Ambedkar calls for arrest of right-wing leaders

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, January 5

Advertisement

Prakash Ambedkar, leader of the Bahujan Bharipa Mahasangh that called a Maharashtra-wide bandh on Wednesday, has warned of another protest if the Maharashtra government failed to arrest Hindutva right-wing leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, who allegedly masterminded the attack on Dalits in Pune on New Year’s Day.

“FIRs are being filed against Dalits (for rioting during Wednesday’s <aharashtra bandh) but Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote are not being arrested despite FIRs being filed against them. Soon there will be another agitation by the Dalits,” Ambedkar told reporters here.

Earlier on Thursday he, along with other Dalit leaders, met with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded that the two leaders who head Shiv Pratishtan and Samast Hindu Aghadi respectively be immediately arrested.

Bhide, 85, is known for his rabble-rousing speeches against Muslims and other minorities. He is also known to be close to Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his pictures in their company are making the rounds on social media.

Ambedkar told reporters here that Dalit leaders intervened on Wednesday and prevented the situation from going out of hand when violence broke out. “But if the government does not act (and arrest the two) things will go beyond our control,” Ambedkar said.

Meanwhile, Dalit leaders in Mumbai allege that members of their community living in and around Pune have moved out of their homes fearing further violence. “Many members of our community have lost their homes and shops after being attacked by members of the upper-castes in Bhima-Koregaon,” Sandeep Kamble, an activist of the
Republican Party of India (Athwale) said. He added that cars belonging to Dalits were also targetted and destroyed.

It is however not clear how many Dalits have had to leave their villages. However reports from the ground say that members of the community from as many as a dozen villages may have fled their homes.