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Akhilesh Yadav says Samajwadis will work to save Constitution
Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav addresses rally in Lucknow, says the Constitution is the soul of democracy
Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said “Samajwadis” will work with “Ambedkarvaadis” (Ambedkarites) to save the Constitution and democracy.
Akhilesh Yadav was speaking as the chief guest at the Samvidhaan Bachao Virat Mahapanchayat (Save the Constitution rally) at Kanshi Ram Smriti Upvan in Lucknow. He shared the dais with Prakash Ambedkar and Bhimrao Yashwant Rao Ambedkar, the grandsons of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, and Swarna Kaur, a sister of Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram, on the occasion of Constitution Day.
Dalit leader and former BJP MP Savitri Bai Phule, the national president of the Kanshi Ram Bahujan Moolniwasi Party, organised the programme.
“These people (BJP) might even snatch the right to vote. They are anti-Constitution,” Yadav said. “We don’t know when and what decision these people will take,” Akhilesh Yadav further said.
Stating that Dr BR Ambedkar gave the country its Constitution, Akhilesh Yadav also said, “No other country in the world had as many differences on the lines of caste, creed, religion and gender, but the Constitution established equality. The Constitution is the soul of our democracy.”
The SP had won the direct elections to the panchayats in UP, but in the indirect elections, the BJP government manipulated and won, he alleged.
Akhilesh said the people of UP had opened the door to power at Delhi (central government) for the BJP, and now people have decided to shut that door on BJP in 2022 (UP assembly polls).
He also made a veiled reference to the SP’s tie-up with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
“We had made an effort to unite once earlier, and then again in 2019. But it did not work. But now we will fulfil the dream of Lohia and Ambedkar (SP icon Dr Ram Manohar Lohia i and Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar),” he said. Swarna Kaur asked people “to choose good leaders who work for the poor and downtrodden”.Bhimrao Yashwant Rao Ambedkar urged people to support Akhilesh and said: “We need to understand who is standing by the Constitution, and who is anti-Constitution. In the next elections, we have to displace those who are anti-Constitution.”
