The Rush for Bhimrao
Since April 14 – which marked the 125th birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar – both the BJP and the Congress have been vying to appropriate Ambedkar’s legacy, at least in part, to gain political mileage. The BJP particularly has its eye on polls in Bihar later this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to head the committee that will oversee various activities and events to celebrate Ambedkar over the next year.
And a resurgent Rahul Gandhi is heading to Ambedkar’s birthplace, Mhow, to finally kick off the Congress’ celebrations.
The RSS too has planned a series of events to commemorate Ambedkar. Their mouthpiece Organiser had published a special 200-page edition on Ambedkar for his birth anniversary on April 14. The RSS is keenly arguing that the Dalit icon actually supported ‘ghar waapsi’.