Siddu: Shah would have been 'rag-picker' if not for Ambedkar's Constitution

PTI Belagavi: Stepping up the attack against Union Minister Amit Shah for his comments on B R Ambedkar in Parliament, senior Congress leader and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday claimed that Shah would have been a "ragpicker" if there wasn't Ambedkar's Constitution. The chief minister further said that if Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar was really functioning under the Constitution, he should have immediately suspended Shah from the House.

Reading out a detailed statement in the assembly amid din by both BJP and the Congress MLAs over the issue, Siddaramaiah said the entire country has heard the "derogatory" words spoken by the Home Minister about Babasaheb Ambedkar. During a debate on the Constitution in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Shah 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)." Stating that there is nothing surprising in the words spoken by Shah, Siddaramaiah said what was in the minds of the BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders has come out in the open. "First of all, I congratulate you (Amit Shah) for openly and courageously revealing the innermost opinion of the Bharatiya Janata Party about Babasaheb Ambedkar before the country and for finally telling the truth in your lifetime," he said.

He said that if there was no Constitution, Shah would have been a "ragpicker" in his village and not the Home Minister of the country. Shah on Wednesday accused the Congress of twisting facts and distorting his comments on B R Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha, asserting that its malicious campaign after the discussion on Constitution "established" the opposition party as being "anti-Ambedkar and anti-reservation". The Union minister also accused the Congress of adopting the tactic of "misrepresenting and distorting" statements. Siddaramaiah also took a dig at Dhankhar for not taking action against Shah, saying if the Rajya Sabha Chairman was really functioning under the Constitution, he should have immediately suspended the Union minister from the House after his remarks. The Karnataka chief minister alleged that the main reason behind BJP and Sangh Parivar's hatred for Ambedkar was the Constitution.

"Until this written Constitution came into force, the Indian society had the Manusmriti, which made caste and gender discrimination a law. Babasaheb Ambedkar, who hoped for freedom, equality and fraternity, not only gave the Constitution, but he also burned the unwritten Constitution Manusmriti that was in force until then," the CM said. He noted that on December 25, 1927, Ambedkar publicly burned the Manusmriti and 22 years later, he created a new Constitution.