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In Proddatur village, Sankarapalli mandal, Ranga Reddy district, the dalit youth and elders wanted to have Ambedkar statue near Panchayat office and they all approached the Sarpanch and submitted a memorandum for permission.  He agreed for the same and fixed to conduct bhumi puja on 07-03-2020.  Though the sarpanch agreed for the proposal as all the Dalits approached him, in heart of hearts he was not interested for erecting a statue of Ambedkar at Panchayat office.  Moreover, the dalit households are only 155 out of a total of 600 households in the village.  As they constitute only 25% the rest of the castes dominate them.  They are not allowed to participate with other castes in celebrating Batukamma festival and they are not allowed to enter the Hanuman temple or other temples.  This being the status of the Dalits, the sarpanch thought that they should not be allowed to erect Ambedkar statue at Panchayat office.  So, he passed on the information to Reddy and B.C. castes of the village about their plans and instigated them to prevent the program.  Dalits as per the plans came to Panchayat office on 07-03-2020 at about 11.30 a.m. for conducting Bhumi Puja.  They placed a flexi of the programme, broke coconuts at the place and were making other preparations for the programme.   Meanwhile, a large gathering of Reddies, B.C.s came to the venue and started objecting to the programme.  They said that Ambedkar is not acceptable to all and they also would erect statues of Sivaji, Vivekananda, Ilamma and others.  In fact, it was the Sarpanch who instigated others to come and create nuisance.  The Sarpanch, also shouted at the Dalits and removed the flexi.  He accused the Dalits that they are creating problems in the village.  He said, ‘Ambedkar is your man and if you want his statue, you erect it in your colony’.   Dalits spoke in a friendly way with Sarpanch and reminded him that he gave permission and now questioning them.  Despite the appeals by Dalits, the sarpanch did not budge and he along with others abused Dalits in filthy language and pushed them away.  The sarpanch himself informed and called the police, who came and dispersed the gathering.  A complaint was given by Dalits, but the case was registered on 12-03-2020.