VETERAN TRIBAL LEADER GIRIDHAR GAMANG QUITS CONGRESS AFTER 43 YEARS
Ahead of Bihar elections, both the Congress and the BJP are trying to outdo each other in appropriating the legacy of BR Ambedkar and observe his 125th birth anniversary next year in a big way.
The Union cabinet, which met on Saturday, was apprised of the constitution of a committee under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to suggest different programmes and activities to be undertaken by various ministries, departments and states to celebrate Ambedkar’s anniversary and spread his thoughts and ideas.
The committee included senior ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani, Sadanand Gowda, Ram Vilas Paswan and Suresh Prabhu.
The social justice and empowerment ministry is undertaking 16 major activities, including setting up of Ambedkar International Centre at 15, Janpath in Delhi at a cost of ` 197 crore.
The Congress too held a meeting to finalise the programmes for the year-long celebrations. The meeting was chaired by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and attend- ed among others by party vicepresident Rahul Gandhi who will visit the Dalit icon’s birthplace at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh on June 2.
In a show of strength, the Congress has invited all its Dalit leaders to Mhow to ensure that Rahul’s programme is a big success. Throughout the year, the party will organise seminars, conventions to disseminate Ambedkar’s ideology and also discuss his contribution to the making of the Constitution.
Over the years, the Congress has been desperate to win back the support of Dalits who had moved to the Bahujan Samaj Party for years now. However, a major chunk of the Dalit vote bank both in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar gravitated towards the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
A buoyed BJP is now eyeing Bihar, where assembly elections are due later this year, and has stepped up its efforts to woo Dalit and Mahadalit communities.
Social justice and empowerment minister Thawar Chand Gehlot hit out at the Congress for “politicising” the event. “If today somebody is going there (Mhow), I want to ask why did he not do it for so many years? They (Congress) are doing it as the land beneath their feat has slipped,” he said.