Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jan 17: "People who claim that Hindutva is tantamount to 'Sarve Janah Sukhino Bhawantu' themselves created untouchability. Congress in fact fits this phrase well, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's claims are farcical," said former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Addressing a press conference at the office of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Thursday January 16, he criticized CAA, NRC and NPR proposed to be implemented by the central government. He said that they are against Indian Constitution.
He recalled that right from Hedagewar and Golvalkar who headed RSS, repeatedly stated that the very purpose of founding RSS was to form a Hindu nation. "Jan Sangh activists opposed when Ambedkar presented the Constitution in the parliament. Their hidden agenda had come out into the open then. They never favoured Constitution. They wanted 'Manu Smriti' to be the Constitution of India," he stated.
Siddaramaiah said that the first ever president of Jan Sangh, which was born in 1950, was Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who was a Congressman initially. He was a minister in the cabinet headed by Nehru. The constituent assembly with 289 members which was formed to prepare Constitution had communists and RSS activists too as members. Even the preamble of the Constitution was made by them together, he narrated. He pointed out that secular principle is contained in the Constitution and accused RSS of violating this.
Siddaramaiah told the BJP that India will not be allowed to become a Hindu nation, and that the country will not be based on religious tenets. He said just because Pakistan is following religious principles does not mean that we too should follow it.
He criticized BJP for felling trees for holding people's awareness meet on Citizenship Amendment Bill at Hubballi. He said that the BJP's agenda is to bring back the old caste system and untouchability into force. Therefore, it is the basic duty of every Congressman to oppose CAA, NRC and NPR, he stated.