Cong to mark Ambedkar 125th birth anniversary

Party keeps eye on UP, Bihar dalit vote

In a bid to reconnect itself with dalits ahead of the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Congress has decided to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Dr B. R. Ambedkar for the whole year, beginning from April 14, 2015.

The Congress’ support base among dalits has weakened after the emergence of the BSP and the Janata Parivar in the Hindi heartland in the last 25 years, while in the southern part of India, the regional parties made a dent in its support base.

In UP, dalit- Muslimsbrahmins used to be the Congress’ winning combination. But it got split due to the “Mandal- kamandal” agitations in the late ’ 80s and early ’ 90s. And in the south, the Janata Dal, the TDP, the TRS and Dravidian parties damaged the Congress politically in Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil Nadu. Now, the party wants to win over dalits at a time when speculation over Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as the party chief has become rife in Congress circles.

On Friday, the AICC announced a 21- member celebrations committee for the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar. While Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will head the committee, party vicepresident Rahul Gandhi is its co- chairperson. Former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde is vice- chairperson and AICC SC department chairman K. Raju is the member convenor.

The committee consists of Mallikarjun Kharge, A. K. Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Meira Kumar, Ahmed Patel, P. Chidambaram, Kishore Chandra Deo, Anand Sharma, Veerappa Moily, Salman Khurshid, K. H. Muniyappa, Digvijay Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Ajit Jogi, Kumari Selja, P. L. Punia and Jaivir Balmaki. However, the party CMs in Karnataka, Assam, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh have not been included in the committee while party MPs Bhalchandra Mungekar and Husain Dalwai have been left out. Both Dr Mungekar and Mr Dalwai have been actively associated with the Ambedkar movement in Maharashtra.