Former diplomat Satender Kumar, who belongs to the dalit community and has roots in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday joined the Congress. He was accorded a high-profile welcome, with senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is AICC general secretary in charge of UP, and state PCC chief Raj Babbar, announcing his entry into the party at its headquarters in the national capital.
Kumar retired from the Indian Foreign Service on June 30, 2018, after 34 years of service which included ambassadorial postings as well as assignments in the ministry of external affairs office in New Delhi.
He comes from a family with Congress moorings—his grandfather was a freedom fighter and a member of the Congress, and his uncle had contested Vidhan Sabha elections on a Congress ticket.
Welcoming Kumar into the Congress, Azad highlighted his dalit credentials, and said that he has joined the party along with around 350 supporters from Saharanpur, Loni, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and also areas in Haryana and Uttarakhand.
“I hope that his joining the Congress will benefit the dalit community as well as the party on a whole,” he said.
The Congress' efforts to play up Kumar's entry into the party appeared intended to send a message to BSP supremo Mayawati, who gave the Congress a big snub recently as she announced that her party will not enter into any alliance with the principal opposition party in election-bound Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
An indication to this effect came as Babbar informed that just as Kumar joined the Congress in Delhi, many other bureaucrats who belong to the dalit community will be joining the party in coming days. He said that former Indian Revenue Service officer Kanhaiya Lal will be joining the party in Lucknow tomorrow.
“I have taken a considered decision to join the Congress. I believe that it is the Congress alone that truly represents the aspirations of the dalits, the farmers and the labourers,” Kumar said.
