BJP in a fix over IGNCA chief's Ambedkar slur
NEW DELHI, June 8, 2016, DHNS
Upsetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-Dalit mission, Ram Bahadur Rai, new chairman of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), created a stir with his comment that "Ambedkar's role in Constitution is a myth".
With UP assembly elections due early next year, his controversial statement has the potential of dragging the ruling party back to the mid-90’s when former NDA minister Arun Shourie’s book “Worshipping False Gods” had left Dalits agitated. Shourie in his book had questioned Ambedkar’s role in the freedom struggle and had virtually dubbed the Constitution framer as a collaborator of the British government.
BJP's Scheduled Caste (SC) Morcha chief Dushyant Kumar Gautam was livid at Rai's comment and said the IGNCA chairman's mind was “polluted” and showed "malice and enmity" towards Dalits. He also said that the former ABVP general secretary’s statement had insulted the "foremost patriot" and posed a “hurdle” to Modi’s agenda of bringing social harmony.
"Those who are saying so are doing it without thinking and it seems they have some malice and enmity towards the Scheduled Castes and the concept of social justice. If Ambedkar was from the upper caste, they would not have made such comments," Gautam said.
Equally upset, BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said Ambedkar continues to be an important icon of emancipation of the down trodden, especially Dalits. “No other person has that kind of supremacy. He is our national hero,” the Rajya Sabha MP stressed.
With UP assembly elections due early next year, his controversial statement has the potential of dragging the ruling party back to the mid-90’s when former NDA minister Arun Shourie’s book “Worshipping False Gods” had left Dalits agitated. Shourie in his book had questioned Ambedkar’s role in the freedom struggle and had virtually dubbed the Constitution framer as a collaborator of the British government.
BJP's Scheduled Caste (SC) Morcha chief Dushyant Kumar Gautam was livid at Rai's comment and said the IGNCA chairman's mind was “polluted” and showed "malice and enmity" towards Dalits. He also said that the former ABVP general secretary’s statement had insulted the "foremost patriot" and posed a “hurdle” to Modi’s agenda of bringing social harmony.
"Those who are saying so are doing it without thinking and it seems they have some malice and enmity towards the Scheduled Castes and the concept of social justice. If Ambedkar was from the upper caste, they would not have made such comments," Gautam said.
Equally upset, BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said Ambedkar continues to be an important icon of emancipation of the down trodden, especially Dalits. “No other person has that kind of supremacy. He is our national hero,” the Rajya Sabha MP stressed.
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