Ambedkar to Kanshi Ram, district offices to Kolkata stage, Samajwadi Party reaches out to Dalits

These events followed SP national president Akhilesh Yadav’s March 12 remark that the BSP had lost the path shown by Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram, and now functions like a “B-team” of the BJP.

Now, the SP has announced it will celebrate the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar on April 14 at a grand scale at party offices in all districts of the state. A leader said the week-long programmes will send a message to Dalits that only the SP can protect the Constitution and democracy from the BJP.

In another message to Dalits, the SP, during its national executive meeting in Kolkata, had veteran party MLA Awadhesh Prasad — a Dalit from the Pasi caste — seated next to party chief Akhilesh Yadav on the dais. Before leaving Lucknow for the meeting, the SP chief had tweeted a selfie with Prasad, and his own uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.

Prasad is a nine-term MLA from Milkipur in Ayodhya district. A former minister, he is the party’s national general secretary, the fourth time he has been entrusted with the duty. “But it was the first time in recent days that Prasad was seen accorded such importance at any party platform,” said an SP leader.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Prasad claimed that Dalits were leaning towards the Akhilesh-led SP as it was the only party that could protect the Ambedkar-drafted Constitution and democracy in the country. About the special regard shown to him at the Kolkata meet, Prasad said he was a dedicated party worker who was associated with Mulayam Singh Yadav since 1974.

“Mayawati [the BSP president] has lost the path shown by Kanshi Ram for the uplift and welfare of Dalits. Hence, Dalits are seeing the SP as their only platform, and their trust in the SP has only increased,” Prasad said.

At the same executive meeting, the SP amended its constitution and gave the ‘Samajwadi Baba Saheb Ambedkar Vahini’ the status of the party’s front organisation. In 2021, ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections, the SP had created the Vahini as a dedicated wing to connect Dalits with the party, and had appointed Mithai Lal Bharti as its president. Although the Vahini was active, thus far, there was no mention of it in the SP’s constitution. Bharti said that after the amendment in the party’s constitution, the Election Commission was alerted about this chance as well. “Organisational committees of the Vahini, from national to polling booth-level, will be constituted very soon,” he added.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said while the party has celebrated Ambedkar’s birth anniversary in the past too, but the next time, it will be celebrated state-wide. About Kanshi Ram’s birth anniversary celebrations, Chaudhary said, “Manyawar Kanshi Ram was with us. He was elected MP from Etawah (in 1991) with Netaji’s (Mulayam’s) support. Earlier, party leaders individually celebrated his birth anniversary, but this time, we held the programme at the SP headquarters.”