Dalit activist and founder of Dalit Shakthi Programme (DSP) Vishwaradhan Maharaj has urged upon the State and the Central governments to print the copies of Indian Constitution in different languages and distribute them to each and every household in the country.
“When the government is spending several crores of rupees on various schemes and subsidies, why not distribute the Indian Constitution book to every household as we have to live as per the Constitution in the country,” he maintained.
Mr. Vishwaradhan who launched a mahapadayatra, carrying the Indian Constitution in his hand, on October 14 last year from Wanaparthy would conclude it in Warangal on April 14 this year traversing 5,000 kilometers distance in six months. He arrived in Karimnagar town on Saturday. To reach Karimnagar town he covered 4,200 km at a rate of 30 to 35 km per day till January-end and now travelling only 25 km per day due to the onset of summer.
He launched a campaign called “Jamboo dweepa jana jagarana” which holds that the Madigas (Maha adigas) are Maharaj and has suffixed the word Maharaj before the name of Madigas. He has been empowering the Madigas by explaining to them that they were once rulers and their first king was Jambhavantha. He felicitates them by placing a symbolic crown on their heads during the “Gnana deepam” programme.
Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Vishwaradhan said that the Indian Constitution gave life and identity to the Scheduled Castes in the country. Prior to 1950, the SCs did not even have citizenship. The Constitution recognised the untouchables as the citizens of the country and allowed them to share the resources and their opinion was also respected. “It also allowed us to contest elections and become the President and Prime Minister of the country and treated me equally in society,” he pointed out.
Referring to MRPS founder carrying his caste name and callling himself Manda Krishna Madiga, Mr. Vishwaradhan, who suffixed ‘Maharaj’ to his name, said that Manda Krishna had bought the Madiga caste to the mainstream theough the fight for categorization. “Now the name Madiga is an old issue and it is not appropriate to use one’s caste name. We have used Madiga name over 20 years and now it is time to use Maharaj, which is our actual origin,” he said.
Claiming that there was overwhelming response to his yatra, he said that the yatra would conclude in Warangal on April 14 (Ambedkar Jayanthi) with massive public meeting. In the second phase of Jambhoo Dweepa jana jagarana programme, he would conduct padayatra for the cause of SC sub-caste Mala, later Adivasis and also for BCs.
