Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh recently recalled former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's historic Belchi visit on her death anniversary, October 31, during the ongoing Bihar elections. The reference points back to August 13, 1977, when Mrs Gandhi undertook a challenging journey to the remote village of Belchi in Bihar. She travelled by car, jeep, tractor, and finally an elephant through monsoon floods to meet families of Dalits killed in caste violence. This visit came months after the Congress suffered a massive defeat in the post-Emergency Lok Sabha elections. The Belchi massacre occurred on May 27, 1977, when a group from the Kurmi community attacked and killed eight Dalits and three OBC Sonar community members. The victims were shot and burned alive following a dispute. Mrs Gandhi's determined outreach to the affected families, captured in powerful photographs showing her riding an elephant, marked the beginning of her political comeback. By 1980, she returned as Prime Minister, and the Congress also won in Bihar. The convicts in the Belchi case were executed in November 1983, making it a rare instance of capital punishment for caste violence.
The Belchi Massacre and Political Response
The Belchi massacre took place on May 27, 1977, when a Kurmi group led by Mahavir Mahto attacked Dalits following a previous day's fight. Ten to fifteen Dalit men who came to rescue an attacked person were tied up, shot, and burned alive. Bihar Police initially called it a gang war. When the Janata Party formed the government in June 1977, the case received little attention. However, Parliament witnessed strong protests when Union Home Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh termed it gang warfare. Ram Vilas Paswan, then a young Janata Party leader, brought bones of the victims to Parliament on July 13, 1977, calling it a caste war rather than gang violence. This forced the government to acknowledge casteism as the primary cause.
Indira Gandhi's Comeback Journey
Mrs Gandhi saw the Belchi tragedy as an opportunity for political revival. On August 13, 1977, she braved heavy monsoon rains and travelled through waist-deep water to reach the village. When vehicles got stuck, she rode an elephant named Moti for the final stretch. The three-and-a-half-hour journey and iconic photographs of her on the elephant revived her political image. By November 1978, she returned to Parliament after winning the Chikmagalur by-election. In 1980, the Congress won the Lok Sabha elections, and she became Prime Minister again. The Belchi trial accelerated after her return to power. Mahavir Mahto and Parshuram Dhanuk were sentenced to death and executed in November 1983, marking a rare case of capital punishment for caste violence in India.
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