Mild tension prevailed at the official Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations on Tank Bund here on Thursday when the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) president Manda Krishna addressed the gathering.
He referred to the conflict between Mangs and Mahars in the elections to the Bombay Presidency, a province of British India, which B.R. Ambedkar resolved amicably while calling for a similar settlement in the Mala-Madiga row in the State.
Members of Mala community took exception to Mr. Krishna's observation, asking him to confine himself to State affairs. At this, a group of Madiga supporters got up in protest but the police intervened immediately to prevent a clash. Noisy scenes were witnessed when Government Chief Whip Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, was leaving the venue after the meeting. He was mobbed for not speaking on categorisation of Scheduled Castes.
Calling for more unity between the two communities which are fighting over categorisation of SCs, Mr. Krishna asked them to look for solution within the framework of Ambedkar's philosophy. Being a Mahar, he said Ambedkar supported the demand for six per cent reservation to Mangs in the Bombay Presidency elections which invited loud protests from Mahars.
Medi Papaiah, president of the government nominated celebrations committee, regretted that Social Welfare Minister P. Satyanarayana did not turn up despite being in the city.
A number of processions from different parts of the city headed to Tank Bund till the evening to garland the statue of Ambedkar. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, AP Congress Committee president D. Srinivas, Ministers -- P. Sabita Indra Reddy, M. Mukesh Goud, P. Shanker Rao, and D. Nagender -- BJP State president G. Kishan Reddy and CPI State secretary K. Narayana were among the leaders to pay tributes to the statue.
Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu and his Praja Rajyam counterpart Chiranjeevi ran into each other and shook hands.
The Telugu Desam Party and BJP celebrated the occasion at their party offices.
CPI (M) State general secretary B.V. Raghavulu led a bicycle rally from the party office near RTC crossroads.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/article1698058.ece
No comments:
Post a Comment