Anti-Dalit KCR has no right to unveil Ambedkar's statute, says Bandi

HYDERABAD: As BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao unveiled the statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar claimed on Friday that Rao had no moral authority to inaugurate the 125-foot statue because he had had misled Dalits during the nine years of his tenure and had humiliated them by not keeping the promises he had made to the community.

While paying tribute to Dr Ambedkar on his 132nd birth anniversary at Tank Bund and later at the BJP office, Sanjay claimed that Rao had consistently insulted Babasaheb and the Constitution by breaking his promises to the Dalits and by defying the letter of the law by stifling dissenting voices, limiting free speech and suppressing the right to protest—all fundamental principles of the Constitution.

Sanjay demanded that Rao answer Dalits as to why he had not participated in any celebration honouring Dr Ambedkar's birth or death anniversaries during the past nine years.

Sanjay said that under the Rao's ‘constitution,’ corruption and false promises had reigned supreme, and that the CM had broken every promise he had made to the Dalits.  

" KCR must first tender an unconditional apology to Dalits for failing to fulfil the promise of giving each of them three acres of land and failing to appoint a Dalit as Telangana's first chief minister. He should also apologise for undermining the Constitution of India," he remarked.

Stating that the BJP was not against installation of the Dr Ambedkar statue, Sanjay asked why the Rao government had delayed the project. BJP leaders had visited the site several times and exposed the inordinate delay in the completion of the project, he claimed.

"It is clear that KCR has inaugurated the statue this year solely to win Dalit votes in the elections. He had done the same thing in the past by holding P.V. Narasimha Rao birth anniversary celebrations to appease voters in the MLC elections but stopped attending the former prime minister's birth and death anniversaries," he claimed.

The state BJP president mocked media advertisements suggesting that the Dalit Bandhu initiative was a torchbearer for the country. "If KCR is sincere, he should release a White Paper detailing how many Dalits have benefited from the Dalit Bandhu scheme," he demanded.  Sanjay said that funds were not being released under the Aarogyasri and fee reimbursement schemes, which were intended to help the SCs, STs, and BCs. "The same is true for Dalit Bandhu scheme," he added.

He said only the BJP had sincerely pursued the ideals for which Dr Ambedkar had fought. “The BJP government has repealed Article 370, as Ambedkar wanted it to. If elected, the BJP will govern the state and the country in accordance with Ambedkar's principles and ideals,” Sanjay remarked.

He claimed that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, vision and policies that empowered Dalits. He said the BJP government at the Centre had provided loans to 1.25 lakh Dalits, appointed a Dalit as President, inducted 12 Dalits into the Union Cabinet, and provided benefits to them through the Jan Dhan Yojana.