New Delhi--With Rahul Gandhi yet to return from his “sabbatical”, Congress has decided to hold a low-key function on Tuesday to mark the beginning of the year-long celebrations of B R Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary. While, senior leader Sushil Kumar Shinde would attend a function in Mhow, the birth place of Ambedkar, on Tuesday, the party would now kick-off the nationwide celebrations at an event in the Madhya Pradesh town next month, which will be attended by Rahul.
Congress wanted to launch the celebrations in a big way, but Rahul’s unavailability forced it to redraw the schedule.
Sources said the Congress vice-president was expected to return on Monday, but it now appears that he may return on Wednesday. Congress’s SC department too wanted to organise a public meeting at Talkatora stadium on Amedbkar Jayanti, but the uncertainty over Rahul’s return and preparations for the Kisan Rally on April 19 prompted it to drop the plan.
With RSS and BJP aggressively wooing Dalits, Congress too is leaving no stone unturned to reach out to them, key to its revival, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. And the party is at pains to explain that Ambedkar and Congress cannot be separated — it subtly suggested the Dalit icon would not achieved what he did without the support of Congress’s leadership.
Indian Express
