin dharma and Hindu dharma: these words are equivalent”’. Government of United Provinces, United Provinces Police Abstract of Intelligence (hereafter PAI) (Allahabad: The Government Press, 30 Sep 1922, 17 Feb 1923, 30 June 1923, 10 Nov 1923, 23 Feb 1924, 21 June 1924, 23 April 1927, 6 Aug 1927, 10 Oct 1941). ‘Agra Chamars have resolved to boycott those of their brethren who mixed with sweepers during the recent Achhut Udhar Week.’ See PAI, 21 April 1928. In rural Aligarh, caste tension was reported between Jats and Chamars because Chamars ‘wished to sprinkle water on the idols in a Jat temple during the Sheoratri fair’. See PAI, 4 March 1939. The Kahars of Saharanpur and Meerut claimed to be Kashap Rajputs and had a Mahasabha. See PAI, 10 Jan 1925, 3 July 1926. It is important to note that the United Provinces police department renamed the PAI report the United Provinces Secret Abstract in the late 1920s and subsequently as Appreciation of the Political Situation in Aug 1941. But this article will use the old name only.

⁸ Reeves, Peter Dennis, ‘The Landlords’ Response to Political Change in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, India, 1921–1937’, PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra, 1963, pp. 93–94Google Scholar.

⁹ Sainik (a Hindi weekly newspaper from Agra), 9 and 16 June 1936.

¹⁰ The ‘candidate with the largest vote filled the General seat, and the Scheduled Caste candidate with the highest total filled the Scheduled Caste seat. […] In double-member seats, each voter had two votes, but he could use them to vote for two General candidates, or for two Scheduled Caste candidates, or for one of each, whichever he chose to do’. See Reeves, Peter D., ‘Changing Patterns of Political Alignment in the General Elections to the United Provinces Legislative Assembly, 1937 and 1946’, Modern Asian Studies 5, no. 2 (1971), pp. CrossRefGoogle Scholar. We shall discuss Rawat’s view on double-member seats below.

¹¹ Duncan, Ian, ‘Dalits and the Raj: The Persistence of the Jatavs in the United Provinces’, Indian Economic and Social History Review 56, no. 2 (2019), p. .CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹² Datta, Forming an Identity, pp. 114, 117, 123–127, 134.

¹³ Duncan, ‘Dalits and the Raj’, pp. 123–124, 126–133. In 1938, the Jatav Mahasabha secretary Ramprasad Soni mentioned that the Hindu Mahasabha accepted Jatavs as a depressed class of Hindus. ‘The Jatavas have no caste connections, including dinning and marriage, with the caste known as Chamar and therefore, to say that “Chamar include Jatavas” is a grave misrepresentation of fact.’ Jatavs claimed to be the ‘descendants of Yadu dynasty’ (Kshatriyas) and demanded a ‘separate column’ for Jatavs from Chamars in the Scheduled Caste list, census and revenue registers, for electorate purposes, and so on. See File No. Progs Nos. 8 Feb, Dept. Reforms, Branch Federation, 1939, National Archives of India (hereafter NAI). File No. Progs Nos. 44-Fed, Dept. Reforms, Branch Federation, 1938, NAI. File No. Progs Nos. D631-F, Dept. Reforms, Branch Franchise, 1936, NAI. File No. 78(3)/1938, Box No. 595, List no. 25, General Administration Department (hereafter GAD), Uttar Pradesh State Archive, Lucknow (hereafter UPSA).

¹⁴ At the Saharanpur district, ‘a meeting of the Arya Achhut Uddhar Sabha [was held, and] resolutions were passed demanding seats for untouchables on the municipal and district boards, appointments in the police, army and other services and establishment of schools for untouchables’. Consequently, ‘five chamars’ contested ‘the election’ of 1928 for the ‘local boards’, most probably with the support of different agencies, including the Arya Samaj. See PAI, 13 Oct 1928. In rural Muzaffarnagar, the Arya Samaj opened schools, preached to raise Hindu consciousness, and converted lower Muslims into Hindus. See Aaj (a Hindi daily newspaper), 8 March 1930. In Muzaffarnagar, Purushottam Das Tandon, a Congressman, attended a Dalit meeting and urged Dalits to work for their betterment and to avoid political manipulators. He also demanded scholarships and admission for Dalits into schools and Dalit entry at the public water wells. See Aaj, 12 March 1930. In Hapur, local Hindus set up a Harijan Sangh for Achhutoddhar (upliftment of Dalits). See Vertman (a Hindi daily newspaper from Kanpur), 3 Nov 1932.

¹⁵ Brennan, Lance, ‘From One Raj to Another: Congress Politics in Rohilkhand, 1930–50’, in Congress and the Raj: Facets of the Indian Struggle 1917–47, (ed.) Low, D. A. (London: Arnold-Heinemann, 1977), pp. 473–487Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Ibid., pp. 486–487.

¹⁷ PAI, 9 June 1923.

¹⁸ Ibid., 30 April 1941, 10 Oct 1941, 17 Oct 1941. Turner, A. C., Census of India, 1931: United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Imperial Table, Vol. XVIII, Part 2 (Allahabad: The Government Press, 1933, 1987), pp. Google Scholar. For Khatiks and Sikhs, see Digital File No. 112-IV, Home Dept., Branch Political, 1926, Identifier PR_000005014500, NAI.

¹⁹ PAI, 2 Sep 1922, 6 May 1922, 30 Sep 1922. At Agra, Achhutanand demanded a separate representation for Dalits and criticized ‘Chandra Dhar Johri and Sri Krishna Paliwal to induce the achhuts to boycott the [Simon] commission’. PAI, 28 April 1928. For anti-zamindari and anti-begari activities of Kahars, see PAI, 5 May 1928, 16 June 1928. In Sep 1932 the local newspaper Vertman reported that on the celebration of Lord Krishna’s birthday, Achhuts of Meerut planned to enter a temple, but Brahman pandits and local people blocked their way and beat them. But after the Poona Pact, some Sanatanis of Meerut started the Achhutoddhar for a short period and allowed Dalit entry in temples, holy water ponds, and so on. See Vertman, 1 Sep and 6 Oct 1932. In Sep 1932, St John’s College at Agra converted 17 Hindu students, mainly Dalits. See Gautam, Shrikrishan Mishra, Hinduo Ka Hars (Banda and Chindawara: Gautam Pustakalay, n.d.), pp. 74–85Google Scholar. At Bachrauna village in Hapur, in the protest against local zamindars, about 250 Chamars converted to Christianity in Oct 1932. However, after a few days, the local Chaudhari of 250 Chamars declared that they would reconvert to Hinduism if the zamindars promised to stop exploiting them. See Vartman, 22 Oct and 3 Nov 1932. A Jatav Harijan reported that in Isauli village in Eta, local zamindars prevented Jatav students from entering the zamindars’ schools. Therefore, he asked district boards and Harijan Premis (lovers) to look into the matter. See Sainik, 15 Sep 1936. In 1944, the Vertman reported 25,000 Achhuts were converted to Christianity in Meerut and Muzaffarnagar. After hearing this news, the HSS rushed to Meerut to reconvert Achhuts to Hinduism and urged local zamindars to maintain good behaviour with them. See Vartman, 17 Jan 1944. For the anti-zamindari and anti-begari activities of Mulkiram and Khatiks, see Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 22–23.

²⁰ Rawat, Reconsidering Untouchability, pp. 148–149.

²¹ Lynch, The Politics of Untouchability, pp. 74–76, 81, 86–89, 137–138. Rawat, Ramnarayan S., ‘Making Claims for Power: A New Agenda in Dalit Politics of Utter Pradesh 1946–48’, Modern Asian Studies 37, no. 3 (2003), pp. CrossRefGoogle Scholar. ‘Meerut region in general was a prominent centre of achhut radicalism and activism and acknowledged as such by Dalits and the Congress.’

²² Reeves, ‘Changing Patterns’, pp. 122–123, 127, 131.

²³ Brennan, ‘From one Raj to another’, pp. 489–493, 498.

²⁴ Ibid., pp. 494–495.

²⁵ Kumar, Vijay, ‘An Untouchable Caste: Social and Political Histories of Khatiks in United Provinces, 1881–1956’, PhD thesis, University of Delhi, 2021Google Scholar. Paliwal, Sri Krishnadatt, Sevadharm: Sevamarg (New Delhi: Sarvoday Sahitya Mala, 1941), p. Google Scholar.

²⁶ To understand the socio-political waves, please see this section from pp. 3 to 8.

²⁷ Turner, Census of India (Table), p. 512.

²⁸ For Khatiks and the Khatik population of the western UP in the census of 1961, see H. N. Singh, ‘Khatiks of Uttar Pradesh’, in Census of India 1961, Vol. 1. Monograph Series: Ethnographic Study, No. 9, Part V-B-iv (New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs, 1971), pp. 1–50.

²⁹ Ramsharan Varma (b. 1935) was an Arya Samaji Khatik in Deoband and Dehradun and served as the secretary of Arya Kumar Sabha in 1954–1955. He was also the founder and secretary of the Dhangar Parishad Sanstha and a member of the Dhangar Navyuvak Sabha and Pal Kshatriya Sabha. In addition, he served as a member of the editorial board of the Chaudhari Mulkiram Vichar Manch. See Varma, Ramsharan, Bharat Ke Pashupalak Kshetriya: Khatik, Gadaria avam Gurger Vansh (Dehradun: Krishna Prakashan Dharmpur, 2000Google Scholar), pp. xix–xxi; for the Dhangars’ claim, see pp. 121–122.

³⁰ Singh, Mohinder, The Depressed Classes: Their Economic and Social Condition (Bombay: Hind Kitab Ltd, 1947), p. Google Scholar.

³¹ The term ‘Rajputizing’ refers to those Dalits who were claiming to be Rajput and Hindu Kshatriyas.

³² Singh, ‘Khatiks of Uttar Pradesh’, pp. 2–4, 13, 40. File No. 45/4/44, Repositry-2, Public Branch, Home Dept., 1944, NAI. For Khatiks in colonial UP, see Kumar, Vijay, ‘Locating Dalit Bastis: The Sites of Everyday Silent Resistance and Works from the Late 19th-Century to the Mid-20th Century United Provinces’, in Neighbourhoods in the Urban India: In Between Home and the City, (eds) Jha, Sadan, Pathak, Dev Nath and Kumar Das, Amiya (New Delhi: Bloomsbury, 2021), pp. 119–143Google Scholar. Vijay Kumar, ‘The Etymological Origin of Caste, Communication and Khatik in the 19th and the Early 20th Centuries UP’, in Caste, Communication and Power, (eds) Biswjit Das and Debendra Prasad Majhi (New Delhi and London: Sage Publication and Spectrum, 2021), pp. 92–97.

³³ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 5–8, 9.

³⁴ Ibid., pp. 9–10.

³⁵ Ibid., pp. 12, 23–26. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 5–6. Before Mulkiram’s birth, the Arya Samaj had spread its ideologies and centres in the western UP in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Meerut, Agra, and Hapur were the three main centres of the Arya Samaj. See Satyketu Vidhalankar, Arya Samaj ka Itihas, Vol. 2 (Delhi: Arya Swadhyay Kendra, 1984), pp. 214–292. Also, see Vidhalankar, Arya Samaj ka Itihas (Vol. 1) for the history and activities of the Arya Samaj. Deshbandu, the secretary of the UP Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, called for young volunteers, men and women, to join and participate in the Arya Vir Seva Dal’s movement for Dalitoddhar and village upliftment. Dal’s organizers (like Babu Shiva Chandra, its secretary) worked on the personality development of young members. See Sainik, 1 Sep 1936. Consequently, many Khatiks became Arya Samaji. But they did not get rid of Untouchability. See Shastri, Rajnath Sonkar, Khatik Jaati ki Utpatti aur Vikas, 3rd edn (Varanasi: Kushal Publication and Distributers, 1978, 2005), pp. 184–185Google Scholar.

³⁶ Vidhalankar, Arya Samaj ka Itihas (Vol. 2), pp. 255–256; for Achhutoddhar, see pp. 262–268.

³⁷ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 14–15. Rivariya, Mamchand, Khatik Samaj ke Ratan (Delhi: Rivariya Sahitya Prakashan, 2009), p. Google Scholar.

³⁸ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 61–63, 93–94. Since his childhood, according to Bekal, Yadram often participated in the procession of the Arya Samaj in Meerut. His family members were followers of the Sanatan Dharma Sabha. But he introduced the Arya Samaj to his family. At Chandni Chauk in Delhi, he often sang Arya Samaj’s songs to promote the Vedic Dharma and Arya Samaj’s ideology, along with his friends (Pandit Ramchandra Dehalvi and Chaudhari Lahari, who became a minister in the Punjab Government later). His songs called people back to the Vedic teaching (Koi Aao Loot Le Jao, Dharm Dhan Khade Lootate Hai). In Delhi’s college, Principal Gilbertson and the superintendent of the boarding house, a retired Muslim army officer, were against their activities. Thus, they punished Yadram and his friends. But Yadram never stopped attending the Arya Samaj programme. He organized the yajna in the boarding house and often took advice and knowledge from Swami Shraddhanand. In the 1910s, during the First World War, he became a bodyguard of Swami Shraddhanand because the colonial state used force and repression. He was under surveillance by the CID and the superintendent of the boarding house. Later in Agra, he attended St John’s College to pursue a BA degree. He continued his activities promoting the Arya Samaj. At the same time, Rameshwar Singh and Baljit Singh were promoting the Hindi Pracharni Sabha with the help of Parmeshwari Das Gupta. Thakur Balwant Singh was a member of the Anti-Government Revolutionary Party. With his help, Yadram invited Swami Shraddhanand for a Shuddhi programme and conversion of the Mughal Rajputs at Rayma village. Every Sunday, Swami Shraddhanand visited the village to reconvert Mughal Rajputs. See ibid., pp. 61–63. The Mughal Rajputs were probably the Malkhan Rajputs. See Jordens, J. T. F., Swami Shraddhananda: His Life and Causes (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 131–134Google Scholar.

³⁹ Shraddhanand, Swami, Hindu Sangathan (Delhi: Vijay Pustak Bhandar, 1924), pp. Google Scholar. Jordens, Swami Shraddhananda, pp. 130–167. Lee, Deceptive Majority, pp. 82–99, 124–125.

⁴⁰ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 94–95. Rivariya, Khatik Samaj ke Ratan, p. 20. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 45–48, 76.

⁴¹ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 67. Due to the impact of the Arya Samaj, many Dalits and low caste members started wearing janeu, performing yajnas, giving up alcohol, and becoming vegetarian to upgrade their social status. See PAI, 16 Jan, 22 May 1926, 05 March 1927. Lal, Chhakauri, Lodhi Kshatriya Itihas (Labalpur: Lodhi Kshatriya Prantiya Sabha, 1929), pp. 67–84.Google Scholar The Jats adopted janeu, havan, prayers, chanting of Vedic hymns, cow worship, singing, and readings of Arya Samajis’ books and songs. See Datta, Forming an Identity, pp. 50–86, 168, 181–182, 184–188. An orthodox upper caste Hindi-educated Hindu (hereafter Hindi-Hindu) writer noted that nowadays, the Brahman has forgotten to put tilak (a sacred coloured mark on the forehead of religious persons) and to wear janeu, but the Untouchable wears janeu and put a tilak of sandalwood. The Kshatriyas do not have a long moustache, but the Bhangi has one. Gautam, Hinduo Ka Hars, pp. 91–92. Therefore, wearing janeu, performing yajnas, and having moustaches were the reasons for caste-communal tension between Dalits and Hindus. For example, in the Raipur district, local Brahmans and Rajputs murdered a Chamar because he wore a janeu. See Chand (a Hindi monthly magazine from Allahabad), May 1927, pp. 188–189.

⁴² Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 217. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, p. 6.

⁴³ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 34. Shraddhanand followed strict vegetarianism and set up a Gurukul at Kangri and the All India (Sarvadeshik) Arya Pratinidhi Sabha. Lee, Deceptive Majority, pp. 83–84.

⁴⁴ Sandal Singh Sandal was a poet, teacher, and social activist. In a photo, he is shown in a Gandhian cap, Nehruvian jacket, and Khadi kurta like a Gandhian or Congressman. See Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 80–81. For Sandal, see Shastri, Khatik Jaati ki Utpatti, p. 221.

⁴⁵ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 105, 122–123. Rivariya, Khatik Samaj ke Ratan, p. 20.

⁴⁶ Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, p. 42.

⁴⁷ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 209.

⁴⁸ Vertman, 17 Nov 1932. Harijan (a Hindi weekly newspaper of HSS), 15 April 1933. Mahatma Gandhi, Harijan Sevako Ke Liye, (ed.) Bharatan Kumarppa (Ahmadabad: Navjivan Prakashan Mandir, 1955). For the idea of Gandhi’s vegetarianism and the Arya Samaj’s pure food among Dalits, see Rawat, Reconsidering Untouchability, pp. 131, 135–137, 141, 144. For ‘un-Hindu’ food practices prevented by Gandhi and HSS in the ‘soft Hinduization’ sense, see Lee, Deceptive Majority, pp. 154–156.

⁴⁹ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 219, 237. The Arya Samaj established many gurukuls, schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages, widow houses, and so on, to mitigate the impact of Christian missionaries and the Muslim institutions. See Dwivedi, Matran, Hamara Bhishan Hars avat Hindo Savdhan! (Kanpur: Pratap Press, 1917/1918), pp. 18–20Google Scholar. In 1931, there were nine gurukuls for boys, and two for girls. Prominent were those at Vrindavan (Muttra) and Kangri (Saharanpur). And 497 Arya libraries were set up in various centres. In 1901, the gurukul started teaching ancient Indian history to refute European writers. See Burn, Richard, Census of India, 1901: United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Vol. XVI, Part 1, Report (Allahabad: The Government Press, 1902), p. Google Scholar. Turner, A. C., Census of India, 1931: United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Vol. XVIII, Part 1, Report (Allahabad: The Government Press, 1933), pp. 505–508Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 219, 237.

⁵¹ Ibid., pp. 253–254. In the western UP, Arya Samajis, Hindu Mahasabhis, and Sanatanis often organized religious activities to attract and mobilize Dalits and the Hindu public for their religious and political interests. For instance, in Meerut, the Sanatan Dharma Sabha organized a Hari Kirtan (a musical religious) gathering, discussions, and bhajans, and invited the people to participate. See Vertman, 6 Dec 1932. In addition, all branches of the Arya Samaj celebrated Dayanand Sarsawati’s birthday annually. One such event was celebrated on the centenary of his birthday in Mathura in 1925, where thousands of volunteers, members, preachers, and students from the Arya sabhas, widow houses, orphanages, nagar kirtan bhajan mandalis (singing groups), gurukuls, schools, and colleges participated. See Turner, Census of India (Report), pp. 505–508.

⁵² Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 221–222. For his saintly image among people, see Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 1–2.

⁵³ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 235. The Dalit Arya Samajis (converted by Shuddhi) started using the title ‘Arya’ with their names. See Vidhalankar, Arya Samaj ka Itihas (Vol. 2), p. 263.

⁵⁴ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 235.

⁵⁵ Ibid., p. 159.

⁵⁶ Ibid., pp. 15–16.

⁵⁷ Datta, Forming an Identity, p. 184. In another case in Firozabad, a local candidate was threatened to withdraw his candidature. In addition, it was said that he would be evicted from the village. See Sainik, 7 July 1936.

⁵⁸ After Ambedkar had rejected Edward Blunt’s class-based proposal (to remove political safeguards for urban Depressed Classes) in the Franchise Committee meetings, Duncan writes that urban Jatavs benefitted in the western UP. See Duncan, ‘Dalits and the Raj’, pp. 128, 139–142.

⁵⁹ Varma, Bharat Ke Pashupalak Kshetriya, pp. 121–122.

⁶⁰ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 145, 161. With Arya Samaji Jats and Banias, the Jat Kshatriya Mahasabha was also active at Garhmukteshwar. See Datta, Forming an Identity, pp. 63, 149. Garhmukteshwar was a centre of anti-Dalit activities of Sanatanis and orthodox caste Hindus. PAI, 10 Nov 1923. Therefore, the local HSS often organized Harijanoddhar activities here. For instance, the Meerut District Board and HSS invited M. C. Rajah, a Dalit leader from the Madras presidency, for the opening ceremony of the Garhmukteshwar fair and swadeshi exhibition. Rajah urged Hindus to care for their 85 lakh Dalit brothers-sisters and to respect Gandhi’s effort. See Vertman, 13 Nov 1932. Garhmukteshwar was also ‘a metaphor for atrocities of Partition’ and ‘the site of a massacre of Muslims’ during the Kartik Purnima Mela in Nov 1946. Along with local Muslims-Hindus, Jats, RSS volunteers, and Congressmen were accused of rioting at Garhmukteshwar, Hapur, Meerut, Shahjahanpur, and so on. See Pandey, Gyanendra, Remembering Partition: Violence, Nationalism and History in India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 92–120Google Scholar.

⁶¹ Vidhalankar, Arya Samaj ka Itihas (Vol. 2), pp. 255–256.

⁶² Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 103.

⁶³ Ibid., p. 109. Many Hindi-Hindu writers considered the Arya Samaj to be a defender and saviour of the Hindu race. See Dwivedi, Hamara Bhishan Hars, pp. 18–20.

⁶⁴ Datta, Forming an Identity, pp. 52, 164.

⁶⁵ Lee, Deceptive Majority, p. 88.

⁶⁶ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 87–88.

⁶⁷ Ibid., p. 103.

⁶⁸ Ibid., pp. 101–102, 104.

⁶⁹ Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 25–27, 31, 33, 89. A stanza of his poem (Sapne Jag…) says, ‘Sadhu, sant ya siddh mahatma, tyagi aur sanyasi! Vah banta hai jiska man hai satya marg abhilashi.’

⁷⁰ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 41–43, 104. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 9, 28, 60.

⁷¹ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 124–126.

⁷² For instance, the Jatavs celebrated Lord Krishna Jayanti on 11 Aug, organized a rally (religious procession), played the games of akharas, and so on. City Hindus in Agra welcomed the procession with milk, flowers, arati (a religious ritual), and sharbat (sweet water). After that, under the presidentship of Dr Manik Chand, a Jatav meeting was held in Naubasta. The Jatav meeting passed a resolution favouring the Hindu religion and condemned those who closed the door of the piyau (water tank) at Belanganj during the Harijans’ religious procession. See Sainik, 18 Aug 1936. As already mentioned, Manik Chand and many Jatavs were Arya Samaji Dalits, with the Jatavs claiming to be the Yaduvanshi (the clan of Lord Krishna). Rawat, Reconsidering Untouchability, pp. 126–127.

⁷³ Amin, Shahid, ‘Gandhi as Mahatma: Gorakhpur District Eastern UP., 1921–2’, in Subaltern Studies III, (ed.) Guha, Ranajit (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1984), pp. 1–61Google Scholar.

⁷⁴ The HSS adopted and spread the Hindu rituals and practices to ‘hinduize’ Dalits. For Gandhi’s response to Ambedkar’s rejection of Hindu religion and temple entry, see Harijan, 11 Feb 1933, 31 Oct 1936. Gandhi, M. K., Views on Hindu Dharma, (ed.) Gupta, Neerja Arun (Delhi: Manohar, 2017), pp. Google Scholar. For Gandhi’s efforts to claim and represent Achhuts as Hindus with ‘no mind, no intelligence’ like animals (cows), see Lee, Deceptive Majority, pp. 124–134, 137–138, 140–141, 152–154.

⁷⁵ In the 1930s–1940s, Gandhi urged his Harijan volunteers to encourage the spread of hygiene, self-purification, and cleanliness among Harijans and their neighbourhoods; to convert Harijans into vegetarians; to prevent Harijans from eating beef and drinking alcohol; to find new ways of making leather and cleaning toilets; to prepare Harijan parents for night school and to send their children to day school; to provide them with water; to construct wells, primary schools, hostels, new public temples (like Bharat Mata Mandir, BHU Mandir, and Birla Mandir), rest houses (dharmshalas), and prayer centres (satsang ka sathan) for Untouchables; to change the opinions (heart) of upper castes and Sanatani Hindus; to work towards temple entry for Harijans; to organize public meetings and conferences for the Harijanoddhar; to work for the removal of Untouchability among Hindus and the HSS volunteers; to publish these ideas and to spread the message of the Harijanoddhar; to celebrate Harijan Day (a special day) by donations, charities, public feasts, conferences, tours, book distribution among and for Untouchables; and to organize a public gathering and public oaths for the Harijanoddhar. See Young India (Gandhi’s English newspaper), 27 Nov 1929. Harijan, 15 April 1933. Harijan Sevak (HSS’s Hindi weekly newspaper), 16 March, 4 May 1934. Gandhi, Harijan Sevako Ke Liye, pp. 6–7, 11–15, 39–41, 43. Also see Gandhi, Mahatma, Harijan Bandhu, (ed.) Mishra, Pt. Ramdahin (Bankipur: Bal Education Smiti and Hindustani Press, [n.d.]), pp. 41–52Google Scholar.

⁷⁶ The secretary of the HSS in Agra, Chhoturam, reported on the activities of the HSS for the Harijanoddhar in the western UP. In Atmadpur tahsil of Agra, the district HSS opened schools and dispensaries to cater for Harijans’ health, and moral and religious education. Day and night classes were held in Harijans’ bastis (residential clusters, settlements, and the unorganised workspaces of everyday jobs and resistance). In the same tahsil, church missionaries were also working for Dalits. He reported similar activities by the HSS in Bainai (Agra), Muzaffarnagar, Kalpi (Jalaun), Meerut, Baroro, Mathura, Bulandshahr, and so on. Under the guidance of the HSS, 50 Harijans took an oath against drinking alcohol. The HSS also organized bhajan-kirtan (singing devotional hymns and songs with musical rhythm and dance) in a joint religious gathering for Harijans and high castes. At Basoro, the HSS distributed soap among Harijan boys. A Harijan meeting was held in support of M. C. Rajah’s bill. In Meerut, separately from the ashram, the HSS set up a weaver workshop. The HSS also sent job applications (darkhvaste) from middle-passed (6-8 standard passed students) Harijans to the municipalities and district boards. In Bulandshahr, the HSS dug four wells for Harijans. In Mathura, a handpump was repaired in Harijan basti. Also, under the auspices of the HSS, Swami Jayantiprasad would visit the villages in the Agra district to investigate Harijans’ conditions and to prevent discrimination and exploitation against them by high castes (savrno). See Sainik, 4 Aug 1936. Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 15–17.

⁷⁷ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 15–17. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, p. 7.

⁷⁸ Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, p. 56.

⁷⁹ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 18. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 7–8. Rivariya, Khatik Samaj ke Ratan, p. 21. Shastri, Khatik Jaati ki Utpatti, p. 219.

⁸⁰ By mentioning Untouchability as a device of Satan, Gandhi wrote, ‘I am not going to burn a spotless horse because the Vedas are reported to have advised, tolerated, or sanctioned the sacrifice. For me, the Vedas are divine and unwritten. [… The] spirit of the Vedas is purity, truth, innocence, chastity, humility, simplicity, forgiveness, godliness, and all that makes a man or woman noble and brave. There is neither nobility nor bravery in treating the great and uncomplaining scavengers of the nation as worse than dogs to be despised and spat upon.’ See Harijan, 18 Feb 1933. Young India, 6 Oct 1921. Gandhi, Views on Hindu Dharma, pp. 37–40, 344. Lee, Deceptive Majority, pp. 138, 150–151.

⁸¹ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 35. The Chaudhari Mulkiram Vichar Manch Committee remembered Gandhi’s Ramrajya and compared Mulkiram’s poems with Ram’s exile (vanvas) because his poems were published 14 years after his death. See a note of the Committee in Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 3–4.

⁸² Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 23–26. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 62, 78.

⁸³ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 216. For Gandhi’s views on Gita, see Gandhi, Views on Hindu Dharma, pp. 103–136.

⁸⁴ Perhaps Mulkiram wanted to be a higher officer and therefore wanted to sit the Civil Service examination. Or perhaps this was a pre-1939 episode.

⁸⁵ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 216.

⁸⁶ The Sainik reported that the Agra HSS celebrated Harijan Week from 24 Sep to 2 Oct. Its centres in Aharan, Khanda, Chawali, Shahdara, Bainai, and so on worked as dispensaries for both Dalits and the upper castes. They also organized katha-paths (reading the Hindu Puranic stories), yajnas (havan), sports games, classes, sanitary activities, and public meetings in the villages and HSS centres. In addition, the HSS distributed prasad (sweets), soap, and Gandhian topis (caps) among students and the Khadi cloth among girls for baniyan (inner cloth). See Sainik, 13 Oct 1936. See Lee, Deceptive Majority, pp. 152–154.

⁸⁷ Sri Krishnadatt Paliwal (1898–1968) received a postgraduate degree from Allahabad University. He was the editor of Pratap (a daily Hindi newspaper, Kanpur) and the founder-editor of Sainik. He was a Gandhian Congressman and served as the president and general secretary of the UP Congress. Along with Hindi literature on socio-political issues, Paliwal was also interested in religious literature. In 1946, he was elected as a member of the Central Legislative Council and later the State Cabinet. He was appointed as the finance minister in Pant’s government. After independence, Jawaharlal Nehru and Pant isolated him when he was accused of stealing from the party’s fund and after his marriage to a Muslim widow. Paliwal left the State Cabinet and Congress in 1951 to oppose Jawaharlal Nehru’s domination of Congress and state politics. But he sat in the UP Assembly with a group of independent assembly members (the Independent Progressive Legislature Party). He also started a Gram Raj Party to mobilize the rural masses. Later, with his party members, he joined the Swatantra Party and became its vice-president. In 1963, he resigned from the party. In 1967–68, he was nominated as a member of parliament. See Erdman, Howard L., The Swatantra Party and Indian Conservatism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), pp. 129–130Google Scholar. Sharma, Lila Dhar, Bharatiya Charit Kosh (Delhi: Rajpal and Sons, 2009), pp. 865–866Google Scholar. Paliwal was a leading Congressman during the Civil Disobedience Movement (no-tax and anti-zamindari satyagraha, 1930–1931) in Agra. His newspaper Sainik was the Congress’s mouthpiece in the early 1930s to spread its message in the rural areas. Consequently, he won the 1934 election. See Pandey, Gyanendra, Ascendancy of Congress in Uttar Pradesh: Class, Community and Nation in North India, 1920–40 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. Google Scholar. For Achhutoddhar in the UP, see Paliwal, Sevadharm, pp. 194–212, mainly pp. 196–197, 203–208. For Paliwal’s contribution to Hindu nationalism, community, and collaboration with Arya Samajis, see Gould, William, Hindu Nationalism and the Language of Politics in Late Colonial India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 30–31, 62, 70, 163, 180–181, 271CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸⁸ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 195–196.

⁸⁹ Ibid., pp. 93–94.

⁹⁰ In a list of Congress candidates for the election of 1937, Karan Singh Kaen was named as Karan Singh Jatav BA. See Sainik, 14 July 1936. The Sainik reported a big meeting of Agra Jatavs on 27 Sep 1936 in Chaudhari Khamani Ram’s house at Saiyyad Budan (Nakhasa/Nakhale). Babu Karan Singh Kaen (BA) gave a speech at the Jatav meeting. He was a big party worker of the Agra City Congress Committee. He declared that Congress would win more than half of the 228 seats of the UP Assembly. He maintained that as the Congress party was the representative body of Dalits, they should vote for the Congress candidates. Also, he made it clear that all the upper caste voters would vote for Congress only. Thus, none of the Dalit candidates would win without Congress’s help. Later, Sardar Patel campaigned for Kaen in Agra City. See Sainik, 13 and 20 Oct 1936.

⁹¹ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 17. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, p. 7. Rivariya, Khatik Samaj ke Ratan, p. 21. In a meeting, Paliwal’s wife addressed Achhut women on education and cleanliness. See PAI, 21 April 1928. Paliwal considered Chamars, Jatavs, and Bhangi to be Achhuts. But he mainly needed non-Jatav leaders and ‘Panch-Chaudharis’ to mobilize Achhuts in Agra. Thus, he invited ‘Harijan Sevaks’ to work for Harijans. He was also aware of municipal board activities for Harijan welfare. See Paliwal, Sevadharm, pp. 196–197, 205, 210–212. In addition, in a chapter on the village service, he mentioned the responsibilities of public servants (Congressmen) and promoted Congress propaganda, including on the ashram, charkha, Kisan-Gram Sangh, and so on. With the help of a public servant, he wanted to set his agents, alongside poor peasants and labourers, against zamindars, big peasants, patwaris (accountants), bauhras (moneylenders), ahalkars (court officers/clerks), and so on. He advised forming ward-mohalla committees and Kisan-Gram Sanghas to mobilize voters. He instructed voters to not elect caste-community members to the rural district and municipal boards. See Paliwal, Sevadharm, pp. 37–97, 72–74, 82, 181–188. Before the 1946 election, Paliwal started spreading Congress propaganda in rural UP. He asserted the Congress Raj and ‘Purna Swaraj’ would be the ‘Kisan Raj’. In other words, he meant that the Congress government would work for the Indian peasantry. It would be peasant rule and complete self-rule or self-government. See Paliwal, Sri Krishnadatt, Kisan Raj: Panchvarshiy Yojana (Agra: Sahitya Ratn Bhandar, 1945), pp. , 132Google Scholar.

⁹² See File No. Progs Nos. 121 (v), Dept. Home, Branch Establishment, 1930, NAI. For HSS and job applications, see Sainik, 4 Aug 1936.

⁹³ See File No. 45/4/44, Repository-2, Public Branch, Home Dept., 1944, NAI. Lee notes the sanitation labour castes did not have a strong organization, except for the Valmiki Sabhas in colonial urban Punjab. Arya Samajis and pro-Congressmen supported and sponsored them. Lee, Deceptive Majority, p. 98.

⁹⁴ Interestingly, Gandhi considered Bhangi as Achhut only. Recently, Lee notes that Bhangi was a representative metaphor (or ‘synecdoche’) for all Achhuts in Gandhi’s sociology and writings. Lee, Deceptive Majority, pp. 122–123. But Congressmen (like Paliwal) believed only Chamars, Jatavs, and Bhangi were Achhuts in UP. Therefore, the Arya Samaj and Hindu Mahasabha, local HSS volunteers, and Congressmen in UP were all working against the political interests of Dalits. Rights were given to all Dalits after the Poona Pact, Indian Government Act of 1935, and the Government of India (Scheduled Caste) Order and List of 1936. As a result, local HSS and Congressmen spread confusion among Dalits and provoked their feelings against the Scheduled Caste status, Adi-Hindu Mahasabha, and Ambedkar’s movement. Therefore, many Dalit associations demanded exclusion from the Scheduled Caste list and claimed Hindu Rajput and Kshatriya identities. See File No. Progs Nos. 44-Fed, Dept. Reforms, Branch Federation, 1938, NAI. File No. Progs Nos. 29-F, Dept. Reforms, Branch Franchise, 1936, NAI. Ghanshyamdas Birla was the president of the HSS (1932–1959), an industrialist Congressman, and a contributor of funds to the Shuddhi movement of Arya Samaj. ‘Birla was a favorite of Hindu nationalists’: Lajpat Rai, Madan Mohan Malaviya, and Shraddhanand. Birla supported Shuddhi. However, according to Lee, Gandhi did not favour Shraddhanand and Arya Samaji’s Shuddhi idea and ‘dialogical persuasion’. Instead, he wished to prevent Dalit conversion to Islam and Christianity with the help of Hindu reforms. Therefore, by claiming a Harijan by choice (Gandhi considered himself a Bhangi by choice to make emotional and socio-political relations with Harijans), ‘Gandhi offered monological nomination’. Also, Lee notes similarities between Shraddhanand and Gandhi on the issues of Dalit inclusion in the Hindu fold, Dalit-Muslim alliance, and Dalit conversion to Islam and Christianity. And both supported ‘reformist rhetoric toward fellow Hindus’. Interestingly, Lee notes a collaboration between soft and hard Hinduization. Lee, Deceptive Majority, pp. 131–133, 148–150, 156–158.

⁹⁵ See the back cover of Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar.

⁹⁶ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 148, 254.

⁹⁷ Ibid., pp. 23–26.

⁹⁸ Ibid., p. 86.

⁹⁹ Brennan, ‘From one Raj to another’. When Pandit Sri Krishnadatt Paliwal took an oath to remarry Maqsud Jahan Begam, Mulkiram suggested not getting married. Although, according to Vidhya, Mulkiram was like a son to Paliwal, when Paliwal remarried Begum Saheba of Aligarh, Mulkiram was very upset and rejected his invitation to the baraat (wedding procession). See Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 98–99, 134, 213–214.

¹⁰⁰ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 141.

¹⁰¹ Ibid., pp. 212–213.

¹⁰² Ibid., pp. 26–27.

¹⁰³ Ibid., pp. 185–187.

¹⁰⁴ Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, p. 53.

¹⁰⁵ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 28–29.

¹⁰⁶ Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 58–59.

¹⁰⁷ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 29–30.

¹⁰⁸ Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 34, 39

¹⁰⁹ For instance, his verses say, ‘Neta vah hai jo rakhe jan-seva ka bhav! Bina tyag bhatka kare yah swarajya ki nav!! Pad-lipsa ki chah me ydi neta ka dhyan! Fir to usse ho chuka, jan-jivan kalyan!!’ Similarly, a stanza of his poem says, ‘Han me han jo mila raha hai, Vah kya jan neta kahlave ! Svam bhatkta hai jo, vah kya— janta ko raah dikhlave!!’ Ibid., pp. 50, 55.

¹¹⁰ Ibid., pp. 35, 79, 93–94.

¹¹¹ In the Saharanpur district of the early 1950s, the HSS granted 400 acres of land to Harijans for the Harijan bastis. Under the Land Utilization Law, the district officers were told to give land primarily to Harijans. See File No. 328 (8)/1955, Box No. 936, List no. 98b, GAD, UPSA. Harijan Sevak Sangh, Uttar Pradesh Me Harijan Utthan (Lucknow: UP Harijan Sahayak Department, [n.d.]).

¹¹² Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 38–39.

¹¹³ Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 43–44, 85, 95; for his verses on social service, p. 51.

¹¹⁴ Ibid., p. 95.

¹¹⁵ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 35.

¹¹⁶ Ibid., pp. 41–42.

¹¹⁷ A stanza of his poem says, ‘Dev bhoomi, avtar bhumi yah. Satya dharm aadhar bhoomi yah. Goonje yahan sada Ramayana. Gita ke mantra me darshan.’ See Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, p. 57.

¹¹⁸ Singh was a former MLA and a president of the UP Backward Caste, Harijan and Depressed Class Sangh. He worked to represent these castes in independent India. See Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 48, 133. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 9, 36.

¹¹⁹ Erdman, The Swatantra Party, pp. 129–130. Also, see above the footnote on Paliwal’s career.

¹²⁰ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 48–52, 170, 172. Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 9–10.

¹²¹ Ramsharan Vidyarthi was an advocate and editor of The Light House (English weekly) in Meerut. He was a college friend of Mulkiram and published Mulkiram’s poems in his weekly newspaper. See Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 173–174. Unfortunately, I could not find Vidyarthi’s English weekly during my research.

¹²² See the back cover of Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar.

¹²³ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 188–189.

¹²⁴ Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, p. 52.

¹²⁵ Ibid., p. 40.

¹²⁶ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 190. For his poems and verses on love, social service, relationships, and justice, see Mulkiram, Hridyodgaar, pp. 37, 41, 47–51.

¹²⁷ Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 199.

¹²⁸ Shankaranand Shastri was the author of Poona Pact aur Gandhi (1946) and My Memories and Experiences of Babasaheb Dr B. R. Ambedkar and His Contribution (Ghaziabad, 1989). See Rawat, ‘Making Claims for Power’, p. 585.

¹²⁹ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 199–201.

¹³⁰ After graduating with a BA from Agra College in 1926, Karan Singh Kaen, a Jatav by caste, joined Congress and became a Jatav Congressi MLA in Agra in 1937. Later in the 1940s, he became an Ambedkar supporter and joined the SCF in 1944. He provided primary statistical materials to Ambedkar for his book What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables. After independence, he was appointed a rehabilitation officer. In 1946 and 1962, he contested elections for the Legislative Assembly on the tickets of the SCF and Republic Party of India, but he did not win. See Kshirsagar, Dalit Movement, pp. 235–236. After the election of 1937, Kaen ‘became the Chair of the Provincial Depressed Class Education Committee’. See Duncan, ‘Dalits and the Raj’, p. 124.

¹³¹ Yadvendu (1909–1951) was a Dalit lawyer from Agra University and a close associate of Manik Chand. He was an Arya Samaji who ‘strictly observed all rules and rites of Arya Samaj’ and fought against ‘meat-eating, drinking, child marriage, etc’. Manik Chand and Yadvendu ‘invited’ Ambedkar to address a Dalit conference in Agra. Yadvendu ‘was appointed as the Public officer in 1945 and second as a resettlement officer after the partition of India’. He wrote ten books in Hindi on socio-political issues and Jatav-Chamar history. See Kshirsagar, Dalit Movement, pp. 374–375. While discussing Untouchability, Yadvendu praised Gandhi for his fast in Sep 1932, the Achhutoddhar movement, and the HSS. He also admired Swami Dayanand, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Madan Mohan Malviya for Dalit upliftment. However, he noted that until the early 1940s Congress was not a popular party among Dalits and there were few Dalit members in All India Congress committees. But he also noted an absence of the All-India Dalit Party, a strong Dalit leader, education, funding, progressive ideologies, and so on. Despite their political rights, zamindars and political parties exploited Dalits. See Yadvendu, Ramnarayan, Bharatiya Sanskriti Aur Nagrik Jivan (New Delhi: Sasta Sahitya Mandal, 1942), pp. Google Scholar. After independence, Yadvendu wrote a book Gram Swarajya in 1948. It is interesting to note that Paliwal wrote a preface for this book. Yadvendu praised the works of Gandhi and Nehru for zamindari abolition, swaraj, and village panchayat Raj. He called Gandhi the ‘Rashtrapita’ (father of the nation). He also mentioned that every person has social freedom with social and economic rights. To remove Untouchability and to ensure Dalit rights, he advised the government and gram (village) panchayats to organize a public feast, to build public wells, to reserve the seats in the village panchayats, to prevent begari and zamindars’ exploitation, to employ sweepers, and to build their houses. Moreover, the gram panchayats should be freed from caste-communal feelings. Similarly, he advised the government and gram panchayats on improving the conditions of villages and villagers. Yadvendu, See Ramnarayan, Gram Swarajya (Agra and Baroda: Popular Printing Press, 1948), pp. , 37–38, 68–69, 71, 84, 91Google Scholar. For Yadvendu’s writings on Jatav history, see Rawat, Reconsidering Untouchability, pp. 121–123, 126–127.

¹³² Dr Manik Chand (1897–1956) attended St John’s College, Agra. Soon he became an Arya Samaji and a member of the Arya Mitra Sabha in 1914. He also started teaching in an Arya Samaj School for Untouchables. As an Ayurvedic doctor, he served the people during the plague in Agra in 1918 and was ‘appointed as in charge of the epidemic preventive section in Municipal Hospital, Agra’. In 1937–1938, he formed the Jatav Veer Institute, school, library, hostel, and so on. He founded the UP SCF at a Dalit conference in the presence of Ambedkar. He led the SCF Satyagraha in Lucknow in 1946 and was imprisoned in Allahabad jail. He formed the Jatav Battalion during the Second World War. Due to his service and cooperation during the Second World War, the British government honoured him ‘with the title Rao Saheb and membership of the UP War Committee’. After the 1952 election, he became the MP for Bharatpur. See Kshirsagar, Dalit Movement, pp. 230–232. In 1917, he founded the Jatav Mahasabha. Later, during Ambedkar’s visit in 1945, he established the Agra District SCF. See Rawat, ‘Making Claims for Power’, p. 599. Duncan writes, ‘In 1937, he [Manik Chand] was elected to the reserved seat of Agra District (Northeast) as the representative of the zamindar party, although this was certainly an allegiance of purely cynical convenience to secure their financial backing. The shadowy police spy Denys Pilditch reported that the landlords were busily recruiting Dalit candidates and financing their campaigns against Congress [in Oct 1936]. Manik Chand’s campaign was certainly well funded; he spent nearly 10 times the amount of his unsuccessful Congress rival… After independence, he became the sole representative of N. G. Ranga’s Peasant Party in the first Lok Sabha.’ See Duncan, ‘Dalits and the Raj’, pp. 124, 127.

¹³³ Pipal (1901–1989) was a shoe-making businessman, a member of the Jatav Mahasabha (1918), and the General Secretary of Agra District SCF (1942). He was one of the leaders of SCF Satyagraha in Agra in 1946 and was imprisoned for three months for the same. See Kshirsagar, Dalit Movement, pp. 295–296. Rawat, ‘Making Claims for Power’, p. 610.

¹³⁴ ‘The UP Adi-Hindu Depressed classes association, […] already a registered body has converted itself into the Scheduled Castes Federation UP since May 16, 1943.’ See File No. 50/1942, Box No. 3, List No. 76, Harijan Sahayak Department, UPSA.

¹³⁵ Chaudhari Shyamlal Dhobi started as a laundry worker to earn a livelihood after his father’s death. In 1921, he became the secretary of the Dhobi Samaj and organized an All-India Dhobi Conference at Allahabad. By 1924, he had joined Swami Achhutanand and his Adi-Hindu Mahasabha. He was appointed as a member of the executive body of the All India-SCF. In 1945, he contested the election on the SCF ticket in Allahabad (R). In 1952, he was elected MLA in UP. See Kshirsagar, Dalit Movement, pp. 372–374. After the assimilation of the Adi Hindu Mahasabha into the SCF in May 1943, he joined the SCF. In the early 1940s, the UP SCF was divided into two groups. Hari Prasad Tamta and Ram Sahai led one, and Shyamlal Dhobi led another one. See File No. 50/1942, Box No. 3, List No. 76, Harijan Sahayak Department, UPSA.

¹³⁶ Babu Ram Sahai was a Pasi by caste and a leader of the UP Adi-Hindu Mahasabha. He became involved in Ambedkar’s movement from the 1930s. See The Government of India, Indian Franchise Committee, Vol. 2 (Memoranda) (Calcutta: Central Publication Branch, 1932), pp. 331, 432–444. Ambedkar, B. R., Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches (hereafter BAWS), (eds) Moon, Vasant et al. (New Delhi: Dr Ambedkar Foundation, 2020), Vol. 17 (3), pp. 267–268, Vol. 05, pp. 239–240Google Scholar.

¹³⁷ Ramlal Sonkar was a Khatik by caste from Kanpur and the president of Kanpur SCF in the 1940s. He was a prominent member of the Second Conference of the All India SCF in Kanpur in Jan 1944. See Vartman, 16 Oct, 22 Nov 1943. Kumar, ‘Locating Dalit Bastis’, pp. 132–133. Jai Bhim Jai Samaj (a Hindi weekly), Kanpur, 15 Feb 2015. Badluram Sonkar was a Khatik by caste from Kanpur and a prominent SCF leader in the 1940s. In April 1947, he was appointed ‘the 2nd dictator’ of the Dalit Satyagraha in Lucknow under the SCF banner against the Poona Pact, the Cabinet Mission Award, and the Congress. See Ambedkar, BAWS, Vol. 17 (2), pp. 515, 517, 519.

¹³⁸ Lynch, The Politics of Untouchability, pp. 86–89, 137–138.

¹³⁹ Rawat, ‘Making Claims for Power’, pp. 585–612, 598, 610. Kshirsagar, Dalit Movement, pp. 230–232, 235–236, 372–374. Lee, Deceptive Majority, pp. 124–134. According to Rawat, ‘Following the Poona Pact, twenty reserved seats were converted into double-member seats. Under this revised double-member system, each voter was allowed to cast two votes, and the candidate—either [an] achhut or a general (caste Hindu)—with the largest number of votes would be elected to fill the general seat.’ Moreover, ‘Since the electoral franchise was defined on the basis of property and education, the influence of caste Hindus was even more pronounced in the outcome’ of the election. See Rawat, ‘Making Claims for Power’, pp. 606–607.

¹⁴⁰ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 199–201.

¹⁴¹ Ibid., pp. 199–201.

¹⁴² Ibid.

¹⁴³ Ibid., p. 201.

¹⁴⁴ Ibid., p. 202.

¹⁴⁵ Lynch, The Politics of Untouchability, p. 92.

¹⁴⁶ Rawat, ‘Making Claims for Power’, p. 599.

¹⁴⁷ Kshirsagar, Dalit Movement, pp. 295–296.

¹⁴⁸ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 202–205.

¹⁴⁹ Pratap, 11 Dec 1932. Ambedkar’s declaration for religious conversion for Dalits and his appeal to abandon the Hindu religion, festivals, rituals, gods, and so on in 1936 brought about a social and political crisis and anxiety for Hindi-Hindu nationalists and reformists, including Arya Samajis, Congressmen, and Gandhians in UP. Therefore, in an article headed ‘Dharma ka Nilam’, Paliwal’s Sainik defamed Ambedkar and his movement and reported that it was pushing conversion for monetary reasons. It maintained that Ambedkar was selling the Harijans’ religion in the bazaar and that he was a puppet of the imperial government who wanted to upgrade his position in the government service. The Sainik appealed to the Harijans not to abandon the Hindu religion or join Ambedkar’s movement. Instead, it appealed to Harijans to work for the national interest. It represented M. C. Rajah as the only national representative of Harijans and glorified Gandhi as a mahatma for Harijans. See Sainik, 9 June and 11, 18 Aug 1936.

¹⁵⁰ Sainik, 9 June 1936.

¹⁵¹ Gould, Hindu Nationalism, pp. 62, 70, 163, 180–181.

¹⁵² Bekal, Chaudhari, p. 96.

¹⁵³ Ibid., pp. 137–140.

¹⁵⁴ Ibid., p. 228.

¹⁵⁵ Rivariya, Khatik Samaj ke Ratan, p. 21.

¹⁵⁶ Ibid., p. 21. Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 192–194.

¹⁵⁷ Bekal, Chaudhari, pp. 87–90, 234–235.

¹⁵⁸ Sonkar, Ramdas (ed.), Bharat Ki Vyadh Jatiyan: Khatik, Pasi, Bhar, Dhangar, Aarkh, Aadi (Lucknow: Prakashan Kendra, 2007), pp. 144–145Google Scholar.

¹⁵⁹ Digital File No. 74/1/54, Home Dept, Public Branch, 1954, Identifier PR_000005002766, NAI.

¹⁶⁰ Rivariya claims that Mulkiram participated in the Khatik movement, but he does not give details of his role. See Rivariya, Mamchand, Khatik Samaj Ki Utapti aur Itihas: 1857 se lekar 2006, 2nd edn (Delhi: Rivariya Sahitya Prakashan, 2000, 2006), pp. 54–56Google Scholar. Shastri, Khatik Jaati ki Utpatti, p. 219. For relations between Rajputizing Khatiks and Hindi-Hindu agencies, see Kumar, ‘The Etymological Origin of Caste’, pp. 92–97. For the socio-economic and political conditions of Khatiks, see Singh, ‘Khatiks of Uttar Pradesh’.