No place for Dalits in the ‘heart’ of Congress: Modi
BENGALURU: There is no place for Dalits and backward classes in the heart of the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, asserting his government is trying to realise BR Ambedkar's dream of a powerful and prosperous India.
Launching a blistering attack on the Congress over the way it has treated Dalits, Modi said the party showed no respect for Ambedkar.
The Congress, he alleged, used “all its power” to defeat Ambedkar when he contested Lok Sabha election in 1952 and Bandara Lok Sabha by-election in 1953.
“That is the reason why Baba Saheb had to face defeat and insult. Let Congress show at least one thing it did to honour Baba Saheb,” he said.
Addressing BJP'S SC/ST/ OBC and Slum Morcha workers through his Namo App, Modi said, “There is no place for dalits and backward classes in the heart of the Congress.”
“This has been happening for decades. Till the time the Congress party was in power, Baba Saheb was not given Bharat Ratna,” he said.
Maintaining that Ambedkar dreamt of an India which takes everybody forward together, he said the BJP is trying to fulfil his dream by implementing various schemes.
The government, he said, is making efforts to ensure there is social justice and equality.
Modi said ‘Stand Up' and ‘Mudra' Yojanas are playing a major role in the financial empowerment of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCS and women.
Noting that the BJP has the most number of MPS belonging these categories, Modi said, it was for the first time after Independence that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government created a separate ministry for scheduled tribes.
Also, it was under Vajpayee that the government created a separate national commission for scheduled tribes, he said.
Modi said the BJP has its governments in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh which have sizeable tribal population.
It is also in power in northeastern states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura, and is part of coalition dispensations in Nagaland and Meghalaya.
“This shows that tribal people are fully supporting BJP,” he said.
He said the party's manifesto for Karnataka elections has details of the programmes its government will undertake for empowerment of the scheduled tribes.
In Chitradurga, Mysuru, Uttar Kannada and Bagalkot, the government will set up four ‘sindhoora laxman training centres' for vocational training, he said.
Modi said the Congress never thought of giving constitutional status to OBC Commission.
“What problem they have I am yet to understand. Every time they create obstacles despite the community's demand for it,” he said.
The Congress, he said, did not allow Parliament to function to block the government's move to accord constitutional status to OBC Commission.
Modi said his government made provisions of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act more stringent and increased the number of offences listed
under it from 22 to 47.
“The government did this because I know what problems the poor face, what pain Dalits and tribals suffer, and what kind of language is used against them.”
He asked BJP workers to visit the homes of people belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes to reassure them that BJP will work for their welfare. BENGALURU: Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw a “threat” in him, and the attack by him over his prime ministerial ambition was only aimed at “distracting attention”.
Gandhi also hit out at Modi for raking up the issue of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, saying “my mother is Italian” but she was “more Indian” than many Indians.
“This election is not about Rahul. I have now learnt to deal with the prime minister. When he can't respond, he distracts,” Gandhi told reporters responding to questions about Modi's repeated attacks on him over his prime ministerial ambition.
Training his guns on Gandhi after he publicly declared his prime ministerial ambition at an interaction here, Modi had wondered whether the country will ever accept such an “immature and naamdar (dynast)” leader for the post.
Hitting out at Modi for his reference to Sonia's foreign origin, Gandhi said,”my mother is an Italian. She has lived the larger part of her life in India. She is more Indian than many, many Indians I have seen.
“She has sacrificed her life for the country, she has suffered for the country. When Modi makes such comments, it shows the quality of the man. I am happy if he enjoys making such comments, he is welcome,” he said. The issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin was raked up by Modi at an election rally recently where he dared the Congress chief to speak for 15 minutes about the achievements of the Karnataka government in any language, including his “mother's mother
tongue”.
The Congress president, who wrapped up his extensive campaign tour of Karnataka with a press conference, referred to a story about Gautam Buddha to claim the prime minister had “anger” for everybody.
He said once Buddha was abused and shouted at by an angry man while he was seated with a disciple.
When the disciple asked Buddha why did he not retaliate, he said the anger belonged to that man, and that since he
did not accept the abuse, it went back to that person.
“Modi has anger inside him and he has got anger for everybody not only for me. I attract that anger because he sees a threat in me. His anger is his problem, not my problem,” Gandhi said. On Modi's personal attacks, Gandhi said, “I have now learned to deal with him, when he realises that he is coming into a space where there is no escape then he distracts and creates anger. We will not let him distract and create anger.”