Two days after a nationwide bandh by various Dalit organisations turned violent leaving nine dead in separate incidents, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to reach out to community members saying that no regime had honoured Constitution framer Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as his government had.
Mr. Modi was speaking at the inauguration of an annexe building at Western Court that acts as a transit accommodation for newly elected lawmakers.
The bandh had been called after the Supreme Court laid down guidelines for arrests in cases filed under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, leading to Dalit organisations claiming that the law had been diluted.
The Union government moved a review petition against the Supreme Court’s order on Monday but the bandh went ahead and took on a distinctly anti-Centre tone.
“No government has, perhaps, given respect to Babasaheb (B.R. Ambedkar) the way our government has. Instead of dragging him into politics, we should all try to walk on the path he has shown us,” said Mr. Modi.
He said that it was his government that had completed the Ambedkar International Centre though the idea was conceived when former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was at the helm.
The 26, Alipur Road house where the Dalit icon died would be dedicated to the nation on April 13 on the eve of his birth anniversary, Mr. Modi said.
He hit out at the previous UPA government saying that it had delayed the project for years.
“But we completed projects in the stipulated time period. We are committed to ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’,” he said.
Mr. Modi said his government was walking the path shown by Dr. Ambedkar and asked every political group to try and do the same for the country’s development. “At the core of Ambedkar's ideals is harmony and togetherness. Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission,” he said.
