By IANS,
Kolkata : Claiming that thousands of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were evicted to create New Town Rajarhat — a fast-growing residential-cum-industrial hub, an NGO Friday demanded it be named after Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar.
“Thousands of our people were driven out to create this township. The only way to lessen their suffering is to rename the township after Ambedkar. He was not only our leader, but a leader of the whole country. We will be meeting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with our demand,” B.R. Ambedkar Mission secretary general S.K. Das said here.
Earlier, it was decided the name will be after late Marxist leader and former chief minister Jyoti Basu, but the decision was scrapped under Banerjee’s stewardship.
Among their other demands are — naming of streets and railway stations after SC/ST leaders, reservation in private educational institutions and a Dalit chief minister for the state.
“(West) Bengal is only state that has never had a Dalit chief minister even after six decades of independence. This proves how much our leaders have been suppressed. Unless we have a Dalit at the helm, our conditions will never change,” said Das.
“We will also meet the governor (M.K. Narayanan). Around 85 percent of the people in the belong to the lower echelons of the caste system and still they continue to be marginalised. An effort from the government is essential to reform our condition,” Das added.
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes chairman Rameshwar Oraon said that tribal political leaders have not been given due honour.
“The contribution of revolutionaries like Sidhu (Murmu) and Kanu (Murmu) has not been given much recognition,” Oraon said.