Dalit leaders today took strong objection to the painting of the upper part of an under construction Ambedkar memorial here in saffron.
The protesters, however, said a private jewellery firm had undertaken the painting work as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) project and "the government had nothing to do with it".
Chandrashekhar, the president of a local Dalit group, said, "They would have painted the entire memorial saffron had we not protested."
"The jewellery firm agreed to our demand to re-paint it in white and used red paint to write "Ambedkar Chauraha" on it. The government wasn't involved in this," he said.
The memorial is being built at Ambedkar Chauraha, around one km from the district magistrate's office, on the lines of Lucknow's famous Parivartan Chowk after demolishing an existing structure.
Asked if the government had ordered to paint the memorial in saffron, Deputy Municipal Commissioner D K Singh said there was no such instruction.
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