BJP plans counter-drive to blunt oppn’s campaign against Amit Shah | Lucknow News – Times of India

LUCKNOW: The aggressive positioning by the opposition parties over the statement of Union home minister Amit Shah on BR Ambedkar has prompted the BJP to launch a counter-campaign to “expose” the Congress and the Samajwadi Party on issues related to Dalits.
The party has asked its SC/ST Morcha to plan a counter-drive across all assembly seats to consolidate the SC/ST community and highlight the anti-Dalit steps initiated under the previous Congress and Samajwadi Party govts at the Centre and in UP.
UP BJP SC/ST Morcha president Ram Chandra Kannaujia affirmed that the party would initiate the campaign to unmask the opposition at the ground level. “The party will highlight anti-Dalit slogans and steps taken by previous govts under opposition parties,” he said.
The SC/ST Morcha chief said that the exercise would begin soon after the organisational elections later this month. He said that the district units of the front had been alerted to shift to Dalit-dominated villages and highlight the measures initiated by the BJP govt in the last 10 years.
“Congress and SP have been the biggest enemies of Dalits. This is a historical truth that needs to be told to the people,” Kannaujia said, adding that he also met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and put forward a slew of additional measures which the govt could initiate for the welfare of socially oppressed classes.
Analysts, however, said that the BJP was treading cautiously after its recent win in the state by-polls. Sources said that the victory helped the BJP to counter the opposition’s PDA formula, which stoked a spiraling caste narrative in the state. “The opposition is back to its old tactic of dividing the Hindu society by alienating Dalits and other socially oppressed classes in the name of Ambedkar. No party other than BJP has done so much for the respect of Ambedkar in the last few years,” Kannaujia said.
“It is the Congress that has worked against the ideas of Ambedkar. They did everything to insult and demean him. They even tried to alter the essence of the Constitution drafted by Ambedkar,” he alleged. Kannaujia also slammed the SP for doing away with the provision of quota in promotions for the Scheduled Castes in govt jobs, which was otherwise initiated during the BSP regime.
Even the BJP did not touch the issue, fearing a potential backlash from the upper caste and OBC category, which objected to the provision.