The Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party held separate programmes in Patna on Sunday and paid tribute to Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar on the eve of his birth anniversary.
Keeping an eye on the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar, every political party is competing with each other to woo the Dalit vote bank in the state.
The Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party held separate programmes in Patna on Sunday and paid tribute to Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar on the eve of his birth anniversary.
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While the BJP organised a padyatra to mark the occasion, the JD (U) organised ‘Bhim Samvad’ to give a big message to the Dalit community.
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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar paid tribute to the Dalit icon at the ‘Bhim Samvad’ programme.
He said that Ambedkar led a number of social movements to secure human rights to the oppressed and depressed sections of the society. He urged everyone to take inspiration from the Dalit icon and to imbibe his ideals.
Nitish Kumar said: “There has always been a sense of reverence towards him who played a pivotal role in drafting the Constitution of India, embedding principles of equality, liberty, and fraternity.”
On this occasion, the Chief Minister recalled how the state government has been working for the development of every section of the society since it came to power in 2005.
He said, “We have been working for upliftment of every section of society, whether they are Dalits, backward classes, or extremely backward classes. We have also worked for people belonging to the upper caste. We have done a lot of work for Muslims as well. No one has been neglected. Those who were given a chance by the people of Bihar before 2005 did not do any work.”
The Chief Minister released the book “Dr Ambedkar Ki Viraasat aur Drishti” written by Bihar Rural Works Minister Ashok Kumar Chaudhary based on the life of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.
He also asked Ashok Chaudhary to publicise across the state about the efforts being made by his government specially for the upliftment of Dalit community in the state.
Earlier, BJP leaders joined a padyatra from Gandhi Maidan to Bhimrao Ambedkar’s statue near Patna High Court to mark the occasion.
The padyatra was led by Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, BJP State President Dr. Dilip Jaiswal, Bihar Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha.
A large number of youth from various communities also participated in this yatra.
Dr Dilip Jaiswal asked youth to follow Dr Ambedkar’s footsteps and establish democracy in the real sense in the country. He also called upon BJP workers to spread Dr Ambedkar’s ideals to the people.
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