Chetram Jatav (Aged 30) was a participant in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, known as a freedom fighter. He joined the mutiny on May 26, 1857, in the Soro region of Eta district, North-Western Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) and was tied to a tree and shot.
According to legend, Maharaja Patiala saw a man carrying a lion on his back. The man claimed to have killed the lion without a weapon. Impressed, the king asked him to join his army. The man’s name was Cheta Ram Jatav. Cheta Ram fought the British and, seeing them harassing the people, fought against them. The British captured him and tied him to a tree.
Jatav, along with others who died during the 1857 rebellion, has been adopted by the Bahujan Samaj Party as an icon of Dalit heroism. According to Tiwari, BSP, which is trying to mobilize grassroots Dalits, has the support of Dalit intellectuals. They use local heroes, histories, myths, and legends found in the oral history of the regions of Uttar Pradesh centering around the 1857 rebellion as a resource.
The party’s political strategy is to repeatedly tell and retell the stories of these heroes, build memorials, and organize celebrations around their stories to build a collective memory in the people’s mind. The stories are narrated in such a way that Dalits can imagine the story of the making of this nation in which they played a significant role.
Chetram Jatav
(1827 – 1857) – (Uttar Pradesh)
Chetram Jatav (Aged 30) was a participant in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, known as a freedom fighter. He joined the mutiny on May 26, 1857, in the Soro region of Eta district, North-Western Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) and was tied to a tree and shot.
According to legend, Maharaja Patiala saw a man carrying a lion on his back. The man claimed to have killed the lion without a weapon. Impressed, the king asked him to join his army. The man’s name was Cheta Ram Jatav. Cheta Ram fought the British and, seeing them harassing the people, fought against them. The British captured him and tied him to a tree.
Jatav, along with others who died during the 1857 rebellion, has been adopted by the Bahujan Samaj Party as an icon of Dalit heroism. According to Tiwari, BSP, which is trying to mobilize grassroots Dalits, has the support of Dalit intellectuals. They use local heroes, histories, myths, and legends found in the oral history of the regions of Uttar Pradesh centering around the 1857 rebellion as a resource.
The party’s political strategy is to repeatedly tell and retell the stories of these heroes, build memorials, and organize celebrations around their stories to build a collective memory in the people’s mind. The stories are narrated in such a way that Dalits can imagine the story of the making of this nation in which they played a significant role.
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