NEW DELHI: The BJP, which had the Congress literally on the backfoot for almost four days during the Constitution debate in Parliament, at the end found itself cornered by all opposition parties as it defended Union home minister Amit Shah‘s remark on B R Ambedkar which was part of his reply in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Led by Prime Minister Modi, the BJP leaders used the Constitution debate, both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, to unleash a scathing attack on the Congress, especially the Gandhi family, accusing them of misusing the Constitution. From clamping of Emergency to using Constitution to reverse Supreme Court’s Shah Bano judgment, all such past instances under the Congress regime were highlighted to target the grand-old-party and its leaders.
However, a day after the end of debate, it was the turn of the Congress and other opposition parties to corner the BJP using Amit Shah’s reference to B R Ambedkar.
Congress general secretary-in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared a video snippet on X from Amit Shah’s speech in the Upper House in which the Union home minister, taking a swipe at the opposition, had said: “Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai – Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. Itna naam agar bhagwan ka lete to saat janmon tak swarg mil jata (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).”
The opposition was quick to latch on to the short clip and stalled Rajya Sabha proceedings demanding an apology from Amit Shah. They claimed his remarks were an “insult” to the architect of India’s Constitution B R Ambedkar. MPs of the opposition’s INDIA bloc staged a protest outside Parliament demanding an apology from Amit Shah.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge lashed out at Shah and said the “insult” of Babasaheb by the home minister “has once again proven that the BJP-RSS were against the tricolour, their forefathers opposed the Ashok Chakra and the people of the Sangh Parivar wanted to implement Manusmriti instead of the Constitution of India from the very first day”.
“Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar Ji did not allow this to happen, that is why there is so much hatred towards him,” Kharge said.
“The ministers of the Modi government should understand carefully that for crores of people like me, Babasaheb Ambedkar is no less than God… He is and will always be the messiah of Dalits, tribals, backward classes, minorities and the poor,” Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
The BJP’s defence of Amit Shah was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Prime Minister hit out at the Congress, saying its “rotten ecosystem” and “malicious lies” cannot hide its misdeeds and said the home minister had exposed the opposition party’s “dark history of insulting” Ambedkar.
Amit Shah also addressed a press conference and alleged that the Congress in the past has also misrepresented his and even PM Narendra Modi’s comments to spread confusion and mislead people.
“I condemn the Congress for twisting facts. Why did it happen? It happened because BJP leaders spoke on how the NDA governments upheld the Constitution and established with facts that the Congress is anti-Ambedkar, anti-Constitution and anti-reservation,” Shah told reporters.
“When all these facts came out, the Congress used its old tricks and made an effort to mislead the society by presenting twisted facts,” Shah said, adding that he comes from a party that will never insult Ambedkar.
Meanwhile, the uproar in Parliament also spilt onto the streets of the national capital and other states like Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu where various parties held protests.
In Delhi, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal led a protest with hundreds of supporters outside the BJP chanting slogans of “Amit Shah maafi maango, Amit Shah sharm karo”.
In Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray said, “Amit Shah’s remarks on Dr Ambedkar show the party’s (BJP’s) arrogance and have exposed its true face.”
“Prime Minister Modi should act against Amit Shah for his remarks on Dr Ambedkar and he should quit if he is not able to do so,” the former chief minister said.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that Union Home Minister’s remarks about Ambedkar were a display of the BJP’s “casteist and anti-Dalit mindset”.
“The mask has fallen! As Parliament reflects on 75 glorious years of the Constitution, HM @AmitShah chose to TARNISH this occasion with DEROGATORY remarks against Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, that too in the temple of Democracy,” she posted on X.
“This is a display of BJP’s CASTEIST and ANTI-DALIT mindset. If this is how they behave after being reduced to 240 seats, imagine the damage they would’ve inflicted if their dream of 400 seats had been realised. They’d have rewritten history to entirely erase Dr. Ambedkar’s contributions,” she alleged.
M K Stalin, the Tamil Nadu chief minister, said, “Only those who commit more sins should be concerned about ‘punya’ (Good deeds). Those who are concerned about the country, its people and the protection of the Constitution will only utter the name of Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar and they will have to utter only his name.”
“BJP leaders should hear this loud and clear, Babasaheb Ambedkar is our fashion, passion, inspiration and motivation as well,” RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav said.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said they respected BR Ambedkar for his contribution to the framing of the Constitution.
“You all should see what kind of language has been used by him in the Parliament’¦ This is the situation in Delhi. In UP, the kind of language our CM (Yogi Adityanath) uses in the House is not democratic. If we talk about Right to Speech, then we will have to talk about Right to ‘Samman’ as well now,” the SP chief said.
With the opposition announcing to continue with its protests against Amit Shah, the controversy will continue to play out during the remainder of this session.