The RSS's idea of freedom was to "clip your wings" based on religion, former MP Prakash Ambedkar said here today.
"Our idea of liberty is that behave in whatever manner we like on the notion that it will not offend others. But the notion of liberty which RSS is trying to bring in is clip your wings on the basis of religion," the leader of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) said.
He was speaking on 'Hindutva's appropriation of B R Ambedkar, Shivaji and Bhagat Singh' during a seminar titled 'Mumbai Collective: Celebrating Freedom and Pluralism'.
Ambedkar, grandson of B R Ambedkar, alleged in BJP-ruled states there was a "systematic attempt" to "curtail" the right to vote.
"One of the best things Indian constitution has given to the citizen is right to vote....Recently, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan passed legislations where education and economic status have been utilised in curtailing the right to vote as far as district elections are concerned," he said.
The matter was now before the Supreme Court, but "process to bring back old Manu system in new form has begun," he said.
There should be a consensus on the principle that everybody must have the right to vote irrespective of educational or economic status, he said.
Senior CPI(M) leader Ashok Dhawle said, "The ideological project of Hindutva necessitates the glorification of blatantly communal figures like...Nathuram Godse on one hand and it also requires indefensible appropriation of secular icons like Shivaji, Dr Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh and Swami Vivekanda. This is being done in order to expand the Hindutva base.
