Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday responded to the opposition's protest over home minister Amit Shah's remarks on BR Ambedkar in Rajya Sabha, saying the Congress played dirty tricks to obliterate the legacy of the Dalit icon.
“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!” he wrote on X.
“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," he added.
The Prime Minister accused the Congress of denying Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar.
{{/usCountry}}The Prime Minister accused the Congress of denying Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar.
{{/usCountry}}“The list of the Congress' sins towards Dr. Ambedkar includes: Getting him defeated in elections not once but twice, Pandit Nehru campaigning against him and making his loss a prestige issue, denying him a Bharat Ratna, denying his portrait a place of pride in Parliament’s Central Hall,” Modi wrote on X.
Also Read | Ambedkar row: Mallikarjun Kharge takes ‘Manusmriti’ dig at Amit Shah, demands his resignation
The prime minister further added: “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.”
What Amit Shah said?
PM Modi's attack at the Congress came amid a protest in the parliament against Amit Shah's remark on BR Ambedkar.
Amit Shah, in his address in the Rajya Sabha after a two-day discussion on 75 years of the Constitution on Tuesday, said the Congress had made it a fashion to take Ambedkar's name.
"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 said.
Also Read | Opposition parties protest against Amit Shah’s comments on BR Ambedkar
Several Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, lashed out at Shah over the remarks.
Gandhi, in a post on X, wrote that those who believe in Manusmriti will be at odds with Ambedkar.
Kharge said that the “insult” of Babasaheb Ambedkar by the home minister “has once again proven that the BJP-RSS were against the tricolour, their forefathers opposed the Ashok Chakra and that the people of the Sangh Parivar wanted to implement Manusmriti instead of the Constitution of India from the very first day.
Kharge also demanded Shah's resignation.
"He (Amit Shah) 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,” he said.
With inputs from agencies