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Mala Sankshema Sangham, a Dalit organisation, approached the Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) on Wednesday, March 18, seeking action against BJP Rajya Sabha MP and screenwriter Vijayendra Prasad, father of popular director SS Rajamouli, for his alleged casteist speech making scandalous claims about Dr BR Ambedkar.
Mala Sankshema Sangham president Bathula Ram Prasad reminded the DGP that no action was taken against the writer of Baahubali despite filing a complaint with the Saifabad police nearly a month ago.
On February 26, a complaint was filed against Vijayendra Prasad, for falsely claiming that Ambedkar had launched his struggle for dignity of Dalits after his wife Ramabai Ambedkar was denied drinking water from a village pond.
“The scandalous narration is fictitious and there is no evidence to it. Neither Dr Ambedkar wrote about this incident nor any noted historian had reported this. Therefore, it is clear and evident that Mr Vijayendra Prasad has conspired to create this story around Dr B R Ambedkar and trying to make a film with such derogatory depictions,” the complaint by Ram Prasad read.
They demanded registration of a case under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
In his recent address at the Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Memorial awards, the BJP Rajya Sabha MP claimed that during her last days when Ramabai Ambedkar asked her husband to get water to drink from the village pond, he was met with resistance. Upon learning that Dr Ambedkar was Dalit, he was subjected to humiliation and physical misconduct, he claimed.
He further recounted that while abusing Ambedkar, a Deshmukh (upper caste) lord said, “There is only one place where caste doesn't matter. When your women are sleeping with us. We bathe and think we are cleansed. If you can identify anybody here who resembles you or your wife (referring to Rama Bai), tell us. You can take water then.’”
The speech was criticised by Dalit-Bahujan intellectuals for its lack of factual accuracy.
“The speech was extremely casteist. When Vijayendra Prasad references his ancestors in the manner he did, he is also absolving the current society of casteism. What about the Karamchedu massacre which took place in 1985? Or even during the latter part of his speech when he references Dalit women sleeping with upper caste men? These are all uncomfortable statements,” advocate Srikanth representing Ram Prasad said. He also pointed out that the fictitious claim of Ambedkar fighting for water rights just out of affection for his wife alone nullifies Ambedkar’s struggle for human rights.