December 18, 2024
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Amid the massive row over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Dalit icon BR Ambedkar, the Trinamool Congress has moved a privilege notice against him and said he had undermined the legacy of the Constitution’s architect and Parliament’s dignity.

Derek O’Brien, leader of the Trinamool Congress in Rajya Sabha, has moved the notice under Rule 187. The privilege notice comes amid an all-out Opposition offensive against the Home Minister, accusing him of insulting the Dalit icon in his speech in the Upper House yesterday.

While speaking during the debate to mark 75 years of the Constitution, Mr Shah yesterday said that taking BR Ambedkar’s name had become a “fashion” for Opposition leaders now. “It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’. If they took God’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven,” he said. “Take his name 100 times more, but I want to say what are your sentiments about him.” Mr Shah said BR Ambedkar had to resign from the first Cabinet following his disagreement with the Jawaharlal Nehru-led government.

The remarks sparked a huge row, with leaders of the Congress and other Opposition parties accusing Mr Shah of insulting the Dalit icon. When the Parliament met today, MPs from Opposition parties, held photos of BR Ambedkar and staged a protest. While BJP leaders accused the Congress of circulating a short video clip that did not show Mr Shah’s remarks on how the Congress allegedly sidelined BR Ambedkar, Opposition leaders stepped up the attack on the ruling party and demanded the Home Minister’s resignation.

As the Opposition tried to corner the government and demanded Mr Shah’s resignation and an apology, the BJP leadership launched a counterstrike led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a six-point thread on X, the Prime Minister said the Congress and its “rotten ecosystem” were “gravely mistaken” if they thought “malicious lies” could hide their insult of the architect of the Constitution. “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! 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,” the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister added in his post that the list of the Congress’s “sins” towards BR 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.”

Earlier, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee slammed the Home Minister, saying that the “mask has fallen”. “As Parliament reflects on 75 glorious years of the Constitution, HM @AmitShah chose to TARNISH this occasion with DEROGATORY remarks against Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, that too in the temple of Democracy. This is a display of BJP’s casteist and anti-Dalit mindset. If this is how they behave after being reduced to 240 seats, imagine the damage they would’ve inflicted if their dream of 400 seats had been realised. They’d have rewritten history to entirely erase Dr. Ambedkar’s contributions,” she said in a post on X.

“HM Amit Shah’s remarks are an insult to the millions who look up to Babasaheb for guidance and inspiration. But what else can you expect from a party that has internalised hate and bigotry? Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar is the Father of the Constitution, this outrageous remark is not only an outright attack on him but all members of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, which symbolised India’s unity in diversity with members from all castes, creeds, ethnicities, and religions,” Ms Banerjee said.