Culture of 'forcing silence', branding people 'anti-nationals', will finish democracy, says Kharge

On the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday took a swipe at the government saying the culture of forcing silence and branding people antinationals is a dangerous trend that will finish our democracy and destroy the ConstitutionIn his message on Ambedkar Jayanti Kharge also alleged that Parliament has been converted into an arena of combat rather than debate and not by the opposition but by the ruling partyHe recalled that Ambedkar had warned about the ills of heroworship or Bhakti in the context of Indian politicsOn the behalf of Indian National Congress we bow in reverence to the tremendous contribution of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his 132nd Jayanti today Babasaheb was a champion of the democratic principles of liberty equality fraternity and justice he saidFormer Congress president Rahul Gandhi also paid tributes to Ambedkar saying Equality liberty fraternity amp justice the universal values Babasaheb Ambedkar championed will always remain our guiding light amp strengthTributes to the Architect of Indias Constitution on his birth anniversaryKharge also noted that Ambedkar was firm in his commitment to the transformation of India and its society both economically and sociallyWe all greatly respect him as the Architect of Indias Constitution He was instrumental in establishing a large number of robust institutions and made several important interventions to end caste discrimination gender inequality and divisive politics the Congress president saidAs a leading economist of those times Ambedkar also contributed to Indias agriculture its water resource management and our banking sector by conceptualising the Reserve Bank of India he saidHis finest inheritance needs constant care for preservation Kharge stressedAlso read Karnataka polls Congress holds meeting to finalise candidates for remaining 58 seatsToday the very foundation of our constitutional democracy as envisaged by Babasaheb and our distinguished makers of modern India like Pandit Nehru ji Sardar Patel ji Maulana Azad Netaji Subhash Chandra ji is in grave danger he saidParliament has been converted into an arena of combat rather than debate Not by the opposition but by the ruling party itself Kharge allegedThe Congress president also quoted Ambedkars closing speech in the Constituent Assembly in November 1949 The working of a Constitution does not depend wholly upon the nature of the Constitution The Constitution can provide only the organs of state such as the legislature the executive and the judiciaryThe factors on which the working of those organs of the state depend are the people and the political parties They will set up as their instruments to carry out their wishes and their politics Who can say how the people of India and their parties will behaveKharge said the culture of forcing silence on anyone iquest be it opposition parties civil society groups activists NGOs judiciary media and ordinary citizens and branding them as antinationals is a dangerous trend that will finish our democracy and destroy the ConstitutionDr Ambedkar had warned us about the ills of heroworship or Bhakti in the context of Indian politics Kharge saidQuoting Ambedkar he said For in India Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or heroworship plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul But in politics Bhakti or heroworship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorshipIn his message to fellow citizens Kharge said It is time for serious introspection whether we would allow the degradation of our democracy and pave the way for dictatorship or try to preserve and protect the finest ideals of our Constitution makersThe choice remains with us and only us he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever