WEEKS after a lawyer allegedly hurled a shoe at the Chief Justice of India BR Gavai during court proceedings, a human rights group from Gujarat has planned a shoe donation campaign from November 26 to December 6. According to the campaign, those who have “benefitted from reservation” will distribute shoes to school students.
Justice Gavai is only the second person from the Dalit community to be CJI. Last month, a lawyer, Rakesh Kishore, allegedly hurled a shoe at Justice Gavai during court proceedings.
The group – Navsarjan – along with its sister organisations – Dalit Shakti Kendra and Dalit Foundation – plans to donate around 5,000 pairs of shoes to needy students in Gujarat and other states such as Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
For the campaign, slogans have also been coined. Some of them are Samvidhan ko Sunahra Salam (Golden salute to Constitution) and Dhhikkar Ka Ek Hi Javab, Adhikar (The only reply to hatred is right) and Mera Arakshan = Samaj ka Sanrakshan (My reservation = community’s protection). The slogans will be printed on the shoe boxes.
November 26 is marked as Constitution Day and December 6 is Dr BR Ambedkar’s death anniversary.
Talking about the campaign, Navsarjan founder Martin Macwan said they are reaching out to people who have “benefited from reservation”, asking them to donate shoes to needy school students.
Macwan said, “We are targeting those who have benefited out of reservation for donation while telling them it is their social obligation. We believe that (many of) those who have benefitted from reservation have been alienated from the community. And this is the reason why the (community’s) organisation is getting weaker. Instead of getting stronger, the community’s strength is weakening. And that is what we saw in the episode of Justice Gavai also. Such a big incident, but there is not much impact over it. So, we thought that in response to this incident, the best programme would be asking those who have got the benefits of reservation, to give shoes to the children from poor families who are studying in schools as part of their social obligation.”
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Explaining the symbolism of the shoe in the campaign, Macwan said, “The shoe has been kept in the focus of the campaign because the controversy was around the shoe.”
According to Macwan, apart from Gujarat, the NGO will carry out the campaign in other states such as Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, especially where they have workers or volunteers.
Volunteers will go to select villages to ask those who have benefited from reservation to donate at least Rs 200 for one pair of shoes, which will be given to school students.
The donations will be received by Navsarjan, who have roped in wholesale suppliers to supply bulk orders at discounted rates.
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“The process for the sizing of the shoes to be supplied is currently on. The shoes will be provided to students of Classes 5 to 10. And 50% of the shoes will be provided to girl students,” said Macwan.
He added, “Initially, we kept the target of getting 1,000 pairs of shoes. However, we got a very good response. So far, we have received confirmation of the donation of over 2,000 pairs of shoes. Now, we have revised the target, making it 5,000 pairs.”
