A ‘Samvidhan Manstambh’ was unveiled at the Samajwadi Party’soffice in Lucknow on Friday by party President Akhilesh Yadav.
A ‘manstambh’ is a column of honour. The one unveiled today has a copy of the Preamble of the Constitution, in Hindi. Placed by it is a copy of the Constitution of India – not in the trademark red that was part of the recent election campaign, but in blue.
Yadav said that such columns would be set up in all party offices. “The Constitution illuminates the way for our PDA (Pichda, Dalit, Alpasankhyak). Our effort to make more and more people join this movement shall continue,” he said. Yadav also mentioned that his was the only party which had ‘socialist’ in its name – a value that is mentioned in the Preamble.
July 26 is the chosen date as it was on this date that Rajshri Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj implemented reservation in Kolhapur on the suggestion of Jyotiba Phule. “The sentiment of social justice was implemented in the form of reservation on this day. Later, through the efforts of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar ji it was enshrined as a right of people for social justice,” Yadav wrote on X.
The column would be a physical motivator for the fight against inequality. “It is a very long struggle”, said Yadav. He also re-articulated the party’s demand for caste census and the call for ‘haq’ and ‘samman’ on the basis of population. “The BJP is working against the basic sentiment of reservation”, he said.
On a lighter note, he also said the media, which had finally started to speak about the corruption in the current government should also take inspiration from the Constitution.
A poem, which went ‘Main Bharat ka samvidaan hoon, Akhilesh mere rakhwale hain’ (I am India’s Constitution, Akhilesh is my protector), was also read out on the occasion.