
BELAGAVI: AICC General Secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday took a swipe at the BJP top brass for its onslaught on the Constitution and its creator Dr BR Ambedkar and said it was for the first time in the country that a home minister (Amit Shah) insulted Ambedkar and the Constitution on the floor of the Lok Sabha.
Hitting out at the Centre for trying to weaken the Constitution, she said “We had so many governments in power since Independence in the country at the Centre, but we never had a Union government like this where ministers tour the country during elections, claiming that they will change the Constitution,’’ she added.
Addressing the Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan rally of Congress organised at CPEd Ground in Belagavi to mark the centenary of the 1924 Congress session held in Belagavi, she said, “Decades have passed since we got Independence. Is it possible for anybody in this Independent country to believe that we didn’t get Independence in 1947? Nobody imagined that ministers of this country would insult a messiah of the poor Dr Ambedkar in Parliament. By insulting Ambedkar, the home minister insulted democracy and all the freedom fighters who laid down their lives during the freedom movement.’’
She said that freedom fighters, who gave their blood and sweat to free the country from the British, were insulted by the home minister. “The people should give a serious thought as to why the Union government is resorting to such acts. During the freedom movement, another ideology was emerging in this country and that was the same force which maligned the Constitution. The leaders who were promoting that ideology ran a campaign against the Constitution then too,” she added.
Ambedkar spoke of equality for women decades ago which the present day womenfolk speak of, she said, adding that when Ambedkar spoke of equality for women through the Constitution, the people who believed in the RSS ideology burnt effigies of Ambedkar. “It is only because BJP took birth on the basis of such ideologies that the party has been insulting Ambedkar and defaming the Constitution,” she added.
Priyanka said the people of this country taught BJP a lesson in the 2024 Parliament elections despite saffron party leaders claiming they will change the Constitution. The Constitution is not merely a book, but a shield for the people of this country, she said.
She called Belagavi a holy land for Congress and the people who saw Mahatma Gandhiji assuming charge as President of Congress in 1924 and Bal Gangadhar Tilak launching the struggle.
“I saw a portrait in Suvarna Vidhana Soudha today of Lord Basavanna being seated and Akka Mahadevi standing before him. It reflects the democratic values of this state where equality, participation and democracy existed back then. These are the same values on which our freedom struggle was fought and Gandhiji ran the freedom movement,’’ she said.
Calling the Indian freedom movement unique and rare in the world, Priyanka said to bring down the mighty kingdoms, violence took place at a large scale in different parts of the world and blood flowed like a river. However, in our country it was fought based on the principles of truth and non-violence.