The Rashtriya Charmakar Mahasangh (RCM), a national body of the cobbler community, has warned the government to stop atrocities on the group or its members would be obliged to reconsider their votes, which have always gone to Hindutva parties. The community claims 19 crore members.
RCM’s founder-president and ex-minister Baban Gholap said that they had investigated the incident in Gujarat where cobblers were beaten for skinning dead animals, and Pandharinath Pawar, Dr Sohanpal Sumnakshar, Dr Vithalrao Dandge and others studied the case.
“Skinning dead animals and making leather is our profession and only means of sustenance. The gau rakshaks (cow protectors) are being led by ignorant leaders, who don’t know ground realities. They did not listen to the pleas of cobblers, who told them they were only doing their job. They were tied and beaten,” he said.
Mr Gholap further said that he did not imply that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was behind the atrocities on cobblers, but the party should be sensitive to downtrodden communities that have remained staunch Hindus. “We have sent memorandums to the chief minister and the Prime Minister via our MP, Satyanarayan Jatiya. We are awaiting their answers,” he said.
Speaking about the cobbler community, Mr Gholap claimed that out of the population of 25 crore Scheduled Caste residents in India, 19 crore members belong to the cobbler community, which itself has several sub-groups. If a proper survey were to be conducted, the extent and reach of the community would be observed. We also have over 200,000 members in the USA,” he said.
Mr Gholap demanded that a commission named after Babu Jagjivan Ram be formed for the cobbler community. The commission can survey several parameters and factors of the community on an all-India level, he said and added that RCM core committee members would be launching a nationwide tour on September 24 to unite all cobbler groups.
