Different hues, one aim: Parties vie for mileage, put Ambedkar on centre stage for his Jayanti

Despite their conflicting ideologies, political parties of various hues are vying with one another to draw mileage by turning the spotlight on Dalit icon and architect of the Constitution Babasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar to celebrate his 134th birth anniversary (Ambedkar Jayanti) across the state on April 14.

Amid the varied political shades, ranging from saffron of the BJP to the red (with a dash of green) of the Samajwadi Party, the blue of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the tricolour-based theme of the Congress, it is blue and white that stands out on the state capital’s billboards put up by parties trying to outdo each other.

Events marking the occasion will begin as early as Sunday when the BJP will kickstart mega celebrations with the ‘Bharat Ratna Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Samman Abhiyan’. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath will attend the event along with senior BJP leaders.

The main Opposition Samajwadi Party’s week-long ‘Swabhimaan Samman Samaroh’ at party offices across the state began on April 8. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday unveiled a grand statue of Babasaheb at Etawah in the presence of party leaders. The bronze-hued statue shows BR Ambedkar in a sitting posture on a chair, similar to those statues which were earlier seen at the BSP office in Lucknow.

The Congress’s mega campaign to appoint ‘Samvidhan Rakshaks’ in each of the 823 blocks across the state will start from Monday.

Aiming to regain its public connect, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) plans to robustly to hold programmes at districts and tehsil levels to mark Ambedkar Jayanti.

As for the ruling BJP, it will also hold an Ambedkar Marathon on Sunday and has released an official poster of the event with the theme “One India, United India”.

In addition, the party will also launch a statewide campaign on Sunday to clean statues of Babasaheb.

On Monday, BJP leaders will pay tribute to Ambedkar at party offices and public places where his statues are installed. In the evening, BJP workers will light earthen lamps at the statues.

For the Samajwadi Party, Babasaheb’s birth anniversary will present an opportunity to consolidate its PDA (Pichda Dalit Alpsankhyak) formulation, which it coined before the Lok Sabha polls. This time, the move comes apparently with an eye on the 2027 Uttar Pradesh state assembly polls.

Giving more details about the Swabhiman Swaman Samaroh, SP spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chand said, “Our party workers are reaching out to PDA people under this programme and making them aware of their rights given by the Indian Constitution.”

The SP’s PDA outreach paid dividends as the party won a whopping 37 seats in 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the BJP’s Lok Sabha tally from UP was reduced to 33 from 62.

Now, the SP is looking to further step up its social engineering formula for a stronger connect with Dalits, backward communities and minorities through various outreach programmes.

For their part, BSP top functionaries have instructed district functionaries and other local office bearers to celebrate Ambedkar’s birth anniversary at the village, tehsil and district levels to get connected with Bahujan community, whose population is more than 80% in the state and the country.

In March, BSP president Mayawati had demanded a caste census mentioning Baba Saheb’s initiative to include a provision of census in the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Congress proposes to appoint ‘Samvidhan Rakshaks’ (Protectors of Constitution) for every block as it proposes to organise programmes to mark the birth anniversary of Ambedkar.

“Yes, we will begin appointing a Samvidhan Rakshak in each of 823 blocks of Uttar Pradesh on birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and tell the people what the party has done to protect the Constitution and uplift of the downtrodden classes,” said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) spokesman Manish Hindavi.

Various programmes, including garlanding of Ambedkar’s statue and symposiums will also be organised by UPCC and the district party units across the state.

“We will hold statewide seminars. The party leaders will also visit the programmes organised by Dalits to mark the occasion and take the grand old party’s message to the people,” said outgoing UPCC vice-president Dinesh Singh.