Amid Opp uproar over Shah’s remarks, Rijiju says Congress using ‘11-12 seconds’ of speech to ‘mislead’

In the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, amid protests by the Opposition, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said that he had the privilege of being member of the House and in the Council of Ministers when Dr Ambedkar was conferred the Bharat Ratna, and it was good that there was such interest in his teachings these days.

In the morning, after the House went ahead with the scheduled Zero Hour, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh alleged that Shah “insulted” Ambedkar with his remarks. Several other Congress members started raising slogans.

Countering them, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “Yesterday in very clear terms we heard that the Home Minister expressed our reverence for Dr Ambedkar. He (Shah) also told how Congress insulted him during his lifetime and did not confer the Bharat Ratna on him even after his death.”

Rijiju alleged that “a conspiracy by the Congress ensured” Ambedkar’s defeat when he contested from Mumbai and later from Vidarbha. The House was then adjourned until 2 pm.

When the House reconvened, Dhankhar asked for taking up the Banking Regulation Bill for discussion and passing. However when Rijiju started speaking, a point of order was raised by Congress member Pramod Tiwari under Rule 238, stating, “Home Minister Amit Shah had in his Tuesday’s speech insulted Dr B R Ambedkar”.

To this, Rijiju reiterated his remarks before the House was adjourned and said that the Congress was “just using 11 to 12 seconds of Shah’s speech and was trying to mislead the country”. “Congress has tried to erase Dr Ambedkar from the history of India… You have not tried to preserve Babasaheb’s house or his place of birth. It was PM Narendra Modi who instituted the celebration of Constitution Day,” he said.

Leader of Opposition in RS Mallikarjun Kharge said, “We have not brought up any new point. We are only reiterating that Amit Shah ridiculed Babasaheb. They have insulted Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Constitution. This government is anti-Dalit”.

Leader of the House J P Nadda stood up and said that the country is being “misled” by Congress. “When Ambedkarji was alive, you have never listened to his words,” he said.

With members of both Treasury and Opposition benches raising slogans against each other, Dhankhar adjourned the House for the day.

Earlier, in the Lok Sabha, amid Opposition protests, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal alleged the Congress had always “insulted” Ambedkar, and “today they hold his photographs and are talking about him under compulsion”.

Congress members stormed the well, displaying posters of Ambedkar and sought Shah’s apology for his remarks. Speaker Om Birla asked the members to allow the Question Hour to continue but as the din continued, the House was adjourned till 2 pm. After the House reconvened, P C Mohan, who was presiding over the proceedings, adjourned the House for the day.