A memorial of international standards to perpetuate the life and times of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar is expected to come up on the premises of the Indu Mill here, which belongs to the Union Ministry of Textiles. A formal announcement regarding this is scheduled for Wednesday.
It was after a delegation headed by Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chauhan which called on Union Textile Minister Anand Sharma in Delhi that the Centre agreed to the proposal.
The urgency shown by Chavan on the issue has to do with the fact that he wants to avoid a law and order situation in the state, with lakhs of Dalits set to converge here to pay homage to Ambedkar on his death anniversary on December 6.
Dalit leaders have already threatened to forcibly occupy the mill, even braving lathis and bullets if things came to that. Last year, the state government had drawn flak from several quarters when the Dalits had taken forcible possession of the mill and turned it into a makeshift memorial by installing Ambedkar’s idol there.
If the decision on the allotment of land was not made before December 6, on the one hand it would not have been in a position to use force to restrain the Dalits, and on the other hand it would have faced the HC ire for its failure to do so.