‘Like Eklavya was treated… you are cutting thumbs of small businesses, youths’: Rahul tells Modi govt

“In front of us stand people who follow a very different philosophical tradition. And I want to start my speech by quoting what the supreme leader —not of the BJP, but of the modern interpretation of the ideas of the RSS — has to say about the Constitution of India. And about how he thinks India should be run,” Gandhi said. He went on to quote Savarkar: “The worst thing about the Constitution of India is that there is nothing Indian about it. Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worship-able after Vedas for our Hindu nation and which, from our ancient times, has become the basis of our culture, thought and practice.”

Savarkar wanted that “the book India is run by (the Constitution) should be superseded by this book (Manusmiriti)”, the Leader of the Opposition said. “And this is what the fight (between the BJP and the Opposition) is about.”

Does the BJP support what Savarkar said, Gandhi asked. “Do you support your leader’s words? Because when you speak in Parliament about protecting the Constitution, you are ridiculing Savarkar, you are abusing Savarkar, you are defaming Savarkar.”

Gandhi began his 26-minute-long speech with his interpretation of ‘Abhay Mudra’, something he has spoken about in Parliament before. Calling it “the concept of fearlessness, truth, and non-violence”, he said: “The Constitution contains a set of ideas from one philosophy of our nation, one central philosophical set of ideas… When we open the Constitution, we can hear the voice and ideas of Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. But where did those ideas come from?”

They came from old traditions of the country, Gandhi said. “Those ideas came from (Lord) Shiva, Guru Nanak, Basavanna, from Buddha, Mahaveer, Kabir… So when we speak of the Constitution… of course it is a document of modern India, but it could never have been written without ancient India and her ideas.”

Gandhi said India was seeing “a battle”. “On this side we have those defending the Constitution. And from each state we have one… Tamil Nadu, Periyar; Karnataka, Basavanna; Maharashtra, (Jyotirao) Phule and Ambedkar ji; and Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi. (But) You praise these people hesitatingly.”

While the Congress MP has dwelled on these issues before, a big part of his speech focused on the Eklavya story. He recounted in detail the Mahabharata episode where Eklavya, “a lower caste” Nishad, was rejected by Guru Dronacharya, the teacher to the royals, and then later was asked to offer his right thumb as his dues to the latter.

“The way Dronacharya cut the thumb of Eklavya, you are trying to chop off the thumb of the country,” Gandhi told the Treasury Benches. “You are cutting the thumb of the youth of this country… When you give Dharavi (slum development project) to (Gautam) Adani ji, you are cutting the thumbs of small entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses of Dharavi. You are doing the same by giving ports, airports, the defence industry to him. You are cutting the thumb of honest businesses when you help Adani.”

Other measures of the Modi government also amounted to the same, Gandhi said. “Through lateral entry, you are cutting the thumbs of youths, OBCs, and the poor. The way Eklavya practised, the same way youth practise for different exams. Earlier, youth would wake up early to train to enter the Army. When you started Agniveer, you cut their fingers. When you leak papers, you cut the thumbs of youths,” he said.

Gandhi also referred to the ongoing farmer protest. “Today, outside Delhi, you fired tear gas and injured farmers with lathicharge. Farmers are asking for MSP… When you give benefits to Adani and Ambani, you cut farmers’ thumbs.”

Talking about his recent visit to Hathras to meet the family of the 2020 rape-murder victim, Gandhi said the accused were roaming free and “threatening” the Dalit victim’s family. “Meanwhile, the girl’s family are locked in their house… Where does it say in the Constitution that the family of the victim is locked up while the accused roam free? This is written in Manusmriti… In UP, you rule, then Manusmriti is applicable in UP, not the Constitution.”

Gandhi said that the family told him that the state government had not kept its promise to relocate them, and said: “I say in this House that we, the INDIA bloc, will follow the Constitution and relocate that family, if you don’t do it. And we say to each and every poor person that you are protected by the Constitution.”

Saying that the Constitution “prohibits discrimination”, the Congress leader talked about how he had met some youths from Sambhal, which recently saw violence over a controversy involving a mosque, and the deaths of five people. “Five people were murdered. Where is it written in the Constitution? Wherever you go, you instigate one religion against the other, you spread hatred. Show me where it is written in the Constitution to instigate.”

About the ideology of the INDIA bloc, Gandhi said: “We brought the Constitution and we protect it. Ambedkar ji said that if there is political equality but no social equality, then political equality will be destroyed… Political equality is over, and all institutions of this country are captured. There is no social or financial equality. Hence, our next step will be caste census. We want to show the country whose thumbs have been cut. We want to show Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, farmers, labourers, whose thumbs have been cut. Hence, I reiterate my promise in this House that we will conduct a caste census, and a new kind of development and politics will be done in India. And what I had said earlier, which you don’t like, we will break the wall of 50% reservation.”

Initiating the debate on the Constitution on Friday, Union Minister Rajnath Singh had said the Congress should bring “a blueprint on how much reservation you want to offer to which caste”.

After a member from the ruling side raised the point about former Congress Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s position on Savarkar Saturday, Rahul Gandhi said: “I had asked this question to her… I was young, and she told me that Savarkar ji compromised with the British… asked for forgiveness from the British… That Gandhi ji went to jail, Nehru ji went to jail, and Savarkar ji sought forgiveness. This was Indira Gandhi ji’s position.”