PTI, LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh today waded into a political controversy by deciding to introduce ‘Ramji’ as the middle name of the Father of the Constitution B R Ambedkar in all official correspondence and records.
The decision did not go down well with the opposition ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, with a fuming Samajwadi Party seeing vote-bank politics behind the move.
A government order to this effect, issued last night, got mired in political controversy with the SP crying hoarse that the move smacked of politics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
“The BJP government is playing politics with the name of the Dalit icon,” SP leader Anurag Bhadoria said, hours after the state government issued the order.
He charged the state government with politicising Ambedkar’s name to attract Dalit votes.
In Mainpuri, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said instead of altering Ambedkar’s name, it is important that the path he showed is followed.
“A change has been made in the name of Bhim Rao Ambedkar … whosoever has the right to vote knows his name… It is essential today, when he is being remembered and a new name is being affixed with his name, to follow the path shown by him,” he said, adding every child knows Ambedkar’s name.
“I will say that it is also essential that the chief minister reads the Preamble of the Constitution… If he does so, the anger that was shown in the UP Legislative Council over his remarks against socialism will not be seen… The Constitution and its basis is around socialism,” he said.
