Ahmedabad: The death of Dalit activist Bhanubhai Vankar, who set himself on fire outside the Collector’s office in Patan over the delay in allotment of land to a Dalit family, sparked a wave of protests across north and central Gujarat on Saturday as thousands of people came out to block highways in the region.
An angry mob also heckled BJP MLA Karsan Solanki, who had come to meet Vankar’s family at the Gandhinagar hospital where the postmortem was to take place. The MLA was shoved and hit a couple of times by the protesters and was forced to leave the hospital.
The 65-year-old activist had set himself on fire on Thursday and had died of burn injuries on Friday night. Vankar had been crusading for the cause of Dalit rights, especially non-allotment of land that had been granted to Dalits.
Although he had given prior notice to the authorities, including the Patan district collector, that he planned to immolate himself on February 15, the administration failed to prevent him from taking this extreme step.
Vankar set himself ablaze in the presence of several policemen, fire brigade personnel, ambulance staff and dozens of onlookers in the collectorate.
As news of the death spread on Saturday, violent protests broke out in several parts of north Gujarat, especially at Mehsana, Unjha, Vijapur, Patan and Sami towns. Dalit protesters blocked highways and burnt down tires on other roads to block traffic flow.
Relatives of the deceased and several other activists also sat on a dharna at the Gandhinagar Civil Hospital, demanding that a Special Investigation Team be formed to probe the death and transfer the land in question in the name of the family member.
The state government accepted the demands, but Vankar’s family refused to accept his body, seeking a written assurance.
Vadgam’s independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, who is convener of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, led the protests in Gandhinagar, while others like Alpesh Thakore and Patidar leader Hardik Patel were also present.
“Not just in this case, but in hundreds of cases across Gujarat, land is being allotted to Dalits only on paper. Dalits are not being given physical possession of the land. The state government is solely responsible for the death of Bhanubhai Vankar and we demand that land allotted to Dalits be immediately handed over to them across the state or this agitation will continue,” Mevani said.
Hardik Patel, who also visited the grieving family, said he had come to express solidarity with Dalits in their agitation. “Justice should be done in this case and the rights of the Dalits in our society should be safeguarded," he said.
“I had been there to visit the grieving family but people seem to be very angry. The government will do whatever is required to ensure justice in this case," he said.
By evening, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel announced that all the demands of Bhanubhai Vankar's family have been met. He said that a committee will be set up to find out all such cases where Dalits have not been allotted land which was due to them.
However, Mevani said late on Saturday that the family has refused to take possession of Vankar's dead body as the government has not given a written assurance that these demands have been accepted. "Our Chakka Jam program for Sunday in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar will go on as announced earlier, because the state government has not given a written assurance that all demands will be met," Mevani stated.
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