Congress: Fadnavis’s Ambedkar allegations show ‘intellectual bankruptcy’

“One should feel ashamed while speaking untrue and illogical things about great national leaders,” Congress state spokesperson Gopal Tiwari said at a press conference in Pune.

Fadnavis instructed that construction of rural roads in the state should be made of cement, emphasising that rural road projects should not be halted. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Congress state spokesperson Gopal Tiwari on Sunday said that the allegation made by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that the party “insulted” Dr B R Ambedkar was “untrue” and “indicative of intellectual bankruptcy”.

“One should feel ashamed while speaking untrue and illogical things about great national leaders,” Tiwari said at a press conference in Pune.

At at press meet last week, Fadnavis had said, “Congress should apologise to the nation for always insulting Ambedkar. Its anxiety was that no one should grow in stature above the Nehru-Gandhi family.”

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Responding to this, the Congress leader said, “The allegation made by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is untrue and indicative of intellectual bankruptcy.”

Tiwari said that before making such statements, persons holding constitutional positions like Prime Minister and Chief Minister should at least consider their commitment to the Constitutional oath towards the truth and the dignity and honour of the position.

“The Congress sent Barrister Jayakar from Mumbai to the Lok Sabha after resigning and made Dr. Ambedkar the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly with honour,” Tiwari claimed.

Tiwari said accusations of Congress defeating Dr. Ambedkar in the elections do not make sense. “The Congress always tried to get Dr. Ambedkar to join the party. However, Dr. Ambedkar created his own independent political party through the Scheduled Caste Federation and later the RPI. Therefore, there is no question of the Congress supporting him in electoral politics,” Tiwari said.

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“Where did the Jana Sangh support him or did it campaign for him by supporting him?” Tiwari asked.

“Although Dr. Ambedkar resigned from his post due to the opposition to the Hindu Code Bill, in reality there was no dispute between the then Prime Minister Nehru and Dr. Ambedkar on this bill and Nehru was a staunch supporter of Dr. Ambedkar on the Hindu Code Bill. This is a well-known fact,” the Congress leader said.

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