Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 15 (UNI) The time has come for a Dalit revolution across the country for a comprehensive development of the Dalit and Adivasi communities, senior Congress leader and AICC Working Committee Member Ramesh Chennithala has said.

Dalit communities are being further impoverished by governments by subverting various norms of reservation guaranteed for them in the Constitution, leading to their backwardness, the former Opposition leader in the Kerala Legislative Assembly said.

Announcing that a 'Dalit Progressive Conclave-2025 will be held to raise various social issues facing by the background communities, he said about 25 crore Dalit people, constituting 16.6 percent of the country's population, are still marginalised.

The Dalit Progressive Conclave-2025 will be organised by the Gandhi Gramam Foundation, which was formed in 2010 when Ramesh Chennithala was President of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar will inaugurate the 'Dalit Progressive Conclave-2025,' and Ramesh Chennithala will preside over the event to be held at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Biotechnology on March 23 at 9.30 am.

Opposition leader in Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan, Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar (grandson of BR Ambedkar),

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (formerly known as the Dalit Panthers of India) leader and Lok Sabha member Thol Thirumavalavan will be among those present at the inaugural function.

Prakash Ambedkar, Telangana Minister Dhansari Anasuya, Varsha Gaikwad MP, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge, former Union Minister Mukul Wasnik, Kerala SC/ST Welfare Minister OR Kelu, Maharashtra Minister Nitin Rawat, and Shashi Tharoor MP will attend various sessions of the conclave.

UNI DS ARN