Mumbai, March 19 A convention was held on Thursday in Mahad, Raigad district, Maharashtra, to mark the beginning of the centenary year of the historic 'Chavdar Tale Satyagraha' led by Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said.
The 'Human Rights Convention against Manuism and Capitalism' was organized by the CPM and the Jati Ant Sangharsh Samiti, Maharashtra State Committee.
Dr. Ambedkar and his supporters held a meeting in Mahad on March 20, 1927, and subsequently went to Chavdar Tale (lake) and drank water from it to assert the Dalit communities' right to use public water bodies. This incident became known as the 'Chavdar Tale Satyagraha'.
CPM general secretary M.A. Baby, politburo members Dr. Ashok Dhawale and Mariam Dhawale, state secretary Ajit Nawale, and central committee member Vinod Nikole, among others, visited the site of the 1927 agitation and participated in the convention.
Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, also attended the event.
In his speech at the convention, Baby called upon the participants to carry forward Ambedkar's legacy of social transformation throughout the year, and to organize a larger gathering on December 25 to commemorate the centenary of Ambedkar's public burning of the Manusmriti.