‘SP cadre to mark Ambedkar Jayanti at sector, village levels’

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said party cadres will celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14 at the sector and village levels to highlight the threat to Indian Constitution from the BJP and need for social justice. In the political circles Akhilesh's call was being seen as another attempt to consolidate the Dalit component of party's focus on PDA which comprise Pichhde (Backward classes), Dalit and Alpashankhak (minorities). It is also being seen as a move that was likely to leave Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati anything but amused. Recently, Mayawati slammed SP after Akhilesh called on his party cadres to celebrate BSP founder Kanshi Ram's birth anniversary on March 15 as ‘PDA Diwas'. Mayawati had then described the announcement as political drama and warned BSP cadres that SP's conduct, character and political profile had always been anti-Dalit and anti-backward. This is not the first time that SP will celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti. On earlier occasions as well, the party held events across the state in a big way. In the run-up to 2024 Lok Sabha polls, SP was the first one to take on the BJP for setting a target of winning 400 seats in Parliament in order to change the Constitution of India – a move that cost the BJP dear. The SP bagged a never before tally of 37 seats all by itself while the INDIA bloc won 43 seats. The BJP won 33 seats while its allies added another 3 seats. Talking to the media after presiding over a meeting of party's youth wings at SP headquarters over 2027 poll preparations, Akhilesh said BR Ambedkar drafted the Constitution, which is the foundation of any country, and the BJP wants to weaken the same. "They (BJP) are not the people who go by the Constitution. We want to protect and strengthen democracy (as enshrined in the Indian Constitution). They (BJP) want to replace it with autocracy," Akhilesh said. The former UP CM said attempts were being made to weaken the Constitution and democracy and Samajwadi people will continue to counter such acts. He said constitutional bodies were being destroyed like never before. "This is not any Amrit Kaal but a Sankat Kaal instead where saints and priests are being murdered," he CM said. "Everyone has unanimously decided that the Samajwadi Party will celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti at the sector and village levels. At these events we will underline how the Constitution is being attacked and constitutional bodies being destroyed," Akhilesh said.