Ambedkar Jayanti: Maya plans show of strength in Lucknow

Lucknow: Acting on the directions of its president Mayawati, the Bahujan Samaj Party will hold another show of strength on April 14, to celebrate the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.In a recent meeting of the party's UP unit in Lucknow, Mayawati asked the cadre from all 18 divisions to gather at Ambedkar Memorial in Lucknow to pay tribute to Ambedkar.The party's commemorative events for its west UP supporters are held at Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida but as the memorial is being renovated, party workers from west UP districts will also gather in Lucknow, due to which the turnout will be huge.Mayawati has asked the party workers to bring their families along to Lucknow for Ambedkar Jayanti programmes. The last time when the party called all its workers from UP to gather in Lucknow was on Oct 9 last year, to pay tributes to its founder, Kanshiram, on his 19th death anniversary.It was one of the biggest shows of strength by BSP after 2016 in Lucknow. Mayawati had addressed the gathering at Kanshiram Memorial after a decade.Poll pundits view the event as the BSP's official start of the campaign for the 2027 assembly elections in UP.Whether Mayawati will be present at the memorial on April 14 has not been made clear by the party yet.After seeing the massive turnout of supporters on Oct 9 in Lucknow, she said that the security arrangements put up at the venue, because of her visit, make it difficult for her supporters and party cadre to reach the place and pay tribute to their leaders.Though Mayawati's schedule has not been announced, party functionaries are making arrangements for a grand celebration, more so because it is a year before the assembly elections in UP, and all other parties are vying for Ambedkar's legacy.BSP claims to be the biggest proponent of ‘bahujan' ideology and follower of Babasaheb and has its top leadership representing the community itself.Its founder, Kanshiram, had a pivotal role in taking Ambedkar's movement forward. Before BSP, he formed BAMCEF (Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation) and DS-4 (Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti) to get issues related to Dalits and backwards heard and noticed. Though it puts BSP at the forefront of ‘bahujan' politics, its sliding electoral graph cannot be overlooked.The party gave its worst performance in the 2022 UP assembly elections, winning only one seat, Rasra in Ballia, polling 12.8% votes.