HYDERABAD: With slogans ‘Ambedkar tum badhe chalo hum tumhare sath hain’ and ‘Laal Salaam’ were raised together at a rally at Dharna Chowk, the followers of Ambedkar and the members of Communist Party of India-Marxist CPM came together to strengthen the Dalit movement and to support the demand for Rohith Act.
The protest which saw the participation of CPM General and National Secretary Sitaram Yechury and D Raja respectively was held by Dalita Hakkula Sadhana Sabha in the wake of the ‘discriminatory face of the government and the administration of University of Hyderabad’ which again came to light with the casualties and detentions of both media and protesting students at Rohith Vemula Shahadath Din programme on UoH campus on January 17.
BR Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar was also present. Yechury said, “Rainbow has both colours, blue (Ambedkarites) and red (symbolising Communists) and if they unite, the movement will get strength. In the UP assembly elections to be held next month, RSS and BJP want to gain votes from the upper caste citizens and Prakash and I have decided to campaign against their casteist agendas. If we get together and fight, by the general elections in 2019, we will together defeat the casteist and communal forces in the country.”
Following the release of a calendar and a book ‘Politics of development under the shade of caste’ by S Seemadri at the rally, Prakash challenged RSS for a debate on cultural nationalism, a term used by the Sangh to define its own ideology.