Projecting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a party of the poor and Dalits, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP was planning to include “Savarkar” in school curriculum while the Delhi Government plans to “teach” Ambedkar.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal asked whether the Dalit icon’s dreams would be fulfilled by merely garlanding his portraits and said “there was no freedom of speech in the country”. Will Babasaheb’s dream be fulfilled by the Prime Minister going to Mhou and garlanding his portraitIJ Kejriwal questioned.
The CM was speaking at a function organised by the Delhi Government on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar at Talkatora stadium on Thursday.
The CM claimed Rohith Vemula was forced to commit suicide “for talking about BR Ambedkar among students” and demanded that the “two Ministers” responsible for it be sacked. The CM said Vemula was forced to commit suicide for talking about Babasaheb among students. Why people who are holding constitutional offices not acting against those who forced him to commit suicideIJ asked Kejriwal.
“Babasaheb gave three words liberty, equality and fraternity...They say don’t chant Bharat Mata ki Jai in Kashmir and beat them up who don’t say it in the rest of the country. There’s no freedom of speech in the country. There’s no equality. There’s no fraternity. They say one is a patriot and the other anti-national, Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri, JNU wallah and non-JNU wallah,” he said.
Those who are making a mockery of the Constitution should not “pretend” that they respect Ambedkar by garlanding him at his birthplace. They are dividing the country, Kejriwal said in an apparent reference to Modi, who on Thursday paid rich floral tributes to Ambedkar at his birth place.
“I just want to say, Modi is not country, RSS is not Parliament and Manusmriti is not the Constitution,” Kejriwal said to a rapturous applause at an event at Talkatora stadium. The CM the BJP is making mockery of the Constitution.
“The RSS calls for a review of the quota system while the Prime Minister says he is “in favour of reservation”, the Delhi CM said and wondered whom the BJP was “fooling”.
The AAP Government has organised a mega function at Talkatora stadium on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti to impress dalits ahead of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh Assembly next year.
On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, Kejriwal also felicitated two dalit scholars — Dr Raja Shekhar Vundru, DDG, UIDAI and Prof Sukhdev Thorat, former UGC chairman and current chief of ICSSR and conferred them with Ambedkar Ratna award. Kejriwal also highlighted his government achievements in the past one year.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said his Government has translated the dreams of Babasaheb into action by transforming the educational system at school level in order to provide education to all specially the poor, denied and weaker section. “We have checked the monopoly and manipulation of private schools,” he said.