A retired Talati and dalit activist on Thursday attempted to immolate himself in Patan, North Gujarat to protest against the state government's alleged failure to regularise land tilled by a dalit.
Bhanubhai Vankar, about 60, set himself on fire in Patan District Collectorate's premises, right in front of the police.
He is reported to have sustained nearly 80 per cent burns. Meanwhile, the police managed to prevent Hemaben Vankar, believed to be a distant relative of Vankar, from attempting immolation.
Angered by the incident, Rashtriya Jan Adhikar Manch, led by independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, has called for Patan bandh on Friday and demanded suspension of Patan Collector and the police head.
The state government has ordered an inquiry.
What has angered the dalits is the fact that Hemaben, whose land is under contention, had written a letter to the Patan Collector on February 7 threatening to attempt self-immolation.
Hemaben in the letter said that she was not getting a response for regularizing the land falling in survey number 1022. She said she is a resident of Dudhka village of Sami Taluka of Patan District.
Hemaben alleged that she was not getting a proper response as she was a dalit. She claimed that she has been demanding to regularise land since 2015 and had paid dues of Rs 22, 236.
According to sources, the land was allotted to Hemaben by the state government.
A close aide of Mevani, Subodh Parmar, said that Vankar resorted to self immolation as a last ditch effort.
Kirit Rathod, a member of a committee formed to take up the case, questioned as to how could self immolation bid happen when the district authorities were aware about it. "It appears that the police was waiting to douse the fire," he said.
Mevani tweeted that it was a shame on Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Evwn before he became MLA, Mevani has been fighting for the rights of dalits to get possession of the land allotted to them by the state government.
The Patan Collector told a section of the media that fire brigade and ambulance were on the spot. He also said that the applicants had not left any contact numbers.
Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar also reached Patan and flayed the state government for ignoring the rights of the dalits.
About a fortnight ago, Mahesh Vasava, a dalit heading mid day meal scheme in Vadnagar, had committed suicide, alleging harassment by three teachers. Vadnagar is native of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The issue of dalit rights and these incidents are likely to rock the budget session of the Gujarat Assembly beginning on February 19.
