Gujarat Governor O P Kohli and Somabhai Modi (right) felicitate Dalits in Vadnagar on Saturday. Javed Raja Gujarat Governor O P Kohli and Somabhai Modi (right) felicitate Dalits in Vadnagar on Saturday. Javed Raja

Gujarat Governor O P Kohli and Somabhai Modi, elder brother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, heaped praises on the Dalit community at a ceremony to felicitate them in Vadnagar on Saturday.

Speaking at the felicitation ceremony of Balmiki Samaj Sevak, organised on the premises of the old-age home run by Somabhai’s Sarvodaya Sewa Trust, Kohli said Dalits had done a “great favour” to the country by choosing not to convert to Islam during the Mughal rule.

“When there was Islamic rule in India, Muslim rulers tried very hard to convert different castes, but the community that showed the maximum courage and strongly declined to get converted was the Balmiki community. Instead, they accepted to bear the heaviest of pain. What if they had converted? We can imagine what would have happened to our society,” the Governor said.

Kohli added, “Under Jinnah’s leadership, Muslims demanded a different state for themselves, but Babasaheb Ambedkar-led Dalit community never demanded a different nation. This is such a great favour to us.”

“Only Constitution can’t ensure social harmony. The Constitution is only a guide. To make this a reality, we have to bring in more organisations and people like Somabhai Modi,” he added.

Somabhai said, “There are two saints in the society — one who gives religious and spiritual enlightenment and the other is the Balmiki community. I call them saint because they clean our waste. Because of these two, the world is running. The day they will stop cleaning this, we will be in the hospital.”

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