'BJP ridiculing, abusing and defaming Savarkar when it talks of protecting Constitution': Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Seeking to draw a parallel between the Constitution and ‘Manusmriti’, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday asked the BJP whether it is “ridiculing, abusing and defaming” V D Savarkar who favours the Hindu scripture when it talks about protecting the Constitution as its ideological mentor found “nothing Indian” about it.

He also invoked Hindu mythology to corner the ruling party as he narrated how ‘Ekalavya’ sacrificed his right thumb to upper caste ‘Dronacharya’ to allege that the BJP was making India's youth, farmers and poor among others to sacrifice their thumbs when lathis are lobbed at farmers and India's infrastructure is given to Gautam Adani.

In his 26-minute address during the ‘Discussion on the Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India’ in Lok Sabha, he also reiterated the I.N.D.I.A. bloc's commitment to conducting Caste Census and removing the 50 per cent cap on reservation.

Rahul returned fire by quoting Savarkar's remarks that "The worst thing about the Constitution is that there is nothing Indian about it" and asserted that the Hindutva ideologue "clearly stated" that the book by which India is run should be superseded by 'Manusmriti', a Hindu code "most worshipable" for Hindus after the Vedas.

"It is nice that you say you are defending the Constitution, but I want to ask, do you stand by your leader's words? Because when you speak about protecting the Constitution you are abusing Savarkar, you are ridiculing Savarkar, you are defaming Savarkar," Rahul said.

Posting a video of his speech on 'X', Rahul said, "Congress and I.N.D.I.A. alliance are the protectors of the Constitution. BJP and RSS are supporters of 'Manusmriti'. The country will be run by the Constitution, not by Manusmriti!"

Referring to his recent visit to Hathras, he said in Lok Sabha that the accused are roaming around freely while the family of a gangrape victim who was killed is shut in their homes while promising that I.N.D.I.A. bloc will relocate them if the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government does not keep its word.

“It is not written in the Constitution that rapists remain outside and the victim’s family stay inside. It might be written in ‘Manusmriti’ but not in the Constitution…We want to tell the poor that it is the Constitution that saves you. BJP is attacking the Constitution,” he said. Rahul also referred to Sambhal violence and asked to show him where it is written that one should spread hatred and make communities fight against each other.

His comments came as the BJP pounded an attack on the Congress claiming that it was usurping credit for the making of the Constitution. On Friday, his sister and newly-elected MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said during the debate that it appears that Modi does not understand that the Constitution is not 'Sangh ka Vidhan' (RSS' law).

Taking on the Narendra Modi government, Rahul said the BJP regime was making youth and others sacrifice their thumbs. He said the government was also chopping off the thumbs of youth when it allowed lateral entry and did nothing about paper leaks.

“When you give Dharavi to Adani, you chop off the thumb of the small entrepreneurs and small and medium businesses there. When you hand over India's ports, airports and defence industry to Adani, you cut off the thumbs of all fair play business of India who work honestly,” he said.

“When you implement Agniveer…When you have paper leaks, you have 70 paper leaks, you cut off the thumb of the youth. Today, you lobbed tear gas shells on farmers outside Delhi, you unleashed lathicharge on them. Farmers demand MSP from you. But you facilitate profits for Adani and Ambani and cut off the thumb of farmers,” he said.

Rahul said the Constitution is a document of modern India but it could never have been written without ancient India and her ideas while insisting that the ideas of people like Lord Shiva, Guru Nanak, Basavanna, Lord Buddha and Mahavira. "When we open the Constitution, we can hear the voice and ideas of Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru," he added.

Rahul's remarks on Savarkar attracted criticism later from Shiv Sena's Srikant Shinde who quoted then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's letter to the functionary of foundation for Savarkar in which she had described him as a "remarkable son of India". This led to a war of words between the NDA and I.N.D.I.A. MPs.

Responding to Shinde, the Leader of Opposition said he recalls a brief conversation with his grandmother Indira who told him that when Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and others went to jail, Savarkar wrote an apology and got himself freed.