Mumbai : Dadar’s Shivaji Park adorned the look of a pilgrim site as more than three lakh people from across the nation turned up to pay tribute to Dr.B R Ambedkar on his 58th death anniversary on Saturday.
Ambedkar’s death anniversary this year is being observed in the backdrop of the Centre’s decision to initiate proceedings and speed up the formalities of the Dalit leader’s grand memorial construction at the now-defunct India United (Indu) Mills land in Mumbai.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who visited Chaityabhoomi (Dr. Ambedkar’s memorial) in Shivaji Park to pay tribute to the Dalit leader, declared that the bhoomipoojan of the memorial site will take place on April 14, 2015 on the occasion of Dr Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary.
Fadnavis was accompanied by State Education Minister Vinod Tawde.
Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, was given a ceremonial guard of honour by the state police personnel for the first time.
The bhoomipoojan of Dr Ambedkar’s memorial site will take place on April 14, 2015 on the occasion of his 125th birth anniversary, declares Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao and other leaders pay tribute to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on the occasion of his death anniversary at ‘Chaityabhoomi’ in Dadar in Mumbai on Saturday. |
The State government also organised for a helicopter which showered flowers on the ‘Chaityastupa’ at Chaityabhoomi.
Floral tributes were offer-ed to the mass leader at Mantralaya. At Vidhan Bhawan, the legislature staff paid tributes to Dr Ambedkar.
Meanwhile, there was a perennial flow of devotees since early morning till late in the night. Lakhs of Ambedkar followers giving out slogans of ‘Jai Bhim’, poured into the city to catch a glimpse of the Dalit icon’s memorial in ‘Chaityabhoomi’. An elated first time visitor Mahadev Khare (58) said, “I had only heard of lakhs of people converging at Chityabhoomi but I only experienced it today.”
The city’s public transport wing, BEST undertaking, ran special buses ferrying people from Dadar and Shivaji Park.
A BEST official said, “Apart from running special buses, the BEST has also set up food stalls to provide free snacks there.”
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has set up temporary sheds, mobile toilets, makeshift bathrooms and six medical stalls at Shivaji Park, Dadar Station, at Rajgriha (Dr Ambedkar’s residence in Dadar’s Hindu Colony) and Kurla Terminus.
Suman Bansode (33), who came from Solapur, while expressing satisfaction for the facilities provided by the city corporation said, “The makeshift bathroom is a great initiative.”
Several other public undertakings like Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Bank of India (BOI), Oil and Natural Gas Corporations (ONGC) and others had set up stalls providing food, drinking water and free medical camps.
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At one hand, Dalit politics in Maharashtra is marred by overt factionalism but the literary fervor still continues keeping alive the tradition of counter cultures and alternative discourses.
J.V.Pawar and Raja Dhale, founder members of the erstwhile ‘Dalit Panther’, started the tradition of book stalls. “We used to sell books in order to enlighten the people. Later on it became a trend. I sell more books each year and the demand is increasing as more educated youth wants to read about Dr Ambedkar and the Dalit movement.”
Dr. Dattatray Murumkar has been visiting Chiatyabhoomi since last 14 years. He said, “I come here with a hope for something new and fresh literature and I have been able to satisfy my intellectual cravings every year.”
Dalit politics-youth-social media-apolitical: Dr. Ambedkar firmly believed that newspapers could bring about a change in the lives of millions of oppressed and marginalised people. Likewise, young followers have devised new platforms to strengthen the dying movement. Facebook Ambedkarite Movement (FAM) is one such platform. Atul Kharat of FAM told FPJ, “Our organisation strongly believes in Babasaheb’s message of Educate, Organise and Unite. We are an apolitical organisation and we believe in educating the youth first and urge them to unite.”
“Our current leadership has disappointed us and hence we wanted a non-political front,” he added.
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As railways offered free service, many followers, predominantly from poor backgrounds, came to the city from far flung rural and remote areas of the country. There was a large influx from northern states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Also, a huge number of followers had come from southern states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
“Many of us cannot afford the travelling expenses, it is only because of the government’s policy of free travel and the free food offered by various social organisations and public sector undertakings (PSU) that we travel to this expensive city of Mumbai,” said Suresh Dabhade (28) from Kannad in Aurangabad.
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The usually peaceful event was marred by a scuffle between supporters of two Dalit factions, namely, the Republican Party of India (Athawale) and Shyam Gaikwad’s Republican party of India (Secular). An RPI (A) worker alleged that Gaikwad’s supporters made some abusive comments on them and their leader Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athawale which led to the confrontation.
However, Mahesh Patil, DCP Zone V, said, “The workers of the Republic Party of India got into a scuffle amongst each other. Such incidents are common when a crowd of over 3 lakh people assemble in a place. Nothing major or serious took place.”
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AJINKYA GAIKWAD
