SP to observe Ambedkar anniversary to woo Dalits

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party, after its break-up with the Bahujan Samaj Party, is preparing to make inroads into its Dalit vote base.

For the first time, the Samajwadi Party has sent out circulars to all its district units to observe the death anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar on December 6 in a bog way by paying homage to the Dalit icon.

All district units of the party will hold various programmes on the occasion including seminars. Programmes will also be held in Dalit populated areas and will underline the need for social equality and harmony.

Hoardings that will be put up on the occasion will have photographs of Dr Manohar Lohia-Samajwadi Party's ideologue- along Dr B R Ambedkar.

"The idea is to emphasize the fact that both leaders' ideology was in consonance and not opposed to each other," said a party leader.

Socially, the Yadavs and the Dalits have been at war for decades but after the BSP came to power in Uttar Pradesh and political empowerment of Dalits began, the battle between OBCs and Dalits became even more pronounced.

The BJP, interestingly, has been taking advantage of this and has been wooing OBCs as well as Dalits since 2014.

The SP-BSP alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, to an extent, diluted the discord but after BSP president Mayawati snapped links with SP after the polls, the SP started making efforts to win over Dalits - or, at least, a section of the community.

The move to observe Ambedkar anniversary now could spell trouble for Mayawati who stands losing her disgruntled supporters to SP. A large number of BSP leaders have already joined SP in recent months.