MYSURU: In a continuation of the series of “unforeseen” gaffes and political statements,
BJP national president
Amit Shah was the at the centre of a Dalit protest in a party organised Dalit interaction programme in Mysuru.
Scheduled to have a closed door discussion, the Dalit convention was opened at the last moment to the media. However, what ensued was an “unforeseen” ruckus with Shah being the target of a few Dalits ire over union minister
Ananth Kumar Hegde previous statement of “changing the constitution” and allegedly calling Dalit activists “barking dogs”.
Earlier during the event, former disgruntled Congressman and former minister V Sreenivas Prasad opened a Pandora’s box by asking Shah to clarify the party stand on Hegde’s statement about the constitution.
A visibly irked Prasad who addressed Hegde as a “small time leader” asked an open clarification from Shah.
“While prime minister
Narendra Modi has said that there will be no changes to the constitution and it is the supreme holy book, statements by small time leaders of changing the constitution has created a lot of confusion among the followers of Dr B R Ambedkar who is like a mother to us Dalits. Naturally, when our mother’s work is being questioned it has hurt us,” he said.
Shah, who appeared calm and composed on the issue, found a new translator in union minister H N Ananth Kumar, who replaced Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi after the latter’s gaffe in Challakere, was told about Prasad’s statement in Hindi.
The BJP national president immediately rose to address the question and said: “ The BJP clarified that the party has disowned and has nothing to do with the statement of union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde.”
There was a resonance of claps by the Dalits after Shah’s statement, only to be silenced by loud voices and a shouting match from the audience.
The voice was of a Dalit activist Choranahalli Shivanna and a few others who were not satisfied with Shah’s response and asked for the immediate sacking of Hegde.
Shah realised that the situation was turning into a nightmare after television cameras and people started to rush towards the dissenting voices. Mysuru MP Prathap Simha was even seen trying to push and shove the dissidents and calm the tempers of the people to save the party from further embarrassment.
“... nothing can be done now, we have to call the police and remove him,” came Shah’s voice to the party leaders.
Immediately police officers forcefully evicted Srinivas and a few others from the premise.
Outside the venue, Srinivas said Hegde was guilty of calling Dalit activists as “barking dogs”, even as prime minister Narendra Modi states that the Constitution is the holiest of all religious books in the country.
“We cannot accept such a minister at the centre and demand his immediate resignation,” he said.
Later, with Prasad likely to be singled out for providing the opportunity for sections of Dalits to raise a dissenting voice, a statement was made by the former congress minister that Srinivas was a Congress agent.
“Srinivas hails from Varuna, the Home constituency of chief minister Siddaramaiah. Now, I am sure he must have been politically instigated by the CM to create a ruckus at a BJP Scheduled Caste morcha event. Why else would the man arrive in a BJP event?” asked Prasad.
Inside, as the event progressed, more dissenting voices were heard with young Dalits seeking response from Shah on the full time jobs issue for Dalits who have been doing their Railway apprenticeship.
For this Shah immediately tried to douse the fire by citing that Railway minister
Piyush Goyal has setup a committee and the issue will be resolved within 45 days.
However, the bulk of the event was marred by the protests and proved that the Dalits issue was a fault line for Shah in CM Siddaramaiah’s home turf.
