Ruckus in Karnataka Assembly as BJP accuses Cong for Ambedkar's 1952 poll defeat
Bengaluru, Mar 17 (PTI): Karnataka Legislative Assembly witnessed a ruckus on Monday with the BJP alleging that the Congress was responsible for B R Ambedkar's defeat in the 1952 Lok Sabha polls, and Minister Priyank Kharge countering it by claiming that it was Hindutva idealogue V D Savarkar, who was responsible for it.
With Kharge throwing a challenge at the BJP stating that he can prove that Savarkar was responsible for Ambedkar's defeat, citing the Constitution's founding father's handwritten letter as evidence, BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal said he was accepting a challenge, and let there be a debate on the issue.
Following this, Speaker U T Khader said he is fixing Friday afternoon time for discussion on the subject.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address, pointed out that it was the Congress government in Karnataka that enacted a legislation regarding Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan in 2013, after neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, which was first state to do so, and said, "it was not BJP ruled states which did it...not central government."
At this point, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Arvind Bellad asked, why did the Congress which has ruled both at the Centre and state for long did not do it earlier? "Were you (Congress) sleeping? We got freedom in 1947."
BJP MLA Vedavyas Kamath asked, "who defeated Ambedkar in the parliament polls?"
Responding to it, Priyank Kharge said, it was Savarkar who defeated Ambedkar. He was joined by several Congress legislators and ministers, including Byrathi Suresh, in alleging that it was Savarkar who was responsible for it.
Kharge said, "Ambedkar had written a letter, read it, he had mentioned Savarkar's name in it."
To this, BJP members countered by saying it was Congress which ensured Ambedkar's defeat.
Siddaramaiah responded to it by asking, "who made him (Ambedkar) the minister?"
Bellad and other BJP members retorted and said, "who campaigned against Ambedkar? Nehru did it. Who removed him from the cabinet? Who did not give a place for his burial site? Congress did not even give him Bharat Ratna."
Siddaramaiah countered this by asking why Jana Sangh did not support Ambedkar? Following which argument broke out between the treasury and opposition benches.
Kharge said in 1952 Ambedkar had written a letter to his friend. It is a handwritten note. In that he clearly says that Savarkar was responsible for his defeat.
"Will you resign if I show the letter? I will show the letter in five minutes, will you resign? I challenge you. Savarkar was responsible for Ambedkar's defeat. Accept the challenge," he said.
With BJP members objecting to it, a heated exchange broke out between both sides, resulting in chaos. Saffron party MLAs, including Bellad said Ambedkar himself had called Congress a "disease". They said Congress and Nehru were behind Ambedkar's defeat.
BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal intervened and said he was ready to accept the challenge and time should be given to discuss the matter.
"We are ready....we will prove that Congress insulted Ambedkar, let Priyank Kharge come for discussion, he should nor run away. Congress has no morality to speak about Ambedkar," he said.
Following this, Speaker Khader said he would allocate time, but the House should be allowed to function. However, chaos continued with heated exchanges between the Congress and BJP members.
The Speaker then said, challenge was thrown by Kharge and it has been accepted by Yatnal. Time will be given to both of them. "I will fix time on Friday afternoon, everyone should be present here."
As Kharge tried to read out some content of the letter purportedly written by Ambedkar in 1952 in the House, there was chaos, with the BJP members strongly objecting to it, and shouting slogans against Congress, accusing it of defeating and insulting Ambedkar.
CM Siddaramaiah said let there be a debate on Friday afternoon.
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Kannur dental student death: Case registered against loan app operators, parents allege murder
Kannur (PTI): A case has been registered against unidentified loan app operators in connection with the death of a Kannur Dental College student in Anjarakandy, officials said on Monday.
However, the victim’s parents alleged that their son was murdered and held the college faculty responsible for his death.
The Kannur Cyber Police registered the case on Sunday night based on a complaint by an assistant professor of the college.
According to police, Nithin Raj R L, a first-year BDS student, had taken a loan through an online loan app.
After he defaulted on repayment, the app operators allegedly began contacting the assistant professor.
The FIR stated that the accused contacted the woman faculty member via MMS and WhatsApp, threatening her over repayment and attempting to siphon off money illegally.
Sources said that in cases of default, such loan app operators often send messages to all available contacts of the borrower.
Raj (22), a native of Uzhamalackal, Puthukulangara in Thiruvananthapuram district, was found critically injured near the medical college block after falling from a building on April 10 and later succumbed to his injuries.
The family alleged that Raj was subjected to emotional harassment on caste and complexion grounds by two faculty members, following which a case was registered against Dental Anatomy Department Head M K Ram and Associate Professor K T Sangeetha Nambiar for abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Even though notices were issued to both accused to appear for interrogation, they are yet to respond to the police, officials said.
Police officials said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case is also examining whether Raj’s death was linked to threats from the loan app operators.
The cyber case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Sections 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 308(3) (extortion), along with Section 66D of the Information Technology Act (cheating by personation using computer resources).
Police said Raj’s mobile phone will be examined to gather details about the loan app, and a detailed statement will be recorded from the assistant professor who received the threatening messages and calls.
Meanwhile, the SIT has recovered chat details from Raj’s phone, which indicate that he had sought more time to repay the loan.
According to police, Raj had taken a loan of Rs 14,000, and the app operators had demanded immediate repayment of Rs 8,000.
As his family was facing financial difficulties, he had requested a few weeks’ time to settle the dues.
The SIT, led by the Station House Officer of Chakkarakkallu police station, visited Raj’s house on Monday and recorded statements of his parents and sister.
The four-member team also collected digital evidence from them.
The family also met the State Police Chief Ravada Chandrasekhar and filed a petition seeking a detailed probe into the incident.
Raj’s father Rajan said his son had taken the loan for his mother’s treatment.
“We were repaying it. But recently, the repayment defaulted. If the teacher was aggrieved by the loan app’s calls and my son had done anything wrong, they should have informed us. You can check my phone, there is no call from the college,” he said.
Rajan said he had little hope of getting justice.
“They all killed my son. What justice can I expect? I worked hard for his education. We lost everything,” he said.
He also alleged that even three days after Raj’s death, there had been no communication from the college authorities.
“He was a student of that college. Not even a word from the authorities. Students there, fearing for their future, are not speaking out. At least one student should speak out for us,” he said.
Meanwhile, protests erupted at Kannur Dental College on Monday, with final-year BDS students also joining the agitation.
The college has granted leave to students of other batches following the incident.
Students alleged that the accused faculty member, M K Ram, misbehaved with students by body-shaming and physical assault.
“We were living under severe pressure. Ram was involved in body-shaming. Verbal abuse was frequent. Apart from it, he used to hit students on the head. There were also complaints against him and disciplinary action taken earlier,” a student told reporters.
Political organisations, including KSU of the Congress, SFI and DYFI of the CPI(M), MSF of the IUML and ABVP of the BJP, carried out protest marches.
KSU and SFI activists who entered the college compound were later detained and removed by police.
Kerala SC/ST Commission Chairperson Shekaran Miniyodan visited Raj’s house and interacted with his family.
He said the Commission has registered a case and sought a report from the police.
“We will collect information along with the SIT about the incident. Apart from the preliminary investigation report, we will also examine the postmortem report,” he said.
Similarly, the Kerala Youth Commission has also registered a case and recorded statements of students of the college.
Commission Chairman M Shajar said students have raised serious allegations against M K Ram and that a detailed probe would be conducted with police support.
Earlier, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission had also registered a case and sought a report from the police.
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