Lohardaga (Jharkhand), Apr 24 (PTI) BJP leader Champai Soren on Thursday described the Congress as “anti-Jharkhand and anti-tribal”, alleging that the party has always insulted Bhimrao Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution.

Congress leaders were carrying the Constitution in their pockets to show their closeness to Ambedkar but their party was responsible for his defeat in the Lok Sabha election twice, the BJP MLA and a former Jharkhand CM said.

Addressing a symposium on the Dalit icon organised by the BJP’s Schedule Tribe Morcha, Soren said the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had campaigned against Ambedkar on both occasions.

“The Congress has always insulted Ambedkar. The Congress had attempted to damage Ambedkar politically while he was conferred with the Bharat Ratna only after a BJP-supported coalition came to power,” he said.

The award was conferred posthumously on Ambedkar in 1990 when Janata Dal leader VP Singh was the prime minister in the National Front government. It was supported by the saffron party. “The BJP keeps the constitution in its heart, not in the pocket,” the tribal leader claimed.

He alleged that the Congress had revoked Adivasi Sarna religion code in 1961, opened fire on various occasions on activists of the Jharkhand movement to crush it.

“We cannot imagine that any party allying with the Congress would ever serve the interests of tribals or Jharkhand,” Soren claimed hitting indirectly at the JMM.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP created the separate Jharkhand state, he said.

“I do not hesitate to admit that Jharkhand would not have come into being, had Vajpayee ji’s government not been there,” Soren added.

Expressing concern over rampant conversion of tribals and infiltration of Bangladeshis in the state, especially in the Santal Paragana region, Soren held the state government responsible for it.

“If we do not wake up now, no tribal will be left to offer prayers in our Sarna sthals (places of worship),” he warned. PTI BS NN