Leaders hold portraits of Dr B R Ambedkar during a protest amid the Winter session of Parliament, in New Delhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: I.N.D.I.A. bloc and BJP on Wednesday lunged at each over Home Minister Amit Shah's “insulting” remarks on B R Ambedkar with the Opposition demanding the senior BJP leader be sacked and Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the “Congress and its rotten ecosystem” of trying to hide “malicious lies” and “misdeeds” against the Dalit icon.
Flashing posters of Ambedkar, Opposition MPs led by Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi staged protests inside and outside Parliament paralysing it while Modi led the BJP counter-attack with senior ministers like J P Nadda and Kiren Rijiju defending the Home Minister accusing the Congress of disrespecting him.
While Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien submitted a privilege notice against Shah, Congress organised protest marches to Raj Bhavans across the country with senior leaders participating, including Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy leading it in Hyderabad. Arvind Kejriwal-led a march to BJP headquarters here.
Shah, along with BJP President J P Nadda and senior ministers, also held a press conference here, an hour after Kharge demanded that Modi should sack the Home Minister if he respects Ambedkar. Shah repeated the allegations he made during his Rajya Sabha speech and claimed Congress did not respect Ambedkar.
As Opposition ratcheted up Shah’s 11-second remarks, Modi came out in strong support of his unofficial No 2 in the Cabinet saying, “If the Congress and its rotten ecosystem think their malicious lies can hide their misdeeds of several years, especially their insult towards Dr Ambedkar, they are gravely mistaken.”
He said the people have seen time and again “how one party, led by one dynasty, has indulged in every possible dirty trick to obliterate” the legacy of Ambedkar and “humiliate” the SC/ST communities.
Shah “exposed” Congress’ “dark history of insulting” Ambedkar and ignoring the SC/ST communities in Rajya Sabha, he said adding the opposition party is “clearly stung and stunned” by the facts he presented, which is why they are now “indulging in theatrics”.
Modi recalled the “list of the Congress’ sins” towards Ambedkar and claimed the party got him defeated in elections twice, Jawaharlal Nehru campaigned against him and made his “loss a prestige issue” and denied Bharat Ratna and the portrait a place of pride in Parliament’s Central Hall.
“Congress can try as they want but they can’t deny that the worst massacres against SC/ST communities have happened under their regimes. For years, they sat in power but did nothing substantive to empower the SC and ST communities,” he said adding, “it is due to Ambedkar that we are what we are.”
However, the Opposition was unimpressed with Kharge leading the Opposition group to demand Shah's resignation and apology over the remarks, "it has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar'. If they had taken God's name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven.”
Kharge said the “insult” caused to Ambedkar is “wrong” and added, “Shah has insulted Babasaheb and the Constitution written by him. The ideology of Manusmriti and RSS shows that they do not want to give respect to Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Constitution. That is why we, all parties, demand his resignation and he should apologise to the country.”
“If he continues to talk like this, there will be fire across the country if anyone insults Babasaheb Ambedkar like this. We parties would not accept such an insult of Babasaheb Ambedkar,” he warned.