Unleashing a verbal attack on the Congress, BJP Scheduled Castes Morcha State president and party spokesperson Chalavadi Narayanaswamy has said that the grand old party had used Dalits only as its vote-bank and cheated the community by doing nothing for its development in the last 70 years. He also held that the Congress anti-Dalit mindset forced the Dalit communities to desert the party and join the BJP that led to its [Congress] downfall in the last few years.
“Dalits, including me, were under the impression that the Congress would work for their welfare and supported it in its electoral politics all these years. But, it used the Dalits as a vote-bank and forgot them after assuming power. Most of the Dalits who have realised its anti-Dalit approach have deserted the party and joined the BJP. The erosion of its Dalit support base is the major reason for the decline of the Congress and the rise of the BJP in the country,” he said.
He was, along with BJP Scheduled Castes Morcha State vice-president Ambaraya Ashtagi and other Dalit leaders, addressing a media conference at Aiwan-e-Shahi Guest House in Kalaburagi on Sunday.
Referring to the socio-economic and educational survey, which was also known as the caste census, conducted during the tenure of Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister, Mr. Narayanswamy said that the Dalits were the largest community in the State as per the leaked findings of the survey and the Congress had always neglected its welfare and never thought of choosing a Dalit leader for the post of Chief Minister.
“Veteran Congress leaders M. Mallikarjun Kharge and G. Parameshwar were never considered for the post of Chief Minister just because they hailed from Dalit community. The leaders from the dominant castes ensured the defeat of Dr. Parameshwar to remove him from the race for the top post in the State. Mr. Kharge was cleverly sidelined when the question of Dalit Chief Minister rose in the party. I too was targeted in the party just because I demanded a Dalit Chief Minister. Frustrated by Congress anti-Dalit mindset, I quit the party after working for it for nearly 40 years and joined the BJP,” he said.
Asked about the impressions that the BJP would change the Constitution and end the caste-based reservations introduced for the development of oppressed and marginalised communities, Mr. Narayanaswamy termed it as a false propaganda that was spread by the Congress. “The Ambedkar-drafted Constitution and the caste-based reservation would continue. It was because of the Constitution that an ordinary tea seller [referring to Narendra Modi] has become the Prime Minister and the party would never think of changing its [Constitution] basic structure,” Mr. Narayanaswamy said.
