News

UP CM Yogi announces protective walls for Ambedkar statues, welfare schemes for workers

LUCKNOW: With 2027 state assembly polls inching closer, political players, eyeing Dalit votes, are out to woo the community as it makes a substantial chunk of UP electorate. If Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former UP CM Mayawati has got into active mode convening marathon meetings to invigorate the cadre on the ground to bring back her Dalit vote into party favour, Samajwadi Party president and also a former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav is harping on Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak (PDA) narrative hoping to repeat his 2024 Lok Sabha poll performance. Similarly, the present UP dispensation, led by Yogi Adityanath, has also commenced efforts to keep BJPs Dalit support, which had been making it sail through since 2014 Lok Sabha elections, intact. Treading on the same path, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Saturday, announced several significant decisions including the construction of boundary walls around statues of Dr BR Ambedkar across the state to ensure safety. Many such statues, he noted, had been subjected to vandalism by miscreants. Speaking at an event organized by Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha Trust on the occasion of Mahaparinirvan Diwas of Dr Ambedkar, Yogi reiterated his governments commitment to protect the legacy of Baba Saheb and implementing his vision of justice, equality, and fraternity. In order to prevent the incidents of vandalism against the statues of Baba Saheb, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to build protective boundary walls and install canopies over all his statues. His legacy must be preserved with dignity, said CM Yogi. Making some other major welfare-oriented announcement, Yogi said that the state government would ensure a guaranteed minimum honorarium for Class IV employees, contract workers, and sanitation workers within the next one to two months. CM Yogi said that those workerswho played an essential role in running civic and government servicesdeserved a fair and dignified compensation. We have already set up a dedicated corporation. In the next month or two, the government will ensure minimum honorarium payments to all Class IV, contract, and sanitation workers, he said. He added that the ongoing Zero Poverty Mission was being accelerated to ensure that no family in the state remained deprived of government benefits. He said identification of poor families belonging Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and the Most Backward Classes was nearly complete. Many families had already received ration cards, pension cards, or other welfare benefits. Those still without housing or Ayushman health coverage would be provided homes and health insurance worth Rs 5 lakh. No poor or deprived person in Uttar Pradesh will be left out, the Chief Minister added. CM Yogi strongly criticised political parties for their alleged appeasement-oriented politics saying that they had been pursuing it for votes. Calling it detrimental to national unity and an insult to Baba Saheb's ideals, UP CM recalled an incident involving a prominent Congress leader Muhammad Ali Jauhar who refused to sing Vande Mataram in 1923. Baba Saheb warned the nation long ago about such tendencies, he said adding: He had said that anyone who enjoys the privileges of India but does not consider its land sacred cannot genuinely work in the interest of this country. Parties driven by appeasement are not only harming India but also disrespecting Dr Ambedkar. Calling Mahaparinirvan Diwas a day of deep inspiration, CM Yogi said Baba Saheb rose from the grassroots, overcoming immense social discrimination and traditional inequalities to open pathways of dignity and empowerment for Dalits, the deprived, and the most backward communities. Baba Sahebs life teaches us that strength, perseverance, and education can change the world. His struggle ensured that millions received opportunities to live with dignity, the Chief Minister said. Whether it is scholarships, housing schemes, pensions, social security, or health insuranceevery benefit is reaching the ground. No Dalit, deprived, or backward citizen is being left behind. Ownership rights through housing documents, construction of toilets, distribution of ration, and access to modern healthcare are all reflections of the equality Baba Saheb envisioned, he said. The Chief Minister said that the prosperity and opportunities people enjoy today were deeply rooted in Baba Sahebs philosophy. Under PM Modis leadership, India was honouring great national icons through initiatives such as the construction of Panchteerthas and scholarship programmes extended to SC, ST, OBC, and Dalit students. He added that the state government was working to connect every slum, Dalit settlement, and SC/ST habitation with essential services and infrastructure. If any pockets are still left out, we will ensure they are fully connected. Baba Sahebs ideals continue to guide our path, he concluded.