INDIA DEMANDS SHAH'S RESIGNATION FOR 'INSULTING' AMBEDKAR

NT Correspondent

New Delhi

Amid a raging controversy over Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on the architect of the Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar, the Congress party on Wednesday demanded his resignation for 'insulting' Ambedkar. “It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar,” the Union home minister was heard saying in the clip. “If they had taken God’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven.” Shah made the remark on Tuesday during his speech on the Constitution in the Upper House of Parliament.

The attack from virtually all opposition parties, including Congress, TMC, DMK, RJD, Left parties and Shiv Sena-UBT, led to adjournment of both Houses of Parliament and prompted the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to come out in stout defence of Shah. Alleging that Shah had said “something disgusting”, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh demanded that the Union home minister apologise to the country. “This shows that the BJP and RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] leaders have a lot of hatred for Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Ramesh said on social media. “The hatred is such that they are even irritated by his name.” On Wednesday morning, several MPs of the Opposition INDIA bloc protested inside Parliament premises demanding Shah’s apology, reported PTI. “We demand Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters.

“India will not tolerate Dr Ambedkar’s insult.” The Opposition leaders also shouted slogans inside Parliament, leading to proceedings in both Houses being adjourned for the day. Speaking at a press conference later in the day, Shah said the Congress had distorted his remarks in Rajya Sabha to “further their agenda”. “I urge the media to tell their audience the complete truth about my statements,” said the home minister. “The BJP can never disrespect Ambedkar ji and in fact, has always strived to work as per his ideals.” The hullabaloo in Parliament also spilled on to the streets of the national capital and places as far as Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. In Delhi, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal led hundreds of supporters to gather outside the BJP office and protest amid slogans "Amit Shah maafi mango, Amit Shah sharm karo".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi said in a series of social media posts that the Congress was “indulging in theatrics” as Shah had “exposed the party’s dark history of insulting Dr Ambedkar and ignoring the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes”. West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee alleged that Shah's remarks displayed 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 would have rewritten history to entirely erase Ambedkar's contributions," she alleged.