‘Free, compensate 96 Dalits held for protesting Ravidas temple demolition’

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday demanded compensation for the 96 people from the Dalit community who it claimed have been in jail since two months for protesting against the demolition of the Sant Ravidas temple in south Delhi.

The party also demanded that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should take back the cases filed on these 96 people and release them.

“Besides, the temple committee should be given the right to decide the amount of land they need for the reconstruction of the temple,” said Ajay Dutt, the AAP member of legislative Assembly from Ambedkar Nagar, in a press conference Saturday.

Delhi’s minister for minorities Rajendra Pal Gautam said that the advocates on behalf of the Central government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying they are ready to allot 200 meters of land for the reconstruction of the temple.

“It is now clear that Manoj Tiwari, the chief of the BJP’S Delhi wing, and BJP MLA Vijender Gupta misled the people of Delhi, by saying that the Delhi Government needed to give clearance for the land. The affidavit has further proven that since the Delhi Development Authority is under the Central government, only the Centre can give permission for the reconstruction of the temple,” said Gautam.

He alleged that the BJP could have stopped the demolition of the temple but allegedly did not because of their biased mentality against the Dalit community. This allegedly led to huge protests and many Dalits had to go to jail, he said.

Reacting to AAP’S claims, BJP MLA from Rohini and leader of opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said that it was the AAP which allegedly incited “young Delhiites” to protest.

“The whole issue was being resolved in the apex court yet the AAP was gaining political mileage from the issue by inciting youngsters to start protesting. It was unnecessary because ultimately the Centre announced it would allot land at the same spot for the temple,” Gupta said.