Dalits attack, chase RPI leaders away

While Athawale was manhandled and had to be physically carried out of Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, Gawai’s ears were boxed by angry Dalit youngsters — though he himself has denied he was attacked.

The dalits were apparently showing their disgust at the inexplicable failure of the RPI leaders to visit the troubled area and the bereaved families for the last two days. Though Congress leaders descended on Ramabai Nagar in droves and even Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan flew down to visit them, the RPI leaders were conspicuous by their absence.

Since morning, Dalits filled the Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar in large numbers to attend the funeral of their fellow Dalits. Even as preparations were underway, ugly scenes prevailed in the streets of the predominantly Dalit colony.

Ramdas Athawale arrived in the colony at just past noon. He was soon mobbed and asked to leave the place at once. Athawale was heard telling the mob that a large section of his followers lived in the colony, and that he wished to pay his last respects to those killed on Friday. Even before he could pacify the crowd, they assaulted him and beat him up with chappals, all the while abusing the leaders for ignoring them for the last two days. One person was seen pummelling him with the Republican party flag.

They then chased him and a handful of his followers before he escaped in a waiting jeep. The angry rioters pelted stones at his jeep even as the local police and Rapid Action Force watched silently.

“These leaders come to the scene of the tragedy afterwards and expect us to greet them,” an angry rioter told this reporter.Minutes after Athawale was escorted out by the police, members of another dalit group assaulted former RPI party president Gawai, who was manhandled and slapped before he was rescued by others. The situation was volatile as the funeral procession made its way around Pant Nagar on its 3-km journey to the Rajawadi crematorium. Thousands swarmed the streets to catch a glimpse of the truck laden with slain bodies.

As the procession reached the entrance of the crematorium, rioters resorted to heavy stone-throwing to force a police contingent to retreat from the area. In the melee, a dalit crowd attacked two policemen outside the crematorium and tried to crush them with huge boulders. Inside the crematorium, the bodies were covered with the blue RPI flag, wreaths and garlands. Bhante, Buddhist priests, conducted the last rites. As each body was being carried inside the crematorium, the crowd would shout slogans of Amar Rahe, prefixing it with the name of the deceased. The last body to be consigned to the flames was that of 22-year-old Sanjay Kamble at around 2.30 pm. All ten bodies were cremated at the same moment as Buddham sharanam gachchami rent the air.