A Dalit Congress leader was injured in a clash with BJP workers in Gujarat following a dispute over who will garland the BR Ambedkar statue on his birth anniversary.
Before city Mayor Bharat Dangar could reach the spot, Congress worker Mitesh Parmar tried to garland the statue by saying that he is a Dalit and it is his right to do so.
The BJP workers tried to stop him saying that according to protocol, the mayor will garland the statue first.
This led to an argument and a clash broke out between the workers of both the parties.
The police detained Parmar and took him to Gotri police station where he complained of chest pain and injuries.
Police took him to a nearby hospital for treatment. He was later shifted to the city’s SSG hospital.
In his complaint lodged with the Gotri police, Parmar said he was “heavily beaten up by BJP workers” in the presence of mayor Dangar, MP Ranjanben Bhatt and other corporators.
He demanded that action should be taken against those involved in the incident.
City Congress unit president Prashant Patel and leader of opposition in Vadodara Municipal Corpration Chandrakant Bhatthu rushed to the spot after the incident.
They staged a dharna alleging that their party worker Parmar was wrongly detained by the police and demanded his immediate release.
Meanwhile, mayor Dangar, BJP MP Bhatt and other party leaders from the city garlanded the statue of Ambedkar and paid rich tributes to him.
The local BJP leaders refused to comment on the incident.
Posters torn, burnt
Violence broke out in an Uttarakhand village early on Friday after some posters and banners on Dr BR Ambedkar were burnt and torn off, the police said.
Following this, an irate mob pelted stones and injured many policemen and even torched some vehicles in Munder village under the Mangalor police station’s jurisdiction, the police added.
An official said that some perople had on Thursday night torn and burnt posters made for the occasion of the 126th birth anniversary celebrations of Ambedkar.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for the Rs 100 crore Dr BR Ambedkar Smriti Vanam (memorial park) at Inavolu village in Amravati on Friday to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the architect of Indian Constitution.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers also garlanded the statue of Ambedkar and paid his tribute to the great social reformer in Maharashtra’s Nagpur.
Source: HindustanTimes