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Ambedkar Jayanti: PM, other politicians pay tribute, day marked by Dalit protest

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Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar

Amid attacks from opposition and trying hard to combat the anti-Dalit image of the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and other party leaders made a beeline to pay tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar on his 127th birth anniversary on Saturday, April 14.

PM Modi said in a statement: “Pujya Babasaheb gave hope to lakhs of people belonging to the poorest and marginalised sections of society. We remain indebted to him for his efforts towards the making of our Constitution.”

President Ram Nath Kovind greeted the nation to say: “Homage to Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. An icon of our nation, Dr Ambedkar was a multifaceted personality who waged a life-long struggle for a modern India free of caste and other prejudices, ensuring equal rights to women and for the disadvantaged.”

BJP chief Amit Shah paid tribute to Ambedkar at the party office in Delhi.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “His life and thoughts about equality, humanity, brotherhood, social justice give us inspiration to carry on the struggle.”

The day was marked also by protests from Dalits. In Delhi, some people from the community “cleansed” BR Ambedkar’s statue soon after Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and BJP leaders paid floral tributes to the Dalit icon. Members of the Dalit community claimed that the presence of BJP leaders had ‘polluted’ the atmosphere.

A group of Sikhs too protested against alleged atrocities perpetrated against minority communities in India during the commemoration of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary at the United Nation’s headquarters.

Modi government and BJP, tried to reach out to Dalits in the aftermath of their violent protests, asserting that at every juncture they stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the community and accused the Congress of fuelling tension in the society with an eye on elections.

Earlier this month, Modi had blasted opposition parties for politicising Ambedkar’s legacy, blaming the previous governments for not paying due respects to the Dalit icon.

The Congress hit back, accusing the BJP of ‘eroding’ the legacy of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and said PM Modi was merely paying him lip service as his party and the RSS have an ‘anti-Dalit mindset’. Congress leader Selja charged the prime minister with doing politics over the legacy of the Dalit icon.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the BJP’s overdrive to cultivate Dalits with the help of optics won’t cut ice with the community.

“I want to tell Modi ji and his government that commemorating places related to Babasaheb’s life and inaugurating schemes in his name, will in no way lead to development of Dalits,” said Mayawati.

In Ahmedabad, five men including members of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, were detained when they tried to protest garlanding of Ambedkar’s statue at Sarngpur in Ahmedabad by BJP MP Kirit Solanki.

Alleging that BJP is anti-dalit, convener of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani had given call to prevent BJP members from paying tribute to Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. But events led by Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar and BJP president Jitu Vaghani in Surat did not see any protest.

In western Uttar Pradesh, Meerut, which witnessed widespread protests by Dalits during the nationwide protests on April 2, was on high alert. The security measures taken include blocking of internet services from 9 pm on Friday to 8 pm on Saturday, an official at the district magistrate’s office said.

Punjab’s Phagwara was tense after a communal clash broke out between a Dalit and a Hindu outfit over renaming of a traffic intersection in a bid to pay tribute to Ambedkar late Friday night.

Before the nation commemorated the birth anniversary of the Dalit icon, a statue of BR Ambedkar in Richhpal Garhi village of Bisrakh in Greater Noida was found damaged. The incident came to light Thursday morning when the villagers spotted the statue of Ambedkar damaged. Heavy police force was deployed in view of the tense situation. According to media reports, Suniti Singh, SP (rural), said a case was registered against unknown persons for vandalism and that the guilty would not be spared. A large number of people from nearby villages had gathered after news of the vandalism spread. Police, however, contained the mob. Singh said that the damaged statue was being replaced with a new one.

On Friday, Dalits took strong objection to the painting of the upper part of an under-construction Ambedkar memorial in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur in saffron. The protesters, however, said a private jewellery firm had undertaken the painting work as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) project and “the government had nothing to do with it”.

Chandrashekhar, the president of a local Dalit group, said, “They would have painted the entire memorial saffron had we not protested.” “The jewellery firm agreed to our demand to re-paint it in white and used red paint to write “Ambedkar Chauraha” on it. The government wasn’t involved in this,” he said.

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Sunita Kejriwal holds maiden Lok Sabha election roadshow in Delhi

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab.

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Aam Aadmi Party began its campaign for 3rd phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Saturday with Sunita Kejriwal, wife of jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal holding a roadshow in Delhi. In a massive rally, Sunita Kejriwal was be seen standing on a vehicle holding her hands and greeting the people of the area. AAP’s East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar was seen sitting on the vehicle as he showcased a portrait of Rani Laxmibai.

Earlier ahead of Sunita Kejrieal’s roadshow, Kuldeep Kumar told the media that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who worked to provide the best school, and free- electricity to the people of Delhi has been framed in a fake case by BJP. Kumar further added that from today onwards Sunita Kejriwal’s roadshow will start and she is going to seek support and blessings from the Delhi people to continue its fight against the BJP government.

Aam Aadmi Party workers also staged a protest under the banner of Jail ka jawab vote se near Delhi’s Lakshmi Nagar area on Saturday against the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in connection with an excise policy case.

After the Delhi CM’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the liquor policy case in March, Sunita Kejriwal has taken up a more prominent role in campaigning activities for the Aam Aadmi Party. Since the Delhi CM’s arrest, Atishi and other AAP leaders have alleged that the arrest was made so that to the AAP Supremo can be prevented from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. Arvind Kejriwal has been sent to judicial custody until May 7.

Sunita Kejriwal will also hold a road show in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. AAP party leaders said Sunita Kejriwal will also spearhead the campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab. She is emerging as a star campaigner for Aam Aadmi Party.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Mallikarjun Kharge says candidates for Amethi, Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies Mallikarjun Kharge said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the candidates for prestigious Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a few days. He was addressing a press conference where he claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are put on the lap and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.

On being asked about the names of the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies he said the people will have to wait for a few more days. He said when the names of candidates come from people to him and he will sign the notification, then the announcement will be made.

On being questioned about Congress leaders changing constituencies Kharge asked how many times have Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani changed their seats. His response came when asked about the BJP criticising Rahul Gandhi for fighting the elections from Kerala’s Wayanad instead of Amethi. Referring to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kharge said the Congress is not affected by people who grew up in the party and left it later.

The Congress president launched an all round attack on the BJP and PM Modi and said the prime minister did not implement even one of his electoral promises and still says Modi did a lot of work for the country. Addressing the press conference he said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, but Congress is a party of those who made India independent. He said the BJP never fought for the independence of India, for the development of India. The Congress President said the BJP speaks so much about patriotism and that the contribution of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri is nothing before them.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Priyanka Gandhi accuses BJP of planning to change the Constitution, criticises PM Modi for inflation

Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

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Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP may be denying it now, but the party will change the Constitution if it returns to power. She targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inflation and called him the mehengai man.

Gandhi said the BJP leaders and candidates are saying that they will change the Constitution. She said PM Modi is denying it and this is BJP’s tactic. Priyanka Gandhi was speaking at an election rally at Dharampur village of tribal dominated Valsad district, Gujarat held in support of Congress candidate for ST-reserved Valsad Lok Sabha seat, Anant Patel.

Gandhi said first the BJP will deny what they want to do. But after coming to power they will implement it. She further added the BJP wants to change the constitution to weaken the common people and deprive them of their rights given in the Constitution. She said the BJP leaders project the Prime Minister as powerful and say that chutki bajake ladai rukwa dete hai (he can stop the Russia- Ukraine war with the snap of his fingers). She asked why is Prime Minister unable to remove poverty just like that?

Priyanka Gandhi claimed the tribal population in Gujarat which is Modi’s home state and the whole country is suffering from issues like rising inflation, unemployment, low remumberation, loss of land, violence against women and other atrocities. She highlighted the Congress manifesto and said it addresses issues faced by the tribal population.

She assured the people that the Congress will bring schemes like MGNREGA for urban areas where families will get 100 days of guaranteed work. She said the Congress is committed to filing about 30 lakh vacancies in government jobs, providing subsidised diesel to fishermen and take the minimum wage to Rs 400. Gandhi said the Congress is going to work out sub plans for Scheduled Tribes and scheduled castes.

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