Lucknow, October 02: Following in the footsteps of Rahul Gandhi, Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh are all set to eat and sleep in Dalit villages across the state on October 2, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.
The party general secretary Rahul Gandhi had done it quietly when he stayed in a Dalit hamlet of Rampur Deoman village in Srawasti district last week and also took bath under a hand pump there.
It was his dignified reply to chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) chief Mayawati, who had tried to puncture the woo-Dalits agenda of the Gandhi scion by claiming he conducts a purification ritual and takes a bath with luxurious soaps after returning from Dalit villages.
The Congress high command had asked the state leaders to do everything Rahul had done, albeit one difference – their nocturnal forays will not be a secret.
Since Rahul had eaten poori sabji , which is considered pakka bhojan , the Congressmen will also share the same with the villagers.
Pakka bhojan is cooked in desi ghee and ritually considered pure food that can be shared by upper castes even when cooked by Dalits.
The Congressmen had shared pakka bhojan with dalit villagers in UP on June 19. This time, along with sharing food, the leaders will also discuss local problems with them.
The UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi is ready with a bed sheet to spend the October 2 night in Kol- dominated village in Meja assembly segment of Allahabad district.
” The MPs, MLAs, district presidents and panchayat presidents have been asked to hold chaupal in the villages in the night, share meals with the locals and spend the whole night there to get a first- hand experience of their poverty- ridden lives. This is the best way to communicate with the poor and instil confidence in them,” Joshi said.
” This is also the best way to silence Mayawati, who spreads rumours against our leader that he undergoes a purification rite after spending time with Dalits,” she said.
The UPCC president said the ministers, MPs and MLAs will visit Dalit villages in their respective constituencies. Shri Prakash Jaiswal, Jitin Prasad and Pradip Jain Aditya, three Union ministers of the state, will spend nights in the villages of Kanpur, Shahjahanpur and Jhansi.
Pramod Tiwari, legislature party leader in the Vidhan Sabha, said he will visit Sangramgarh in his Rampur assembly constituency in Pratapgarh district.
” The people know me well as I am representing them in the House for a long time. But this time, it will be a new experience as I will stay with them at night. It is a brilliant experiment done by Rahul Gandhi. We are happy to follow him,” he said.
Former chief minister Ram Naresh Yadav said, ” I will be staying in Raidas colony in Lucknow.”
—PTI