LUCKNOW, June 17: Neither was Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar author of the Constitution nor did he participate in the freedom movement - Samajwadi Party (SP) secretary general Kapil Deo Singh at Lucknow on Monday.Dr Ambedkar did not do anything other than create trouble for Mahatma Gandhi - Union Communication Minister Beni Prasad Varma of the SP at Barabanki.The BSP is trying to reduce Ambedkar to the status of a leader of a particular caste. If it did not stop misusing the SC/ST Act, I will not only provoke people against this Government, but also ask them to resort to violence - Defence Minister and SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav at Budaun.The statements may have been made by different leaders and at different places, but the message is the same. It is the SP's answer to Mayawati's statement describing Mahatma Gandhi as shaitan ki aulad (Devil's child). By launching an insinuation campaign against Dr Ambedkar, the SP appears to have already conceded the SC/ST vote-bank to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).The attack on Dr Ambedkar seems to be part of a well-honed strategy of the SP. After realising that they won't be able to win over the Dalits from the BSP, the SP leaders have decided to capitalise on the anti-Dalit sentiments of backwards and upper castes.This also explains why the alleged misuse of the SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act by the Mayawati Government figures so prominently in the speeches of almost all SP leaders, especially that of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Mulayam has claimed that at least 98,000 persons have been arrested under the Act since the BSP-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government was formed on March 21. But the figures available at the State police headquarter belie his claim. ``Only 6,000 cases have been registered under the Act in which 3,000 persons were arrested during the past three months,'' says Director-General of Police Sri Ram Arun. Public Works Department (PWD) and Tourism Minister Kalraj Mishra accuses Mulayam of trying to sow caste hatred by exaggerating the figure of arrests under the Act. ``This is a dangerous game and a person holding the Defence portfolio at the Centre should not stoop to this level,'' he says. The CM has described Mulayam's call to upper castes and backwards to resort to violence against Dalits as one of frustration. ``We don't believe in violence but we will not tolerate it either and give a befitting reply,'' she said in a statement recently.SP leaders have been trying to highlight Mayawati's attempts to glorify Dr Ambedkar with scant attention to basic developmental problems, like those of drinking water, roads and electricity, to gain the sympathy of the upper castes. With the Yadavs and the Muslims already with them, getting hold of upper castes could provide them with an invincible electoral base.This might be a plausible reason for Deo Singh to denounce Dr Ambedkar. Singh claimed that Ambedkar did not write the Constitution himself. He was only convenor of the committee which prepared the draft.
