I was humiliated in my childhood for being a dalit: Parameshwara

A day after meekly agreeing to be a minister, senior Congressman G Parameshwara on Friday tried to assert his authority in the party with his supporters organising a ‘Sarthaka Samavesha’ to mark the leader completing five years as president of the State Congress unit.

He also made use of the occasion, attended by top State Congress leaders at the sprawling Palace Grounds, to position himself as a dalit leader.

 He turned emotional as he narrated the humiliation meted out to him in his childhood for being a dalit.

“We were not allowed to drink water using a glass. They (the upper caste) used to pour water from a bowl. It’s been 67 years year since we got Independence. How many more years do we have to undergo this humiliation?” he asked.

The event was organised in such a way as to depict Parameshwara as a mass leader and project that he had a significant role in bringing the party back to power in the 2013 Assembly elections.

Short film
Parameshwara had tried hard to get the post of deputy chief minister, but he was forced to accept a Cabinet berth. A short film on his political career and his contribution to bring the Congress back to power in 2013 was screened at the event.

A booklet in this regard was released and Parameshwara was made to cut a cake to mark the occasion.

There was so much clamour for greeting and felicitating Parameshwara that the chief minister was forced to wait to make his speech.

The KPCC president further said the evil system of untouchability was still being practised. “You don’t have to go too far. About 20 km from here, in Anekal, there are separate drinking water glasses for dalits.

Though my father was an MLC, I was not allowed to enter a salon. So, my father used to cut my hair at home,” he said and added that his aim was to ensure dignity for the dalits and the deprived section by following in the footsteps of B R Ambedkar.

Though Siddaramaiah said many programmes initiated by Parameshwara as the State Congress president helped the party win the 2013 Assembly polls, he made it a point to highlight the ‘padayatra’ taken out from Bengaluru to Ballari against illegal mining in 2009 when R V Deshpande was the KPCC president.

He said the ‘padayatra’ marked the beginning of the downfall of the BJP government in Karnataka. The chief minister also said he had no differences with Parameshwara.

‘Prepare for 2018 polls’
Both Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara exhorted the party workers to prepare for the 2018 Assembly elections and stop the BJP from coming back to power.

“Merely focusing on development will not do. We should not repeat the mistakes we committed in 2004 when the focus was only on development and not politics. Along with development, we should carefully handle politics in the 2018 polls. If the BJP can win three elections in Madhya Pradesh, why not the Congress get a second term in Karnataka?” Parameshwara asked.