A veiled attack on the RSS by Congress MLA Priyank Kharge — who wondered what the leaders who want to change the Constitution now were doing during freedom struggle — led to a heated exchange of words between the ruling and the Opposition members in the Legislative Assembly on Friday.
Participating in the debate on Constitution, Mr. Kharge said some of the senior RSS leaders had expressed a view that the present Constitution should be changed. Those who did not sweat it out in the freedom struggle, let alone shed blood, were now demanding that the Constitution be changed, he said.
“Why did they take 52 years [after attaining freedom] to hoist the national flag and what is their eligibility to seek a change in Constitution?” he wondered. He asked why the BJP top leaders, including the Prime Minister, were not advising those who speak against the Constitution to desist from doing so.
He asked: “Where were you when the country was going through freedom struggle?” This angered the ruling members, who launched a counter-attack on Mr. Kharge and the Congress.
Kannada and Culture Minister C.T. Ravi maintained that it was wrong to accuse the Hindutva right-wing leaders of not involving in freedom struggle as the Jan Sangh itself was formed in 1951, while the BJP had taken birth in 1980. But it did not mean that they had stayed away from freedom struggle as they had played a role in their individual capacities, he said.
He went on to allege that the Congress leaders had ignored Mahatma Gandhi’s suggestion to dissolve the party post-Independence and instead “misused its name” by indulging in corruption.
This angered Congress leader Krishna Byre Gowda, who asked Mr. Ravi not to deviate from the subject of discussion. But Mr. Ravi persisted.
Calm prevailed after Speaker Visweshwar Hegde Kageri repeatedly instructed Mr. Ravi to keep quiet.
Earlier, Mr. Kharge alleged that efforts were being made to suppress freedom of expression in the country. There were 154 instances of Internet being shut down in the country from January 2016 to 2018 to stop communication, he said. “How can we call ourselves a free democracy if there is no freedom of speech?” he asked. Anyone who questions the actions of those in power is being projected as “anti-national,” he said. Sedition cases had been filed against farmers, Dalit students, writers, intellectuals and labour leaders, he added.
