Commemorating the ‘Manusmriti Dahan Divas’, caste organisations, progressive public organisations, religious organisations and Left parties staged a protest at the Collectorate on Wednesday. However, they were stopped by the police from burning the script citing law and order problems.
On December 25, 1927, B.R. Ambedkar had burnt ‘Manusmriti’ during the historical Mahad Satyagraha. This year marks the 92nd anniversary of the event.
Speaking at the protest, AP SC-ST Lawyers Forum president Y. Jaya Raju condemned the script saying that it created rifts between people on the basis of caste.
The protesters also raised slogans against the NDA government and claimed that it was acting against the Constitution of the country.
Mr. Jaya Raju said that the protests had an effect and that the BJP government is backing away from the National Register of Citizens (NRC). He called upon people to continue the protests until the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the NRC are completely withdrawn.
The police kept a keen watch over the protest and made sure that ‘Manusmriti’ was not put on fire. However, one protester did manage to set one ablaze, which was immediately put out by the police.
Three Town CI Md. Thabrej said that the protesters did not have permissions to set the script afire.