BSP, BJP rallies on Ambedkar anniv at Nangal village

At a stone’s throw from each other, BSP’s state president Avtar Singh Karimpuri and BJP’s senior leader Vijay Sampla addressed separate rallies at Nangal village in Phillaur to mark the birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar today.

The respective “Punjab Sambhalo” (BSP) and “Anakh Di Jot” (Sampla) rallies were held by respective leaders in the wake of the SFJ vandalism threats to Ambedkar statues in the region until April 14, the birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar. While the BSP rally was at the Nangal village chowk at the site of the March 31 vandalism, Sampla’s rally was at the main throughfare by the highway – where another Ambedkar statue remains installed.

BSP state president Avtar Singh Karimpuri, while addressing the crowd at the party’s Punjab Sambhalo Rally at Nangal village in Phillaur, questioned the Congress and BJP’s intent to facilitate constitutional rights for Dalits and later also questioned the “conspiratorial silence” of the ruling dispensation and opposition parties in the state on the issue of the Ambedkar statue vandalism.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Vijay Sampla, along with his supporters, said he was there to guard the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar as per his earlier call for April 14.

Sampla sought an immediate FIR under Sections of the Sacrilege and SC Act against Pannu and the SFJ chief’s extradition from the USA to Punjab.

Both rallies saw singers regaling people with Babasaheb songs and calls for unity amidst recent threats. The mood at both rallies (especially BSP) was that of a consolidation and assertion of Dalit presence in the region amidst dares by the SFJ. Volunteers and villagers had also held theekri pehras for days across Phillaur Goraya villages amidst threats to Ambedkar statues.