NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday accused the BJP-led Delhi government of insulting Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and the Dalit community by allegedly renaming Dr Ambedkar Schools of Specialised Excellence (SoSE) as CM Shri Schools. The BJP, rejecting the charge, accused AAP of politicising Ambedkar’s name for “petty political survival.”
AAP Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj, at a press conference on Friday, said the decision reflected the BJP’s “anti-Ambedkar mindset.” He alleged that after forming the government, the BJP had removed Ambedkar’s portraits from government offices and was now erasing his name from premier schools. “In any photograph of CM Rekha Gupta now, Babasaheb’s portrait is nowhere to be seen. Only the Prime Minister’s picture is visible,” Bharadwaj claimed, adding that the move was a “deliberate insult to Dalit community.”
He said that the AAP government had earlier mandated portraits of Dr B R Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh in offices of the chief minister, ministers and senior officials to promote their ideals. “Now, schools once named after a great scholar who earned multiple degrees from Columbia and London are being renamed after the chief minister,” he added. Rejecting the allegations, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and General Secretary Yogendra Chandolia said it was “pathetic” that AAP leaders invoke Ambedkar’s name for political gain.
They alleged that in ten years of governance, AAP’s only move was to rename 31 Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas as Dr B R Ambedkar Schools of Excellence, which later lost credibility after being affiliated with the newly formed Delhi Board of School Education.
“The upliftment of Dalits cannot be achieved by merely displaying Ambedkar’s photographs,” the BJP said, calling for genuine efforts to provide education and social equality.