The Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi, looking to up the political ante on the demolition of Guru Ravidas temple in Tughlakabad area, which resulted in widespread protests by members of the dalit community, on Thursday attempted to put the onus for resolving the issue on the Centre by urging the Delhi Development Authority to seek denotification of the land from the forest category.
Delhi Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam wrote to DDA Vice Chairman Tarun Kapoor saying an early resolution of the matter is required, which would be possible only if the owner of the land, which is the Authority, requests the Forest Department for denotifying the land from the forest category.
“Accordingly you are requested to immediately review the matter and send an appropriate request to the Forest Department of Delhi Government for denotifying the land so that Delhi Government can send a proposal to the Central Government for approval and allotment of land for construction of Sant Ravi Das Temple,” Gautam said in his letter.
He said the request may be sent by the DDA on 'top priority' as “each day of delay will aggravate the hurt caused to crores of persons belonging to the marginalised communities of India who hold Sant Ravi Das as venerable, derive their meaning of life from his teachings and pay daily homage to the great saint.”
The DDA, which reports to the Union Urban Development Ministry, demolished the temple acting on orders of the Supreme Court which had observed that a “serious breach” had been committed by the Guru Ravidas Jayanti Samaroh Samiti by not vacating the forest area as had been ordered by the apex court earlier.
The demolition of the temple, believed to be around 500 years old, had led to protests by dalit groups in Delhi and Punjab. Sant Ravidas has a huge following among the dalits.
The AAP has attacked the BJP and the Central government over the demolition of the temple. The ruling party of Delhi organised a protest march to the BJP headquarters in the national capital, seeking to put the blame for the temple's demolition on the saffron party. It also accused the BJP of having an anti-dalit mindset.
The AAP-dominated Delhi Assembly passed a resolution on August 22 demanding an ordinance by the Centre to allot land for rebuilding the Sant Ravidas temple. Critiquing the role of the BJP-led Central government, the resolution said, “This House resolves that the central government mishandled the issue by not supporting their cause in the court of law, which finally led to its unjustified and unfortunate demolition.”