Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi paying tribute to Dr B R Ambedkar at his birthplace in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. (Source: PTI Photo) Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi paying tribute to Dr B R Ambedkar at his birthplace in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. (Source: PTI Photo)

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, launching the Congress’s year-long 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar from his birthplace, said Ambedkar’s dream of “caste annihilation” was yet to be fulfilled.

Citing recent incidents like the alleged murder of a man for using an Ambedkar song as ringtone, the banning of an IIT-Madras study circle for allegedly raising caste issues and a company allegedly refusing to hire an MBA graduate because he was Muslim, he said some people are still denied social equality.

Rahul held “certain forces and ideologies” responsible for the lack of social cohesion in the country but refrained from taking names.

“We should not think that India has no danger from those ideologies which look down on one section of people. These powers are all the time trying to strengthen those walls against whom Babasaheb fought his whole life. These ideologies weaken us by pitting one individual against the other,” he said.

“Some one is murdered for using Ambedkar ringtone, Zeeshan is denied job despite being qualified,’’ he said in a brief speech. Referring to the IIT-Madras row, Rahul said that the voices of some people are being muzzled as they are associated with the ideologies of reformers like Ambedkar and Periyar.

He said that despite 65 years of the Constitution, caste is still present in politics and mindsets and it must be rooted out. “The country won’t achieve its full potential as long as caste and casteism exist,’’ he said.

He also spoke of the UPA governments’ programmes like distribution of land and the MGNREGA and said his party does not discriminate between people on the basis of caste. “When we introduced the Right to Food (act), we did not start it for one caste or one religion,” he said, adding, “Whenever there are atrocities and injustice, Congress will stand up for those at the receiving end.’’ Praising Ambedkar and his work, Rahul described him as a “symbol of virodh (opposition)” and an icon of international repute.

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