Armstrong murder: The silence of Dalit leaders in parties controlled by others

The brutal murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tamil Nadu chief K Armstrong on July 5 outside his residence in Chennai has shocked and angered the Dalit community. The viciousness of the attack – he was hacked with sickles; and the place of attack — within metres of a police station – was particularly concerning, exposing the law and order situation in the state. Though Armstrong belonged to a party with a minuscule presence in the state (0.31% vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls), he enjoyed enormous clout in the Ambedkarite/Dalit community – with his networking skills, benevolence, and the efforts he took to spread Buddhism in the region with an emphasis on education. Dalits thronged the streets to protest the gruesome murder and demand justice.

While it was the most brutal killing of a Dalit politician in recent times, more shocking was the reaction – or the lack of it – of Dalit leaders, in particular those from the INDIA bloc. Prominent Dalit leaders across the alliance chose to remain silent, to avoid irking the MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government.

Considered the progressive home of Dravidian rationalism, Tamil Nadu ironically has been pretty hostile towards Dalits historically. Recent data revealed by the Ministry of Home Affairs showed that 37 out of the state’s 38 districts have been identified as ‘atrocity prone’ for crimes against the oppressed SC and ST communities. Imagine the state of affairs when last year Dalit members in Tiruppur’s Rajavur village walked down the Kambala Naicken Street donning footwear for the first time since independence .

In Armstrong’s case, within hours six men surrendered and confessed to the murder raising suspicion among the Dalit community. Sensing the gravity of the situation, BSP chief Mayawati flew to Chennai to pay tributes to one of the party’s ardent supporters, someone who was close to her. Standing next to Armstrong’s body, she demanded that the real culprits be arrested, not just those who surrendered, and asked the CM to hand the case over to the CBI as she was not confident in the state government’s probe.

There were many questions that remained unanswered. Filmmaker Pa Ranjith, who is vocal about Dalit rights and was a friend of Armstrong, questioned the police version of the story. “The police have said that Armstrong was murdered to avenge the murder of Arcot Suresh, based on the confessions of the people who surrendered. The police are only interested in closing the case based on what these surrendered men have said. Who planned this? Who instructed them to do this? What does the police have to say on the Arudhra gold scam angle in this? Has the police department come to the conclusion that there is no other background for this murder?”

The extrajudicial killing of a key accused by the police on July 14 has further raised many questions.

Chief Minister Stalin strongly condemned the murder and also visited Armstrong’s family after the funeral and assured a thorough probe, but a cloud still loomed over the investigation. The DMK government denying permission to bury Armstrong’s mortal remains in his residence-cum-office in Chennai’s Perambur further infuriated Dalits.

Complete silence from Dalit leaders

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge maintained a stoic silence, leaving it to MP Rahul Gandhi to tweet and express “confidence in the DMK govt” in ensuring justice for Armstrong. As party president and a Dalit leader, Kharge should have condemned the attack or at least expressed grief — after all, Armstrong was the state president of a national party.

Kharge’s silence was even more vexing to Dalits given that he tweeted on the Jagannath Yatra and Babu Jagjivan Ram’s anniversary but not on Armstrong, exposing the power limitations he has within the Congress party.

The Tamil Nadu BJP leadership resorted to political bickering rather than demanding actual answers on the BSP leader’s murder.

DMK’s own Dalit leader A Raja, who swears by the Constitution and Dr Ambedkar, too chose not to react. Only a few days ago his speech in the Parliament had gone viral, where he said that it was Periyar and Ambedkar who had enabled a humble Dalit man like him to stand “next to Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha”. Considered a fearless leader who talks about casteism in Hinduism, Raja’s complete silence denoted his position in the party when it came to Dalit issues in the state. He did not even express grief over the death of a Dalit leader from his state.

D Raja, the first ever Dalit general secretary of the Communist Party of India, an ally of the DMK, too remained silent.

Notably, the majority of Dalits stood firmly behind the INDI alliance, including the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu, in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, as they were wooed with the ‘threat to Ambedkar’s Constitution’ narrative.

BJP ally Ramdas Athawale, Union Minister for State for Social Justice, also did not comment on the BSP leader’s murder. Except for BJP’s state leadership in TN, national leaders too mostly were silent on this incident.

Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena, two of the largest beneficiaries of Dalit votes in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, whose political slogan was ‘Save Constitution of Dr Ambedkar’, and their Dalit MPs too did not react.

Newbie and Rajasthan Congress MP Sanjana Jatav tweeted but the non-reaction from prominent leaders such as Kharge, D Raja of the DMK, and D Raja of the CPI was especially noteworthy.

Contrast that to parties that are led by Dalits, who reacted immediately and demanded justice. Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s Prakash Ambedkar expressed shock and dismay while Aazad Samaj Party’s Chandra Shekhar Azad too condemned the murder.

The only INDI alliance Dalit leader from Tamil Nadu to speak out was Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president Thol Thirumavalavan, who was with Armstrong’s family since the murder and was also seen on stage with Mayawati. The VCK chief’s presence was not just notional, he joined Mayawati in requesting that Armstrong be buried in the BSP office premises. He was walking a tightrope — campaigning for the DMK candidate in the Vikravandi bye-election while also taking part in the final rites for Armstrong with Mayawati. Subsequently he asked the state government to investigate the BJP’s involvement in the murder.

Dalits elevated but bound by party discipline

Though the Congress, BJP, and other non-Dalit-led parties have been elevating Dalits to supposedly powerful positions, the reaction to Armstrong’s murder showcases their lack of any real power — especially when atrocities on Dalits take place in their own state or in states governed by their allies. It may be recalled that after Rohith Vemula’s institutional murder, the Dalit leadership in the BJP was mute while those in the opposition were quite vocal.

Some DMK supporters were critical of Mayawati’s demand of a CBI inquiry in the Armstrong murder case, suggesting she was doing it at the behest of the BJP. However, it may be noted that both Mayawati and Prakash Ambedkar had taken a very aggressive stance against the BJP-led Union government in demanding justice for Rohith Vemula in 2016. The BSP chief had even resigned protesting against the Rajya Sabha Speaker for not allowing her to talk about the case.

During a time when the Congress was the only major party, Dr Ambedkar had observed: “Congress has been able to elect on its ticket representatives of the Scheduled Castes all throughout India and yet not one of them ever asked a question, moved a resolution or tabled a motion in order to ventilate the grievances of the Scheduled Castes. The reason is that the representatives of the Scheduled Castes elected on the Congress ticket are bound hand and foot by the party discipline of the Congress, and have no freedom of action.” (Volume 17, Writings and Speeches)

Had the AIADMK-BJP alliance been ruling in TN, perhaps everyone from Kharge to Raja would have hastened to ask questions of the government. But in this case, they did not even express pain or shock over the murder.

Justice for Armstrong seems like a long road now. Even as the police have claimed that it was a revenge killing, the BSP and those closest to the leader do not believe that he was killed due to gang-related crimes. Some DMK supporters suggested that he was a rowdy.

Writer and activist Shalin Maria Lawrence wrote on X: “For the last 15 years Armstrong anna has contributed immensely to Navayana Buddhism in the state. He has built viharas, conducted Buddhist conferences regularly, Buddhist weddings and engaged a lot of children towards counter culture and Ambedkarism. Every week you can see kids going to his Vihar in Chennai to practise Buddhist rituals wearing white and white. It was always peaceful around him and it was a safe space for kids and even elders of different castes. To call him a rowdy is the worst victim blaming that DMK supporters can do.”

More than the impact to the BSP unit in TN, Armstrong’s passing is a deep loss to Dalit Ambedkarites and the Buddhist community, a loss that cannot be measured. However, this episode has once again highlighted the limitations of high-profile Dalit leaders in parties controlled by upper castes. They cannot even express themselves freely, much less fight for justice for the community when it matters.

Ravikiran Shinde is an independent writer and columnist on social and political issues.

Views expressed are the author’s own.