BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah unveiled the 14 foot bronze statue of Dr B R Ambedkar at the DC’s office in Yelahanka on Saturday and he also welcomed the BJP MLA S R Vishwanath’s wish that he would work non-partisanly in the constituency. “Dalits are the most backward in Yelahanka, and Vishwanath is working to provide justice to everyone,” Siddaramaiah remarked.
The Chief Minister assured that the demand for grants for Vishwanath’s Yelahanka constituency would be considered. Earlier, in his speech Vishwanath showered praises on Siddaramaiah as the champion of the Dalits and the downtrodden people.
It may be noted here that Siddamaiah’s man and minister Byrati Suresh and Vishwanath were relatives as the former’s son married latter’s daughter recently.
Siddaramaiah in his speech said that if the Constitution is protected, people’s rights are also protected. “The protection of the Constitution is the responsibility of all of us. It is the duty of all of us to ensure that the Constitution is not violated. Baba Saheb Ambedkar gave the best Constitution that our country and our society needed. It is no exaggeration to say that Ambedkar understood the social situation and caste system of this country as much as anyone else did,” he observed.
“Although Ambedkar was born a Dalit, he was a leader of everyone those deprived of social justice,” he remarked. He said that he strongly believed that as long as the caste system existed, there should be reservation.
“Our government has implemented five guarantees to empower people economically and socially. If they are not economically empowered, inequality cannot be eliminated. We should try to bring everyone into the mainstream. Although we cannot bring everyone into the mainstream at once, we should try to do it gradually. Our struggle must be continuous,” Siddaramaiah suggested.