Thousands gather in Mumbai to decry Ambedkar Bhavan demolition

A huge protest rally, led by Babasaheb Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, was today taken out in south Mumbai to condemn the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan.
Leaders cutting across party lines shared the stage and lashed out at the BJP-led Central and Maharashtra governments on the issue.
The protest rally, which started at Byculla, reached the headquarters of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in south Mumbai in the afternoon.
CPI(M)'s general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar, Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe, Congress MLA Varsha Gaikwad, AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan, among others, addressed the gathering.

The Ambedkar Bhavan and the Buddha Bhushan printing press started by Babasaheb Ambedkar at Dadar in central Mumbai were demolished by Peoples Improvement Trust last month, claiming it was dilapidated and a grand Ambedkar Bhavan would come up in its place.
During the rally, the protesters demanded immediate arrest of retired IAS officer Ratnakar Gaikwad and a trustee of the People's Improvement Trust, in connection with the demolition.

Kanhaiya Kumar attacked the BJP government stating the one who cannot create the history, destroys it.
"Can you demolish and construct new Railway building here? Can you demolish the Taj Mahal and create a new building there?," he said.

"You say it was due to an internal dispute and issues between the groups of Ambedkar's followers. If that is so, there are disputes and issues in Assemblies and Parliament too? Then would you bulldoze these premises as well?," he asked.
Yechury said, "We have raised this issue in Rajya Sabha
and we have got assurance that the government would try to undo the damage done to the Ambedkar Bhavan."
During his address Prakash Ambedkar demanded the Bhavan be reconstructed, "failing which members of the Ambedkarite movement will construct it themselves".
"We want to clarify we are not going to tolerate this demolition and therefore demand to retain it as it was, otherwise we all will assemble at the demolished building's place and reconstruct it on our own.

"From today onwards, another freedom fight that our beloved leader Babasaheb fought to establish egalitarian society, has begun, as this anti-poor and anti-dalit governments at the state and Centre are working as a pawn of industrialists," Ambedkar alleged.
He also expressed fear that although the Ambedkar Bhavan was the first historic monument that has been razed, many more such structures would be pulled down in the future.
"We need to strengthen ourselves to tackle the fascism being propagated by BJP and RSS in the country and state. I want the Fadnavis and Modi governments to take our protest seriously," he said.

Although Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam did not share the stage with other leaders, he also supported the protest rally by remaining present on the occasion.
Targeting the ruling BJP on the issue, Nirupam said, "All those having faith in Babasaheb's ideology have come here, except those who discard it.