Ahmedabad: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been gifted a 125 kg, 16-feet-long soap by a newly-formed Dalit outfit in Gujarat.


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In May, a news report had said that soaps, scents, and shampoos were distributed to the Musahar Dalit families in Mainpur Deenapatti village of Kushinagar district ahead of the UP CM's visit. The villagers had received two soaps and a sachet of shampoo and instructions to clean themselves before attending the public meeting.


Now, Dr Ambedkar Vechan Pratibandh Samiti said that with this 16-ft-long soap, the UP CM can bathe himself before meeting the Dalits, reported india.com.


“The attitude of Yogi Adiyanath indicates his manuvadi (casteist) approach. He needs to cleanse himself of these impurities,” Kirit Rahtod and Kantilal Parmar, the members of the outfit said.


The Rs 3,200 worth soap is embossed with an image of Gautam Buddha.


Meanwhile, Samiti member Martin Macwan told reporters that the idea was to mark the 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar who had embraced Buddhism with a view to fight casteism in the Indian society.


“After attaining enlightenment 2,500 years ago, Buddha had taken Sunit, a scavenger, as his disciple at Kushinagar near Varanasi to protest the prevailing caste system. It is the same place, the UP chief minister recently chose to distribute soaps and shampoo before visiting the Dalits. It indicates that Yogi, under the influence of Manusmriti, wants to reverse what Buddha has done. We feel that Yogi’s casteist ideologies can be cleaned by Buddha’s message. We can fight the ideologies of saffron groups and Yogi through the ideologies of Buddha,” The Indian Express quoted the founder of NGO Navsarjan as saying.