Prime Minister Narendra Modi was due to visit the newly refurbished Ambedkar House in London on Thursday 19 April in the afternoon. We were told he had a window of about 90 minutes during which he could make a quick visit.
Around 50 guests from the Ambedkarite, Ravidassia, Valmik, Dalit Organisations campaigning to outlaw Caste discrimination in the UK took the opportunity to attend and submit a Joint Memorandum (attached) to the PM. PM Modi’s no show at the house signifies that he has no respect for Dr Ambedkar or the Dalit diaspora. He lost a valuable opportunity to interact with the Dalit leaders who have considerable influence over their community.
The Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance’s spokesperson said:
“PM Modi not making the time to visit the Ambedkar House in London is a total snub to the Dalit diaspora. The majority of people waiting for him were there to submit a memorandum calling on PM Modi to stop diluting the Indian Constitution and legal protections for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. We wanted to call on him to tackle the injustices and impact of the caste system in India where untouchablity still remains a grim reality. We stressed the need for economic development and aspirations of India to extend to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes too.
Amongst the very many other issues raised in the Joint Memorandum, we expressed our horror and outrage at the gang-rape and murder of the eight-year-old Asifa, in Jammu and Kashmir and the experience of the Unnao gang-rape survivor whose father was killed in police custody in UP. We demanded special, robust and rigorous measures by the Indian Government to safeguard women and girls in India and provide speedy justice.
In the absence of PM Modi, we submitted the Joint Memorandum to Mr Raj Kumar Badole, Minister for Social Justice & Special Assistance in the Government of Maharashtra who had flown in for this event and asked him to submit the memorandum to the PM.”
