18 January,2024 10:58 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Prakash Ambedkar. Pic/X@VBAforIndia
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) president Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday declined an invite for Ram temple event on January 22.
Ambedkar declined an invite from the Ram temple trust for the 'pran Pratishtha' (consecration) ceremony of the new Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
In a letter to the trust, he said the event has been hijacked by the BJP and the RSS.
"A religious Ram temple event has been turned into a political campaign," he said.
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His grandfather Dr B R Ambedkar had warned that if political parties put caste and religion above the nation, the freedom would be in danger once again, the VBA chief noted.
Earlier, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar has written to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stating that he will participate in Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra only if VBA is invited to join the INDIA bloc and the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, reported PTI.
Ambedkar made his position clear in a letter addressed to Gandhi after the former was invited to join the Yatra, which started from Manipur on Sunday.
He stated the VBA has not been included in the INDI Alliance or the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra despite repeated communication with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
"I conditionally accept the invitation for your Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. It would be difficult for me to join your yatra without the long-awaited invitation to join both INDIA and MVA," Ambedkar wrote.
Without an invitation (to MVA) to join the INDIA bloc and MVA, participating in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will lead to speculation of an alliance, which has not been materialised, and will have negative implications, he added, reported PTI.
"Hence, we stress that you invite VBA to INDIA and MVA as well," Ambedkar said.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had said the opposition in Maharashtra wants to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as an INDIA alliance by taking VBA and Left parties on board, as it would help prevent vote fragmentation.
Ambedkar, grandson of B R Ambedkar, has often expressed his displeasure at the Congress dragging its feet over inducting the VBA into the Opposition camp.
The VBA has joined hands with Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) in Maharashtra.
(With inputs from PTI)
