Courting Dalits in Mysuru, Amit Shah faces tough crowd
MYSURU: BJP chief Amit Shah was forced to distance his party from Union minister
Anantkumar
Hegde’s statement on changing the Constitution while facing a tough crowd of
Dalit activists during the fourth leg of his election campaign in
Karnataka.
Visiting the Old Mysuru region where the BJP has five out of 66 seats, Shah tried to convince the restless audience that Prime Minister Modi’s policies were more pro-Dalit than that of the Congress governments either at the Centre or in the state. However, Chornalli Shivanna, Dalit Sangharsha Samithi convenor for Mysuru district, asked him: “You invited us for a discussion. You say the BJP doesn’t support Hegde’s statement (on amending the Constitution against reservation for Dalits). So why is he still in the Union cabinet? If it is not the BJP’shidden agenda, why haven’t you thrown him out?”
Shivanna was escorted out by the local police. But that was not the end to Shah’s woes. A bunch of activists stood up and demanded action on recruitments in the Railways for the Dalits. Shah and his Kannada translator repeatedly kept asking the activists to sit down so that he could answer their questions.
Former union minister Srinivas Prasad, who moved to the BJP after being dropped by chief minister Siddaramaiah in 2016, set the tone for the meeting by asking Shah to clarify the BJP position on Hegde. This was followed by A Balasubramanyam, a Mysore University professor, asking Shah about the backlog in educational institutions for promotions to Dalits and the demand for reservation in private institutions.
An M Phil graduate Prafulla Malladi wanted to know why the BJP had not passed the Women’s Reservation Bill and whether there could be a 50% internal reservation in the proposed 33% for Dalit women. A pourakarmika leader BS Subramanya, who said he and his ilk implemented the PM’s Swachh Bharat concept, wanted to know what the BJP would do for them.
Shah said a cabinet sub-committee was looking into the issue of backlogs. On women’s reservation bill, he said: “We are trying to develop a consensus on the matter. The BJP is pro-women.” He assured the pourakarmika leader that their concerns would be addressed in his party manifesto.
“The Congress has remembered (the drafter of the Constitution and a Dalit icon) BR Ambedkar only in the past few years. They consistently insulted him. He was awarded a Bharat Ratna only after the Congress was removed from governance. But Narendra Modi identified five stages of his life and set up memorials in Nagpur, Mumbai, Delhi, London and his birthplace, Mhow. He issued a coin with Ambedkar’s face on it to mark his 125 th birth anniversary. The Congress did no such thing even to mark his centenary year,” Shah outlined.
The audience clapped as he listed these programmes but Shah’s digs at the Siddaramaiah government drew no response.
He also announced that the Centre would file a review petition in the Supreme Court against its decision to dilute the SC/ST Atrocities Act. “It is not our government’s decision, it is a Supreme Court judgement. We are with the Dalits and the Congress is just making a political issue out of it,” he said.
Visiting the Old Mysuru region where the BJP has five out of 66 seats, Shah tried to convince the restless audience that Prime Minister Modi’s policies were more pro-Dalit than that of the Congress governments either at the Centre or in the state. However, Chornalli Shivanna, Dalit Sangharsha Samithi convenor for Mysuru district, asked him: “You invited us for a discussion. You say the BJP doesn’t support Hegde’s statement (on amending the Constitution against reservation for Dalits). So why is he still in the Union cabinet? If it is not the BJP’shidden agenda, why haven’t you thrown him out?”
Shivanna was escorted out by the local police. But that was not the end to Shah’s woes. A bunch of activists stood up and demanded action on recruitments in the Railways for the Dalits. Shah and his Kannada translator repeatedly kept asking the activists to sit down so that he could answer their questions.
Former union minister Srinivas Prasad, who moved to the BJP after being dropped by chief minister Siddaramaiah in 2016, set the tone for the meeting by asking Shah to clarify the BJP position on Hegde. This was followed by A Balasubramanyam, a Mysore University professor, asking Shah about the backlog in educational institutions for promotions to Dalits and the demand for reservation in private institutions.
An M Phil graduate Prafulla Malladi wanted to know why the BJP had not passed the Women’s Reservation Bill and whether there could be a 50% internal reservation in the proposed 33% for Dalit women. A pourakarmika leader BS Subramanya, who said he and his ilk implemented the PM’s Swachh Bharat concept, wanted to know what the BJP would do for them.
Shah said a cabinet sub-committee was looking into the issue of backlogs. On women’s reservation bill, he said: “We are trying to develop a consensus on the matter. The BJP is pro-women.” He assured the pourakarmika leader that their concerns would be addressed in his party manifesto.
“The Congress has remembered (the drafter of the Constitution and a Dalit icon) BR Ambedkar only in the past few years. They consistently insulted him. He was awarded a Bharat Ratna only after the Congress was removed from governance. But Narendra Modi identified five stages of his life and set up memorials in Nagpur, Mumbai, Delhi, London and his birthplace, Mhow. He issued a coin with Ambedkar’s face on it to mark his 125 th birth anniversary. The Congress did no such thing even to mark his centenary year,” Shah outlined.
The audience clapped as he listed these programmes but Shah’s digs at the Siddaramaiah government drew no response.
He also announced that the Centre would file a review petition in the Supreme Court against its decision to dilute the SC/ST Atrocities Act. “It is not our government’s decision, it is a Supreme Court judgement. We are with the Dalits and the Congress is just making a political issue out of it,” he said.