A BJP MLA in Uttarakhand was left red-faced on Sunday after he was forced to stop highlighting the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government during a programme to mark Ambedkar Jayanti on Sunday in Roorkee town of Haridwar district.
A video of the incident also went viral in which the organisers could be seen snatching the microphone from Deshraj Karanwal and warning him to speak only on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Karanwal who is a legislator from Uttarakhand’s Jhabrera constituency was invited as the chief guest of a seminar on the ideals and thoughts of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, organised by an organisation named Ambedkar Samaj Kalyan Samiti (ASKS), Roorkee. The event was organised at the seminar hall of Roorkee Municipal Corporation.
Two other legislators including one from Congress, Mamta Rakesh and Pradeep Batra from BJP were also present at the event as speakers.
Confirming the incident, a member of ASKS and one of the organisers, Surendra Singh said, “The event was to discuss the thoughts and contributions of Babasaheb to the country and Dalit community. But when Karanwal’s turn came to speak, he started speaking on Modi government’s achievements which enraged the crowd.”
“Many among the audience started shouting that this is a not a political platform to talk on any government, which was true. We immediately stopped him and told he won’t be allowed to speak anything political as the platform was only to share thoughts on Babasaheb.”
{{/usCountry}}“Many among the audience started shouting that this is a not a political platform to talk on any government, which was true. We immediately stopped him and told he won’t be allowed to speak anything political as the platform was only to share thoughts on Babasaheb.”
{{/usCountry}}Following the opposition, Karanwal agreed not to speak anything political.
“He then addressed for about 10 minutes during which he spoke on Babasaheb and Dalit community. We had invited him as a leader from the same community and not any member of any political party,” he said.
Congress MLA, Mamta said, “He had earlier raised objections and tried to support Modi government when some of the speakers spoke on the high-handedness by centre against the protestors in last year’s Bharat Bandh on April 2, called by Dalit orgranisations.”
She however, claimed she wasn’t present when the incident happened as she “already left the event before his address.”
Despite several attempts Karanwal could not be contacted.