NEW DELHI: Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Thursday wrote to Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Vice-Chairman Tarun Kapoor on the vexed Sant Ravidas temple issue.
The temple, which was razed by the DDA on the order of the Supreme Court, put the agency, which comes within the ambit of the central government, in the line fire from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Dalit protesters who thronged the city and blocked traffic demanding that the temple be restored at the earliest.
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In his letter, the minister said that the agency should consider directing the forest department to de-notify the land in the Jahanpanah forest area, where the temple once stood, from the ‘forest’ category.
The same, the minister said, would enable his government to send a proposal to the Centre, requesting approval for allotment of the plot in question for building the Ravidas temple anew.
The seer-poet, from the age of the Bhakti cult, has followers and disciples aplenty across north India, especially in the Dalit community. Even as the AAP went on the attack in the wake of the temple’s demolition, accusing the BJP of hurting the sentiment of the seer’s followers, scores of protesters, affiliated to Dalit organisations, flooded the streets of the national capital and elsewhere in north India, venting their outrage and demanding restoration of the shrine.
The Dalit protest in the national capital, which drew thousands from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, was led by Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad. Chaos ensued and traffic came to a crawl as the Dalits descended on the streets. Azad and 50 other Dalit activists were detained.