AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar at a joint rally in Aurangabad. (Express Photo)
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi and Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar indicated on Tuesday that they would contest 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together.
Addressing a joint rally in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad, Prakash Ambedkar and Owaisi, who came together under the banner of ‘Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi’, appeared confident that their front will send out a strong signal among voters, especially Muslims and Dalits, who are tired of the votebank politics of various political parties.
“I have read history, but not like Modi. I am not sure which books he has read… October 2 is Gandhi Jayanti, but in India’s history, not Gandhi, but Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was a great leader,” Owaisi said.
The AIMIM president said it was in 1946 that Ambedkar had written to the Constituent Assembly that there should be a separate ministry for minorities. “It was in 2005 that such a ministry came into existence…it reflects the vision of Dr B R Ambedkar,” he said.
Emphasising that Prakash Ambedkar — a prominent Dalit leader and grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar — should be elected to Lok Sabha, Owaisi said, “He should lead from the front, we are with him… We should all work relentlessly to send him to Lok Sabha.”
Prakash Ambedkar and Asauddin Owaisi met late on Monday. (Express photo)
Claiming that efforts were being made by certain quarters to stop Prakash Ambedkar, Owaisi said: “The same people had worked overtime to defeat Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in 1952.”
“The Constitution was not made by the RSS or the Nehru-Gandhi family. It was given to the nation by Dr Ambedkar. And therefore, we should work unitedly to support Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi, which is propagating the thoughts of Dr B R Ambedkar,” Owaisi said.
Prakash Ambedkar claimed that many people were “stunned” after the two parties had come together. “After 70 years, we have succeeded in creating the feeling among the masses that they would come to power to protect their own rights.”