We’ll build Ravidas temple if Centre allots land: Kejri

BJP leaders O.P. Sharma, Vijender Gupta marshalled out for disrupting CM’s speech on opening session of Assembly

With the ongoing tension over the demolition of Ravidas temple in Tughlakabad, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday demanded that the Centre pass an ordinance immediately. He also demanded that the Centre should allot 4-5 acres of land to the Ravidas community.

The chief minister said in the Legislative Assembly that if the Centre allots land, the Delhi government will get the Ravidas temple constructed on that land.

Mr Kejriwal said that he would swap 100 acres of forest land for the plot in Tughlakabad, where a Ravidas temple stood till it was demolished by the DDA almost a fortnight ago. He asserted that the solution to the dispute lay with the Centre.

“It’s a matter of faith for crores of people. The place is associated with Ravidas, it has his vibrations.

The matter has become a subject of petty politics,” said Mr Kejriwal in the Assembly.

“All should work for the construction of the temple. Around 12-15 crore people want the Centre to allocate four-five acres of land for the temple,” he said.

“Some people say it is forest land. If the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) gives this four-five acres of land to the Ravidas Samaj, the Delhi government will give the Centre 100 acres of forest

land. Solution to this lies only with the Centre,” he added.

BJP legislators O.P. Sharma and Vijender Gupta were marshalled out of the House for interrupting the chief minister’s speech. The Ravidas temple was demolished by the DDA on August 10 on the orders of the Supreme Court.

On the opening day of the Monsoon Session, there was a huge uproar in the Assembly by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs in protest against the action by the DDA to demolish the Guru Ravidas temple in Tughlakabad.

The Deputy Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly Rakhi Birla created a ruckus and the AAP MLAs carried placards and reached the well of the House, raising slogans against Bharatiya Janata Party over the dalit organisations’ protest on the demolition of the Ravidas temple.

Following the ruckus, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel adjourned the House thrice. Meanwhile, Delhi’s Ambedkar Nagar MLA Ajay Dutt tore open his shirt outside the Delhi Assembly on Thursday to protest against the demolition of the Ravidas temple.

The Monsoon Session of the Delhi Assembly started on Thursday with a tribute to former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and former Delhi BJP president Mange Ram Garg.