Chirag Paswan Criticizes Congress' Dalit Card Tactic for Speaker Election

Union minister and BJP ally Chirag Paswan criticized the Congress for using the 'Dalit card' in the Lok Sabha speaker election. He claimed the party resorts to this tactic when it anticipates defeat, citing previous instances in 2002 and 2017. Paswan's remarks come as Congress nominates K Suresh against NDA's Om Birla.

In a pointed critique, Union minister and BJP ally Chirag Paswan on Tuesday accused the Congress of leveraging the 'Dalit card' in the election for Lok Sabha speaker. Paswan claimed the opposition party repeatedly employs this tactic whenever it faces a likely defeat.

Paswan, leader of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), expressed his views in a Hindi post on X. He referenced the 2002 vice-presidential election, where the Congress nominated Dalit leader Sushil Kumar Shinde despite knowing an imminent loss. Similarly, he pointed to the 2017 presidential race, where Meira Kumar, another Dalit leader, was fielded against BJP's Ram Nath Kovind, who eventually won.

He questioned whether Dalit leaders are merely symbolic candidates for the opposition, as the Congress has now nominated K Suresh, also from a Dalit community, for the Lok Sabha speaker's election against NDA's Om Birla, in a scenario where their numbers don't support a win.