Why no Bharat Ratna for Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar? Narendra Modi asks Congress

DHANDHUKA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday remembered Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar to hit out at the Congress while campaigning for the upcoming Gujarat elections 2017. He questioned the Congress for not conferring Bharat Ratna to Dr Ambedkar.

Addressing an election rally here, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) star campaigner slammed the Congress saying, “One family has done greatest injustice to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Sardar Vallabhbahi Patel.”

The nation is today observing Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's death anniversary.

Launching a scathing attack on the Nehru-Gandhi family, the Prime Minister said, When Jawaharlal Nehru's influence on the Congress was complete, the party ensured that Dr Ambedkar finds it tough to join the Constituent Assembly.

Attacking the previous Congress regimes in Gujarat, the PM said, “There are some words that the youth of Gujarat do not even know. One such word is curfew,” adding that “law and order situation has improved tremendously under the BJP governments over the last two decades.”

“BJP efforts ensured that youngsters in Gujarat got access to technology and there are more educational institutions to study. Our aim is to make our youth self-reliant,” the PM asserted.

The BJP star campaigner will address two more rallies in Dahod and Natrang later today.

On Friday, Narendra Modi will visit Lunawada at 9:30 in the morning and address a public meeting. After that, he will go to Bodeli at around 11.00 am. He will visit the milk capital Anand and address a gathering at 12 noon. His last public meeting of the day will be at Mehsana, the Patidar bastion, at 3.00 pm.

Visits of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiytanath, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje Scindia, BJP leaders Manoj Tiwari and Congress leader Raj Babbar, among others, were cancelled in the wake of announcement regarding the cyclone Ockhi.

Gujarat will go to polls on December 9 and 14. The results will be declared on December 18.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tributes to the architect of the Constitution, B R Ambedkar, on his death anniversary.

Ambedkar passed away on this day in 1956 at the age of 65.

"I bow to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on his Mahaparinirvan Diwas," the prime minister said on Twitter.