Why Dalit men from Gujarat are posting moustache selfies as a form of protest

Two Dalit men of a village near Gandhinagar in Gujarat were allegedly thrashed by members of Rajput community for “sporting a moustache” in two separate incidents last month.

Men are twirling their moustaches for a cause.

Two Dalit men were beaten up for sporting moustaches in Gujarat. (Representative image)

After two Dalit men were beaten up by members of the Rajput community for “sporting moustaches”, men from Gujarat started a social media campaign posting selfies where they can be seen proudly displaying their moustache .

Two Dalit men of a village near Gandhinagar in Gujarat were allegedly thrashed by members of Rajput community for “sporting a moustache” in two separate incidents last month.

The incidents occurred on September 25 and September 29 at Limbodara village in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar district.

Users posted selfies as a form of protest against the violence. They used hashtags such as #RightToMoustache and came out in support of Piyush Parmar, one of the victims thrashed in Gujarat.

Twitter user Vishal Sonara said BR Ambedkar, who championed Dalit rights, had in 1927 burnt and destroyed Manusmriti. It is believed that the Hindu caste system is propagated by the teachings in Manusmriti.

A 21-year-old Dalit man was allegedly beaten to death by a group of men belonging to the upper caste Patel community for attending a garba event in Gujarat’s Anand district in the early hours on Sunday.

The state had witnessed massive protests in July last year over the brutal thrashing of four Dalit men at a village in Una town.