Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress, accusing the Grand Old party of "insulting" BR Ambedkar and marginalising Dalits.

On Ambedkar’s 135th birth anniversary at an event in Haryana’s Hisar Modi equated Ambedkar jayanti to a “second Diwali” for Dalits and the marginalised.

“Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted to bring equality, but Congress spread the virus of vote bank (politics) in the country. He wanted every poor person to live with dignity, with heads held high, to dream and fulfil them. But the Congress made the SCs, STs and OBCs second-class citizens,” PM Modi said, alleging the Congress had reduced the marginalised section to “second-class citizens” during its tenure at the Centre.

Modi asserted that under Congress rule, “water reached the swimming pools of the party's leaders but tap water did not reach villages.” He added, “Even 70 years after Independence, only 16 per cent of homes in villages had tap water... Who were the most affected by this? It was the SCs, STs and OBCs.”

For all the impassioned rhetoric, Modi’s party has not often walked the talk.

Modi’s home state Gujarat, where he was chief minister for 13 years, ranks fifth in caste based crimes, which has seen an upward swing since 2014 the year Modi moved to Delhi as Prime Minister.

In the 2024 winter session in the Rajya Sabha, Union home minister Amit Shah aka Modi’s closest aide took a barb at the man who framed India’s Constitution.

“Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai – Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. Itna naam agar bhagwan ka lete to saat janmon tak swarg mil jata (It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar’s name repeatedly. Had people taken God’s name so often, they would have earned heaven for seven lifetimes),” Shah said, on the Constitution’s 75th anniversary.

Prakash Ambedkar, Babasaheb’s grandson and leader of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, responded: “Before the BJP came into existence, its forerunners Jan Sangh and RSS had opposed Babasaheb while the Constitution was being adopted. There is nothing new in the statement. They are not able to execute their old plans. Not because of Congress, but because of Babasaheb Ambedkar, and they will continue to sulk.”

The National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) Crime in India report for 2022 documented 57,582 cases of crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs), a 13.1 per cent increase from 2021.

A report from the ministry of social justice and empowerment revealed that BJP-ruled states dominate in atrocity cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for 12,287 cases in 2022—23.78 per cent of all such incidents nationwide.

Uttar Pradesh, under BJP rule, topped the chart in cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act—with 12,287 cases in 2022 alone, accounting for nearly 24 per cent of the national total. Madhya Pradesh leads in cases against Scheduled Tribes.

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar—states governed by the BJP or its allies—reported the highest number of cases.

In 2024, over 20 Dalit homes were torched in Bihar’s Nawada district in a brutal assault reportedly over a land dispute.

Entire families were left homeless and traumatised as attackers beat residents, set homes ablaze, and fired shots to instill fear.