Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 14: The Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday teased the ruling BJP asking them whether they believed in the Indian constitution or the words of their ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who has said there was “nothing Indian in the Indian Constitution” and wanted it to be superseded by “Manusmriti,” a religious book.
Participating on the second day of the two-day special debate on ‘Discussion on the Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India,’ Mr Gandhi invoked Savarkar to attack the BJP. “I want to start my speech by quoting what the Supreme Leader, not of the BJP but of the modern interpretation of the ideas of the RSS has to say about the Constitution of India and about how he thinks India should be run – “The worst thing about the Constitution of India is that there is nothing Indian about it. Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worshippable after Vedas for our Hindu nation and from which our ancient times have become the basis for our culture, customs, thought and practice.
“This book, for centuries, has codified the spiritual and divine march of our nation. Today, Manusmriti is law. These are the words of Savarkar,” Gandhi said. Dalit activists and social justice parties denounce Manusmriti as antithetical to the ideas of the Constitution, and say that going by it, Dalits, tribals, women and people from the backward communities were second-class citizens.
“Savarkar has clearly stated in his writings that there is nothing Indian about our Constitution. He has clearly stated that the book India is run by should be superseded by this book. This is what the fight is about,” the Congress MP said on Savarkar, who is seen as an ideologue of the BJP and RSS.
While attacking the BJP MPs, Gandhi said, “I want to ask you (ruling side), do you stand by your leader’s words? Do you support your leader’s words? Because when you speak in Parliament about protecting the Constitution, you are ridiculing Savarkar, you are abusing Savarkar, you are defaming Savarkar.”
Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have been talking the language of social justice for some time now – from goals like equitable representation for castes to a nationwide caste census. On Saturday, Gandhi added another layer to his pitch, bringing in Eklavya, the noted archer from the Mahabharata who belonged to a “lower caste,” apart from mentioning V D Savarkar in the context of Manusmriti.
While the Congress MP has spoken about Savarkar earlier too and has embarrassed the party’s alliance partner in Maharashtra Shiv Sena (UBT) who also hold Savarkar in high esteem, his focus on Eklavya in his speech was most notable. Gandhi spoke at length about how Dronacharya, teacher to royals like the Pandavas, had refused to take on Eklavya as a disciple as he was born a “low-caste” Nishad; how Eklavya taught himself archery with the help of a clay image of Dronacharya as his guru (as per the Mahabharata); and how Dronacharya still had his way by asking for Eklavya’s right thumb as “Guru Dakshina” his due as teacher, thus ensuring he couldn’t use a bow and arrow again.
Drawing a similarity between the two, Mr Gandhi said that, the Narendra Modi government similarly was cutting off the right thumb of disadvantaged youngsters to snatch their skills and talent. “Like Dronacharya cut the thumb of Eklavya, you are cutting the thumbs of India’s youngsters.”
The Congress leader equated the same to the Modi government’s “favouritism” towards the Adani Group, thus “cutting the thumbs” of the deprived; as well as to lateral entry for government posts, that does not require reservation to be taken into account, and the Agnipath recruitment scheme for the defence forces, for debilitating “India’s youngsters, backwards and the poor”.
“When you implemented Agniveer, you cut off the thumb of the youth. When you have paper leaks – you had 70 paper leaks, you cut off the thumb of the youth of India…Today, you lobbed tear gas shells on farmers outside Delhi, you unleashed lathi charge on the farmers,” he said.
“Farmers demand MSP from you. They demand a suitable price. But you facilitate profits to Adani, Ambani and cut off the thumb of farmers. We say Abhayamudra, we say “daro matt,” You say, “Hum aapka angootha kaat denge.” This is the difference,” Gandhi added.
The Congress MP then reiterated his call for a caste census and removing the 50% ceiling on quotas. The Congress has been promising the same since the Lok Sabha elections and repeatedly talked about it during the Maharashtra elections.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur hit back at Mr Gandhi with an equally combative rebuttal, targeting the Congress’ historical record, particularly the Emergency imposed during former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s regime.
Mr Thakur dismissed Mr Gandhi’s symbolic display of the Constitution, accusing him of lacking an understanding of the document. “There are some who carry the Samvidhaan (Constitution) in their pockets but can’t tell the number of pages,” Mr Thakur remarked.
Earlier in the day, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju who initiated the second day’s debate in the lower House, accused the Congress of selective appropriation of constitutional values while ignoring its own historical contradictions. Mr Rijiju opened today’s session with a rebuttal, criticising the Congress for its treatment of Dr BR Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Constitution.
Mr Rijiju alleged that the party marginalised Dr Ambedkar and recognised his contributions very late. The Union Minister, citing a document, talked about Dr Ambedkar’s critique of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, alleging that Nehru’s focus was primarily on appeasement politics rather than addressing the concerns of Scheduled Castes.
While Mr Gandhi attacked Savarkar, his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi, delivering her maiden speech in the Lok Sabha yesterday, hit out at the RSS by accusing the BJP of confusing between ‘Bharat ka Samvidhan’ and ‘Sangh ka Vidhan.’
Amidst the chaos in the Lower House, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey claimed that former prime Minister “Indira Gandhi had even funded Savarkar’s trust. The Congress should stop spreading lies. Rahul Gandhi can never be Savarkar.” Later, Rahul Gandhi said, “I had asked Indira Gandhi ji about her views on Savarkar, and she said, ‘Savarkar apologised to the British… Gandhi ji went to jail, Nehru ji went to jail, but Savarkar ji sought forgiveness.’
The Lok Sabha turned into a battleground when Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde invoked a letter written by Mrs Indira Gandhi praising V D Savarkar, sparking a fiery debate involving the treasury bench and Congress members. Referring to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s critical comments earlier on Savarkar, Shinde questioned the Congress’ repeated criticism of the freedom fighter.
Shinde read out from Indira Gandhi’s letter, stating, “Veer Savarkar’s daring defiance of the British Government has its own importance in the annals of our freedom movement. I wish success to the plans to celebrate the birth centenary of this remarkable son of India.” Shinde then posed a pointed question to Rahul Gandhi, “Was your grandmother, Indira Gandhi, also against the Constitution in praising Savarkar? We take pride in Savarkar ji and his contribution to the nation.”
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya slammed the Congress saying the “attackers” of the Constitution were posing as “champions” of the Constitution in a “hypocritical drama” that is going on for decades in the country. “For a very long time, a big hypocritical drama has been conducted in this country, where those who are the attackers of the Constitution have posed themselves as champions of the Constitution. This hypocrisy must be exposed. For a very long time, this hypocrisy has continued,” he said.
The AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi spoke on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, saying: “Read Article 26, it gives religious denominations the right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes. The Prime Minister says that Waqf has nothing to do with the Constitution. Who is teaching the Prime Minister? Make him read Article 26. The goal is to snatch away Waqf properties…You want to snatch it away on the basis of your strength…”
BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, during his address to the House, said the results of the Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections show that the Opposition cannot “fool the citizens in the name of the Constitution.