True nature of BJP towards Ambedkar stands exposed
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) found itself in a piquant situation in the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Tuesday when the House passed a resolution urging the Centre to name the new Parliament building after Dr BR Ambedkar.
The lone BJP member in the House, M Raghunandan Rao made himself scarce when the House voted in favour of the resolution. His absence was indicative of the BJP’s reluctance to honour Dr Ambedkar by naming the new Parliament building after him, political observers commented.
Incidentally, two other BJP members were also not present, as one of them, Eatala Rajendar was suspended from the House for his disrespectful remarks against the Chair and his steadfast refusal to apologise. Another BJP legislator Raja Singh is under preventive detention for his reported incendiary remarks against a religion.
That the treasury benches scored a point in the Assembly with the clever move to introduce the resolution was evident. Political circles were discussing whether the BJP which got wind of the resolution being introduced had ensured that none of its legislators was present in the House when the resolution came up for discussion.
The BJP had ducked the political punch thrown by the ruling TRS, but it had completely exposed the true nature of the BJP and its stand towards Ambedkar, a TRS functionary commented on the episode. “It was a clever move drafted by TRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao and the BJP was caught in a catch-22 situation and the only way to wriggle out of it was to make sure its MLAs were not in the House.
One engineered his own suspension, while another silently moved out of the House to avoid voting,” he pointed out. The members of the treasury benches felt that the BJP had been disrespectful towards Ambedkar, by distancing itself from voting.
Earlier, moving the resolution, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said it would be appropriate to name the newly-constructed Parliament building after Ambedkar, who was the architect of the Indian Constitution. He said Ambedkar was instrumental in ensuring that the minority had a strong voice in the democratic country through the Constitution.
He reminded that the Telangana State could be formed only due to the provisions created by Ambedkar under Article 3 of the Constitution and the State government was implementing his principles for the welfare and development of all equally. “Ambedkar gave the nation a direction and there is no better person to honour than having the new Parliament building named after him,” he added.
Extending his support, Congress Legislative Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka urged the State government to allow installation of the statue of Ambedkar at Punjagutta junction. He said due to the anti-people policies of the BJP government at the Centre, Ambedkar’s principles were under threat.
However, Minister Rama Rao intervened and informed that the State government was installing the 125-ft statue of Ambedkar shortly and installation of the statue at Punjagutta cannot be allowed, due to the Supreme Court orders.
AIMIM member Ahmed Balala also supported the Bill on behalf of his party. Later Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy moved the resolution opposing the Electricity (Amendments) Bill 2022. The Bill was against the interests of farmers, the poor, and the employees of the power sector, he said. The resolution was passed by the Assembly unanimously.
