Rakesh Sinha denies garlanding Ambedkar statue in Meerut

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rakesh Sinha on Sunday refuted reports of having garlanded a statue of Dr. BR Ambedkar in Meerut, a day after a group of lawyers "purified" the statue with milk and gangaajal after they claimed that Sinha was among the BJP leaders who garlanded it.

The BJP leader took to Twitter to clarify that he had not visited Meerut in the last ten years, and therefore, was not present at the time of the incident.

"In Katihar on August 4, In Patna for my mother's monthly rituals on August 5, from August 6 to 10, I was attending the Monsoon session of the Parliament, on August 11, I delivered an inaugural speech at a thinker's meet in Bhopal," he tweeted.

On Saturday, one of the lawyers present at the venue said the purification was done after Sinha garlanded the statue.

"The BJP government oppresses Dalits. They have nothing to do with Ambedkar, but still, they use his name just to promote their party and allure the Dalit community," the lawyer had told ANI.

Rakesh Sinha, who was recently nominated to the Rajya Sabha by President Ram Nath Kovind, joined the BJP last month.

An author and columnist, Sinha was among four people nominated to the Rajya Sabha by President Kovind last month.