With the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress now involved in a tussle over sharing the legacy of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, Mayawati Government on Monday granted permission to the Congress for staging a rally in Ambedkar Nagar on April 14, at a venue opted by the Congress, after the issue threatened to snowball into a controversy.
The permission was granted but not before the ruling party accused the Congress of trying to defame the BSP Government.
April 14 is the birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar and on that day the Congress has planned to launch a ‘rath yatra’ programme in Uttar Pradesh from Ambedkar Nagar to commemorate 125 years of its existence. The Congress yatra would be flagged off by the party general secretary, Rahul Gandhi.
BSP will conduct a day-long State wide dharna and demonstration against the Women’s Reservation Bill in its present form on April 14, in addition to celebrating the Ambedkar birth anniversary.
The Congress had petitioned the Ambedkar Nagar district magistrate seeking his permission for the party rally at the ground adjacent to the air strip on April 14. However, reports from Ambedkar Nagar said that permission might be denied as there was a possibility of the Chief Minister arriving in the city on April 14 and since the ground was very close to the airstrip it could create security problems. The Congress should search for an alternate venue, reports quoting a BSP Minister, Ram Achal Rajbhar from Faizabad said.
PWD Minister, Naseemuddin Siddiqui, however, accused the Congress of raking up the controversy over the venue as it was worried that its April 14 programme would flop. Mr. Siddiqui said written permission for the Congress rally at the ground adjacent to the airstrip was given by the Ambedkar Nagar district magistrate on Monday.
Mr. Siddiqui told reporters here on Monday that the needless controversy was generated by the Congress in a bid to defame the Government by making baseless allegations that obstacles were being created by it.
The Congress was worried that the BSP’s programme in Ambedkar Nagar would be a bigger success and moreover, the Congress felt that it would be unable to draw crowds for the proposed rally, the PWD minister said. “ The BSP does not believe in playing political games”, Mr. Siddiqui added.
He said the president of the Ambedkar Nagar district unit of the Congress, Ram Kumar Pal had written two letters to the DM, dated, March 24, 2010 and March 29, 2010 ( copies of the letters were distributed to the Press ) seeking his permission for the rally and public meeting at the air strip ground on April 14.
Simultaneously, the BSP district unit president, Chunni Lal Gautam, submitted an application to the DM for celebrating Ambedkar “jayanti” near his statue and permission for the day-long dharna and demonstration. The permission for the BSP programme has also been granted.
Incidentally, a distance of about 200 metres separated the proposed Congress and BSP programmes. While the Ambedkar statue is situated on the right side of the air strip, the ground is on its left side.
