Rahul Gandhi launched Congress’s year-long celebration of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary as he visited the Dalit icon’s birthplace in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
Rahul paid tributes at Dr. Ambedkar’s memorial and then addressed a public meeting where he was reported saying that Ambedkar’s dream of “caste annihilation” was yet to be fulfilled. “We should not think that India has no danger from those ideologies which look down at one section of people. These powers are all the time trying to strengthen those walls against whom Baba Saheb fought his whole life. These ideologies weaken us by pitting one individual against the other,” Rahul Gandhi reportedly said taking a jibe at BJP.
Making promises that the Congress would always support the tribal community, Rahul said, “While celebrating the 125th year anniversary programmes of Baba Saheb, we will remember for whom he fought. Congress party will stand with everyone. Wherever there is injustice, be it with tribals, women or people of any religion, Congress will be seen standing by them.”
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad responded to Rahul Gandhi’s statement by asking, “I want to ask Rahul Gandhi… if he respects him (Ambedkar) so much, why didn’t his party give Ambedkar Bharat Ratna when they were in government?”
He was also reported saying, “Rahul Gandhi’s speech has exposed his party’s failure in honouring Ambedkar. How Congress humiliated him by not giving him a Bharat Ratna. The Congress never thought of honouring the community also.”
BJP’s Scheduled Castes Morcha head, Dushyant Gautam also responded by saying, “Rahul Gandhi has gone to Mhow today. I want to ask why didn’t he do it for so many years? Today, they (Congress) are doing drama as the land beneath their feet has slipped,” as reported by The Indian Express.
Making promises that the Congress would always support the tribal community, Rahul said, “While celebrating the 125th year anniversary programmes of Baba Saheb, we will remember for whom he fought. Congress party will stand with everyone. Wherever there is injustice, be it with tribals, women or people of any religion, Congress will be seen standing by them.”