I’ll stop if it makes LoP happy but…: Shah clarifies Ambedkar’s remark

Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday accused the Congress of distorting facts and misrepresenting its comments on BR Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha, saying it launched this malicious campaign after the discussion on the Constitution “established” the opposition party as “anti-Ambedkar and anti-reservation”.

IMAGE: Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks during the debate on the Constitution in Rajya Sabha as Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (left), in New Delhi, on December 17, 2024.Photo: ANI Photo/Sansad TV

Addressing a press conference, Shah said there was no response from the Congress following discussions in Parliament.

The party, he added, adopted the tactic of twisting and distorting statements, including those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and then creating an uproar to mislead the people.

He claimed that his speech in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday was clear and without any confusion and was included in the record of the House.

He said he came from a party and an ideology that could never insult the architect of the Constitution and his ideas, not “even in a dream.”

“What the Congress has done is extremely condemnable. Why has this happened? This has happened because the BJP leaders have explained how the BJP governments have always defended the Constitution and propagated its values. They have established with facts that the Congress is anti-Ambedkar, anti-Ambedkar Constitution and anti-reservation,” Shah told reporters in New Delhi.

Asked about Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s demand for resignation, Shah said in a lighter tone that he would resign if it would make the opposition leader happy, but the fact is that it will not end his troubles. He must remain in his seat, referring to the fact that the Congress is in opposition, for another 15 years, the minister said.

Referring to Kharge’s Dalit background as well as that of Ambedkar, Shah said the Congress president should not have been part of this malicious campaign involving India’s first law minister, but had acted under the “pressure” from Rahul Gandhi.

Asked if his comments had given India’s opposition bloc, which has been a house divided, an opportunity to join forces, he said parties often come together when a “bad narrative” is launched, but that things change when people express their opinion.

He said the people’s verdicts often went against the opposition, prompting these parties to sow confusion to deceive the masses by sometimes blaming electronic voting machines and sometimes living under the illusion that they had won.

Shah’s press conference at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters capped a day of frenzied political movements on both sides following his comments, as the ruling party’s top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet colleagues , rallied to its defense after Congress and others. opposition parties launched a virulent attack against him.

The Congress had shared an excerpt of Shah’s speech on Tuesday evening to accuse him of insulting Ambedkar, a respected figure and an icon especially among Dalits.

“Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai – Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. Itna naam agar bhagwan ka lete for 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 had a place in heaven in their seven lives),” had Shah said.

Shah had also said that the BJP was happy that the Congress was taking Ambedkar’s name but it should also speak about its true feelings towards him, and went on to narrate incidents in which the opposition party had denied the respect due to him.

The BJP launched a counter-campaign, sharing more of Shah’s speech to emphasize that it was aimed at calling out the Congress’s repeated insults of Ambedkar and neglect of his legacy over the party’s initiatives in power to preserve and promote its contributions and ideas.

Flanked by senior BJP leaders, including party president and Union Minister JP Nadda and his other ministerial colleagues Ashwini Vaishnaw, Kiren Rijiju and Piyush Goyal, at the press conference, Shah said his party would explore all avenues legal options available inside and outside Parliament.

He was asked if he was considering action against leaders Kharge and Gandhi for their alleged attempts to distort his remarks.

Shah urged the media to share his comments in full and reiterated a series of accusations by the BJP against the Congress, including its campaign to defeat Ambedkar in the elections, not giving it Bharat Ratna and denying it monuments memorials, to project the opposition party as hostile to their party. legacy.

In the recent elections, the Congress used artificial intelligence to distort its comments and misrepresent Modi’s remarks, he alleged.

The Congress also insulted VD Savarkar, crushed constitutional values ​​by imposing emergency, insulted the judiciary, humiliated the soldiers who laid down their lives and even ceded the land of India to other countries, he declared.

During the Congress tenure, no memorial to Ambedkar was constructed, he said, adding that the Modi government had developed five places, considered sacred by his admirers, as well as panchteerth.

“Whenever the BJP has been in power, it has propagated Ambedkar’s principles. The party has worked to strengthen reservations,” Shah added.

Accusing Shah of disrespecting the architect of the Constitution, Kharge said the home minister should apologize to the nation for the “insult” given to Ambedkar during his speech.

Kharge said if Prime Minister Modi still had respect for Ambedkar, he should sack the Home Minister in case he did not resign on his own.