Sonia, Rahul assert Ambedkar's legacy for Congress on RSS turf

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday spent some quiet moments at Dr B R Ambedkar’s memorial ‘Deekshabhoomi’ in Nagpur, after paying him floral tributes.

Deekshabhoomi commemorates the place where Dr Ambedkar and thousands of his followers embraced Buddhism on October 14, 1956.

Sonia, Rahul and former Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde paid floral tributes to Ambedkar. Then they sat down near the urn containing his ashes with closed eyes.

“This is a matter of great happiness to have the opportunity to pay my respect and homage to Deekshabhoomi,” Sonia Gandhi wrote in the visitors’ book.

Chairman of Dr Ambedkar Smarak Samiti Bhante Sarai Sasai and close associate of Dr Ambedkar Sadanand Fulzele presented them mementos on the occasion.

Later, addressing a rally to mark culmination of the year-long celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar at KasturchandPark in Nagpur, Sonia asserted the legacy of the Dalit icon for Congress and tore into the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh over reservation.

“The right-wing outfit is bent upon to destroy the democratic values, disturb secular fabric and alter Indian Constitution authored by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” she said.

“RSS wants to crush reservation for the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, OBCs (other backward castes) and minorities which is guaranteed to them by the Constitution,” she said.

In an apparent reference to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Sonia said Sangh is posing a ‘great threat’ to the reservation system when it talks against it.

Seeking to blunt Bharatiya Janata Party’s efforts to ‘appropriate’ legacy of Ambedkar, Sonia said, “Congress had given Dr Ambedkar his dues by appointing him as chairman of the Draft Committee of Constitution.”

“Congress will leave no stone unturned to save the democratic values and secular fabric being destroyed by some forces. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to give protection to these factors,” she said.

Focusing her speech mainly on issue of reservation, the combative Congress chief said the Narendra Modi government is set to discriminate against women at Panchayati level by depriving them from enjoying power in their villages.

“In Haryana and Rajasthan, the BJP-ruled governments are contemplating to bring legislation asking for certain education level for contestants,” she said.

Sonia said this will deprive about 80 per cent of Dalit women from contesting the panchayat elections.

“The Congress regime brought the mid-day meal scheme for the children, which was a social revolution as dreamt by Ambedkar. Ambedkar received good support from the then Congress stalwarts like Jawahralal Nehru and Sardar Valabhbhai Patel,” she said.

Targeting Modi, she said the BJP government is ‘destabilising the democratically-elected Congress governments in Uttarkhand and Arunchal Pradesh’.

“The students’ unrest has grown manifold under the Modi government in the country. The Congress has a moral responsibility and constitutional duty to protect the backward community, Dalits, minorities and the under-privileged ones and party will not fail in it. The Congress has been doing this for more than 60 years,” she added.

Speaking ahead of his mother, Rahul said, “I would not let the nation become weak due to continuous efforts by the RSS to make changes in Constitution and to alter entire reservation facilities, thereby depriving a huge population of Dalits in the country (sic).”

He blamed the Modi government for ‘growing unrest’ among the students community in the country.

Referring to the suicide of HyderabadCentralUniversity research scholar Rohith Vemula, Rahul said, “The Modi government is suppressing voice of Dalit scholars in the country by appointing RSS-backed functionaries at top positions. The HCU vice chancellor is one among them who wanted to crush the Dalit students there.”

“I went to Hyderabad to express my solidarity with Rohith’s supporters and will continue to do so wherever and whenever such injustices are done to them,” he said.

The Congress vice president alleged that the RSS was running the government from ‘behind the curtain by appointing their own men as officers on special duty (OSDs)’.

He alleged that the BJP government ‘ineptly’ handled the issue of levying excise duty on jewellery, which triggered indefinite strike by jewellers since last 40 days.

“On one hand, Narendra Modi is talking about ‘Make in India’ and on the other, hundreds of artisans and workers in the jewellery market are on the verge of dying since they are on an indefinite strike,” he said.

Sushilkumar Shinde, former Union home minister and chairman of ‘Babasaheb Ambedkar 125th birth anniversary celebration committee’, Opposition leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ashok Chavan also spoke on the occasion.

A phalanx of Congress leaders -- including ex-Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijay Singh, Veerappa Moily, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramahiah, Ashok Gehlot, Oscar Fernandes and Prithviraj Chavan -- were present on the occasion.