Modi, Shah hit back in raging Ambedkar row

Union home minister Amit Shah hit out at the Congress, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Opposition of spreading malicious lies, after a statement by Shah referring to Dr BR Ambedkar triggered a political storm and jammed Parliament on Wednesday.

During his reply to the debate marking 75 years of the Constitution on Tuesday, Shah attacked the Congress and alleged the opposition party repeatedly disrespected Ambedkar. “It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…If they had taken God’s name so many times, they would have secured a place in heaven for seven lifetimes…” he said, before going on to add that India’s first law minister was forced to resign from Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet.

The comment sparked a row on Wednesday as the Congress and other members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) shared clips of the first part of his statement, demanding Shah’s resignation and an apology for what they alleged was an insult to the framer of the Constitution.

But a combative BJP dismissed the allegations. “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!” Modi posted on X.

Shah held a press conference accusing the Congress of “distorting” his statement made in the Rajya Sabha to create an “illusion” that he insulted Ambedkar.

Flanked by cabinet colleagues JP Nadda. Kiren Rijiju, Ashwani Vaishnaw and Piyush Goyal, Shah criticised the Congress for being “anti-Ambedkar, anti-reservation and anti-Constitution.”

“The Congress distorted my statement and presented only a small, selective portion to the public, attempting to create confusion and spread misinformation. Twisting facts and spreading lies in society has been an old habit of the Congress,” Shah said.

“I come from a party and a culture that, even in its dreams, cannot disrespect Babasaheb’s ideas or Babasaheb himself.”

The BJP also launched a countercampaign, accusing the Congress of selectively editing Shah’s 85-minute speech and sharing a bigger chunk of his address in the Rajya Sabha.

But the Opposition kept up its attack inside and outside Parliament, holding protests with portraits of Ambedkar and saying they will expand the agitation in the coming days.

“We want Amit Shah to quit his post and if he doesn’t, I want to tell the Prime Minister that if he has even little respect for Babasaheb, he should dismiss Amit Shah from his post before midnight. If there is no resignation, there will be protests all over the country,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said.

The controversy comes at the fag end of the ongoing winter session, right after Parliament marked the 75th anniversary of the Constitution with special debates in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The chairman of the drafting committee of the Constitution, Ambedkar remains a revered icon for large sections of the population, especially Dalits who form a key swing electoral demographic.

In his press conference, Shah repeated many of the allegations he first made during his speech in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday evening. He said his statement was on the record of the House and underlined that discussions taking place in Parliament, “should be based on tathya and satya (facts and truth)”.

“During the discussion in Parliament, it was proved how strongly the Congress had opposed Babasaheb Ambedkar and how it tried to push Baba Saheb to the margins even after his demise,” Shah said.

He accused the Congress of conspiring to misconstrue his statements and said the BJP will look into the possibility of exploring all legal provisions both in and outside Parliament against the Congress for” twisting his statement”.

“By imposing the Emergency, Congress destroyed all the values of the constitution, ignored the dignity of women for years, always insulted the judiciary, insulted the martyrs of the armed forces and even had the audacity to give away land to other countries by violating the Constitution,” he said.

In a pointed attack on Kharge, Shah said the Congress chief should have not succumbed to pressure from the party to be part of the campaign. “Kharge is from the community that Ambedkar dedicated his life for, he should not have supported the Congress’s campaign and given in to Rahul Gandhi’s pressure,” the home minister said.

Shah quipped that, even if he resigned, the Congress will remain in the Opposition for the next 15 years, and accused four generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family of marginalising Ambedkar.

“Nehru ji’s hatred towards Ambedkar ji is well known. The Congress forced Babasaheb to resign from the Cabinet and used all its might to ensure his electoral defeat.Two Prime Ministers from the Congress awarded themselves the Bharat Ratna while in office but did not confer the honor on Babasaheb,” he said.

“What the Congress has done is extremely condemnable. Why did it happen? It happened because BJP leaders spoke on how the BJP governments have always upheld the Constitution and propagated its values. They established with facts that the Congress is anti-Ambedkar, anti-Constitution and anti-reservation,” Shah added.

The day was packed with frenetic political activity as Modi led the BJP’s counter charge against the INDIA bloc’s allegations, and senior Union ministers spoke about previous Congress governments’ attitude towards Ambedkar.

“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 posted on X.

The PM accused the Congress of conspiring to get Ambedkar defeated in elections twice, of Nehru campaigning against him, of denying him a Bharat Ratna and refusing to place his portrait in the central hall of Parliament.

“In Parliament, HM Amit Shah ji exposed the Congress’ dark history of insulting Dr. Ambedkar and ignoring the SC/ST communities. They are clearly stung and stunned by the facts he presented, which is why they are now indulging in theatrics! Sadly, for them, people know the truth!” Modi said.

He hailed his government’s achievements – pulling 250 million people out of poverty, strengthening the SC/ST Act, using the welfare outreach to help the marginalised, and building an array of memorials in honour of Ambedkar.

“Congress can try as they want but they can’t deny that the worst massacres against SC/ST Communities have happened under their regimes.For years, they sat in power but did nothing substantive to empower the SC and ST communities,” the PM said.

The Congress hit back, accusing Modi and Shah of spreading propaganda.

“Ashok Gopal’s authoritative biography of Dr. Ambedkar was released a few months back…On Page 794 footnote 50, Gopal quotes a letter of Jan 18, 1952, to Kamalakant Chitre in which Dr. Ambedkar himself writes that the plot to defeat him in the 1st Lok Sabha elections from Bombay North reserved seat was hatched by Dange and Savarkar, who was inflamed by his proposal for the partition of Kashmir…This completely debunks the utter lies and propaganda,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X.