Thangadh killings: Blood signature campaign launched

Ahmedabad : In the backdrop of the Thangadh killings, a group of dalits has launched a campaign to get one lakh signatures on a memorandum with their thumb impressions with blood which would be sent to the President while seeking protection of their fundamental rights. So far, the group has claimed to have got around 500 such blood-impressions on the memorandum.

The campaign is being run under the banner of Dalit Sangharsh Manch and the memorandum seeks immediate intervention of the President to safeguard the fundamental rights of dalits in the state.

The memorandum demands that the President should instruct the Governor to do the needful in this regard. It mentions some of the recent incidents wherein alleged atrocities have been committed on dalits by the police. It has a reference to the incidents of police atrocities in Rajkot, Thangadh and recently in Junagadh.

Rajesh Solanki, one of the organisers of the campaign, said they have initiated the agitation because in the last decade the atrocities against dalits have increased manifold and there is a need to check that because it directly affects the fundamental rights of the dalits.

Solanki said they aim to get 1 lakh thumb impressions in a month-long campaign. After one month, the memorandum will be sent to the President.