BAMCEF stages protest over denial of nod for Odisha convention

Nagpur: An estimated 5,000 people participated in a protest rally organized by the Bharat Mukti Morcha (BMM) and Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) in Nagpur on Sunday alleging that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was behind denial of permission for the BAMCEF convention in Odisha last year.BMM president Waman Meshram said the rally was held in Nagpur since it houses the RSS headquarters. The original plan was to march up to the Sangh headquarters, he said. Later, BMM dropped its plan to march to the RSS headquarters after the police denied permission. The rally then followed the route cleared by the police, from Indora Square to Samvidhan Chowk.
Around 2,000 police personnel, including four DCPs and all ACP-rank officers, were deputed on the ground. Addressing the media earlier, Meshram alleged that the BJP and the RSS were behind the denial of permission for the annual national convention of BAMCEF in Odisha. "We booked the ground and got police permission. We spent crores of rupees to erect the tent. The permission was cancelled at the last moment," Meshram said, adding that the organisation moved the high court, "but the matter was adjourned to January, forcing the December-end convention to be scrapped". Meshram alleged that the cancellation was deliberate and linked it to their demand for a caste-based census of OBCs. "Under Article 19, it is my fundamental right. Even when they denied permission earlier, we held the protest peacefully. There was no violation of law, no damage to national property, no loss to the public," Meshram said.Further explaining why Nagpur was chosen for the protest, Meshram said, "The convention was national, not just Odisha's. The RSS headquarters is in Nagpur. If it was in Delhi, we would have held it there." He added that the march was organised as per police conditions, keeping law and order in mind.