Rahul Gandhi hails BR Ambedkar, takes potshot at Modi-led NDA govt over IIT Madras row

Mhow: In a veiled attack on the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said till some people including Dalits are kept away from their rights, the nation can't change. He also added that Babasaheb Ambedkar's dream of caste annihilation is still incomplete.

Addressing a public gathering here, Rahul said, “I am here to assure you that it's my responsibility, your responsibility, everyone's responsibility to fulfil Babasaheb's dream.”

Further hitting out at the Modi government over the controversial ban on a students group at Indian Institutes of Technology​ (IIT) Madras whose members are mainly Dalits, Rahul said, “Babasaheb Ambedkar's dream is still incomplete.”

“When voices in IIT Madras are stifled, it shows that some people's rights are still being taken away,” Rahul added.

Rahul also criticised the caste system, which still prevails in India. “Constitution has been in place for years, but casteism still exists,” he said.

“Babasaheb belonged to everyone, not just the weak. We see his influence everywhere today,” Rahul said while recalling him as a Dalit icon.

He added, "Babasaheb is part of a rare class of men who belong to the whole world, not only one nation."

"Babasaheb’s genius is too large to fit within the narrow borders of caste and nation," Rahul said. 

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi, who is in a day-long visit here, went to the birth place of Ambedkar, the chief architect of Indian Constitution, and paid rich floral tributes at the grand memorial of the Dalit icon.

Paying homage to Babasaheb at the Dr B.R Ambedkar Memorial, Mhow pic.twitter.com/quyDMNdg9q — Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) June 2, 2015

Congress VP Rahul Gandhi paying homage at Ambedkar Memorial, Mhow #Babasaheb125 pic.twitter.com/ELRP7leAoI — INC India (@INCIndia) June 2, 2015

Today marks the centenary of Ambedkar's graduation from Columbia University in the USA.

Rahul's visit to Mhow, the birthplace of Ambedkar, flags off Congress' year-round celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar with the exercise being seen as an attempt by it to reach out to the Dalit community.

Mhow, earlier known as Military Head Quarter of War (Mhow), was in 2003 rechristened as Dr Ambedkar Nagar.

Soon after landing in Indore, Rahul drove to this cantonment town where the memorial to Ambedkar is located.

The Congress Vice President was accompanied by party General Secretary Digvijay Singh and former Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde among other leaders.

Rahul's outreach campaign includes addressing a public meeting and interaction with Dalit leaders and activists later in the day.

Congress has drawn up plans to organise a series of functions to pay tribute to the contributions of Ambedkar on his 125th anniversary. 

“We are Indians, firstly and lastly"- Dr B R Ambedkar #Babasaheb125 pic.twitter.com/8au8beStm6 — INC India (@INCIndia) June 2, 2015

Following its unprecedented debacle in Lok Sabha polls that left the party with a tally of 44 MPs in the Lower House, Congress has lost power in quick succession in states like Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand. Before the launch of the party's Ambedkar anniversary celebrations, Gandhi raised pitch on farmers' issues, touching on the contentious land Bill, among others. It has also held interactions with the fishing community in Kerala, which is unhappy over the issue of the duration of a mandatory fishing ban.

Apart from the symbolism, substantial changes are also underway in Congress to push to the fore leaders from among the Dalit and other under-represented communities. Citing a number of alleged instances of atrocities against Dalits, Gandhi also touched upon the issue of derecognition of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle by IIT, Madras as he asserted that the "right of some people are even today snatched only because they belong to a particular community".

Congress's attempt to engage with such communities is significant as the rise of caste-based parties in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on the plank of social justice more than two decades back sealed the fate of the party in these two states. While Assembly elections are due in Bihar this year, Uttar Pradesh goes to polls in 2017. Gandhi is of the view that the non-emergence of a strong Dalit leader in the party was the main reason for the community to look elsewhere for leadership.

He is learnt to have said at an internal meeting that rather than being a case of Dalits drifting away from Congress, the scenario has been one where Congress drifted away from the community in many states. The manifesto for Dalit empowerment prepared by the party ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls will serve as a guiding principle for future plans, the sources said.

(With PTI inputs)

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