Ambedkar row: Mallikarjun Kharge takes ‘Manusmriti’ dig at Amit Shah, demands his resignation

Amit Shah on Tuesday attacked the Congress in the parliament saying the party had made it a fashion to take Ambedkar's name.

Updated on: Dec 18, 2024, 15:10:44 IST

By HT News Desk | Edited by Vaibhav Tiwari

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Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday demanded the resignation of union home minister Amit Shah, alleging that the latter had insulted Dalit icon BR Ambedkar in the parliament. The BJP accused the opposition of distorting Shah's remark.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress MPs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Kumari Selja and KC Venugopal and other opposition MPs hold portraits of Dr. BR Ambedkar during a protest amid the Winter session of Parliament. (PTI )

"He has insulted Baba Saheb Ambedkar and the Constitution. His ideology of Manusmriti and RSS makes it clear that he does not want to respect Baba Saheb Ambedkar's Constitution. We condemn this, and we demand his resignation. He should apologise to the people of the country...He should resign from his position,” Kharge said.

Amit Shah on Tuesday said the Congress had made it a fashion to take Ambedkar's name. "If they had taken the name of God so many times instead of Ambedkar, they would have got heaven for seven lives," Shah said.

The Congress today mounted a strong protest against the remark in the parliament.

Also read: Opposition parties protest against Amit Shah’s comments on BR Ambedkar

Attacking Amit Shah, Kharge said taking Ambedkar's name has become a crime under BJP's rule.

"When Amit Shah was talking about Dr BR Ambedkar, he said 'You people keep chanting the name of Ambedkar 100 times, if you took the name of God these many times, you would have gone to heaven 7 times'. This means that taking the name of Baba Saheb Ambedkar is a crime, and he intended to oppose the Constitution made by Baba Saheb Ambedkar. I opposed this but I was not given the opportunity," he added.

BJP attacks Congress

Meanwhile, union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju today accused the Congress of insulting BR Ambedkar by not giving him Bharat Ratna and defeating him twice in elections.

"The Congress party did not award him with Bharat Ratna for so many years and along with that, the Congress party insulted Baba Saheb and defeated him in 1952 in an election under a conspiracy. After that, in the by-election that took place in Vidarbha, Congress defeated Ambedkar. If Congress had not defeated him, Baba Saheb would have been a part of this Parliament even after 1952," Rijiju said.

Rijiju further said the opposition was distorting the home minister's comments.

"... a small clip of Shah's Rajya Sabha speech was under circulation, distorting what he said. It was wrong. I condemn it," Rijiju told reporters.

With inputs from PTI, ANI

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