Former Congress MP Udit Raj on Wednesday claimed that police denying him permission for an Ambedkarite rally was “a conspiracy to create a Hindu Rashtra”.

He told reporters here: “The cancellation of the rally to save the Constitution signifies a conspiracy to create a Hindu nation. Sardar Patel called the idea of ‘Hindu Raj’, ‘madness’, but the Modi government is doing the exact opposite of his ideas.

“On one hand, there is an act of banning the rally to save the Constitution, while on the other, there is a conspiracy to destroy it. The BJP and RSS are supporting Dhirendra Shastri from behind, just as they did the Anna movement.”

Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, a Hindu preacher from Madhya Pradesh’s Bageshwar Dham, conducted a yatra in north India earlier this month to urge people to demand that India be established as a Hindu nation. Politicians from major parties in the region, including former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath of the Congress, flocked to him.

Raj vowed to conduct the rally on October 30 and is exploring venues other than the Ramlila Maidan, the request for which was declined citing “high alert” after the Red Fort blast.

Labour code protests

A joint forum of 10 central trade unions, farmers’ body Sanyukt Kisan Morcha and members of power sector engineers’ body AIPEF on Wednesday held nationwide protests against the four labour codes approved by the government.

In a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu, the joint forum said: “These codes negate our right to strike, make union registration problematic, de-recognition of unions easy, the process of conciliation and adjudication cumbersome, winding up labour courts and introducing tribunal for workers, overriding power to registrars to de-register unions.”