Narendra Modi tells Congress: Repent for ignoring Ambedkar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked the Congress to “repent” for “undermining” the legacy of the late Dr B.R. Ambedkar, architect of the Constitution. Mr Modi, addressing a rally at the dalit icon’s birthplace, Mhow, on his 125th birth anniversary, asked why the Congress was getting perturbed when his government was working ardently to fulfill Ambedkar’s vision, and said he would have felt proud to work at “the feet of Babasaheb”. The Congress had on various occasions accused Mr Modi of trying to “appropriate” the legacy of national icons, including Ambedkar. Mr Modi asked why the Congress had not developed the five places — “panch teerth” — associated with Ambedkar in the decades they had been in power.

In Lucknow, BSP supremo Mayawati accused her opponents, including the BJP, of being “opportunists”, of trying to woo dalits “only for electoral gains”. Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are due early next year. Addressing a rally, she mounted a vociferous attack on the BJP and the Samajwadi Party, asking her supporters to dump these two parties in the Assembly elections. She did not spare the Congress either.

“I am warning dalits not only in UP but in the whole country that they should beware of sweet talk by these parties. They are warming up to you only as elections are round the corner,” Ms Mayawati said. She said dalits must act as the “master key” to political power if they were to bring about the social change that Dr Ambedkar wanted.

Attacking UP’s ruling SP government, the BSP supremo said it had failed on all fronts and asked her supporters to ensure that SP candidates lost their deposits.

She also warned that the BJP would, sooner or later, implement the RSS agenda and do away with reservations.

“The BJP is playing the dalit-OBC card and is also conniving to end reservations. If the Modi government tampers with the reservations policy, I will take to the streets,” she said, adding that though the BJP had named an OBC as its state president, he (Keshav Prasad Maurya) essentially remained a RSS worker and had criminal cases against him.

In Mhow, the PM also launched the “Gram Uday se Bharat Uday Abhiyan” (village self-governance campaign) inspired by Dr Amdedkar, who was a far-sighted votary of social harmony and modern technology.

Listing a number of measures his government was taking to carry forward the vision of Ambedkar, including those for empowering weaker sections, Mr Modi said: “For so many years, the vision of Ambedkar was undermined.”

Mr Modi added: “Some people are distressed why Modi is doing all this. This is a matter of our dedication and conviction. We believe social harmony can be achieved only by following the path shown by Babasaheb. I feel proud to work at the feet of Babasaheb.”

Referring once again to his humble origins, Mr Modi said if the son of a woman who used to fetch water in others’ houses could become Prime Minister, the credit for it goes to Dr Ambedkar.

On his government’s decision to construct a memorial at 26 Alipur Road in Delhi, the last home of Ambedkar, he asked the Congress why did it not do so in the last six decades.

“Why did you not do it in the last 60 years When we are doing it, you are getting uneasy. You should repent over why you did not do this all these years,” the PM said. “Those engaged in votebank politics thought of nothing else than dividing society,” he added.

In a dig at the Congress, Mr Modi said while some people have been calling themselves the “messiah of the poor for the last six decades”, the account of what they have done for the poor in the last 60 years is shocking even as they keep talking of the poor day and night. He said his government had connected the poor with the mainstream, which “did not happen in the last 70 years”.

The PM regretted that Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of gram swaraj had not taken shape yet, and “even almost after 70 years of Independence, the desired change has not manifested”.

He said: “A change should have come after Independence and the nation should have moved forward with changing times, but this did not happen. We have launched this abhiyan (campaign) to ensure change in villages.”

Recalling the “insult” the dalit icon faced in his lifetime, the PM said Ambedkar had to taste this “poison” many times and since he was not an ordinary man, such things did not prejudice him and he showed no bitterness or anger towards anyone while writing the Constitution.

“What else can be greatness. Unfortunately, the contribution of this great human being was brushed under the carpet,” Mr Modi said.

In Lucknow, Ms Mayawati also ridiculed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his “double standards” for not taking note of suicides by dalit students when his party was in power but trying to capitalise on Rohith Vemula’s suicide for political gains.

She also alleged that the disproportionate assets’ case against her was being revived only to stall the “bahujan Samaj movement” and claimed it was a part of a political vendetta.

Ms Mayawati explained she got her own statues installed during her earlier government in UP only to honour the wishes of her mentor, the late Kanshi Ram.

But she said she would not build any more memorials if her party was elected to power as her work was over now. “I will focus on development now,” she added.