Condemning the organisation of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) camp at the government-run Morarji Desai Residential School at Kamthana in Bidar district, activists associated with different Dalit organisations took out a protest march and staged a demonstration outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner in Bidar on Wednesday.
As the organisations had warned of intensified agitation a day before, heavy police force was deployed on the premises of the Deputy Commissioner’s office to avoid any untoward incidents. The agitating activists raised slogans against the RSS and the officers of Social Welfare Department and the principal of the school for allowing the camp.
Later, they submitted a memorandum to Additional Deputy Commissioner Shivakumar Sheelavanth and ended the protest. The Forum of Dalit Organisation, the common platform on which all the Dalit organisations came together for a common cause, submitted a memorandum to the office of the Deputy Commissioner on Monday also.
“We had protested against the camp and submitted a memorandum earlier also. Yet, you did not take any action. Your inaction shows that you too are involved in it. The camp is being conducted on the oral directions of Union Minister Bhagwanth Khuba and you are doing this illegal activity at his behest,” Rajkumar Mulabharati, a leader of the agitation, said during his argument with Mr. Sheelavanth.
“The BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits are making serious attempts to divide religious communities that peacefully coexisted for centuries and trigger communal violence in Bidar. They are doing this in the name of patriotism. The RSS camp in the government school is a part of this larger design. If the administration takes no action to stop the ongoing camp and suspend the officers involved, we will storm the camp and dislodge RSS from school premises,” Avinash Dine, another leader, said after the agitation.
Bandeppa Kashempur, a leader of Janata Dal (Secular) and Bidar South MLA, also wrote to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday condemning the organisation of the RSS camp in the government school and demanded action against the officers who allowed it. The nine-day camp started on October 8 and will end on October 16.
In another agitation on the same issue, the student wing of the Janata Dal(S) also took out procession from Ambedkar Circle to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and staged a demonstration before submitting a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner demanding the suspension of officers who permitted the camp.
“The district administration is taking no action against the officers who have permitted the RSS camp in the government school nor is it making any attempt to stop the camp despite the stiff resistance from many Dalit organisations and the Janata Dal(S). If the district administration continues to display its rigidity and allow the camp, we will be left with no option but to intensify our agitation,” Abhi Kale, district president of the student’s wing, said during the agitation.
