Amit Shah's Ambedkar remarks: Cong demands resignation, Modi joins stir
The Congress on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks in the Rajya Sabha which it claimed were an insult to B R Ambedkar. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day over Shah’s statements on Ambedkar.
On Tuesday, addressing the House during the debate to mark 75 years of the Constitution, Shah said taking BR Ambedkar's name had become a "fashion".
"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 took God's name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven)," he said.
Shah lashed out at the Congress party and said Ambedkar had to resign from the first Cabinet following his disagreement with the Jawaharlal Nehru-led government.
“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,” the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee 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 added.
The remarks have sparked off a massive political row with Modi stepping in to defend Shah.
"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! The people of India have seen time and again how one Party, led by one dynasty, has indulged in every possible dirty trick to obliterate the legacy of Dr. Ambedkar and humiliate the SC/ST communities," Modi wrote on X.
"One gets rights by taking the name of Ambedkar ji. Taking the name of Ambedkar ji is a symbol of human dignity. Ambedkar ji's name is a symbol of self-respect of crores of Dalits and deprived people," Priyanka Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
