Dalits in Uttar Pradesh have witnessed two humiliating incidents in the recent past while commemorating Ambedkar’s birth anniversary: at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow and in Hardoi’s Kesripur village.
By Asad Rizvi
Lucknow: Twenty three students, 20 of whom belong to Dalit communities, were arrested and jailed for agitating against the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) administration in Lucknow. The administration has suspended six students, out of whom three are from Dalit backgrounds.
On April 17, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) brought a sound system to the BBAU campus to commemorate Ram Navami without permission.
Dalit students went to the chancellor’s residence to complain about the ABVP, and student leaders held a demonstration outside chancellor Sanjay Singh’s home, blaming the university administration for not prohibiting the right-wing student union from using the sound system.
Dalit students were upset because the BBAU administration had previously denied them permission to use the sound system during a cultural event to commemorate Ambedkar’s birth anniversary.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.