RSS trying to erase from history Congress’s contribution to independence struggle: Selvaperunthagai

K. Selvaperunthagai

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai on Tuesday charged that the Sangh Parivar was trying to change the history of Indian independence struggle and erase the contributions of Congress party.

Participating in the ‘Constitution Day’ celebrations organised by the TNCC advocates’ wing at Sathyamurthy Bhavan in Chennai, he said though Congress was instrumental in Indians gaining the freedom to speak, write, expression and thought, the party is being questioned by those “who were working against the independence struggle”.

“Slowly they are trying to rewrite history to say that India gained independence because of the RSS. In BJP ruled states, there are no history lessons about history of Indian independence. Today, some students are unable to even say the full name of Mahatma Gandhi. May be you can win through hook or crook in Maharashtra (elections), but you cannot do that in history,” he said.

K. Chandramohan, Additional Advocate General of Tamil Nadu, said the Constitution Day should be an opportunity to check if constitutional values are protected.

“This day is meant for self-appraisal of whether values of Constitution is being protected and whether the three pillars are following the Constitution. If we are able to speak, write and move freely, it is because of the Constitution,” he said.

Congress leader Peter Alphonse said the Congress party should get the credit for ensuring that Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar headed the Drafting Committee of Indian Constitution.

“We have no disagreements with the fact Dr. Ambedkar is a legal expert and had read constitutional texts from around the world, and that he is the architect of the Indian Constitution. The Congress party recognises it fully. When the Indian Constitution was being written, there were suggestions that constitutional experts from America and Europe should be brought in to help us write it. However, when a list of experts was given to Mahatma Gandhi... he said there was no need to bring in experts from around the world when we have Dr. Ambedkar,” he said.

Mr. Alphonse added, “Only those who were elected to the Constituent Assembly could become the head of Drafting Committee. Congress party was instrumental in getting him elected to the Constituent Assembly from erstwhile Bengal. During partition, Dr. Ambedkar lost his position as a part of Bengal went with Pakistan. Then, Congress ensured that Dr. Ambedkar was elected from a seat in Bombay Presidency.”

Rajesh Kumar, Congress Legislature Party leader, claimed the RSS and Sangh Parivar organisations don’t accept the Indian Constitution and work to undermine it, and use a bulldozer against democracy.

“But, our leader Rahul Gandhi fought against hate and walked across India for unity and created awareness. That is why [Prime Minister] Modi bowed down to the Constitution before taking oath. The Congress MPs also took oath with Constitution in their hands,” he said.