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Revoking J&K’s special status under Article 370 tribute to Dr Ambedkar: Yogi Adityanath
“Despite warnings of Baba Saheb (Ambedkar), they (Congress) added Article 370 to the Constitution in 1952. As expected, this article became the cause of separatism,” said the UP CM.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for revoking Jammu & Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 and said that leaders of the Congress party were jealous of Dr BR Ambedkar’s calibre, which is why they ignored what he had said on the issue.
“Despite warnings of Baba Saheb (Ambedkar), they (Congress) added Article 370 to the Constitution in 1952. As expected, this article became the cause of separatism. Finally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi honoured Ambedkar by removing it (J&K’s special status under the article),” said Yogi while addressing a programme organised at the Dr Ambedkar Mahasabha in Lucknow to mark Baba Saheb’s ‘Parinirvan Diwas’ (death anniversary).
The CM also lauded the Prime Minister’s efforts for developing five major landmarks associated with Dr Ambedkar’s life into ‘Panchteerth’. Besides, he said, his government wanted to build a memorial dedicated to the ‘Father of the Indian Constitution’ where programmes related to him could be organised during all the seasons.
Criticising the past governments, Yogi said that after Independence, they made many promises for the welfare of the most deprived sections of the society but no real work followed these assurances.
“Social and economic disparities would have reduced to a considerable extent by now had the previous governments did some real work. Those who made promises never had the intention of fulfilling them. These were the same people who murdered the Constitution created by Dr Ambedkar. Those who insulted the Constitution are struggling for existence today,” he said.
Highlighting the work done by the Modi-led government at the Centre for the benefit of marginalised communities, the CM said, “The Prime Minister did real work in the interest of the poor and we are carrying it forward. So far, 28 lakh Pradhan Mantri Awas, 2.61 crore toilets, free power supply to 1.16 crore people and free LPG connections to 1.46 crore families have been provided.”
The CM also appealed to the community to identify young Dalit entrepreneurs and arrange loans of Rs 1 crore each for them. “There are approximately 18,000 bank branches in Uttar Pradesh. If every branch helps in making one male and one female entrepreneur self-reliant, it will help reduce the financial disparity,” he said.
Recalling that Dr Ambedkar’s mantra for the development of society was education, Yogi said, “Be educated, set goals and work hard. Then you will be unstoppable.”
Bharatiya Janata Party state president Swatantra Dev Singh, chairman of the Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation Dr Lalji Verma, ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and mayor Sanyukta Bhatia also attended the event.
