Mumbai: 800 Dalits ‘capture’ mill land

The choice of the day was no coincidence. Around 800 activists of the Republican Sena stormed the premises of the Indu Mill in central Mumbai on Tuesday, on the occasion of BR Ambedkar’s 55th Mahaparinirvan Din, and captured the land to build a memorial for their Dalit leader.

The mob was led by Ambedkar’s grandson Anandraj Ambedkar, who had issued a notice on December 1 claiming that if the government failed to hand over the plot for a memorial, the land would be captured. The activists carried statues of Ambedkar and Gautam Buddha on the premises.

The administration, which knew that trouble was brewing, had asked for a posse of police personnel around the mill. But the activists broke down the barricades.

“We had warned the administration. Now since we have got hold of the land, we will set up a Buddhist vihar, where more than 100 monks will perform prayers,” said Anandraj Ambedkar.

But the move didn’t go down well with all Dalit leaders. Vijay Kamble of Samata Manch, who is on a fast for the same demand, criticised the forceful acquisition of the mill land, saying the action is against Ambedkar’s ideology. “Babasaheb wrote the constitution of the country and his followers only tried to violate the constitution,” he said.

Gautam Sonawane, president of the Mumbai of Republican Party of India assured of his party’s support to the demand for a memorial on the plot. “Our party will undertake a morcha on December 13 for this demand. Every person who is a follower of Dr  Babasaheb Ambedkar supports this demand, which cuts across party differences,” he said.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said the Central government, which owns the plot, alone can take a call on granting permission for a memorial there.

The clamour for allotting about 1,250 acres of land for the Ambedkar memorial has been growing over the last several years. Dalit leaders allege that the state and Central governments are passing the buck and have put the issue in cold storage.