SP to hold week-long events to mark Dalit icon’s birth anniv

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has announced that his party will observe Ambedkar Jayanti, the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, from April 8 to 14 by organising a large-scale event at its offices across the state.

Titled Swabhimaan Samman Samaroh, the week-long event will be organised under the aegis of Samajwadi Baba Saheb Ambedkar Vahini and Samajwadi Scheduled Caste Front.

This is the first time when the SP will be observing Ambedkar Jayanti on this scale. Before the 2019 general elections, the SP had installed a bronze bust of Ambedkar at its headquarters. The SP has since been regularly observing Ambedkar’s birth and death anniversaries and Constitution Day events across the state.

Speaking to media persons at the SP headquarters here on Saturday, the former chief minister called upon all members of the ‘PDA’(picchde-Dalit-alpsankhyak) society to unite and provide new strength to the movement to save Baba Saheb’s gift and heritage, the Indian Constitution and the reservation system.

“…we should understand the value of ‘unity of self’ along with our cordial, secular, and democratic standards and values… understand the transformative power of the unity in the form of PDA. Only through ‘Swabhimaan Samman’, the members of the PDA society will be able to gain their decisive power and give a constitutional answer to the negative forces seeking power,” said the SP chief.

In 2019, the SP charted a new trajectory in its political strategy by entering into an alliance with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). This was when it introduced the tradition of observing birth and death anniversaries of Dalit icons BR Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram.

Thought the alliance was short-lived, the SP had since been increasingly alert about its Dalit outreach.

In the aftermath of its stellar performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the SP is looking to further step up its PDA social engineering formula for a stronger connect with Dalits, backward communities and minorities.

‘BJP most corrupt, law and order in shambles’

The SP chief attacked the BJP by calling it the “most corrupt party”. “BJP is the biggest land mafia. Law and order of the state are in shambles. The BJP government’s claim of zero-tolerance on corruption and crime has become zero. Now the situation has become such that even people in the BJP are angry with the BJP government,” said Yadav.

“Such corruption never took place in any government. An IAS officer with top connections in the government is involved in corruption. His middleman was also caught. He used to manage the corrupt acts of not just one officer but many.”

Taking a dig at chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s “80:20” remark, Yadav said: “Since the BJP’s slogan of ‘80-20’ is not working, it has resorted to communal politics. PDA and others comprise 90 per cent of the population. It is a matter of 90-10. PDA is completely with the Samajwadi Party. The BJP is scared of PDA unity. That is why BJP leaders and various organisations of the BJP are running a campaign to defame the Samajwadi Party and INDIA Alliance by spending crores of rupees.”

“As the BJP could not bring in investment, they brought destruction. All the corrupt people are hiding in the chief minister’s residence. For the first time in Uttar Pradesh, police are kidnapping and demanding ransom. The BJP government has pushed Uttar Pradesh into anarchy.”

Yadav said the Narendra Modi government in the Centre should learn from US President Donald Trump and impose tariff restrictions on other countries to “save” India’s economy.

“The BJP government has not been able to provide jobs and reservation. America is imposing tariff to save its economy. The government should tell where our economy stands in such a situation,” said Yadav, adding that the BJP government gave false figures related t the economy.

On the issue of Waqf Amendment Bill, the SP chief said, “I had said this in the Lok Sabha also regarding the Waqf law and I am saying it again that the Waqf law will prove to be a Waterloo for the BJP.”

Also, Yadav praised Ananya, a girl from Ambedkar Nagar who rushed into her house to grab her textbooks during a demolition drive. He presented Ananya with financial assistance and assured her to support her education. The video of the girl running away with her books was described as disturbing by the Supreme Court.