As part of its continued outreach to Dalit communities, the Samajwadi Party (SP) will observe Parinirvan Diwas (death anniversary) of Dalit ideologue Dr BR Ambedkar on a grand scale across Uttar Pradesh on December 6. The main event will be held at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Lucknow, where SP national president Akhilesh Yadav will be the chief guest.
Party MPs, MLAs, Dalit leaders, and workers from across the state will participate in the programme.
“We will be organising a grand function to mark the Parinirvan Diwas of Baba Saheb on December 6. Members of our organisation from across the country will attend the event,” said SP Ambedkar Vahini’s general secretary Ram Babu Sudarshan.
A meeting of the SP Ambedkar Vahini, chaired by its national president Mithai Lal Bharti, was recently held at Darul Shafa in Lucknow to review preparations for the event.
The SP’s Dalit engagement has evolved significantly over the years — from symbolic gestures to structural inclusion — as the party intensifies efforts to consolidate Dalit and OBC voters. The formation of Ambedkar Vahini in 2021 marked a more formalised outreach. That year, SP encouraged workers to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti as ‘Dalit Diwali.’
During the 2019 elections, the party began observing the anniversaries of BR Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram and installed Ambedkar’s bust beside Ram Manohar Lohia’s statue at the party headquarters.
The party’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) plank focusing on backwards, Dalits and minorities, has become central to its political messaging. The formula paid dividends in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the SP won 37 seats, emerging as the third-largest party in Parliament.
Earlier this year, the SP organised a week-long ‘Swabhiman Swaman Samaroh’ to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti across state units, in collaboration with the Samajwadi Scheduled Caste Front. A bronze statue of Ambedkar in a seated posture, similar to those seen in BSP offices, was also unveiled by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Etawah.
Several prominent leaders from BSP, including Afzal Ansari, RK Chaudhary, Mithailal Bharti, and Ram Prasad Chaudhari, have since joined the SP.