Amid protests by Opposition parties, Yogi hits out at Congress, SP for ‘anti-Ambedkar’ mindset

He also claimed that during the tenure of the UPA government, a cartoon in an NCERT textbook had shown Nehru purportedly “whipping” Ambedkar.

He pointed out that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had “opposed” the inclusion of Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly. Alleging that Nehru was concerned about a particular community and not about Dalits or the underprivileged, the CM said the Congress did not want Ambedkar to go to the Lok Sabha and never allowed a memorial to be built after his death.

“Baba Saheb (Ambedkar), who took forward the movement for the deprived and Dalits, was not made a member of any Lok Sabha committee,” said teh CM, adding it was despite Ambedkar’s “great contribution” to the freedom movement and drafting of the Constitution.

He alleged that the Congress has been “anti-Ambedkar” in its approach and had been working against Ambedkar and his ideology at various points in history.

He also claimed that Ambedkar had resigned from the then government at the Centre after alleging that Congress and Nehru “prioritised concerns for a particular community over the underprivileged and Dalits.”

Targeting the SP, Adityanath pointed out that when that party’s government was in power in UP, Ambedkar’s name was removed from a college in Kannauj as well as the Saharanpur medical college.

Claiming that on the other hand, NDA governments, be it under A B Vajpayee or under PM Narendra Modi, have shown respect and admiration towards Ambedkar, he cited the development of “Panch Teerth” to preserve Ambedkar’s legacy.