Gujarat Dalits call for Rail Roko Andolan on October 1

Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti (UDALS) and Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch has called for a Rail Roko Andolan (stop the train agitation) on October 1 following a lack of response from the Gujarat government on their demand for disbursal of land for the community members as legally allotted to them earlier.

In his letter to the Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani announced the agitation while maintaining that the state government had not been paying attention to demands of Dalits.

"UDALS had made a representation to the chief secretary of Gujarat to demand five acre land to the Dalit families on August 8 but so far the state government has not responded to our demand. As we have no other choice, we have decided to launch the agitation on October 1," said Jignesh Mevani.

Mevani claimed in the letter that thousands of Dalits would gather at Maninagar in Ahmedabad for the Rail Roko Andolan from across India, and stated that the state government would be responsible if any law and order situation arose on October 1. "Our agitation is non-violent and will be peaceful," Mevani maintained.

UDALS also demanded to remove all the cases against Dalits registered at the time of Dalit agitation in mid July this year. Mevani and his team were also joined by OBC youth leader Alpesh Thakor who expressed his support to the Dalit movement in Gujarat.