AHMEDABAD: In a symbolic gesture to defeat the castebased system given by Hindu god Manu, dalits in Rajkot on December 25 burnt Manu Smriti and effigy of Manu at Ambedkar chowk in Rajkot.The event was commemorated as Manu Smriti Dahan Divas as the part of 89th year celebration of the day when Dr B R Ambedkar had burnt the religious document Manu Smriti to deny Brahmin monopoly and caste discrimination. Organisers of the event ­ Yuva Bhim Sena said that they did this to break the shackles of caste-system as the incidents of atrocities on dalits have not reduced even after 66 years of introducing the Indian Constitution.As many as 500 women and men of the community gathered at Ambedkar Chowk in Rajkot city and took out funeral procession with picture of God Manu and a copy of Manusmriti and later burnt it. A video and photographs of the event went viral in social media on Monday. Vipul Sarvaiya, Una-based dalit activist, said that the programme was conducted to defeat the caste-based structures in the Hindu society. “This is a symbolic gesture by dalits to spread awareness about a cast-less and class-less society,“ he said.Jignesh Mevani, dalit rights activist and convener of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM), said that Manu Smriti which has laws of Manu justifying caste system and dominance of patriarchy. So burning such scripture is a sign of rejecting caste-based and genderbased system.