State president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Scheduled Castes Cell F.H. Jakkappanavar has said that the BJP, the RSS and the Sangh Parivar are against the Constitution that safeguards the interests of Dalits.
Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, Mr. Jakkappanavar said that it was not just Member of Parliament Ananthkumar Hegde who issues statements against the Constitution but the party and the organisation to which he belongs also have the same mindset.
Both the BJP and the RSS have been following anti-Dalit policies and they have a mindset to amend the Constitution to suit their needs and also burn it [Constitution] down, he said.
Mr. Jakkappanavar said that the NDA-led government at the Centre was not being run according to the provisions of Article 46 of the Constitution but according to the whims and fancies of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
He said that Article 46 mandated that the government should take steps for promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections of society.
“And, it also clearly tells that the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of society, in particular the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation,” Mr. Jakkappanavar said and added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not doing his job honestly in this connection.
He said that in the recent Union Budget ₹ 76,801 crore had been allocated to various schemes pertaining to 18 crore members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, whereas the coalition government in the State had allocated ₹ 30,445 crore for the welfare of 1.8 crore members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the State.
Mr. Jakkappanavar said that despite repeated requests to confer Bharat Ratna on the seer of the Tumakuru Siddaganga Mutt Sri Shivakumara Swami, popularly known as the “Walking God”, the Modi government chose to confer the coveted honour on a RSS leader Nanaji Deshmukh.
