Dalit Congress leaders upset over exclusion from Indu Mill delegation

Few hours before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached Mumbai, a drama unfolded in Mantralaya as Dalit ministers of the Congress met chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and expressed anguish over not being included in the delegation to meet Singh to seek immediate allotment of Indu Mill land for building a memorial of Dr BR Ambedkar. Sayli Udas Mankikar reports.

Few hours before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached Mumbai, a drama unfolded in Mantralaya as Dalit ministers of the Congress met chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and expressed anguish over not being included in the delegation to meet Singh to seek immediate allotment of Indu Mill land for building a memorial of Dr BR Ambedkar.

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Their grouse was that Chavan agreed to include representatives from the Republic Party of India and other Dalit groups, but not them, following which they were made part of the delegation.

The delegation is seeking immediate allotment of Indu Mill land in Dadar for a Dr Ambedkar memorial, a promise that the central government made on December 30 last year, but is yet to meet. A large number of Dalit supporters had stormed into the mill last year, and vacated the land only after the CM's assurance that the memorial would be built.

"We told the CM that Dalits are our voters and this issue is something we have also been pursuing. So, if this proposal does go ahead, it is the state government and the Congress which should get the credit," a senior cabinet minister said on the condition of anonymity.

NCP minister of state for housing Sachin Ahir who will be attending the meeting confirmed the development. "As a party, we too wanted to be part of the discussion, which is important for the Dalit community," Ahir said.