Cong twisted facts, distorted my statement on Ambedkar, says Shah; Opp demands his sacking
NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Wednesday amid noisy protests by Opposition members seeking an apology from Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks which they claimed were an insult to B R Ambedkar.
When the House reconvened at 2 pm, the protests continued. The Rajya Sabha too was rocked by protests from Opposition members who demanded an apology from Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju accused the Congress of misleading the country by using only a part of Shah’s remarks made in the Rajya Sabha and asserted that the Home Minister had in very clear words mentioned how the Congress party had insulted Ambedkar.
Several other Congress members were on their feet and started raising slogans like “’Ambedkar ka apamaan nai sahega Hindustan’ (India will not tolerate Ambedkar’s insult)”.
Countering them, Rijiju said it was the Congress that insulted Ambedkar and did not honour him with a Bharat Ratna.
Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised a poster of Ambedkar. Amid an uproar, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar adjourned the proceedings within a few minutes till 2 pm.
Congress demands Shah’s sacking
Stepping up his attack on Amit Shah over his remarks on B R Ambedkar, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said if Prime Minister Narendra Modi has any respect for Babsaheb he should sack the home minister today itself in case he does not quit on his own.
Accusing Shah of disrespecting the architect of the Constitution, Kharge said the home minister should apologise to the nation for the insult he caused to Ambedkar during his speech in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
“I want to tell the PM that if he respects Babsaheb, he should immediate remove Amit Shah from his Cabinet,” Kharge told a press conference here.
“Amit Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar are condemnable, he has insulted the Dalit hero, whom they consider as revered. Amit Shah must apologise to the people of the country,” Kharge said.
He also attacked the prime minister, saying that instead of telling Shah that his remarks were wrong, Modi is defending his home minister.
An MP or a minister takes the pledge of the Constitution, and if he disrespects it, he should be removed from the Cabinet immediately, Kharge said, adding that people will otherwise register their grievances, raise slogans and are ready to give their lives for Babasaheb.
Criticising the Congress for repeatedly taking the name of B R Ambedkar, Shah had said in his remarks on Tuesday that had they taken God’s name so many times they could have earned a place in heaven.
“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),” Shah had said.
Amit Shah reacts
Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday accused the Congress of twisting facts and distorting his comments in the Rajya Sabha related to B R Ambedkar after BJP leaders “exposed” the opposition party’s repeated “insults” to the architect of the Constitution.
Addressing a press conference here, Shah 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 here.
The senior BJP leader said the Congress also insulted V D Savarkar and blew to smithereens the values enshrined in the Constitution by imposing Emergency.
“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.
Shah said he comes from a party that can never insult Ambedkar.
TMC MP files privilege notice
Trinamool Congress on Wednesday launched an attack on Home Minister Amit Shah over his remarks on B R Ambedkar, with a source saying party leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien also submitted a privilege notice against him.
TMC MPs raised the issue in the House and staged a walkout in the post-lunch sitting.
Derek O’Brien, the TMC’s Parliamentary Party Leader in the Upper House, filed a privilege notice against Shah under Rule 187 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Rajya Sabha, according to the source.
The notice quoted the statement the home minister made in the Upper House on Tuesday during his reply to a debate on 75 years of the Constitution. The source said Derek O’Brien has alleged in the notice that Shah’s remarks undermined Ambedkar’s legacy and the dignity of Parliament.
Rahul demands apology
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the country will not tolerate Babasaheb Ambedkar’s insult and demanded that Home Minister Amit Shah should apologise for his remarks in the Rajya Sabha.
Several MPs of the INDIA bloc, including Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in Parliament premises demanding Shah’s apology for his remarks which they claimed were an insult to B R Ambedkar.
Sharing pictures from the protest, Gandhi said in a Facebook post in Hindi, “Baba Saheb is the architect of the Constitution, a great man who gave direction to the country. The country will not tolerate his insult or the insult to the Constitution framed by him. Home Minister should apologize!” (PTI)