Bengaluru, Dec 26 The Karnataka BJP unit on Thursday challenged Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge asking whether he is in a position to ask forgiveness for the injustices done to Ambedkar by the grand old party.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru at the party headquarters, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, asked, "Mallikarjun Kharge, being the Congress President, will you be able to ask forgiveness for injustice done to Ambedkar by the Congress?"
"You (Kharge) are the Congress President now. You are so helpless. You said on the floor of the House that it is only Sonia Gandhi who can do anything to you, no one else. Why have you become the Congress President? Do Dalits need such slavery? This is my question. Can you ask once now why B.R. Ambedkar was not given Bharat Ratna by the Congress party? You don't dare to question. You are happy with the power that you wanted and got in the party," Narayanaswamy said.
"Union Home Minister Amit Shah has insulted the Congress and not Ambedkar. I want to question Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. I have respect for him, he was all right when he was in Karnataka. Now he has become a puppet. Are you strong enough to ask forgiveness as a Congress President for injustice done to Ambedkar by the Congress party?" he reiterated.
Narayanaswamy also said, "Ambedkar was not a member of the Congress. The party had opposed his ideals from the days of the roundtable conference till his death. During the formation of the interim government, it was not a single-party government. Ambedkar, Syama Prasad Mukherjee were included," he said.
"Ambedkar contributed immensely and why did he have to resign? Then PM late Jawahar Lal Nehru could not tolerate him. After the Constitution was formulated, his workload became lesser. Ambedkar had a vision of the economy and expressed his wish to handle the Finance portfolio and also the Planning department. Nehru did not agree and refused," the BJP leader added.
"Ambedkar fought for the voting rights of women. Ambedkar tried to introduce the Hindu Code Bill and the Congress opposed it. Against this backdrop, Ambedkar quit the Congress. Ambedkar was behind the establishment of the Reserve Bank of India and not Jawahar Lal Nehru," Narayanaswamy underlined.
"I want to ask the Congress leaders where is the resignation letter of Ambedkar. It should be preserved in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Is it there? It is not available. Because Ambedkar has exposed the Congress and that's why it was destroyed. Ambedkar in his 40-minute speech in the Parliament has exposed the Congress and it is available," he said.
"Union Minister Amit Shah has only said that the Congress party which insulted Ambedkar all through now made it a fashion to take Ambedkar's name for electoral gains," he said while targeting the Congress-led state government.
"The Congress is arranging sponsored protests across the state and country. When Ambedkar came out with the Constitution the BJP was not established. The BJP took birth to support the ideology of Ambedkar," Narayanaswamy added.
"What happened to Jagjivan Ram, a senior Congress leader? He quit Congress and established his party. What happened to Sardar Patel? It is the BJP which gave him the respect, not the Congress. V.P. Singh had to quit the Congress to become the PM. What happened to former PM late Lal Bahadur Shastri?... Sitaram Kesari, Pranab Mukherjee? None barring the Gandhi family in the Congress are tolerated," he said.
State BJP President B.Y. Vijayendra said: "The Congress never wasted any opportunity to insult Ambedkar. From the time of Jawahar Lal Nehru to the present day, the Congress never showed respect to Ambedkar. Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar, the personal assistant of Ambedkar, was made to contest elections against him. The Congress defeated Ambedkar in the Lok Sabha election and even awarded Padma Bhushan to Kajrolkar."
"Jogendra Nath Mandal, a close aide of Ambedkar, vacated his seat in West Bengal for him. But the evil Congress conspired and the region where the seat represented by Ambedkar was located was given away to the then East Pakistan. Ambedkar has clearly stated that the Congress is a burning house and there is no future for Scheduled Castes in the party," Vijayendra underlined.
"Union Minister Amit Shah has exposed the Congress. The Congress is trying to misguide the people of the country and they can't succeed," he added.
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