AAP to protest against demolition of Sant Ravidas temple in Delhi

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will protest at Jantar Mantar on August 21 against the demolition of the Sant Ravidas temple, Delhi minister, Rajendra Pal Gautam on Tuesday said.

"AAP will join the protests against Sant Ravidas temple demolition on August 21 at the Jantar Mantar. All AAP MLAs from Delhi and party workers from Punjab, Haryana and Delhi will take part in the protest. We will also raise a demand to establish the temple in the same place," Minister of Social Welfare in the Delhi government, Gautam said at a press conference here.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had, on August 10, demolished the centuries-old Guru Ravidas temple in Delhi's Tughlaqabad under a Supreme Court order.

The AAP leader accused the BJP of demolishing the temple and added that the Centre had not taken any measures to solve the ongoing issue.

"Despite me writing a letter written to the Prime Minister on August 12 and two days of protests at the BJP headquarters, the Central government has not taken any proactive measure to solve the issue of the demolition of the Sant Ravidas Temple. Instead, the BJP government is trying to annihilate the voice of Dalits regarding this issue," Gautam said.

Blaming the Center, he said, "The Union government resorted to repressive steps like stopping buses and nearly 15 passenger trains from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, in order to prevent people from joining the protest.