In a desperate attempt to woo the Dalit vote bank in the State, Congress launched “Bheem Jyoti Rath Yatra” as part of 125th birth anniversary celebration of Dr B R Ambedkhar in the state.
Interestingly the yatra was flagged off by Rajya Sabha member P l Punia on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. In the first phase till September 8, the yatra will cover several districts of eastern UP in the first phase.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday afternoon, Punia alleged that the Samajwadi Party government in the State is totally anti-dalit, while the Bahujan Samaj Party was only shedding crocodile tears for the community. He also blamed the BJP for opting double standard on the Dalit issue.
Talking about reservation in promotion issue in which the Dalits in UP are being demoted, the Congress leader said, ''the present SP government has gone against the dalit officials by wrong interpretation of the Supreme Court judgement.''
Punia said here that the yatra will cover Dalit-dominated areas in every district of the state in three phases. The Party plans to complete the first phase of 17 eastern districts in 19 days — before the panchayat polls. The notification for the elections is expected in the second week of September. A team from AICC led by SC cell general secretary Christopher Tilak will assist it when it came to event management and preparation of booklets and handouts that will be distributed during the yatra. An “electronic rath” is likely to feature in the yatra, on which recorded songs and speeches will be played.
The yatra started from lucknow on Thursday would reach Barabanki on Friday. It will later proceed to Basti, Bahraich, Deoria, Gorakhpur and Kushinagar. Before it concludes in lucknow on September 8, the Party plans to take the yatra to Amethi, Sultanpur and Rae Bareli also. Punia, who is also chairman of the SC Commission said," Through pamphlets, booklets, handouts and speeches, we will tell our community that Congress has done the most for them. We will tell Dalits that they can grow only under Congress’ ideology.”
Before the 2012 Assembly polls, Congress had tried to woo Dalits in a similar manner. Party vice president Rahul Gandhi had started statewide ‘Chetna yatras’ from Ambedkar Nagar district on Ambedkar Jayanti April 14, 2010. While those yatras covered all assembly segments, the Bheem Jyoti Yatra will target mainly Dalit-dominated areas in every district.
There are 85 reserved constituencies in the State. In the last Assembly polls, Congress could win only four seats — Hapur, Khurja, Jagdishpur in Amethi and Rath in Bundelkhand. Another seat, Duddhi, was won by an Independent candidate — Rubi Prasad — who was supported by Congress. Rubi has now shifted loyalties to the ruling Samajwadi Party. Three reserved constituencies in western UP were won by Congress’ alliance partner RlD.