With BJP facing the heat over the death of a dalit student activist in Hyderabad, PM Narendra Modi tried his best to explain the party’s position during his four-hour visit to lucknow by visiting the Bharatratna Bodhisatva Babasahab Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha.
The Mahasabha holds a special place among dalits as it is one of three places where the ashes of Dr Ambedkar are kept in an urn. The other places are Mhow in Madhya Pradesh and Nagpur in Maharashtra.
Earlier, Modi addressed the convocation of Baba Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) where he spoke about the achievements of Amnedkar and his struggle for achieving success. “People do not know that he (Babasaheb) was the first Indian doctorate in Economics from an American university. He left the plush life and worked for the deprived class,” Modi had said in his speech.
It appeared to be a well-thought out political move to win back dalits in the BJP as the state is headed for Assembly polls in 2017. In the 2014 lok Sabha polls, Dalits, discarded the BSP and voted for the BJP en masse ensuring athumping victory. This BJP and its allies won 73 of the 80 seats. But in the bye-polls, dalits voted for SP resulting in the ignominious defeat of BJP.
With Mayawati starting to flex her muscles, there is all possibility that daits will go back to the BSP fold. To arrest this trend, Modi went around dalit institutions and eulogised Ambedkar.
In Bodhisatva Babasahab Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha Modi paid floral tributes to the urn where he spent about 10 minutes and was presented with a bronze statue of Dr Ambedkar by the office bearers.
Governor, Ram Naik and Union Home minister Rajnath Singh also accompanied the PM to the Mahasabha. The special urn carrying Ambedkar’s ashes was handed to the Ambedkar Mahasabha on April 14,1991 by Savita Ambedkar, wife of Dr Ambedkar. Modi is the the first PM to visit that place.
In 2014, former Chief Justice of India, KG Balakrishnan came here and offered his tributes. Former President KR Narayanan too visited the place after assuming office and the sapling he planted on the compound has grown into a tree.