Ram Bahadur Rai had recently said that BR Ambedkar had nothing to do with the making of Constitution and that Ambedkar only made corrections in the Constitutions.
The Congress on Wednesday threatened a nationwide agitation unless BJP President Amit Shah tenders an unconditional apology over an "insult" to B R Ambedkar by a RSS ideologue and head of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) Ram Bahadur Rai. The party also took exception to his suggestion, to turn the current Lok Sabha into a Constituent Assembly to redraft the Constitution.
Describing Rai’s views as the reflection of the larger RSS agenda of achieving a "Constitution-mukt Bharat," the party asked its Scheduled Caste departments across the states to protest. The SC department chairman K Raju told a press conference: "Rai has insulted millions of Indians and Dalits by arguing that Ambedkar had no contribution in making of the Constitution. Rajendra Prasad and Jawaharlal Nehru have appreciated Ambedkar’s contribution. Every article of the Constitution was debated in the Constituent Assembly and Rai says only language was corrected. This is in continuation of the anti-Dalit mindset reflected in what Gen VK Singh and others said."
The Congress has raised this issue with great alacrity as the election-bound Punjab has the highest percentage of Dalit population and even in Uttar Pradesh they play a decisive role in a large number of constituencies.
Rai had said in an interview that Ambedkar’s contribution in the making of the Constitution was a myth and he only corrected the bad language of the bureaucrats. A Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India, awarded by the Modi government in 2015, Rai has been an RSS pracharak and general secretary of ABVP (Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad), student wing of the RSS, before becoming a journalist to serve 'Hindustan Samachar' news agency and 'Jansatta Hindi' daily. He continues to edit Hindi magazine 'Yathavat' owned by a BJP Rajya Sabha member.
Linking his views to the larger RSS agenda, Raju said: "The reason for the visceral hatred of the RSS against the Congress is that it gave a Constitution that is based on equality and justice for all, apart from secularism. The RSS hates Constitution because it keeps the idea of Hindu Rashtra at bay. Modi talks about Congress-mukt Bharat but the real agenda is Constitution-mukt Bharat."
Describing Modi as a disciple of M S Golwalkar who was very clearly opposed to the Constitution, Raju recalled Golwalkar's telltale words: "Unfortunately our Constitution has given equal rights to everybody. Just as a person without understanding may give equal rights to his children and to the thieves in his house and distribute the property among all."
Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar added: "They have Ambedkar on their lips and Golwalkar in their heart. We wonder if the Constitution would have been similar to the Manusmriti, had RSS ideologues drafted it,” he added.
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