Within minutes of beginning proceedings on Wednesday morning, both houses of Parliament were adjourned till 2 pm over the Opposition’s charge that Home Minister Amit Shah had insulted Dr B R Ambedkar in his Rajya Sabha speech on Tuesday evening. The proceedings in the Lok Sabha were adjourned till 2 pm amid uproar by Opposition members who also raised slogans. Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the Congress has always insulted Ambedkar. “When he was alive, they insulted him. They refused to hang a photo of Baba Saheb in the office of the Congress party. He was defeated twice in Lok Sabha elections. These are the people who insulted Baba Saheb. We respect him…,” he said. “Now they have brought pictures of Baba Saheb because Prime Minister Narendra Modi has built panchteerth of Baba Saheb. They are taking his name due to compulsion,” Meghwal added. Following this, the Speaker adjourned the House till 2 pm. Earlier in the day, several MPs of the INDIA bloc, including Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest on Parliament premises demanding Home Minister Amit Shah’s apology for his remarks which they claimed were an insult to Ambedkar. The MPs raised slogans such as ‘Jai Bhim’, ‘Sangh ka Vidhan nahi chalega’ and ‘Amit Shah maafi maango’. MPs of the Congress, DMK, RJD, the Left, AAP, among others, participated in the protest. Speaking in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Amit Shah had said, “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.” On Wednesday, a notice under Rule 267 — a previous bone of contention between the ruling and Opposition parties — was raised in the Upper House, urging a discussion on the situation arising due to the farmers’ protest. Rajya Sabha chairperson Jagdeep Dhankar said the matter may be raised during Zero Hour before giving the floor to BJP member Radha Mohan Das Agarwal to speak on the non-implementation of the Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976. When Agarwal started to speak, an Opposition MP shouted that Dr Ambedkar was disrespected. Dhankhar said that he had the privilege of being a member of the House and in the Council of Ministers when Ambedkar was conferred the Bharat Ratna, and it was good that there was such interest in his teachings these days. He then handed the floor to Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju who said, “Yesterday in very clear terms we heard that the Home Minister expressed our reverence for Dr Ambedkar. He also told how Congress insulted him during his lifetime and did not confer him with Bharat Ratna even after his parinirvana (death). He also told how through a conspiracy the Congress defeated him.” The former Union Minister for Law and Justice went on, “In a later by-election, they defeated him again in Vidarbha. Had they not defeated him, he would have been MP even later. They took his name but deceived him. I am a Buddhist; I walk on his path. After 71 years of Babasaheb resigning, PM Modi made another Buddhist the Law Minister. There are five teerth sthals (pilgrimage centres) on which work is going on to honour Babasaheb…” Rijiju said that while the Congress used his name for vote bank politics, PM Modi was building a 450-foot statue in his honour. When the sloganeering continued, the chairperson adjourned the House till 2 pm. Shah, during his speech on Tuesday, had said, “We are happy that Ambedkar’s name is being taken. Take it 100 times more, but I will tell in reality what your attitude towards Ambedkar is. Why did Ambedkar resign from the first Cabinet? He said quite a few times that he was dissatisfied with the behaviour with SCs and STs, and that he was in disagreement with the government’s foreign policy and Article 370.” “He wanted to quit. He was given assurances that were not honoured. So, being ignored, he resigned. BC Roy asked what would be the impact of Ambedkar and Rajaji leaving the Cabinet, and Nehru replied that while there would be some adverse effect of Rajaji leaving, Ambedkar’s exit would not weaken the Cabinet at all,” Shah had said. “Why do you use for votes the one whom you oppose? Just because so many who believe in Ambedkar have come here now, you are chanting Ambedkar, Ambedkar” he had alleged. Late on Tuesday night, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi criticised him over the remarks, saying “Those who believe in the Manu Smriti will surely have problems with Ambedkar ji.” Congress leader KC Venugopal also said Tuesday night that “Dr Ambedkar is equivalent to God and the Constitution he drafted is a Holy Book for crores of people across the world… How dare you speak about Dr Ambedkar with such disdain?” “…the Home Minister’s pathetic statements in the Rajya Sabha further confirm how much they hate and detest Dr Ambedkar,” he said. Venugopal added, “The worshippers of Manusmriti will always have scorn towards Dr Ambedkar, who rejected the horrible ideas espoused by the casteist RSS and their Manusmriti. Those who spoke of changing the Constitution if they won 400+ seats, are now openly mocking our country’s reverence for Dr Ambedkar.” Congress MP K Suresh gave notice for an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday morning to discuss Shah’s remarks. He also demanded an apology from the minister in his notice. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on social media around Wednesday noon, “BJP-RSS and their political ancestors stood for Manusmriti and against the Constitution of India. They opposed the National Flag — Tiranga and they opposed Ashok Chakra. They burnt the copies of the Constitution at Ramleela Maidan.” “When their ploy of “400 Paar” and changing the Constitution of India was foiled by the people of India, in frustration, they are now insulting Babasaheb and his glorious contribution. INDIA will resist this onslaught on Babasaheb’s legacy, Parliamentary Democracy and our Constitution. Home Minister Amit Shah must apologise to the Nation for demeaning Babasaheb,” he said.
