Congress always insulted Dr Ambedkar and humiliated him; it should apologise: Gujarat CM

Ahmedabad: Amid the controversy over Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement on Dr B R Ambedkar in the Parliament, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Tuesday slammed Congress leaders for trying to create "political controversy" while claiming that "the opposition party has insulted and humiliated Baba Saheb."

"Congress party has always insulted Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar, mocked and humiliated him. For this, Congress party should unconditionally apologise to the entire country. The same Congress is today pretending to be in love with Baba Saheb and doing drama by holding press conferences against the BJP," Patel said in a video message shared by the BJP spokesperson.

Patel said that in 1952 Lok Sabha election and the bye-election in 1954, the Congress defeated Baba Saheb and forced him to resign as union law minister. "The Congress never conferred the Bharat Ratna to the great son. This party didn't let a single memorial of Baba Saheb be built. Respected Modi ji's government built a memorial in London where Baba Saheb used to live. Memorials were also built in Delhi, Nagpur and Mumbai. Congress didn't take a single step to build Baba Saheb's memorial rather created hurdles," Patel said in the video.

Attacking the party over "dynastic politics," Patel said, "Congress named hundreds of roads, hospitals after Nehru, Indira and Sanjay. The same Congress is today holding press conferences in the name of Baba Saheb. The party should stop this hypocrisy."

He also said that the Congress is trying to create a political issue out of a small portion of the Union Home minister Amit Shah's speech. He said, "Congress never bestowed either Bharat Ratna, Padma Bhushan or Padma Vibhushan to Ambedkar but in 1970 awarded Padma Bhushan to Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar who defeated Baba Saheb. Pandit Nehru campaigned for Kajrolkar in the election. This is the truth of Congress. The BJP will highlight the anti-Ambedkar face of Congress in public. BJP believes that everyone who contributed to nation building should be respected."

Two held for vandalising Ambedkar's statue

Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch arrested two persons for vandalising Ambedkar's statue in Ahmedabad which had resulted in huge protests in Khokhra locality.

DCB said after scanning through over 1000 CCTV footage and interrogating over 200 people, it identified five persons who allegedly damaged the statue. Two of them, Mehul Thakor and Bhola Thakor, were caught while Chetan, Jayesh and Mukesh Thakor were still on the run.

Police said that the suspects vandalised the statue allegedly over a dispute between the two communities. In 2018, the communities clashed which resulted in lodgement of FIRs. Jayesh Thakor was booked in that case on charges of rioting, among others.

The incident had happened near KK Shastri College under Khokhra police station area on Monday morning. The suspects had damaged the nose and spectacles of Ambedkar's statue.