Laying foundation of Ambedkar centre ahead of polls is nothing but drama, says Maya

In a series of tweets, Mayawati said the BJP government neglected Dr Bhaimrao Ambedkar and exploited his crores of followers for the entire time in power

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Tuesday dubbed the foundation laying ceremony of Dr Ambedkar Cultural Centre in Lucknow by President Ram Nath Kovind as ‘drama before the election’ by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

BSP supremo Mayawati says if BJP was serious about Ambedkar, then instead of laying the foundation stone, the President would have been inaugurating the cultural centre. (PTI file)

In a series of tweets, Mayawati said the BJP government neglected Dr Bhaimrao Ambedkar and exploited his crores of followers for the entire time in power.

“Now, when the assembly election is near, the laying of the foundation stone of a ‘Cultural Centre’ by the state government in the name of Baba Saheb, is a drama,” she said.

Mayawati said the BSP was not against setting up of centre in the name of Dr Ambedkar but doing it for the sake of electoral interest was a gross deception.

If the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh had done this work earlier, then instead of laying the foundation stone, the President would have been inaugurating the cultural centre, she said.

Be it the BJP government, the SP or the Congress, everyone indulges in such deceit and drama in the name of Ambedkar.

Similarly, in the case of grabbing rights of Dalits and Backwards and committing atrocities over the weaker section, all the rival political parties are same, she said.

Mayawati said lakhs of government posts reserved for Dalits and Backwards were lying vacant.

Also, the neglect of the world class memorial and parks constructed in the name of Dalits icons by the BSP government had been continuing since the SP government was in power and it was highly condemnable, she said.

Reacting to BSP chief statement, the spokesperson of the BJP state unit Sameer Singh said the BJP government at the centre and in the state had been working for the dignity and welfare of the weaker sections of the society, including Dalits and backwards.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had developed five sites associated with Ambedkar as ‘Panch Teerth’ , launched several schemes of the Dalit community, he said.

Under the BJP government, a person coming from the Dalit community had been made the President, said Singh while insisting that the tweets of Mayawati over the foundation of the Ambedkar Cultural Centre goes on to show that she was jittery and frustrated over defeat in successive elections.