Ravidas temple demolition case: AAP blames BJP of having anti-Dalit mentality

New Delhi: Accusing the BJP of having an "anti-Dalit" mentality, the AAP on Thursday claimed that while the saffron party was pushing for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, it was behind the demolition of the Ravidas temple here.

No immediate response was available from the BJP on the issue "The day we receive a denotification proposal from the DDA we will approve it and start construction. But no steps are being taken by the DDA. This shows that the BJP has anti-Dalit mentality," Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told reporters. He said that on one hand the BJP was pushing for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, on the other hand, it was behind demolition of the Ravidas temple.

He said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also wrote to Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday, seeking a direction to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to initiate the process of denotifying the forest land where the Ravidas temple stood.

The temple in South Delhi's Tughlaqabad area was demolished on August 10 by the DDA on the direction of the Supreme Court.

The demolition of the temple in a forest area in Tughlakabad led to a big controversy, with the AAP seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in ensuring that the land is given back to the community to rebuild the place of worship.