Countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s repeated calls to turn India Congress-free, senior Congressman and Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge, recalling an old wise saying, said that it might be Mr. Modi’s desire to be the master of the entire nation, but Karnataka’s people were not ready to be his slaves.

Mr. Kharge told presspersons at his party office here on Wednesday that “Mr. Modi must have forgotten the blow that Gujarat people have given in the recent Assembly elections. He may be aspiring to become the master of Karnataka as well. However, people here are not ready to be the slaves of Modi, BJP and RSS.”

Taking exception to Mr. Modi’s “vicious attack” on Jawaharlal Nehru in his recent public meetings in the State, Mr. Kharge said that it was because of B.R. Ambedkar’s Constitution and the efforts of Nehru in nurturing parliamentary democracy that a “poor mother’s son” (Mr. Modi) could become Prime Minister.

“Even when the neighbouring countries adopted dictatorship and communism, Nehru continued to uphold secularism and democracy enshrined in the Constitution authored by Ambedkar. As a strong follower of Buddha and Basava philosophies that advocate equality, Nehru strengthened parliamentary democracy in Indian soil. It is because of this democracy that Mr. Modi is Prime Minister today. However, Mr. Modi and BJP are making all efforts to abolish adult franchise, the fundamental pillar of any democracy,” he alleged.

Terming Ambedkar’s Indian Constitution and RSS ideologue M.S. Golwalkar’s ‘Bunch of Thoughts’ as two diagonally opposite world-outlooks, Mr. Kharge asked Mr. Modi and BJP to clarify which one they were for. “Ambedkar’s Constitution is for equal and democratic social order and Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts is for a hierarchical and exploitative order. Both are contradictory and can never go hand in hand. Instead of expressing too much love towards Ambedkar at the time of elections, they should first clarify whose thoughts they are for - Ambedkar’s or Golwalkar’s,” he said. Mr. Modi and BJP did not take any action against Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde when the latter openly said that BJP came to power for changing Ambedkar’s Constitution, because “they are for Golwalkar’s thoughts and not Ambedkar’s.”

Countering Mr. Modi’s “baseless and biased attacks” on Congress leaders at the personal level, Mr. Kharge said that his party was always ready to face constructive criticism. “If he [Mr. Modi] criticises Nehru’s foreign policy or Manmohan Singh’s economic policies, we will answer. Unleashing personal attacks on such leaders is not the statesmanship that is expected from the Prime Minister of a country,” he said.

Crime rate

Responding to BJP’s allegations against the Congress-led State government in the State on the crime rate, Mr. Kharge said that as per National Crime Records Bureau data provided by the Union government in the Lok Sabha, BJP-ruled States such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have reported higher number of atrocities on Dalits than Congress-ruled Karnataka and other States. “Mr. Modi should first correct the States ruled by his party before pointing his fingers at others.”

On Mr. Modi’s 2+1 comment referring to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah contesting in two constituencies and his son Yatindra in one constituency, Mr. Kharge said that such instances and dynasty rule were more prevalent in the BJP.