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AAP to protest outside BJP office over Ravidas temple demolition issue
New Delhi
New Delhi
A group of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders on Friday said they would stage a demonstration outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) head office in Delhi on Sunday over the demolition of a Ravidas temple in south Delhi’s Tughlakabad, which led to an agitation in Punjab.
Protests – led by Dalit groups – were reported in several parts of Punjab after the temple was demolished on August 10 by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The authority was acting on the Supreme Court’s order on a petition against alleged encroachment by temple authorities.
In the next six days, Punjab witnessed highway blockages, schools were shut and sporadic instances of violence were reported as the agitation spread across districts.
“Today [Friday], we organised a meeting in Delhi and decided to stage a protest outside the BJP head office on August 18,” said Kuldeep Kumar, chief of AAP’s Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes wing.
He said, “The BJP is an anti-Dalit party and multiple instances of violence against Dalits have been reported under BJP-ruled states in the last five years.”
Earlier this week, the Congress had criticised the BJP over the same issue.
“The BJP had nothing to do with the demolition. It is a matter related to the court and should have been settled in court. We fail to understand the point in politicising the issue and blaming the party, especially so when the union urban affair’s minister announced he met the lieutenant-governor of Delhi over the issue and is trying to resolve it at the earliest,” said Neelkant Bakshi, media co-incharge of BJP in Delhi.
