Gadkari Woos Dalits, Says Untouchability BJP Agenda
Indicating an important shift in party’s strategy by bringing in issues of Dalit welfare, BJP president Nitin Gadkari has said that untouchability is part of party’s ‘political commitment’, reported IANS.
Speaking in the inaugural session of BJP’s national executive meet in Indore, Gadkari was quoted as saying: “The issue of untouchability is a part of our political commitment.”
In view of many party leaders attending the session, Gadkari’s remarks were an indication that the BJP no longer wanted to be tagged as a party of middle class urban voters, said report.
“We need to expand our base. Dalits are an important constituency and a neglected one too. No national party has taken up their cause in big way on sustained basis. We are going to do that in days to come,” a senior BJP leader who attended the inaugural session, was quoted as saying by IANS.
The leader claimed that BJP completely opposed untouchability and stressed that the focus on Dalit issues was not aimed at electoral gains, said report.
In a move that could be seen as a political strategy to woo Dalits, Gadkari compared Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar with Martin Luther King Junior, said report.
The BJP president said that both fought for the rights of the downtrodden, adding Ambedkar played a pivotal role in bringing social justice to Dalits, Gadkari added, report said.
“There is a need to rise above the vote bank politics to tackle terrorism in the country,” he was quoted as saying.
On Centre’s move to hold talks with Pakistan, he said, “These talks are being conducted under the pressure of the US. National security is a cause of concern.”
Prominent BJP leaders attending the inaugural session at the sprawling tent city of Kushabhau Thackre Nagar, 10 km away from Indore city, included former deputy prime minister LK Advani, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, BJP chief ministers from Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh and former party chief Murli Manohar Joshi.
