The politics over the death came out in the open when some Dalit leaders, including Prakash Ambedkar — who is a leader of the Bharatiya Republican Paksha Bahujan Mahasangh — visited Deonar to express sympathy. When Ambedkar reached the spot, scores of Buddhist monks had converged there and were sitting on a dharna, demanding the arrest of those responsible for the death of the monk, who they claimed had been killed. This was when violent protests broke out in some parts of the city, especially in Dalit localities.

When Ambedkar took the microphone to pacify the protesters, he was not allowed to speak and asked to leave. The monks sitting in protest said that they did not want any politician to meddle in the issue. It was then that Bhante Veerratna, the monk who had contested the Chembur assembly seat in the 2004 elections on a BSP ticket, took the lead in telling him to leave.

The incident annoyed Dalit leaders, especially those owing allegiance to RPI factions. After the cremation of the deceased monk, the Bhikkhu Sangh led by Bhante Rahulbodhi Mahathero and Bhante Ayupal expressed its displeasure over Bhante Veerratna’s gesture. In a statement issued on Thursday, the Sangh criticised Bhante Veerratna for insulting leaders of the Babasaheb Ambedkar’s movement. They stated that they held all such leaders in high esteem and that Bhante Veerratna was a politician in a monk’s robes, who had contested polls on a BSP ticket in violation of the norms of monkhood.

In retaliation, Bhante Veerratna on Sunday criticised “the pro-Congress-NCP group” of monks for launching a smear campaign against him for political reasons. “Yes, I belong to the BSP. I became a monk about 10 years ago and I am working for the BSP since 2000,” he told Newsline. “These people are rattled by Behen Mayawati’s successful rally at Shivaji Park and want to protect the interests of the Congress and the NCP.”

He pointed out that he had taken the lead that day (when Prakash was driven away) “because I wanted to restore peace and control the mob.” He said that there was no such rule that monks could not contest polls and pointed out a few examples.

He claimed that the action of his detractors was an indication that the RPI (Athavale faction) which had organized a rally at Shivaji Park on February 17, was not confident of making it a larger rally than that of Mayawati (held on November 25).

The locality where the monk died is a stronghold of RPI (Athavale) and has elected the party nominee in corporation elections thrice in a row in the past. The 1,200-odd residents have been shifted elsewhere pending reconstruction of the Gautam Nagar slum and RPI leaders claim that there were too many “outsiders” at the spot indulging in violence and arson.

The local leaders of the RPI(A) believe that the actions of Bhante Veerratna was an attempt by the BSP to sabotage the forthcoming RPI(A) rally.