Amit Shah should withdraw remark on Ambedkar: Mayawati
BSP chief warned the leaders of the BJP and Congress to stop selfish politics for Dalit votes or else the BSP will expose both the parties.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday said Union home minister Amit Shah should withdraw his recent remark on Bhimrao Ambedkar.
“The followers of Ambedkar across the country are upset,” she said at a press conference.
“The words of Shah have hurt the dignity and identity of Ambedkar. It’s an insult to the Dalit icon,” Mayawati further said.
Her reaction came even as the BJP and Opposition parties at the Centre locked horns over Shah’s remark made earlier this week in the Rajya Sabha.
The BSP is aligned with neither the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nor the INDIA bloc, which comprises the Congress, Samajwadi Party and other opposition factions.
“Both BJP and Congress are casteist parties. The leaders of both parties have no respect for Ambedkar. They are indulging in mere showing off to win the support of the Dalit community,” she alleged.
BSP chief warned the leaders of the BJP and Congress to stop selfish politics for Dalit votes or else the BSP will expose both the parties.
“Ambedkar’s followers have not yet been able to forget the innumerable misdeeds of the Congress party against Babasaheb. They are never going to forgive the Congress party, no matter how much it changes its style and conduct,” she added.
Mayawati alleged that after Ambedkar’s death, the Congress worked to remove his name and his contributions to the making of the Constitution from the pages of history.
“Dalits should not be misguided by the tricks of Congress and BJP but should support the BSP for political and social empowerment,” she said.
Bahujan Samaj Party national general secretary SC Mishra, in a post on X, said taking the name of BR Ambedkar, the father of the Constitution again and again, is a passion for 140 crore Indian citizens as the Constitution drafted by him gives fundamental, legal and Constitutional rights, not only to the downtrodden but to every citizen of the country. He is, in fact, God to everyone, which includes Dalits, OBCs, women, minorities and intellectuals, he said.
Disrespect to Ambedkar cannot be tolerated at any cost, Mishra said. Between 2007-12, the BSP government in Uttar Pradesh, under the leadership of Mayawati, built the biggest monument in the world in honour of Ambedkar where people from all sections across the country come and pay their respects. Several schools, colleges and universities and a large number of welfare schemes, especially for the downtrodden were launched in his name, he said.
