Indu mill takeover takes political hue

Republican Party of India (RPI) activists continued with their pressure tactics in their bid to force the government to acquire the Indu Mill land so that a memorial can be built at Chaityabhoomi, where a memorial of Dalit icon Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar currently stands, in south-central Mumbai.

In the morning, some activists protested outside Varsha, CM Prithviraj Chavan’s official residence at Malabar Hill.

The police, who are deployed in sufficient numbers in the locality, quickly dispersed the activists.

Then, again in the afternoon, some six youths entered Mantralaya and created a ruckus on the sixth floor, which houses the CM’s office, making the same demand.

The activists threw gulal before being taken away by the police. However, the Chavan was not in his office at the time, having left to campaign for the upcoming local elections.

Later, in the evening, RPI (Athavale) leader Ramdas Athavale declared that from December 15, his faction of the RPI will launch a stir to demand the handover of Indu Mill land, adding that party activists will also protest at prime minister Manmohan Singh’s residence in Delhi on Thursday.

Events on Wednesday followed the forcible occupation of Indu Mill earlier on the death anniversary of Ambedkar on Tuesday. RPI activists led by Anandraj Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, entered the Indu Mill premises and installed statues of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Buddha. The police later dispersed them.

The RPI and various Dalit groups are want that the land of the now defunct Indu Mill, owned by the National Textile Corporation — a government of India undertaking — be handed over for the building a museum and a large park in Ambedkar’s memory.  The demand for the park is because every year, on December 6, lakhs turn up to pay their respects to Ambedkar, and the current memorial spot has little space.