UP Congress Chief asks party workers to increase Dalit outreach

Lucknow, Oct 20 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh Congress Ajay Rai has asked all its senior leaders, office bearers and in charges to visit various districts and camp there to give a boost to the Dalit Gaurav Samvad campaign launched to connect with Dalits.

The party is also preparing to hold a large rally in Lucknow on November 26.

The Congress’ Dalit Gaurav Samvad, launched on Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram’s death anniversary on October 9, will continue till the Constitution Day on November 26, 2023.

UPCC President Ajay Rai said: “We have reviewed performance of all the districts in respect to the Dalit Gaurav Samvad. We found some districts have not taken the campaign to the grassroots level and such districts have been asked to do so up to the booth levels. We are also getting ready to hold a mega rally in Lucknow on November 26, 2023.”

However, Rai did not name the districts, which were found to have performed poorly but said he would personally communicate this to office bearers of concerned units, if needed.

He said the office bearers in the identified districts should improve their performance and not figure on such lists in future.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress has not been able to get a list of the Dalit villages from 22 districts and directives were issued to submit such a list immediately.

There were also reports that some of the district units have not been able to hold press conferences. These units have been asked to comply with the directives. The party workers have been asked to aggressively publicise the party’s Dalit outreach on social media by sharing links of the campaign.

“Rai has issued directives regarding stepping up the Dalit Gaurav Samvad and launching the campaign aggressively on social media. As one lakh Dalit Adhikar Mang Patras have been already circulated to the party men, a demand to provide more such proformas has been made,” said UPCC organisation Secretary Anil Yadav.