(This story originally appeared in on Jul 22, 2017)

BENGALURU: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS were out to ‘strangulate’ the Constitution and ‘rob’ every Indian of his ‘voice’ and ‘future’.Speaking at a conference organised by the Karnataka government to mark the 126th anniversary of BR Ambedkar, Gandhi said, “Modi and the RSS are out to strangle reality. Like what they did to Rohit Vemula and Mohammad Akhlaq , they are out to rob the voice and the future of every Indian. Modi has become an emperor without clothes, but nobody is willing to tell him that. India’s freedom was handed over to the British by a few Indians. Modi and the RSS are trying to rob you of the same freedom.”Civil rights activist Martin Luther King III , who was invited for the function, drew parallels between US President Donald Trump and Modi and alleged that both had unleashed “ferocious animosity” which had to be countered by the people by rising up against it. He drew parallels between ‘Dalit Lives Matter’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and the lives, thoughts, struggles and philosophies of his father Martin Luther King Jr and Ambedkar.