The programme to mark the 205th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima at the ‘Jaystambh’ in Perne village of Pune district in Maharashtra passed off peacefully on 1st January 2023.
Key points
- Hundreds of thousands of people, mainly from the Ambedkarite Mahar community, visited the Jaystambh to pay tribute to the soldiers, who they believe, fought a war against the alleged casteism of the Peshwas.
- Nearly 5,000 police personnel were deployed to avert any untoward incident. One person was killed and several others were injured in violence in the Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018.
About Jaystambh and Koregaon Bhima
- ‘Jaystambh’ is a military monument erected by the British government in 1821 in memory of its soldiers, who fought against the Peshwas at Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 1818.
- The British had appointed their soldier Kandojibin Gajoji Jamadar (Malvadkar), who was injured in the battle, as in-charge of the ‘Jaystambh’ on December 13, 1824.
- As per a Dalit narrative, a British Army comprising 500 soldiers from the Mahar community defeated a 25,000-strong force of Peshwas in the battle of Koregaon Bhima.
- However, descendants of Jamadar from the Maratha community say that both British and Peshwa forces that fought the battle of Koregaon Bhima consisted of soldiers from different castes. So they maintain that going by contemporary historical records, the ‘Jaystambh’ cannot be linked to any particular caste or religion.
(Source: Indian Express)
