Mumbai: Hundreds of thousands of people lined up yesterday to bow before a memorial to a champion of minority rights who died 50 years ago, as security officials kept a vigil to prevent any violence.
At least 800,000 "low-caste" Hindus, known as Dalits, arrived in Mumbai to pay homage to Bhim Rao Ambedkar in the central Dadar neighbourhood where he was cremated on December 6, 1956.
Both the civic body and Mumbai Police had made elaborate arrangements to handle swelling crowds who converge at Shivaji Park grounds to visit Chaitya Bhoomi, the Buddhist memorial in honour of Ambedkar.
"Actually we had appealed to people to come to Nagpur for the December 4 rally and that is why many could not make it to Mumbai on time for the December 6 ceremony," Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Ambedkar and president of the Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh, said.
Intimidation
"However, it is the usual crowd, around one million people, that visits Mumbai annually on this day," he said. He also blamed anti-social elements and others taking political advantage of the delicate situation since civic elections will be held early next year.
With the government and police warning of violence and deploying additional security forces following Dalit protests, Dalit leaders think this was a way of intimidating many followers who unflinchingly make a compulsory visit.
The government even declared a public holiday yesterday for all schools and colleges due to traffic congestion.
Even if fear was a key factor in dissuading many followers to keep them away from the city, the Dalit community is increasingly losing faith in the ruling class - whether it is the Congress and its partners or the saffron alliance.
At the same time, there is a severe leadership crisis since the Republican Party of India, that once represented the Dalits, has now split into various factions.
- With inputs from AP
