MARATHWADA RIOTS-The Background

MARATHWADA RIOTS The Background R S Morkhandikar ONE of the first acts of the Janata and Rebel Congress coalition ministry in Maharashtra was the decision to rename Marathwada University (Auran- gabad) after Ambedkar. The rationale of the decision is easy to follow. The Janata party had earned a bad name for being socially reactionary, and had apparently lost the sympathy of the scheduled castes. The reverses it suffered at the 1978 election, and the victory of the Congress (I) in Vidarbha, were widely attributed to this factor.