By IANS,
Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tuesday criticised the Congress for completely “ignoring” B.R. Ambedkar in a booklet brought out by the party to mark the completion of its 125 years.
Taking serious note of the omission of Ambedkar’s name from the booklet, formally released by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Ambedkar Nagar on Ambedkar’s birth anniversary April 14, the BSP leadership said the party had ignored other Congress luminaries like Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad too.
“The fact that Babasaheb’s name did not find mention in the special booklet clearly reflects the anti-Dalit psyche of the Congress party, which has only been playing a drama in the name of the architect of the Indian constitution,” state BSP chief Swami Prasad Maurya said here.
Maurya, in a statement issued late Tuesday, said: “Other than the Gandhi-Nehru family, the booklet has not cared to include the contribution and role of other prominent Congress leaders.”
“The fact that even someone like Maulana Azad does not find mention in the booklet reflects how much the Congress cares for the minorities.”
Terming the Congress party’s proclamations about its concern for Dalits as “crocodile tears”, Maurya said: “Declarations and proclamations made by the Congress leaders are only aimed at wooing Dalits.”
According to him, the “Congress party had only used Dalit leaders like Jagjivan Ram, who remained the party’s Dalit face for decades, but the special booklet has no mention about him either.”
He also termed Rahul Gandhi’s gesture of sharing a meal with Dalits or spending a night in their homes as a “political gimmick” intended to “mislead poor and innocent Dalits”.