New Delhi: After facing criticism from
BJP for mentioning caste of revolutionaries Bhagat Singh,
Sukhdev and Rajguru, Congress on wednesday hit back faulting the
opposition for mentioning the caste of Lokmanya Tilak and B R
Ambedkar in one of its websites.
BJP Chandigarh Pradesh website states Ambedkar
belonged to the "untouchable" Mahar Caste while Tilak was a
Chitpavan Brahmin.
"BJP website refers to Dr B R Ambedkar as being born
in an untouchable Mahar caste.... The word untouchable is
highlighted in the website in inverted commas. It is a matter
of shame. The principal opposition party of the country has
insulted the entire Dalit community of India and has offended
the memory of the architect of our constitution," Congress
Sandesh editor Anil Shastri said.
"Tilak is shown as being born in a Brahmin family in
Jhabua. BJP continues to perpetrate fraud on the nation. But
people will not be misled by their gimmicks," he added.
Congress Sandesh, which is the ruling party`s
mouthpiece, had in its recent edition stated that Bhagat Singh
was a Jat Sikh and Rajguru belonged to Deshashtha Brahmin
community.
BJP had reacted sharply to this and accused Congress
of disrespecting revolutionaries and freedom fighters. The
party even held protest demonstrations at Congress
Headquarters here and in different parts of Uttar Pradesh.
The issue has been raging for the past two days with
the two parties sparring against each other.
"This is an insult to the nation`s heroes and it is
not the first time that the Congress and its government has
insulted the national heroes," BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
said yesterday.
"They have insulted them in a similar way many times
through publication of various books. But now they have
crossed the limit. The Congress party should apologise to the
nation," he had said.
However, Shastri, who is also a Special Invitee to the
Congress Working Committee, the party`s apex decision-making
body, said he found nothing objectionable in the content.
"This information is given when necessary and is not
objectionable. In colleges and schools when we are taught
history and whenever there is a reference to Mahatma Gandhi,
it is mentioned that he was born in a Gujarati Baniya family.
The BJP, therefore, is raking up an issue which does not
exist," Shastri had said.
He had maintained that the Congress party "has the
highest regard and reverence for all those leaders and freedom
fighters who sacrificed their lives to attain freedom for
India."
The Congress leader also hit out at the opposition
party, saying "in any case, BJP has no right to talk about any
freedom fighter because the party or any of its leaders were
never associated or involved with freedom movement of the
country."
PTI
