Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar (Express Photo by Santosh Parab)
Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar on Tuesday said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar is not a farmers’ leader. “Sharad Pawar is not the leader of farmers. He is leader of industrialists who process agricultural produce,” Ambedkar said at a press conference called by the Dhangar Samaj Satta Sampadan Samiti in Pune.
He replied to questions raised by media persons on Pawar’s statement that farmers are left with no option but to take extreme measures, in view of the ongoing strike.
Without naming Pawar, Ambedkar opposed his view seeking reservation on the basis of economical conditions. “Those demanding reservations on the basis of economical conditions should fall in ditch. We have seen such demands for the past 70 years. But the issue has been settled and I do not give any importance to those raising such demands. I believe that till the existing Constitution of India is followed, caste-based reservations would continue,” said Ambedkar. A couple of months ago, Pawar had made a statement favouring reservations on the basis of economical conditions of a person.
Then, following police complaints regarding unrest at Choundi village in Ahmednagar district on the birth anniversary of Ahilyabai Holkar on May 31, Ambedkar called the NCP a friend of the BJP.