LUCKNOW: In order to expand the party’s base among the politically powerful dalits in the state, national president of the Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav has exhorted his rank and file to celebrate the birth anniversary of the dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar on April 14.
Preceding with the appeal by the national president of the party to party workers to assemble and mingle with the Dalit population and celebrate
Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14 as
Dalit Diwali
by lighting lamp at statues and portraits of Ambedkar, Akhilesh had strategically worked to induct prominent BSP leaders, including Indrajeet Saroj, Balihari Babu and Dayaram Pal, in the party fold.
Last month, Akhilesh had gone to Varanasi to join Saint Ravidas anniversary celebrations and offered prayers at the famous Ravidas temple.
Akhilesh had also offered prayers at the temple of Mata Sair Devi on the banks of Yamuna in Tundla district, who is highly worshipped and revered by the Nishad community. During his ‘bicyle yatra’ in the run up to 2012 assembly elections, Akhilesh had visited this temple to seek the devi’s blessings. He felt that as he had succeeded in forming the government in the state then the same would happen in 2022 elections.
With the assembly elections drawing closer, the SP chief has been working on his plan to woo the dalits and the MBCs to expand the party’s base beyond the traditional MY (Muslim, Yadav) votes. His alliance with the BSP in 2019 general elections was also his bid to end the Dalits’ hostilities towards his party, though the alliance did not last long and BSP chief Maywati unilaterally broke away from it.
The Samajwadi Party feels that by working among the dalits the party would be able to blunt the BJP’s campaign of ‘dalit khichdi’, ‘Samrasta Diwas’ and other such programmes.
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