NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that the BJP considers “Manusmriti above Constitution”, and slammed the saffron party for praising Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who has said that “there is nothing Indian about the Constitution.”Rahul took a jibe at the BJP saying that by talking of protecting the Constitution, the ruling party is ridiculing, abusing and defaming Savarkar.Participating in a debate on 75 years of the adoption of the Constitution, the Congress leader said Savarkar, who is seen as an ideologue of the BJP and RSS, had said there is nothing Indian about the Constitution, and that he preferred Hindu religious text ‘Manusmriti’ to it.Quoting Savarkar’s words on Manusmriti, Rahul Gandhi said: “Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worshippable after Vedas for our Hindu nation and from which our ancient times have become the basis for our culture, customs, thought and practice. This book, for centuries, has codified the spiritual and divine march of our nation…” “These are the words of Savarkar…Savarkar has clearly stated in his writings that there is nothing Indian about our Constitution. He has clearly stated that the book India is run by should be superseded by this book. This is what the fight is about,” he added.”There is a battle taking place today in India. On this side (Opposition) are the defenders of the idea of the Constitution,” he noted.Citing an instance from the HIndu epic Mahabharat, he said Dronacharya sought the thumb of Eklavya as an honorarium. Just like that the BJP government is chopping off the thumbs of the people. “When you give Dharavi to Adani, you chop off the thumb of the small and medium businesses there…You have fired tear gas shells on farmers outside Delhi, the farmers are asking for fair prices…You are cutting the thumb of that farmer. When you implemented Agniveer, you cut off the thumb of the youth,” Rahul added.
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