Parliament is temple of democracy and not a religious place of worship: Anandraj Ambedkar

Parliament is the temple of democracy and not a religious place of worship, Anandraj Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar, has said slamming the heavily ritualistic inaugural ceremony of the new Parliament building held on Sunday.

Mr. Ambedkar was in the city for unveiling a memorial dedicated to Amachadi Thevan, an unsung hero of Vaikom Satyagraha, erected jointly by the District Congress Committee (DCC) and the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) earlier this week.

“India being a secular country as enshrined in our Constitution, religion and its associated rituals should not have been connected with a function celebrating democracy. It was a futile programme borne out of the agenda of the BJP and the RSS to further their propaganda. It was bad and should not repeat in the future,” Mr. Ambedkar, who is also the head of the political outfit Republican Sena, told The Hindu over phone while returning to Mumbai on Tuesday night.

He said keeping President Droupadi Murmu, a Dalit, away from the inaugural function of the new Parliament building was one of the gravest injustices of recent times.

Mr. Ambedkar accused the BJP and the RSS of pushing their vested political agenda to galvanise Hindu votes. “But people have now realised their intentions. They are now talking more about unemployment, price rise, and the need for communal harmony rooted in secularism,” said Mr. Ambedkar.

He dubbed the recent Karnataka Assembly election as a promising sign of the changing times. Mr. Ambedkar had been instrumental in uniting various Dalit outfits and mobilising their support for the Congress party in Karnataka.

Mr. Ambedkar said the political scene in Kerala devoid of the BJP was relatively safe (from the alleged divisive communal politics of the party) for the time being.