Former Minister and Congress leader Priyank Kharge, who has been taking on the government on various issues ranging from the alleged bitcoin scam to the alleged misappropriation in Ganga Kalyana scheme, was recently described as a “convent Dalit” by Energy and Kannada and Culture Minister Sunil Kumar, implying that he did not understand the “grassroots issues” of the community.
Incensed by this straightjacketing, the former Minister in a recent press conference firstly clarified that he did not fit the description if taken literally. He studied in Poorna Prajna school in Bengaluru administered by Adamaru mutt in Udupi and later joined MES college, neither of them, undoubtedly, run by a convent.
Then he went on to ask what Mr. Kumar’s problem was if he was indeed a “convent Dalit”. “Should Dalits not learn English? Do BJP leaders love only those Dalits who carry night soil on their heads and stick to their place in caste hierarchy?” he asked. “I am a cosmopolitan Dalit, a conscious Dalit and a Constitution-abiding Dalit who believes in the philosophy of Basaveshwara, Narayana Guru and Babasaheb Ambedkar,” he declared, asking if Mr. Kumar had a problem with it.
