The keenly awaited Muslim-Dalit alliance of Hyderabad based Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar was launched with a bang ripples of which were felt across Maharashtra. The joint massive rally of the MIM and Bharep Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi in Aurangabad on Tuesday evening was attended by an estimated half a million people from across the State.
The combine show of strength marked the coming together of the weaker sections, which were largely pushed to the margins of the State politics over the decades.
Addressing the rally MIM President and Member of Parliament from Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi said, “This is an alliance of all the oppressed and suppressed sections of the society”. He gave a call to the supporters of both the organisations to work tirelessly to ensure that Prakash Ambedkar was sent to Parliament in the next elections. “Prakash sahab is our elder brother. He is the grand son of the architect of Indian constitution Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar who gave equality and fraternity”, he said.
Giving entire credit of giving right to liberty, equality and fraternity to each and every citizen of the country “We will have to pay back the debt of Dr Ambedkar by sending Prakash sahab to the Parliament”, he said. Owaisi vowed to work to get him elected to Parliament the same way as Muslims of Bengal had elected Dr BR Ambedkar to the constituent Assembly of India.
“Who gave us this constitution? Not the Sanghi organization (RSS), not the Nehru Gandhi family. The constitution was given to us by Dr Ambedkar”, he said amid the slogans of “Jai Bheem Jai meem” signifying the Dalit-Muslim alliance.
He recalled how the Dalits were subjected to inhuman treatment and the practice of untouchability before the constitution came into effect.
“Who are the people who are suffering the worst discrimination even today. Dalits and Muslims have the same problems and they will have to work together to solve them”, he said. He said that the alliance will work to win at least five Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra in the coming elections.
Prakash Ambedkar, who was a popular Dalit leader in Maharashtra, said that the success of the Alliance would depend on how closely and harmoniously both the Muslims and Dalits work together on the ground. “It is for you to strengthen it and make it successful”, he said.
The rally was preceded by a daylong convention, which was attended by delegates from several districts of Maharashtra. The leaders of Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi from districts said that the Dalit would have to dispel the impression that any upper caste party can buy the over by offering them a little money or a liquor bottle.
The alliance and the rally mark major step forward for the MIM in Maharashtra where it had won 2 assembly seats in 2015 and has presence in several civic bodies of the State.